Page 55 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
“I don’t know what to say,” he said honestly. Other than he hoped that Lex had some kind of secret teenage power that allowed her to notice such things, and that his mother didn’t have that power.
“Go see Hayley. I won’t tell.”
“I hadn’t planned on seeing Hayley.”
“Yeah? Then what?”
“I don’t know. I was just going to...” Go find Hayley. He would have gotten into his truck, driven for a while, then stopped at the Lone Tree. By being honest with himself, he could leave out a step and simply go see Hayley.
“Keep this to yourself?” he said to Lex. She held up her palm and he gave her a high five. “Thanks.”
Now that Lex had stopped his game of oh-yeah-going-for-a-drive, he could focus on his actual motivation.
He had no idea what that was, but his gut told him to go see Hayley and he was going to do just that.
He drove straight to the Lone Tree—thank you, Lex—and parked in front of the front yard gate. The porch light came on as he strode up the walk, and Hayley opened the door, a concerned expression on her face.
“Did something happen?”
He looked down at her, then lifted his hands to her face, cradling her cheeks between his palms. “Nothing,” he said before lowering his head to kiss her.
Hayley’s breath caught as his lips touched hers, then she wrapped her arms around him and leaned into the kiss. When he raised his head, they were both breathless.
She studied his face, a faint frown bringing her eyebrows together and Spence eased back, suddenly feeling a touch foolish. “I actually came to talk.”
“Yeah?” she stepped aside so that he could enter the house if he wanted.
He did. Spence pulled off his hat and stepped into the cheerful kitchen, setting the hat on the kitchen table.
“Why?” she asked.
“Good question,” he said. He hooked a chair with the toe of his boot, pulled it out, then sat, resting one arm on the table next to his hat. “I guess I’m here for perspective.”
“Okay,” she said slowly.
He moistened his lips, then said, “I think I’m falling for you.”
“Don’t.” The word fired off her lips. He blinked at her, more surprised than he should have been at her instantaneous and adamant response. She’d made things clear early on. She wanted a friend. Full stop.
That didn’t stop him from asking, “Why?”
Hayley dropped her head back as if searching for an answer that would satisfy him so that he would drop the matter immediately. “Because along that path lies madness.”
She said the words more to herself than to him, then leveled a look his way. “I like being your friend, Spence.”
“You can’t be anything else?” A friend, and whatever it was that she was afraid to be?
“Friendship works better.”
“You asked me to father your child.”
“With the help of a medical intervention. It’s not like I invited you to my bed.”
“No,” he agreed. “You didn’t do that.”
She sucked in a breath and studied the floor, reminding him of how she used to watch the ground as she walked. Apparently, she was also reminded of that because she jerked her gaze back up again.
“I am trying to keep my life complication free so that I can have a child and give them the attention they need.”
