Page 37 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

You've got to be shitting me. We were both soaked. We needed a hot shower.

"Should I call?"

I sighed. "No, I know someone."

"Even better. Just let me hook the car up and I'll drive you over."

Chapter 19

Hailey

Monday

"You don't seem particularly excited to go see whoever it is you know around here," I said as I stepped out of the car.

"No, it's fine."

"Mhm." I leaned back down to grab our bags out of the back seat. "Anything else you need from the car?" I turned around. He was staring directly at my ass. I didn't bother hiding my smile.

"What? No," he said with a laugh, knowing that I had caught him in the act. He grabbed his bags and my duffel out of my hands.

"I can carry..." I started.

"I got it."

At first him doing that had kind of bothered me. I was perfectly capable of carrying my own stuff. But now that we had had sex, it felt different. He was doing it because he didn't want me to have to. Really, that was the reason he had been doing it the whole time. And there was something really sweet about that. He was a gentleman. I pressed my lips together. Kind of. The way he had talked during sex was not gentlemanly. It was dirty. And hot. God, it was so hot. I wanted him to talk to me like that again. My heart rate started to accelerate at the thought of it.

His hand slipping into mine brought me back to reality. The flutter in my chest made me feel like a kid on the playground. I didn't want to overthink things. He had held me in the car, making sure I was warm. And now he was holding my hand. If those things didn't mean he wanted more, I didn't know what did. Well, it at least meant he wanted to have sex again, which I was more than fine with.

I let my fingers intertwine with his as we walked over to the truck. He helped me step up into it. As soon as he sat down beside me, I rested my head on his shoulder. I didn't feel self conscious around him. Actually, I never had. We just had this comfortable relationship. Everything just felt right. But as soon as I thought that, something twisted in my stomach.

I lifted my head off his shoulder. "How much are the repairs going to cost?"

"Not that much, don't worry about it."

"How much, Tyler? I have to pay you for it. It's my fault that..."

"Hails, it's okay," he said, cutting me off. "I'm just glad we're both alright." He lightly touched the side of my face. And the look in his eyes was so genuine that I knew he meant it. We were both lucky to have come out unscathed. Because of him. He had enough sense to pull the emergency break. Really, he had saved my life.

I wasn't going to fight with him about this. I needed to keep my money. I couldn't afford to be prideful right now, and he was offering. He was taking care of me yet again.

He pulled me closer to him and rested his chin on the top of my head.

It was such a small gesture, but it warmed me to the core. If I wasn't careful, I was going to fall head over heels for this man.

Chapter 20

Tyler

Monday

"Are you sure this is okay?" Hailey asked. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes.

It didn't really feel okay. But we were kind of out of options. The car wouldn't be ready for us to pick up until tomorrow morning. We were both still soaked. We were in desperate need of a hot shower. And I didn't want her to feel bad about what had happened.

"Yeah, we were close in college. We lost touch, but I'm sure he'll be happy to see me." Fat chance. I grabbed her duffel bag out of her hand and walked toward the front door. I knew that Josh was doing well, but I hadn't been expecting this. His place looked like a Spanish villa. He had started an e-commerce business after graduation and it had exploded in a matter of months. He was probably the richest person from our class.

"Well, did you at least tell him we were coming?" she said as she followed me up the sidewalk.

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