‘Running.’ He tried to suppress the smile that toyed with his mouth, not liking the way she got under his skin so easily.
‘Running. Right.’ She waved her hands at his shorts and tee in self-deprecation, and he found he didn’t like that either. The way she always seemed to put herself down. ‘Sorry. Obvious.’
And then, suddenly, a mask of indifference settled over her delicate features, and he found he liked that least of all.
‘What about you?’
‘I’m heading home.’ She shrugged. ‘I just finished my shift.’
‘No car?’
Another shrug.
‘I had an odd shift. Parking is always a nightmare.’
‘Right.’
It was so stilted. So damned awkward. Like nothing he’d ever experienced before, which made him wonder how the next few months were going to go. They might not be working together per se, but their paths would certainly cross.
‘Maybe we should...have a conversation,’ he began.
Bridget, however, looked as though that was the least appealing activity she could think of. She shook her head vigorously.
‘I don’t think we should.’
‘We’re about to head out into an unfamiliar environment where we’re going to be working in close enough proximity for three months. It’s going to be difficult enough as it is, but if we don’t resolve whatever...this is between us, it’s going to be hell.’
‘I think you made your feelings pretty clear when I basically...offered myself up to you and...and you rejected me.’ She stumbled over the words in her haste to get them out, leaving Hayden to unravel them in her wake.
‘Wait. I didn’t reject you.’
She bit her lip.
‘Of course you did. And I can’t say I blame you. But I really don’t want to talk about this with you. Especially in the middle of the pavement on a busy main road.’
‘So go home, I’ll head back to my hotel room to shower and change, and I’ll pick you up within the hour. Maybe we could go for a drink.’ Except what had happened the last time he’d been out with this woman, drinking? ‘No, not a drink. But perhaps...grab a bite to eat.’
‘To what? Talk about it some more?’ She looked horrified. ‘In the middle of a restaurant while trying to eat. No, thanks. I’ve had enough humiliation for one year. Admittedly, I probably brought it on myself.’
What the hell was she talking about?
‘You didn’t bring anything on yourself,’ he countered, wondering why he was so fascinated by her.
Why even here, even now, his body was beginning to surge back into awareness.
‘We need to resolve this, Birdie,’ he said softly. ‘Before we get into an environment where your inability to be around me causes problems for other people.’
‘You’re turning this on me?’ she demanded incredulously, and that little spit of fire he remembered from the other night seemed to spark back into life.
‘That depends. I’m willing to work this out. Are you?’
Then, as if things couldn’t have gone his way any better, her stomach growled. Loudly. Hayden grinned.
‘See, you are hungry after all.’
She spluttered for a moment then glowered at him, but he didn’t care. If anything, it gave him a bit of a kick low in his belly. Because at least it didn’t mean that she was indifferent to him.
‘Fine,’ she huffed out at last. ‘One hour.’