Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set

by Maddie James

  “Same to you, sweetie.” Her voice was a little horse.

  “What are you doing up this early?”

  “I set my alarm. I wanted to call and say hi before you got to work.”

  Warmth spread through his chest. He could get used to this. Because of Lori, they’d ended each night—even if it was early in the morning—by returning to their own beds in their own houses, but for the last three days, she called to talk to him while he drove in. “Will I see you today?”

  “Mmm-hmmm. After I get some more sleep, I’m going to head to the hospital and help Dad with his therapy. The doctor is talking about moving him to the rehab facility today. So, I need to talk all that over with Jake. How about if I come by after your lunch rush? About two o’clock?”

  “Sounds good. If you need anything at the hospital, call me.” Having parked the truck, he leaned his elbow against the window and his head against his hand. Through the windshield he could see his aunt and his fry cook waiting for him to unlock the doors. Wanda had a large smile on her face, seeing him on the phone.

  “Hey… get some more sleep. I’ll talk to you later.” He flipped the phone off and got out of the truck. Pushing it into his back pocket and swinging his keys on the ring finger of his other hand, he walked toward the door and his waiting employees.

  “Troubles at home?” Her voice had that all knowing lilt.

  She knew he’d been talking to Hailey but was going to make him say it. “Nope. Everything is fine. Anna and Lori were both sleeping soundly when I left.” Saying that, he realized it had been the first time in a long time that Lori hadn’t woken up with nightmares.

  “I see,” she said as they walked into the storage room. “A little early to be making phone calls.”

  He couldn’t contain the large smile. He could be just as coy as Wanda was. “I wasn’t making them. I was receiving one. What’s the soup of the day going to be?”

  “Oh I was thinking of maybe doing something like Italian Wedding soup.”

  She was still referring to his phone call. That much was obvious. “Whoa-now. Way, way too soon.”

  ****

  As the lunch rush started to slow, Nate found his gaze flipping between his watch and the front door. Even though he knew Hailey’s time prediction had been an estimate, he still found himself counting the minutes until he saw her again.

  A half-hour later, she crossed the threshold. She smiled at him, but he could see that below the façade, she carried a lot of stress.

  He filled two glasses with cola and let the waitress behind the counter know he was taking a break before joining Hailey in a booth. “How did everything go at the hospital?”

  She took a sip from the glass. “Really good. Dad seems to be in less pain and he worked hard in the therapy session.”

  It wasn’t her father’s health that had her worried. Then what? “Are they moving him to the rehabilitation facility?”

  “First thing tomorrow morning.”

  She answered his questions, but he could see the real story was in the unspoken words. After a moment, she reached into her purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

  “I got an email this morning. From a law firm in the city.”

  He took the offered paper and unfolded it. Scanning the first paragraph, he realized that she’d been offered a job. Not just any job offer, a darn good one.

  His shoulders dropped like a deflating balloon and a lump formed in his throat. At least this time she was talking to him before she left. “When do you have to go?”

  She reached for the email. “I’m not. I just wanted to be honest and tell you about it.”

  “What do you mean you’re not? This is a fantastic offer.” Her annual salary would be more than the diner had netted in the last two years.

  “I didn’t even apply to this firm. The email was a total shock. I made a couple of phone calls, and it turns out Rhonda’s father knows one of the managing partners. I never would have gotten this if my uncle hadn’t called in a favor.”

  “That doesn’t mean you let this kind of opportunity pass by.”

  “She’s just trying to prove a point to me.”

  “There isn’t anything wrong with accepting help from your family.”

  Hailey tossed the paper down to the table and leaned back in the booth crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Really? You want me to leave?”

  Want this? Hell, no. But part of him had expected it. Even knew it was coming. So why was it ripping him in two. “I don’t want you to give up a job offer like that. In time, you’ll end up resenting me. Then you’ll just leave anyway.”

  “You’re wrong. I want this.” She pointed back and forth between the two of them. “Whatever this is that I ran away from before, I want to stay and figure it out now. How many times do I have to say it before you believe me?”

  How easy would it be to say okay and accept this time around she had chosen a chance at love over a great career? Fear pulled him back from the ledge, refused to let him blindly jump.

  Rhonda and Jake had both warned her moving back home was just something she was going through: a crisis. Rhonda believed it so much she was trying to prove it to Hailey. Everyone in Hailey’s life—but her—believed she belonged in the city. It wasn’t fair to hold her tight. In time, she’d resist the restraints and flee from him.

  And Lori.

  Why hadn’t he listened to his heart on this one? Backed off when she’d come at him—or at the very least kept Lori protected from the inevitable heartache.

  “You need to explore this job. If you don’t, you’ll regret it. Not this week. Maybe not next. But someday.”

  “No. You’re wrong. I did tell Rhonda the other day that a job offer might change things, but I know differently now.”

  Nate felt his throat tighten. While she was telling him she was here for the long haul, she was telling her cousin it was only until something better came along. “You said that?”

  “As soon as I saw this email, I chose you and Lori. Without hesitation.”

