Page 34 of Finding Hayes
And we drank and laughed and stayed out way later than I’d planned. Demi dragged Romeo out of there, as she was pregnant and exhausted. I was fairly sober now, as I’d stopped drinking after that shot, but I still wouldn’t get behind the wheel, so we’d be walking home.
Savannah sauntered over to me, where I sat on my barstool, her cheeks flush, hair a wild mess of long waves flowing downher back, her jeans hugging her curves in all the right places.
She wrapped her hands around my neck, her nose brushing against mine, lips close enough to kiss. “Take me home, Woody.”
Her words slurred, and I nodded. I reached for her coat on the back of the barstool and helped her into it, before zipping it up and taking her hat from her coat pocket and pulling it over her ears. I found her mittens next, and she held her hands up. “You like taking care of me, Hayes?”
Her voice was all tease, but my dick jumped to attention at the tone of her voice. At the heat in her honey-brown eyes. I slipped the mittens over each hand and nodded.
“Always, Shortcake.”
We walked outside and said our goodbyes as we made our way home. Once it was just me and Savannah heading toward my house, she groaned. “These damn boots were not a good idea.”
I looked down at her heeled boots and chuckled before bending my knees and patting my back. “Hop on.”
“You’re going to give me a piggyback ride all the way home?” She laughed. Her words made it clear that she was still very tipsy.
“A whole block and a half, yeah. I’m a fucking firefighter. I’ve carried a lot more than a lightweight like you. Get on.”
She jumped up, and her arms wrapped around my neck, her legs around my waist, and I started walking.
“Do you think everyone noticed us acting sort of like a couple tonight?” she asked, her lips grazing my earlobe just beneath my beanie.
“They definitely noticed. What did you say to Scotty?” I’d been dying to ask since she’d come back to the table.
“I told him that we’d hung out the last few days, and those old feelings had returned,” she said, before nipping at my earlobe and shocking the shit out of me.
I yelped. “Hey. What was that for?”
“You always had sensitive lobes, remember?” she said, over a fit of laughter. “I used to love tugging on them and messing with you.”
“Yeah, you sure did.” I turned down my street and headed toward my house.
“Sometimes that feels like a hundred years ago.” I could hear the sadness in her voice.
I put the key in the door and walked inside, making my way to the couch and setting her down. I tugged off my coat and tossed it on the couch before dropping to my knees as she gaped down at me.
“What are you doing?” She tugged her mittens off and tossed them on the couch.
“I’m taking off your boots. You said your feet hurt.”
“Wow. You do know I’m a sure thing on this whole fake marriage thing, right? You don’t need to pamper me behind closed doors.” She chuckled as I tugged the first boot off and wrapped my hand around her socked foot and gave it a squeeze before doing the same to her other foot.
“Everything I do isn’t for something, Sav.” The words came out harsher than I meant them to.
She looked down at me, and her hand moved to the top of my head as her fingers scraped along my short hair. “It’s easier to hate you when I’m not around you.”
The admission hit me like a punch to the gut.
She’d blocked me. She was admitting that she hated me.
It was one thing to think it and another to hear her say the words.
“Why in the fuck would you hate me after everything we’ve been through?”
Her eyes welled with emotion, and she shook her head. “You left me, Hayes. When I needed you most. You crushed me, andit took me a long time to get over it.”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Her being drunk worked in my favor because at least she was opening up to me.
