Page 67 of Take My Hand

He spins around and raises an eyebrow at me.

“Do you wanna join us?” I ask him and feel my dad’s knowing gaze on my face.

Hayden’s eyes search mine for a moment, looking for more than just confirmation of a dinner invitation. He smiles at what he sees and sends the guys ahead without him. One of the guards tries to stick behind but he shoos him away, assuring him he’ll be fine. No one is looking at Hayden twice in this busy streamline of people rushing to their cars or baggage claim.

As he joins us, my dad offers to take one of the bags off of him but Hayden politely declines and I see the approval in my dad’s face at him carrying my bag for me.

“Well, let’s eat,” he says and throws an arm around my shoulder, leading us out and to his truck.

22

HAYDEN

“So I’m your friend, huh?” I whisper to Carter while her dad talks to the hostess to get us a table.

Carter cringes slightly and gives me an apologetic smile. “You are my friend. But you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Like what?” I push. I’m not letting her off the hook just yet. It stung to hear her refer to me as her friend and the bassist of the band she’s been working for. Not that either of those things are incorrect. But my feelings for her go past both of those labels, especially after what went down yesterday. And I just hope hers do too.

“Like that’s all you are to me. But you know we haven’t really talked about…that yet.” She crosses her arms and stares ahead, looking around the restaurant. It’s a bar and grill type place, with screens playing multiple sports games at once around a bar and booths lining the perimeter. There’s a decent sized crowd at the high-top tables near the bar, but not many patrons scattered amongst the booths due to the early time of day yet.

But my stomach rumbles, and I hope the music filtering through the air drowns out the sound.

“Well, do you want to talk about it?” I ask.

“Do you?”

“I want you to be my girlfriend.”

Her head whips toward me, hair fanning out with the motion and brushing the sleeve of my hoodie. She stares at me in surprise by my bluntness, but I’m not mincing my words. It’s what I want, what I think she wants, so why not put it out there? Yesterday changed something between us and I think she felt it too.

By the way her eyes soften and she bites her bottom lip, I know I’m right. I’d love nothing more than to pull that lip between my teeth right now, but with her dad not more than ten feet away from us, now isn’t the right time for that.

“I want you to be my boyfriend,” she says with a shy smile. Her words shoot straight to my chest.

“Then it’s settled.” I pull her into my side and enjoy the way her body fits so perfectly with mine. She lifts her head and presses a kiss against my cheek like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Her lips leave an invisible burn behind as the hostess shows the three of us to a table at the back of the restaurant, away from the bar and its crowd.

I squeeze Carter’s hand in a silent thanks as I know she must’ve mentioned something to her dad about putting in that request. She gives me a squeeze in return and slides into one side of the booth, leaving room for me to sit next to her.

Roger sits on the opposite side and thanks the hostess as he takes the menu from her.

“Let me reintroduce you since I sort of clammed up earlier,” Carter says, putting her elbows on the table and looking between us.

“Dad, this is Hayden. My boyfriend.”

Roger lets out a small laugh that I follow with one of my own. “Hayden, this is my dad, Roger. I think that’s all set now.” She sits back with a satisfied smile.

“So you’re the reason I haven’t been hearing from my daughter much lately, huh?” he asks, but his tone is light, teasing. Carter rolls her eyes at him but doesn’t bother correcting him.

“Apologies for that, sir,” I say, but I’m not really sorry. It’s nice to know that I’ve been as much of a distraction for Carter lately as she’s been for me.

“Call me Roger.”

A waiter comes over to bring us waters and get any other drink orders in. Roger and Carter make small talk as we all look over the menu when my phone buzzes in my pocket.

Pulling it out as discreetly as I can just to check to make sure it’s not Will or someone else from my family trying to get ahold of me. But nope, it’s Walker.

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