by Leslie North
She pulled down her visor and inspected her face in the mirror. “Yeah, well, you wouldn’t get it.”
“Then explain it to me.”
Haley snapped the visor back into place and finally swung her gaze to look at him. She tried to keep the frustration at bay in her life—she really did. But here he was, knowingly poking the beast. And she’d run out of patience for the day.
“You really want to know? I’m a single mom, Nick. I don’t get help. Every day, day in and day out, I am the only person in Amanda’s life who gives a damn. Who picks her up when she falls. Who rocks her to sleep. Who feeds her and bathes her and makes sure she doesn’t swallow a billion tiny pieces of toys that will kill her. She doesn’t have a father—she has me. I signed up for that. And it doesn’t change just because some rich guy wants to give me a ride once.”
Nick’s jaw flexed as he studied her, so intensely that she almost looked away. Almost.
“I get it. You’re independent. But you can’t do everything on your own. You need help sometimes.”
“Do I?” Her phone dinged, which meant the ride share was just about a minute away. “I haven’t so far.”
“You said your mom helps.”
“She does. But when you get right down to it…it’s just me and Amanda.”
Nick sighed tersely, his gaze sweeping back over the parking lot, as if he might personally intercept the ride share and cancel it. She got out of her car and slammed the door shut. Her heart was still racing, but some calmness had started to return to her.
“Where’s Amanda’s father?”
Haley swallowed a thick knot, hoisting her purse on her shoulder. She could never name him, due to the NDA. “I don’t know. And I don’t care.”
Haley checked her phone, seeing on the map that the driver had arrived at the far side of the lot. She started walking in that direction. Nick trailed her.
“I can bring a mechanic in,” he began.
“Nick.” She stopped walking, looking back at him with wide eyes. “Did you not hear anything I just said?”
Something she didn’t know how to read flashed across his face. Something between tenderness and confusion. “I heard you.”
“Then you won’t help.” She watched him a moment longer, making sure he got it. “I get that you want to. But you can’t. Because I can’t get used to it. Okay? Just…don’t.”
She spun on her heel again, hurrying toward the ride share car. This time, Nick didn’t follow her. As she slid into the back seat of the car, emotion had tightened her throat. She smiled at the driver before fastening her eyes out the window. Staring at anything to stave off the tears.
Nick’s niceness was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
Even just a little bit of indulgence could be fatal to her stability.
6
Friday night. Nick checked his watch, then looked out the front windows again, checking for Haley’s rental.
She was scheduled to be here at six thirty for dinner and a tour of the animal rescue with Amanda. He’d convinced her to come, after she called him up with a soft thank you for the unexpected rental replacement and his help with the mechanic. He could tell that accepting help was hard for her, but damned if he was going to let his favorite person suffer just because she was a hard-ass.
This time, they hadn’t bothered to include the guise of work as their reason for meeting up. App updates were on the agenda, but neither of them pretended that it was the motivating factor for a Friday night dinner.
Gravel crunched a moment later, and Nick smiled. There she was. In her white SUV rental, which he’d picked out specifically after having her broken down SUV towed to his mechanic’s garage. He figured it would be the only way she’d let it slide—if she was technically driving the same vehicle as before. No harm, no foul.
He admired her independence. But like hell was he going to let her struggle through single mom-hood with a broken-down vehicle on top of everything else. Not after that speech she’d given him in the parking lot two days ago.
The driver’s door opened, and Haley stepped out, looking casual but still done-up. Winged eyeliner accented her glossy, high ponytail. And though she wore jeans, they were the form-fitting kind that tucked into high boots that went up her calves. Nick watched her for a moment, totally captivated.
If she had shown up on any of the dates he’d gone on so far, her app would get the green light in a second.
Nick pulled open the front door, smiling as Amanda streaked toward the door, shrieking.
“Hello there, pretty girl!” He bent down to hug her. She still had the doll with the crazy yarn hair tucked under her arm.
When he stood, Haley watched him with a small smile.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he said in a softer voice, knocking her with his hip as she came up the steps. “Pretty girl.”
“That was a pity pretty,” she said.
“Definitely not. I just don’t tell you all the time, because you don’t want to hear it.”
She narrowed her eyes, but a smile played at those full lips. “Who said I don’t want to hear it?”
“You said.”
She sighed, following him into the house. Amanda toddled off, jabbering about flowers and tiles. “I guess sometimes I like to hear it.”
Nick slid an arm around her waist, leading her toward the kitchen. She melted against him, the two of them falling into step.
“You’re not just a pretty girl,” he said quietly. “You’re a gorgeous woman.”
Haley smiled up at him but then dislodged herself a moment later. She chased after Amanda, who was leading the way through his house. “Sweetie, come back here. We don’t know where we’re going.”
“She’s going the right way,” Nick said. The hallway dumped out into the kitchen, which gleamed with granite and stainless. The back wall of windows overlooked the backyard. Haley let out a low whistle when they stepped inside.
“Damn, Nick,” she said.
“Dinner’s ready,” he said, pointing them toward the small table near the windows. He’d laid out the sushi, with Amanda’s meal staying warm in the oven.
