Page 7 of My Ex for Christmas
“Twice in two days?” I muse. “I’m beginning to think you're following me, Hads.”
Her head jerks up, and surprise plays in her eyes. But then a mask of indifference comes slamming down. I won’t lie and say that doesn’t sting a little.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
I gesture to my position behind the bar. “Working.”
Those pretty hazel eyes narrow. “You work at Dirty Dick’s.”
I shrug. “I like to keep busy.”
Really, I like to help keep a roof over my family’s heads. With two of my sisters in university and Mom’s house almost always needing repairs that the landlord likes to ignore, we’re never short on expenses. Easing the burden by getting a second job seemed like the best thing to do, especially when the wealthy resort guests tend to tip well.
“You didn’t say anything about that last night,” she says.
“You didn’t exactly give me the chance.” She looks down, biting her bottom lip. I feel a little bad, so I move away from that particular topic. “Long day?” I ask.
She sighs as she turns back to me. “That’s par for the course. I just chose the wrong shoes this morning. Now my feet are angry.”
Inspecting the shoe in question, my eyebrows raise. “No wonder your feet hurt. Those heels areinsane. How do you even work in those?”
She hugs the shoe to her chest. “I’ll take none of your judgment, sir,” she says, and the lightness of the words makes things feel like they used to between us. “I have adult money now and I get to spend it how I please.”
Her words spark a memory. A few, actually. Every time wewent to the mall together, she always stopped to admire the fancy heels at all the shoe stores. She claimed she’d own a closet full of them one day.
Hadley is nothing if not determined. That I know firsthand.
I hold up my palms in surrender. “Hey, no judgment from me. I’m impressed.”
Hadley’s cheeks flush that adorable pink colour I used to love. She puts her shoe back on and then stands.
“Thanks for the company, but I have to get back to work,” she says, averting her gaze. “I’ll see you around.”
Shit. My mood promptly deflates.
When she starts to walk away, I round the bar and follow after her. She’s surprisingly fast in those heels, but it only takes a couple strides for me to catch up with her.
“Hey, wait a second.”
She stops in the middle of the doorway, turning to face me. But my attention snags on the mistletoe now hanging above our heads. She follows my line of vision and freezes.
Hadley shakes her head. “That isnotsupposed to be there.”
“I don’t know, I quite like it.”
At my teasing tone, she rolls her eyes. She sets a hand on my arm and shoves softly. “Of course you would. You get a kiss out of the deal.”
Her mouth snaps shut when she realizes what she just said, but that only spurs me on.
I grin. “It is tradition, after all,” I say, bracing a hand on the doorframe. Her gaze roves over me. “Who are we to deny that?”
There’s a spark of something that looks like desire in her eyes. I haven’t seen that look in what feels like forever, but I miss it all the same.
“Smart,” she says. “We’d be smart.”
I shake my head as I lean in. “Smart’s overrated.”
Her breath catches. We’re close—closer than we’ve been in a long damn time. Her nearness is intoxicating, and I can feel myself being pulled back into her orbit. Hell, I don’t think I ever left.
