Love to Hate You: a Hope Valley novel

by Prince, Jessica

  And just thinking of having something long-term with this woman had my dick swelling to half-mast. I decided right then and there, even if she fought it tooth and nail, it wasn’t going to matter. The end result would be the same no matter what. I was keeping her. She’d just have to deal with it.

  “I don’t think that was very smart of us,” she finally said in a tiny voice.

  I raised my brows high on my forehead. “Really? ’Cause I think what we did was pure fuckin’ genius.”

  Her lips curved up as she giggled. Hearing that and seeing her smile made my dick twitch, which caused her eyes to go big. “Wait. Already?”

  “You have to ask that after the last time?” The muffled sounds from the party happening outside filtered through the window just then, reminding me we had other obligations and couldn’t spend the rest of the day and night in this bed like I wanted. I let out a grumbled curse at having the moment ruined. “Looks like we’ll have to take a raincheck on that.”

  “Micah.” Hayden’s voice was dripping with trepidation as she said my name. “Everyone out there is gonna know what we just did.”

  “Okay. So?”

  She arched a single brow in bewilderment. “So? So our friends are gonna think there’s something going on with us.”

  “Good,” I stated simply. “Then we’ll all be on the same page.”

  “Micah!” she cried agitatedly, giving my shoulder a weak shove that didn’t budge me at all. “They’re going to get the wrong idea! They’ll think we’re together or something. Like, a couple.”

  I grinned down at her, finding her cluelessness adorable. “Baby, that’s not the wrong idea.”

  “Yeah, but—wait. What?”

  “That isn’t the wrong idea. This is happening.”

  “But—we haven’t even talked—”

  Lowering my head, I silenced her with a hard, hungry kiss, dipping my tongue into her sweet mouth for just the smallest taste before pulling back. She followed after me, a sound of displeasure rasping up her throat at me having stopped. “You just proved my point,” I stated smugly. “One kiss, and you were chasing after me for more.”

  Her brows dipped and her face scrunched up in a scowl. “Don’t be arrogant.”

  “Don’t be so damn stubborn,” I threw back. “What I’m getting at is that we’re both drawn to each other in a way that’s impossible to ignore. I’ve never felt about another woman the way I feel when I’m around you, and I want to explore that, Hayden. And you can argue all you want, but you want to explore this too. You know I’m right.”

  She blinked up at me slowly, the deep blue of her eyes full of fear. For a moment, I thought she was going to deny it, but she surprised me by nodding in agreement.

  “Good. Then we’re doing this.”

  “I-I guess we are,” she replied, sounding hesitant and hopeful at the same time.

  I hardened my expression, making my tone serious as I told her, “That means staying away from Greg Cormack. Got it?”

  At my bossiness, her eyes flashed with fire once more. “For your information,” she started snidely, “I told him I wasn’t interested before you behaved like a Neanderthal. If you’d have let me explain instead of acting like a jackass, I could have told you that.”

  “If I’d let you explain first, we wouldn’t have had that angry fuck against your bedroom wall,” I countered.

  Her gaze drifted up and to the side as she mumbled, “Hmm. Good point.” When those vivid blues returned to me, she smiled proudly. “And that was a pretty exceptional angry fuck, wasn’t it?”

  “Christ, Red. That’s an understatement. I thought the back of my skull was gonna blow off.”

  Her giggle reminded me of windchimes swaying in a breeze. “We’re really good at that,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Like, really good.”

  A pained groan worked its way past my lips. “You gotta stop being cute, or we’re never gonna leave this room.” Her plump bottom lip jutted out in a tiny pout. I bent to give it a little nip before pushing off the bed and pulling her up with me, finally breaking our connection. “I know your game,” I said accusingly as I removed the used condom and tied it off, tossing it in the trash bin beside her bed. I hiked my pants back onto my hips and tucked my semi inside. “You were about to use The Look to get your way, weren’t you?”