“Wow,” Haley said, sliding onto the chair. She pulled Amanda onto her lap. “This looks nice. I’m surprised there’s no pesto.”
Nick grinned, his heart skipping a beat. There was something so easy about being with Haley. Part of him never wanted it to end. “I might have gotten pesto. As an emergency option, if the sushi didn’t go over well.”
She laughed, ripping apart the package of chopsticks near the plates. “Wow. See, now that’s…” She trailed off, shaking her head.
“What?”
She bit her lip as she prepared the tiny dishes of soy sauce with ginger. “That’s the sort of thing a girl could get used to.”
He knew what she was hinting at, and he didn’t know what to say. Because really, part of him was desperate for her to get used to it. From him. He wanted to be the person she had pesto with, the man who’d secretly replace her SUV with a lookalike rental, the guy she could count on being her number two, because she’d always be her own number one.
But he couldn’t say that. Hell no. Not even close. Because he didn’t still understand where it came from. Why he was even eager to step into a role like that.
Haley was the one woman who didn’t want his money or his help. And all he had to give was money and assistance. So clearly, the two of them were doomed.
For more reasons than just that.
“How’s the rental?” he asked, pulling Amanda’s mac and cheese from the oven with two mitts. He’d ordered it from a food delivery service, something organic and as close to homemade as possible. He brought it over along with a fork and set it down on the table.
“That’s hot, sweetie,” Haley murmured, making a display of blowing on the food. Amanda did the same, and the sight of the two of them—practically twins, twenty-five years apart—was so cute he got out his phone and snapped a picture.
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br /> “Blackmail,” he said, sliding into the seat next to her.
“Just wait,” she said. “I’ll get a picture of you and those dogs and plaster it all over your dating profile.”
He sighed, rolling up his sleeves before digging in. “Speaking of the dating profile. I reviewed your feedback report today before I left the office.”
Haley grimaced. “Yeah. Not the best, huh?”
Active users of the beta testing had weighed in, and most people complained of the same thing Nick did: lackluster matches and almost no second dates in the works. Users were uniformly unimpressed.
“What’s the plan now?”
“Well, I have a new batch of tweaks to implement.” Haley stirred the mac and cheese, letting it air out further, while Amanda wiggled in her lap, tapping chopsticks against the table. “I think these are the missing link, too. I really do. The problem is, people aren’t honest with the app.”
“I was honest.”
“Yeah, but…not really.” Haley scrunched up her nose. “You’re actually way more interesting than the guy you wanted me to put out there.”
Nick lifted a brow. She might as well have said I love you. “You think?”
“One hundred percent. And that’s just the thing. Like, you tell me you want one thing. And it’s not wrong. But you’ve also limited how much of yourself you put out there. So you’re only getting back a fraction of what you’d truly need in a match. Do you see what I’m saying?”
“Fine. But how do we equip the app to see past the self-sabotage, then?”
She frowned a little, then set the mac and cheese bowl aside so Amanda could spoon pieces into her own mouth. “That’s what my tweaks will address. And if all goes well, the next round of beta feedback will be glowing.”
Nick scooped a piece of sushi into his mouth, a single question knocking around inside his head. One he’d been dying to ask since he found out about Amanda’s father.
“Once it’s perfect, are you going to use it?”
She scoffed. “No. Definitely not.”
He swirled another piece of sushi around in the soy sauce. “I don’t get it.”
“What’s not to get?”
“How can a dating-and-marriage-app developer be so against dating and marriage?”
She sent him a look. “I’m not against it. It just doesn’t…work for me.”
“Because you got burned once.” He glanced at Amanda. “And you don’t want to get burned again.”
“Mommy got burned?” Amanda asked, looking up at her mom. “She got an ouchie?”
“No, honey. I mean, yes. But it’s a metaphorical burn. Like…” Haley paused, searching her daughter’s face. “She touched a hot skillet when she should have just stuck with a microwave meal. You know?”
Amanda hummed and continued feeding herself. Nick lifted a brow.
“Microwave meal, huh? Now that’s romantic.”
“Luckily, I don’t need or want romance. So TV dinners it is.”
Nick grunted. “Sure. But it looks pretty crappy if the head developer on an app that centers around love patently rejects it. Just saying. I can work marketing wonders, but I can’t work miracles.”
Haley was quiet for a moment as she chewed. “You really think my love life will affect the viability of the app?”
“Not necessarily. But it is ironic.”
“Well, here’s what we should do. Let’s focus on your love life.” Haley had an edge to her voice. “Let me reconfigure your profile.”
“How so?”
“Just based on what I know about you. What I’ve learned about you.” She shrugged. “If I can make it truer to life, then I’m confident we can attract someone great much quicker.”
Nick’s heart sank. Sure, it was what he wanted. But he also didn’t want this to end. There had to be a way so that both could coexist. He’d win the bet, and Haley would forever be in his life.
“If you think that’ll help,” Nick said. “Go for it.”
