Page 47 of Tight Spot

I gestured with my arm for her to head to the kitchen, although it was unnecessary. My home opened to a living room on the left, a wide-open dining room on the right, separated by two pillars for support. Beyond that was the butler pantry that took us straight back into the kitchen where it was all white and light gray and a double island, one for food prep, one for seating to the windows that went floor to ceiling beyond.

The windows sold me on the place. The entire back of the house, including a study tucked back past the main family room area was all floor to ceiling, tinted glass mirrors so I could see out to my acres of land while no one could see in.

“Your house is beautiful.” Hailey’s hand trailed along the marble counter while I went to the end of the food prep island, crouched down and grabbed a bottle of wine for her.

“Thanks. I like being able to have the land.”

I turned and reached for the wine opener and when I turned back, there was a soft smile on Hailey’s lips and a pink color to her cheeks.

She grinned up at me. “That’s the wine I had at Margo’s.”

“It is,” I told her and poured her a glass.

Instead of wine, I grabbed a Stella Artois beer.

“You remembered.”

It wasn’t rocket science to remember the label and order a few bottles online for her. The way she said it, though, made me think of that dickhead she’d been with.

What kind of guy would not only throw away a woman like this but treat her like such shit.

My guess, he didn’t even know how she took her coffee. Or knew what made her smile light up a room, probably because he’d spent so much time thinking of himself and juggling all the women he was cheating on her with, he didn’t give too much time to thinking about anything Haley might find important.

I took my first drink and set it down on the counter. “I feel like you should tell me exactly how big of a dick your ex is if this impresses you.”

She smirked. “I’d rather have toothpicks shoved beneath my fingernails than talk about him, if it’s all the same to you.”

Fair enough. At least for tonight. No sense in ruining the night before it began. I walked around the corner of the island until I was facing her. The memory of what we’d done in her living room hit me hard and fast, and I forced it down before I ruined her dress and we skipped the dinner.

“Wasteful,” I muttered, and her eyes narrowed. “Whoever the man was who had you, he was wasteful to not take care of the beauty he had in his hands. Bet he didn’t even realize what he had, did he?”

“Dawson,” she breathed my name.

I reached out and trailed a finger from her shoulder to her arm. Bumps rose in the wake of my touch, all the way down her arms and across her exposed chest, the rounded covers of the tops of her breasts.

“I hope you know that. I figure you’re probably still hurt, and you have every right to feel what you need to feel to move on from him, but under all that pain, I hope you know you’re worth more than a man like that.”

She was sipping her wine, and the glass froze at her bottom lip. Blue eyes, brighter than her dress because as beautiful as the fabric was, nothing could beat her blue eyes. “I do, thank you.”

“Good.” I stepped back, put space between us, more for me than her. “I finished the book you gave me.”

A book that gave me more erections than I could ever remember getting in a few hour time period. That shit was hot, and if we stayed progressing, someday, I was going to have her reading out a scene she wanted to reenact while we were reenacting it. My dick pressed against my suit pants.

We needed to finish these drinks and take off before I blew my shot at impressing Marchand.

“You did?” Her eyebrows arched into points as she sputtered out the words.

“Yeah. And I’ll let you wonder what scenes I liked the best so you have something else to think of tonight.”

“Charming. Because I hadn’t made it clear I was nervous enough?”

She had, what with the coughing fit and the flushed cheeks. I was trying to pretend it didn’t happen for her sake.

“Trust me. There’s no reason to be nervous about what we’ll be doing later…or rather, what I’ll be doing to you.”

Her tongue darted out and licked her glossy, bright pink lips. “Can you give me a hint, at least?”

I leaned in, close enough to whisper in her ear and inhale the floral scent mixed with vanilla that made my brain foggy. “Let’s just say it involves some rope.”

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