  She gave me a wide-eyed innocent expression as she righted her bra and pulled the straps of her dress back onto her shoulders. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The corner of my mouth twitched as I fought back a grin. “Bullshit. I just mentioned leaving the bed and that bottom lip came right out. You were totally about to use it.”

  She arched that brow and hit me with a seductive grin. “And if I was?”

  I moved in and grabbed her by the hips, pulling her flush against me. “Two can play that game.”

  I could see the curiosity dancing in her gaze. “Meaning?”

  I lowered my head and spoke against her lips. “Meaning, you pull that shit on me again, I’m not gonna let you come until you beg for it.”

  She sucked in a gasp, leaning deeper into me, and I knew right then that I had her.

  And I couldn’t fucking wait to get her in my bed.

  * * *

  Hayden might have been anxious when we rejoined the party, but I couldn’t help but grin like a son of a bitch as we hit the yard, garnering attention and knowing looks from our friends.

  Hayden tried pulling her hand from mine, but I wasn’t having any of that. I tightened my grip and used it to pull her until she was pressed right up against my side. Only then did I release her hand so I could sling my arm over her shoulders.

  Leaning in, I spoke quietly out of the side of my mouth as I guided us toward where Leo was standing with Dani, Hayes, Tempie, Eden, and Linc. “You keep actin’ so stiff, people might start to think you don’t like me.”

  She turned her head and tipped it back, hitting me with a glare that did a piss-poor job at masking the humor dancing in her eyes. “I don’t like you. I hate you, remember?”

  “Damn, Red. You just love to hate me, don’t you?”

  She finally got with the program, raising her arm and hooking it around my waist as she grinned. “You’re finally getting it.”

  “Well don’t you two just look cozy,” Tempie teased as soon as we hit the group, but I was too busy scanning the yard to pay attention to whatever Hayden said in return. “Hey, you guys know where Ivy is? I promised her earlier I’d teach how to throw a football.”

  Hayden’s head spun around quickly. “Don’t you think she’s a little small to be catching a football?”

  My arm around her clenched as I grinned down at her worried face. “For a chick who loves wearin’ tutus, she’s all tomboy. She’ll be fine. That kid’s tough as nails.”

  Lincoln lifted his beer bottle, pointing toward the back of the property. “Think I saw her hangin’ with some of Gypsy’s brood earlier.”

  Gypsy was married to one of his guys, Marco, and while they didn’t have any kids of their own, they had custody of Gyspy’s five siblings.

  I shifted my attention toward the back of the yard just in time to see Gypsy’s three-year-old brother Raleigh totter up to Ivy and grab her hair, pulling her face down so he could give her a big, smacking kiss.

  Every muscle in my body locked tight as I grunted, “The hell?” I let go of Hayden and booked it across the yard with single-minded focus. I reached them just as Raleigh was going in for a second kiss—one that the little monster was already puckering up for.

  “Nuh uh,” I clipped, scooping Ivy off the ground and holding her to my chest as I twisted to shoot a murderous scowl at the little kiss thief. “No kissing allowed.”

  “But Mike!” Ivy cried. “He’s my best friend.”

  I looked at her, my expression showing every bit of indignation I was feeling just then. “Like hell. I’m your best friend. And you’re way too damn young to be kissin’ boys,” I sc
olded as I started stomping back toward Hayden.

  I threw a finger out at Gypsy and Marco as I passed them, ignoring the fact they were both cracking up. “You keep that handsy little toddler away from my girl, or he and I are gonna have some words.”

  That only made them laugh harder.

  “Well, how old do I gots to be to kiss boys?” she asked, making my stomach sink like a rock.

  “Seventy-two,” I answered quickly, making her blue eyes go big.

  “But that’s forever away!”

  “Exactly,” I grunted under my breath just as we reached her mom’s side. “I’ll be dead by then so I won’t have to see it.”

