“I don’t buy it. What’s wrong? I want to know right now.”
She folded her arms over her chest, taking a deep breath.
“On your phone, I saw a message from a Mr. Lawson about your meeting with Marion.” Another deep breath, and then she spoke so quickly that I could barely understand the words. “When I plugged your phone in, the screen lit up, along with the latest notifications.”
“Doesn’t matter how you saw it—”
“I don’t want this to turn into a conversation about why I was snooping around in your phone. I wasn’t.”
“I don’t have anything to hide, Hailey. And guilting the other person into thinking they are in the wrong is a coward’s way out.”
Her shou
lders were slightly hunched, as if she wanted to roll into herself. Shit. I’d done that to her.
“So, why did you meet with her?”
“I wanted to tell her to her face what my next steps would be.”
“Reid, I’m your PR agent. I need to know about these things. Do you know how hard it is for me to do my job these days? My boss is breathing down my neck, my clients are on edge. The last thing I need is to be blindsided by some photos of you and Marion out in town.”
“The meeting was in my office. I also saw Lincoln.”
“You’re killing me.” She ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip. “Let’s just go.”
She was quiet on the way to the hotel. At first I thought she was just tired, but when we arrived in the living room, I noticed she was still tense. Her shoulders were still raised, her back stiff.
“I’m just going to go to bed early,” Hailey said quickly. “I’m just tired... and....”
She went silent when I brought a hand around her waist. I could feel all her muscles clench.
“You’re still mad at me?” I asked against her hair.
“No, no. It’s not that. I just....”
“I’m not letting you go to bed like this.”
“What? I just said that’s what I want.”
“No, it’s not. You want something else, but whatever it is, you don’t want to say it. I’ll wait you out.” I could feel we were on the edge of something, both of us pushing. If I relented now, she’d shut me out. If I kept pushing, I risked her getting angry, but I couldn’t just leave things like this.
“Look, I’m sorry I’ve overreacted back at the house. I just... I don’t know, I saw that message and... tonight, Marion was at the designer presentation, and she made it seem like you’re not telling me everything.”
Fucking hell.
“So you were jealous?”
She swallowed, pointing a finger at me. “Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not. I’m not mocking you.” I touched her cheek, bringing my hand to the back of her head, leaning closer. “In fact, I’m weirdly happy about it.”
“Now you’re being mean.”
“Just honest. You caring so much that you’re jealous... I can’t tell you what that does to me, Hailey. Woman, you have no idea how much power you have over me.”
She relaxed under my touch, but folded her arms against her chest.
“Still being mean. You’re lucky I love you so much, Mr. Broody.”