The three of them finished dinner, and Nick cleared the dishes while Amanda danced around the kitchen, eager to explore and meet the animals. They started their trek through the house toward the backyard, Amanda racing up to every glittery, interesting object along the way: an ornate frame in the hallway, a gemstone-encrusted pedestal he’d bought at an auction in Milan, a huge vase on the back porch from India. They followed the stone path in the backyard through the trees and past ferns until they reached a small fountain, which of course Amanda stopped to look into and swirl her hands in.
The walk toward the sanctuary was slow and enjoyable. It allowed Nick to see his own property with new eyes, because Amanda saw everything with new eyes. Once Chester bounded out of the dog cabin to greet them, Amanda shrieked.
“Doggie! That’s a doggie!” She pointed and jumped, her dark pigtails bouncing.
“His name is Chester,” Nick said, guiding her toward the fence. Kneeling down at her side, he showed her how to offer her tiny hand so Chester could get a good sniff. Amanda shrieked with laughter.
Nick offered a quick tour inside the dog cabin, showed Amanda the dogs who were living there temporarily and which ones would stay. After walking around the property for a while more, Amanda started to get tired.
“We should probably get going,” Haley said.
Nick scooped Amanda up into his arms, and she immediately laid her head on his shoulder. He didn’t want them to leave but didn’t know how to get them to stay. As they made the slow trek back toward the house, Amanda drifted off to sleep.
“You must be comfy,” Haley commented.
“Mm-hmm.” Nick grinned, stepping carefully to not disturb the sleeping girl. “You can find out for yourself sometime.”
She snorted. “Oh, come on. I thought we agreed.”
“We agreed not to do anything else. Didn’t say I couldn’t hit on you whenever I wanted.”
7
Haley sent him a private smile. One that made desire coil tight inside him.
“Fine. I’ll allow it, if you give me one more interesting detail to put in your profile on my next update.”
He sighed, looking out over the yard as they came up on the house. The pink brick, the neatly manicured gardens, the pops of pink and red and orange roses dotting the side of the house. It was all so neat. So perfect. So rich.
But it wasn’t quite enough.
He was still missing something. Having Haley at his side showed him this. But he was hesitant to admit what he was missing.
“How about this?” He jerked his head toward the house. “I picked this style of house because it looked just like one in a movie I used to watch growing up. My grandmother was obsessed with old black and white films. And one of them had a house like this.”
Haley’s face softened, and she looked back at the house, nodding. “Yeah. That’s pretty good.”
“Happy?”
“Elated.”
He grinned. “So now you. What’s the one interesting thing you’d add to your profile, if you had one, even though you’re so far above romance and dating?”
She sent him an amused look. “Well. That’s a good question.” She thought for a few moments. Their walk back to the house grew ever slower, as though both of them were hesitant to let it end. “I also love black and white films. A lot, actually. So I might add that.”
“Copycat,” he said.
She slapped his arm. “Can’t help it if we love the same thing.”
They ascended the steps set into a small hill that led up to the driveway. Once they neared the car, Nick slowed.
“We should probably just let her nap here,” he said.
Haley shook his head. “I should get going.”
“But why?”
Haley chewed on the inside of her lip, looking down the driveway. She was waging a battle inside herself. One that he intended to win.
“I mean, look at you,” Nick went on. “All dolled up. Makeup on fleek, or whatever the youth say. You got that
perfect ass in those perfect jeans.” He nudged her. “Don’t go hide it away at home.”
Haley tried to send him a stern look, but a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Did you really just say ‘on fleek’?”
“I can be hip.”
“You’re thirty. You can’t say that.”
“I’m a billionaire. I do what I want.”
She leaned against the car, squinting up at him. “Fine. You win that one.”
He nudged her again. “Stay.”
“I need to go,” she said, crossing her arms. “I know what’s gonna happen if I stay.”
“Excellent conversation and a few kisses that we both said shouldn’t happen but happened anyway?” He wet his bottom lip. “Sounds like a plan.”
Haley’s honest grin nearly broke him in two. He might never tire of looking at her. “You’re hard to resist.”
“I’m trying my best.”
She sighed. “You’re not supposed to be messing around with the app developer, you know. It’ll confuse your matches.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t tell them.”
Haley peered up at him. She was considering it, at least.
“Just let me kiss that beautiful mouth,” he said in a huskier tone. “At least one more time before you go.”
She narrowed her eyes and then opened the back door of the SUV. “Here. Put her in the car seat, at least.”
Nick eased Amanda into the seat, and she barely stirred. Haley helped him get her locked in. Once she snoozed quietly, Haley shut the back door.
“Now?” Nick said, pushing his hands over the swell of her hips. She tilted her head, exposing that delectable slice of neck. He couldn’t help himself. He pressed his lips to the creamy expanse of skin. His chest tightened. This was a start, but he needed so much more of her.
A small sigh escaped her. Like she needed it too.
“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to kiss this neck,” he murmured into that sweet crook. “I look at you every day and imagine it.”
Her fingertips trailed over his shoulders. “For how long?”
“Almost a year.” His lips traced a path from her neck up to her jawline. When their lips met, desire coiled even tighter. In a flash, he could see it all: pressing her to the hood of her car, ripping those jeans down, easing himself inside her until she moaned and tightened around him. God, he wanted her so much he could barely stand it.