  “Think you might have over reacted just a bit?” Hayden asked as she took her daughter from me and balanced her on her hip.

  “No. That boy’s trouble. I can already tell.”

  “Mommy, Mike owes me two dollars!” Ivy declared excited. The she proceeded to snitch on me. “He said damn and hell!”

  Instead of giving me a reproachful look, her head fell back on a long, loud laugh that worked wonders in unfurling the knot that had formed in my chest as soon as I saw that dirty rat’s lips on Ivy.

  I watched her for a second before I felt a pair of eyes on me. When I looked across our group I saw Leo watching me with a smug-as-hell grin on his face.

  “You’re so screwed,” he mouthed.

  I was. I so was. But I didn’t care one damn bit.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Micah

  Walking into the station Monday morning, I felt better than I had in months. Now that Dalton was sticking to Charlie’s back like a leech, I could rest easier knowing she was safe. And after weeks of walking around in a near-constant state of arousal, all because of a certain redhead, that nagging ache in my gut—and groin—had been alleviated . . . at least temporarily.

  I was counting down the minutes until I could slide back inside Hayden, but the pressure building inside me was no longer at risk of erupting at any moment.

  I moved through the bullpen, not noticing that the noise all around me had dropped to a lull until I reached my desk. Leo was already at his, leaned back in his chair with his feet kicked up, grinning like the cat that caught the canary. I glanced over at the desk clump beside ours and noticed Hayes and Trick were watching me as well, both wearing expressions similar to my partner’s.

  “What’s goin’ on?” I asked, my voice coated with suspicion.

  “Nothin’,” Hayes replied, bringing his arms up to lace his fingers together behind his head, the picture of relaxation. “Just thinkin’ of all the shit I’m gonna buy with my half of your paycheck.”

  My chin jerked back into my neck. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

  “The bet, asshole,” Trick answered, looking way too pleased with himself. “We told you you’d find a woman one day and go ass over elbow for her. Your cocky ass was so sure that wouldn’t happen, you bet your paycheck.”

  Goddamn it. I’d forgotten about that. “If I remember correctly, that bet was about getting married.” I collapsed into my chair and sucked back a big gulp of coffee that I’d gotten earlier at Muffin Top. “And that’s not on the table, so you guys can fuck off.”

  “It may not be on the table yet,” Hayes said. “Did you forget we were there Saturday? We all saw how you acted when you thought Cormack was encroaching. You just quit runnin’ in the middle of a play! Cost us the game and everything. All so you could whip your dick out and piss a circle around your woman.”

  “Jesus, man,” Trick jumped in. “I thought for a second, if you’d had your gun on you, you’d have shot him.”

  Chances were, if I’d had my gun, I might have at least stopped to consider it. Especially knowing what I knew. I shared a quick, private look with Leo where he silently communicated he’d have considered the same damn thing.

  “And we were also there when you two came back more than half an hour later, lookin’ way too damn pleased with yourselves, and you couldn’t keep your hands off her the rest of the night,” Hayes added.

  “Well, it’s not an issue anymore.” Not that it ever was. As far as I cared, Hayden had been mine since that night in Richmond. “Not like that asshole stood a chance.” And soon it would be moot, because Leo and I were going to make goddamn sure that prick never breathed free air again.

  Leo glanced at something past my shoulder, and whatever it was had him fighting back a grin. “Looks like word about you and Hayden’s PDA fest the other night made its way through the whole town.” He stopped fighting it and grinned full on as he turned his focus back to me. “Someone’s pissed.”

  I turned to peer over my shoulder and saw Cormack was standing with a couple other uniforms at the entrance to the bullpen. They might have been engaged in conversation, but his focus was on me, and he was not happy. I didn’t have it in me to give a single fuck.

  “I gave him fair warning she was mine and he needed to back the hell off. Not my fault he didn’t listen.”

  If it was the last thing I ever did, I’d make sure he never got anywhere near Hayden Young ever again.