  Nate dug his nails into his jeans beneath the table, searching for the strength to do what he knew needed to be done. “These last few days have been great, but we need to stop this.”

  “What are you doing? Putting me through some test?”

  He shook his head. “You’re not a small town girl anymore. You’re definitely not a small town lawyer. This way of life is too distant from your apartment in the Village and Sax Fifth Avenue.”

  “Stop it. That’s not who I am!”

  He flattened out the crinkled page on the table in front of her and pointed to the line that included a salary offer. “Do you know how long it would take me to earn that much money?”

  “What makes you think I ever planned on living off what you make? I told you I want to build my own practice here.”

  “That takes time.”

  “I know that.”

  He tapped his finger on the amount again. “This community would never give you this kind of income.”

  “It’s not all about the money! Money won’t bring my mom back. It won’t repair my father’s mind. I’ll be damned if I let it come between you and me.”

  “That’s easy to say now. But in time…”

  “Let’s talk about time. In eight years there wasn’t a single day that passed without me thinking about you, without me thinking about that night in the back of your old pickup truck. I suspect it’s been the same for you, or you would have gotten rid of it a long time ago.”

  She knew the same realization he’d come to this morning, but he couldn’t say it. Brick by brick, the protective wall she’d busted through was erecting itself once again. “I kept the truck because I couldn’t afford anything else. Nothing more.”

  “If I stay—”

  “It won’t work.”

  “Then why don’t you and Lori come to the city with me?”

  Nate felt his chest tighten. He just wasn’t the kind of guy who could live day in and
day out in one of the busiest cities of the world. “This is foolish. It doesn’t matter. We’re over. There isn’t any room in Lori’s and my life for you. We have to stop living in the past, wake up from this Christmas fantasy and get back to our real lives.”

  Hailey’s eyes began to glaze over and Nate knew if he didn’t leave right now, she would break his will. He’d admit he didn’t mean a word of it and take her back in his arms, kiss her sweet lips.

  But it would only be temporary.

  Nate slid out of the booth and started for the kitchen. He didn’t turn back when she called his name. Just murmured, “I’ll be back later,” to his head waitress before going through the kitchen and stock room. He grabbed his coat from the hook by the door and slipped it on, pulling the truck keys from the pocket.

  He slammed the door, turned the key and started to throw it into reverse when he saw Hailey through the windshield coming from the back of the restaurant. She rounded the truck and tried to open the passenger door, but it was locked.

  “Go back to New York!”

  She slapped her hand against the window. “Open this door! Talk to me.”

  He closed his eyes tight, counting to five. He couldn’t follow his own heart and let her in the truck and his life, not when he knew the best thing for her waited back in the city. “There’s nothing left to talk about.”

  He started to back up. Slowly at first, but when she jumped away, he picked up his speed and pointed the truck for home.

  ****

  Nate parked at the end of his drive and stepped out into the snow bank. He slammed the door, flakes of rust dropped from the bottom, falling against the white snow. He stepped back as Hailey’s accusatory words in the diner rolled through his mind.

  He started for the house but then fished the keys out of his pocket.

  Screw this. What was he thinking? Damn the truck and the memories it held. He wanted Hailey.

  Two steps back toward the vehicle and he spun again.

  No!

  Forget what his heart wanted. His mind and his gut had been down this road with her before. A few days of fun was one thing, but he could never stand in the way of that job. It was laughable to think the restaurant would ever produce a similar income to the one she offered. She would never get the cases in the farming community that she would in New York.

  Eventually she’d get bored. Bored with the slower lifestyle. Bored with him.

  She was too good at what she did and too far gone from the small town way of life to be completely content here. He knew that way back then. It’d been proven again today.

  Putting off the inevitable was the smart thing to do. As much as this hurt, it would be worse later.

  Or had he taken a page out of her book and was running away from what scared him most?

  Chapter Twenty

  Hailey spent twenty minutes driving to different family member’s houses before she found Rhonda’s car sitting in front of her uncle’s house. Neither one of them was leaving town before Rhonda heard exactly how Hailey felt about the interference in her life.

  Her cousin opened the door and stepped aside, letting Hailey in to the entry. She nearly ran into a packed suitcase with Rhonda’s coat laying over it. “So, were you going to mess up my life then run for home?”

  Rhonda shrugged her shoulder. “I was hoping for a thank you. After all, my father got you in at a great law firm. They’re willing to give you some lee-way on the kinds of cases you take to trial too.”

  “You cost me Nate! Even though I told him about the offer—made it clear I didn’t want the job—he still broke up with me.”

  “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think he’s right. You don’t belong here. This last year has been one crisis after the other for you. But tomorrow, we get to push a reset button. For you, a new year is going to be a new start and a new job. You’ll see. You can bounce back from everything that’s happened to you.”

  Hailey squared her shoulders and met Rhonda’s stare. “Why is no one listening to me? I want that fresh start to be here with Nate.”

  Rhonda closed the distance, pulled her into a hug. “You know that’s not moving forward. He’s a symbol of a less complicated past.”

  Hailey pulled herself out of her cousin’s embrace. “You don’t know. I’m so tired of everyone around me telling me what I’m going through and what I’m feeling. I know what I want.”

