Page 41 of Hello Tease

KNOX

Despite the heatthat stuck around all night in the middle of the Texas summer, a chill swept over me as I walked outside.

I’d taken my chance with Larkin. I’d laid my heart on the line. I’d told her exactly what I hoped we could become. And she’d walked away.

My heart ached from her rejection, from singing my mom’s song to Emily, wondering if I would ever be able to sing that song again to her, to my own family, and keep my mom’s memory alive.

I knew I couldn’t go home. Couldn’t see the kitchen where I’d felt her, moments away from giving into me. Couldn’t see the couch where I’d sat with the children, dangerously imagining what it would feel like to one day call them my own. To have Larkin sitting on the couch with us. Couldn’t walk past the first guest room with the bunk bed Larkin told me Emily would love, where her daughter had read so sweetly to Jackson.

But my dad went to bed early, and Fletcher had a family of his own to worry about. So I went to see the one guy I knew would be awake. He might not be alone, but damn it, I needed him.

I’d never felt this out of control, not since I was a teenager making every possible mistake. But I was grown now with a job I cared about. I couldn’t go down that road again, no matter how tempting it looked with everything I wished for walking away from me.

I got in my truck, firing it up and driving away from our sleepy little street. It took all of a few minutes to get to Hayes’s garage. Sometimes he stayed after hours to work on projects when he knew someone really needed their vehicle back quickly.

But the only light on was the security light casting an eerie glow over the large cement parking lot. Heaving a sigh, I continued on my way to his house on the outskirts of town. He lived in a two-bedroom house and kept the guest bedroom filled with extra parts. Not because he didn’t have room at the shop but because when you had an extra room, “women got ideas.”

Now that I was pulling into his gravel driveway, an extra car parked behind his that I didn’t recognize, I wondered why I’d come here at all. Hayes was terrible with women. Or too good, depending on how you looked at it.

But he was here, and judging by the lights on in his front window, he was awake.

So I got out of my truck and walked to the front door, banging on the wooden surface. He didn’t reply, so I got out my phone and called him. After a few rings, he picked up, and I heard giggling in the background.

“Is that you outside? I’m kinda busy here.”

More giggling.

If I wasn’t so upset about Larkin, I might have rolled my eyes. “I need you.”

His voice turned serious. “Be right out.”

A little of the tension in my chest eased. People could say all they wanted about Hayes, but one thing I knew about him—he’d always be there when I needed him, no matter what.

Within a few minutes, the front door opened, and a woman a few years younger than him stepped outside, wearing a dress and flip-flops. Her hair was messy, and her cheeks flushed as she gave me a sheepish smile. “Officer Madigan.”

“Mindy,” I replied, tipping my chin.

She walked out to her car, and Hayes, dressed in shorts and nothing else, opened the door the rest of the way. “Come on in, cockblocker.”

I gave him a wry smile, following him into the place. His living room was neat as usual, but there was a bottle of wine out on the table and a charcuterie board that had been picked through.

“You must like this one.” I gestured toward the table. “Wining and dining her.”

He smirked. “I find they have more energy for activities if you feed them first.”

Now I did roll my eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

With a shrug, he walked to the fridge, showing his back covered in tattoos. “Want a beer?”

I shook my head. The last thing I needed was something clouding my judgement.

He got one out for himself and tossed me a bottle of water. “What’s going on?” I caught the bottle, and he walked to his living room, sitting back on the caramel-colored leather couch. He tugged a blanket over his lap and put his feet on the table. “My evening is suddenly free.”

My adrenaline was still pounding, emotions already all over the place as I went and sat on his big chair, back straight like I was ready to run, to take off at any time like my body was begging me to do. Run. Escape this pain that was far too strong to be logical.

“I told Larkin how I feel.”

Hayes frowned. “It didn’t go well? I saw the way she looked at you at the barbecue.”

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