Hailey cocked a brow after he left. “Why were you giving poor Mark the side eye?”
“Didn’t you see the way he looked at you?”
“Umm... you’re jealous?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened. Why was she surprised? Was she seeing someone else too? The thought was unthinkable, and yet.... For a second it felt as if my heart had stopped beating, or the air supply to my lungs had been cut off.
I swallowed hard, cupping her face, bringing her even closer.
“We spoke about there not being anyone else besides you for me. How about you?”
Her eyes widened. “No one. Of course.”
“Good. That’s good.”
She smiled, bringing her lips over mine. She tasted like honey. She’d already stolen a bite? Damn, she was adorable.
“I want to start with the honey cake,” she said when we paused to breathe. “Should I slice it in half?”
I couldn’t hold back a smile. “Would be less than half now, wouldn’t it? You already had a bite.”
She lowered her gaze to the cake, probably wondering how I could tell. She’d been careful enough that the cake still looked intact.
I leaned closer, biting her earlobe lightly, loving that the skin on her arms instantly turned to goose bumps. “I could taste it on you.”
“Busted,” she whispered. “Just had to check if it tasted as good as it looked. And it does.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself.
“You’re something. You can have it all to yourself.”
She dug into it the next second. After dinner, Hailey announced she wanted to inspect my bar closely, hopping behind the counter.
“My family used to own a bar,” she said
“Really?”
“Yeah. My parents immigrated here from Ireland and owned an Irish pub. Then Landon and Val ran it for a few years. I always wanted to snoop behind the counter, but I was too young and wasn’t allowed.”
“Let’s prepare some cocktails together.” I walked behind the counter too.
“Oooh, yes. Something that goes with the delicious dinner we just had.”
“Whatever you want. Let’s decide what we want to mix.”
She clapped her hands, inspecting the bottles closely. “Okay, I’m a wine girl, so I’ll just admit I’m clueless. I’ll trust you. Just don’t give me a hangover.”
“I’d never do that. Even though it would keep you here in the morning too.”
She glared at me. “Hey! Don’t make me regret trusting you.”
I leaned into her, kissing her cheek. “Never.”
We ended up making a mess of the whole place, but I hadn’t laughed so much in a long time. I was up late, which meant I wouldn’t be able to wake up at five tomorrow to swim before the pool opened to the other guests.
Hailey was turning my schedule upside down, but I didn’t care one bit. This wasn’t how my evenings usually went, and yet I liked everything about it: the ease between us, the way she looked at me, felt against me.