  * * *

  Hayden

  The trail of sweat starting at my scalp leading to the waistband of my fitted yoga pants probably looked about as sexy as I felt sliding down the pole. As soon as my butt hit the ground, I collapsed, my arms and legs spread wide as I desperately sucked in air.

  McKenna’s sleek blonde hair hung around her face as she stood over me. “You alive down there?”

  “Barely,” I wheezed. “I’ve got one foot in the grave right now, and it’s all your fault.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, you actually did pretty good today,” she said on a laugh.

  I peeled myself off the cool tile and sat up, taking the water bottle she was holding out for me and chugging half of it down in a few gulps. “It doesn’t, but thanks anyway.”

  She sat down on the floor beside me and took a drink from her own bottle. Today was my first pole dance lesson with McKenna, and the woman was the devil in a pair of boy shorts and a sports bra. Several times throughout the hour, I loudly questioned our friendship, but she didn’t seem to care, laughing it off each time.

  “Does that mean you aren’t coming back for a second lesson?” she asked, looking far too pleased with herself.

  I shot her a killing scowl. “Right now I’m more concerned that you may have broken my body, so I’m not really thinking that far in advance.”

  She rolled her eyes at my dramatics. “Oh, you’ll be fine. Just go home and soak in a hot bath. Or, maybe you can ask a certain next door neighbor to massage away all your aches and pains.”

  “You’ve been waiting all afternoon for me to set you up like that, haven’t you?”

  She spun on the floor to face me full-on, tucking her criss-crossed legs in close to her body. “You know it. And now that it’s out there, it’s time to spill. What’s going on between you guys? I want to know everything.”

  Honestly, I was surprised it had taken her this long to bring it up. It had been two days since the cookout. Two days since Micah and I had angry sex against my bedroom wall. Two days since he went all over-protective-dude on poor little Raleigh. And two days since we rejoined the party and he spent the rest of the time touching me in some way, whether it was holding my hand, casually draping his arm around my waist, or grabbing my hips in order to pull me against him whenever he felt like it.

  As it turned out, Micah didn’t shy away from public displays, and it surprised me—pleasantly—to discover he was such a tactile person.

  But as the evening wore on, I began to notice an unusual amount of attention coming our way. At first I attributed it to the fact that we’d entered my house only a few steps away from being enemies, then came out a while later as a couple. I assumed it wouldn’t take long for the interest to wear off and everyone to adjust, but the more he touched me, the more fascinating we seemed to become.

  “What’s the deal with everyo
ne being so interested in what’s going on with Micah and me? Is it a small town thing or something? I don’t get it.”

  “More like it’s a Micah Langford thing.”

  My head canted to the side in confusion. “What does that mean?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing bad,” she said quickly. “In fact, it’s actually pretty great. We’re just not used to seeing Micah being so touchy-feely is all.”

  “So, he’s kind of private?”

  “Not really. I mean, when he’s interested in a woman he has no problem showing it, but that hardly ever lasts longer than a night. Micah’s not really known around here for being the relationship type. He’s had too much fun being single, if you know what I mean.”

  I could tell by her tone that she was only teasing, but there was no stopping that sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was like swallowing a brick. “So, what you’re saying is he’s a player.”

  Her eyes lit with understanding as she looked at me. Giving a slow shake of her head, she replied, “No. I wouldn’t say a player. He just liked the bachelor lifestyle. But, Hayden, no one has ever seen him with a woman how he was with you Saturday. Not in all the years he’s lived here. Micah Langford doesn’t hold hands. I watched him with you. It was like he couldn’t touch you enough. Any time you started to drift out of his reach, he was quick to pull you back.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It could’ve been the after-effect of really amazing sex,” I insisted.

  She made a face that screamed girl please. “An after-effect that lasted six hours?”

  “It was really amazing sex.”

  “Then maybe that’s part of what makes you the exception for him, instead of the rule.”