  “You’re not interested in that job at all?”

  Hailey leaned back against the door. If she were to be completely honest, when she opened the email, her heart skipped a beat. The idea of being back in the big game thrilled her… for about thirty seconds. Then, she thought of the few days and nights with Nate and Lori. From taking Lori to the horses to skiing with Nate, from the family dinner to the quiet evening sharing some wine. She’d felt her life had come full circle—a happiness she hadn’t felt in quite some time—and didn’t want to give it up for a return to the city.

  So, Nate had made that decision for her, protected his own heart and Lori’s from what he assumed would be the inevitable.

  To him, she was an open book, a transparent shell. He’d always known her heart, and believed when the going got tough, she ran. The piece of her that wanted to stay behind and prove him wrong submitted to part that was sick and tired of proving she’d changed.

  “Okay.”

  “You’re going to take the job?”

  She nodded her head. “I’m going to go pack the car and go home. I’ll meet with your dad’s friend and talk about it.”

  Her cousin smiled. Not one of being proven right, but a smile that said she was truly happy. “Call me. Let me know how it goes?”

  Hailey nodded and let herself out, wondering if this was the right answer why it was breaking her heart in two.

  ****

  As Hailey came down the steps with her two suitcases, she heard her brother calling her name from the kitchen. She hollered out to him and they met up in the living room.

  “Rhonda just called me,” Jake said.

  “So, you know I’m leaving.”

  He nodded once.

  “I’m still committed to helping out with Dad. I will be back in about a week. “

  “I realized the other day I haven’t told you enough how proud I am of you. We all are.”

  She dropped the bags and threw her arms around her brother’s neck. “You can go ahead and rent the house to Nate and Lori. I won’t fight it. In fact, I like the idea of them being here.” Her voice cracked and a lump formed in her throat.

  Jake tightened the embrace. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She collapsed against her big brother. “No. It’s not. I don’t want to go. I want to stay with Nate.”

  “Then stay.”

  “He doesn’t want me. He told me to go take the job because we don’t have a future anyway.” She pulled back and wiped a tear off her cheek. “I think he’s afraid of standing in the way of my future. He wouldn’t listen to me when I told him he was more important than any job.”

  “Give him some time to cool off then go talk to him.”

  Hailey shook her head. “That was my initial thought, but—when it comes down to it—he doesn’t trust me. He can’t forgive me for leaving back then and has himself convinced I will eventually do it again. I’m not sure I can overcome that. Without trust, we didn’t have a chance anyway.”

  Jake didn’t respond, only nodded. “Are you sure you want to leave now? Would it be better to wait until morning?”

  “I called the firm. They can meet with me tomorrow afternoon. I need to get at least part way there tonight in order to make the meeting. I’m going to stop by and say good bye to Dad and then get on the road.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nate shifted his weight in the chair, checking his watch again.

  It’d been hours since he put a very abrupt end to his relationship with Hailey. Somehow it felt like days and weeks had passed. He hungered for anoth
er taste of her lips, and craved the touch of her flesh to his.

  Part of him had expected her to show up, and once again push at his defensive walls until he crumbled and took her back in his arms.

  A knock on the front door pulled him out of tangled thoughts. There she was. He thought about not answering but couldn’t stop himself from standing and walking to the door, chanting the mantra to stay strong.

  Pulling the dingy curtain aside, he saw Jake standing on the front steps, and reluctantly let him in. “What’s up?”

  “I went by the diner looking for you, buddy. You’ve taken a lot of time off this week.”

  “Well things will be getting back to normal starting tomorrow.” Nate led Jake into the living room, reaching for the right words. “I ended things with Hailey.”

  “I know. I went by the house and talked to her for a few minutes before she left.”

  “She’s gone?”

  “I imagine. She was going to stop by the hospital to say good-bye to Dad, but she wanted to make it to Pennsylvania tonight. She’s got a meeting tomorrow afternoon with the firm that offered her the job.”

  So that was that. She could sit across the table from him insisting she wanted a life back here but as soon as he pushed her toward her real world, she ran away without looking back.

  Just like he knew she would. Why did he have to be so damn right?

  When he didn’t say anything, Jake continued, “She told me to go ahead and lease the house to you and Lori. You’ll have to give me a couple of weeks to get it cleaned up—”

  “There’s no rush. I’m not sure I can afford to do it anyway.” Just days ago, getting him and his daughter into that house had been at the top of his goal list. Now, he couldn’t imagine being within those walls without Hailey.

  “But what about Lori and the horse she wanted?”

  He backtracked. “You know what, a few weeks is good for me. I just need some time to put some things in order.” And my feelings. Would weeks be enough time?

  “Okay,” Jake said, then turned for the door. After a few steps, he spun back. “Tell me it’s none of my business, but I’m going to give you a little advice I’ve been carrying around for a while. Isolating Lori is just as bad for her as it is for you. You’ve both been hurt. For you, more than once by my sister, but locking both of you up away from people isn’t a good defense from that pain. A life without risk, well, that’s not really living. Is it?”