Chapter Four

CAYDEN

Coming here was a risk, but after running across the street, getting her a coffee and flowers and waiting outside her building for two fucking hours, I asked the security guard to call up again and he smirked, letting me know she left already.

“Who let you in?” Hadley asks through gritted teeth.

“Your very kind doorman who was thrilled because I come bearing gifts…a peace offering of sorts.”

I hold up the coffee, that’s completely ice cold, and isn’t safe to drink, and the flowers that are now in desperate need of water.

She eyes the cup. “What are you really doing here?”

“I explained, I come in peace.”

“There is no peace with you.”

I let out a quick chuckle. “That’s true. But regardless, I stopped by the office, waited there for hours while you had already left, so I didn’t want the flowers and coffee to go to waste.”

Her arms cross right under her breasts, pushing them up just a bit. Eyes up, Hennington. “You bought the coffee hours ago?”

“I did, but in my defense, I would’ve been here sooner if I didn’t have to bribe someone from your office to give me your address after realizing you ghosted me.”

“That’s a breach of privacy, so thanks to them,” she huffs.

“I’m very persuasive.”

“I bet you are. Also, I didn’t ghost you since I never was supposed to even see you.”

Little does she know there was no breach from her office. I called my brother, asked him to call Sean Arrowood, saying she forgot her credit card with me from lunch, and that’s how I got it. I don’t plan to tell her that though.

A beautiful girl with red hair and freckles splattered across her face comes to the door. “You must be Cayden.”

“I am.”

She flashes a dazzling smile. I know many guys who would fall at her feet, but my gaze doesn’t linger long. Instead, my eyes go back to Hadley with her soft brown hair the shade of coffee or mocha, and those eyes. Those fucking green eyes that are impossible to forget. No matter how much I’ve tried.

“I’m Melanie.” the redhead extends her hand.

I flash my signature smile and return the gesture. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Hadley makes a gagging noise. “Don’t fall for it, Mel. That smile has felled many women.”

“You would know,” Melanie says under her breath, but not low enough I didn’t catch it.

“So, you talk about me?” I ask a little playful, but also curious.

“Only what an ass you are and how you think your shit doesn’t stink.”

“I never said that, and I’m not an ass. If I were, I wouldn’t come here with flowers and coffee. I would’ve just annihilated you in negotiations rather than try to work it out like adults.”

Hadley shakes her head. “You forget, I know you, Cay. I know your tricks and your charms.”

“All I keep hearing is that you think I’m charming.”

“I recall the word was ass.”

Melanie’s eyes volley back and forth as we bicker. “You know what?” Her cousin claps her hands and we both turn to her. “I just remembered that I have to go to work and fix a few patterns before the seamstresses get in.”

“Tonight?” Hadley asks.

“Yeah, I meant to do it before I left and…just totally slipped my mind.”

Hadley’s eyes narrow and she speaks through a fake smile. “Can’t you go tomorrow?”

“Nope. It’s super important. You wouldn’t want me to mess up the line, would you?” Melanie turns to me. “It was great meeting you, Cayden. You are everything I hoped you’d be.”

Not sure what that means, but her leaving is clearly making Hadley uncomfortable, and while my goal isn’t that, it should make the negotiation a little easier if she’s off her game.

“The pleasure is all mine.” I lay it on thick by grabbing her hand and kissing the top of it.

“Oh, please!” Hadley grumbles.

Melanie laughs, seemingly immune to my game. She leans in to where Hadley can’t hear. “A little less on the asshole and more on the fun with that one.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

She pats my chest. “Good luck.”

“Traitor,” Hadley mutters as Melanie grabs her purse and heads out the door.

After she leaves, Hadley and I stand there, in the awkward silence. It’s a good thing I planned ahead a little bit.

“Did you eat yet?”

She shakes her head. “Not really.”

“Good.”

I take a step back into the hallway, and grab part two of my plan. Pizza.

There is nothing in the world that makes this woman happier than pizza. I happen to know this as we shared many of them in college and working on cases when we were both interns.

She eyes the box dubiously. “This is your plan?”

“Do you have whiskey?”

Her eyes sparkle with what I hope are memories of the past and she shakes her head. “Whiskey is a mistake.”

“Whiskey is never a mistake.”

“Come in, I can never turn down pizza and I’ll grab the bottle.”

That was what I was hoping for.

* * * *

“Take a shot!” she says as her head falls back on the seat of the couch.

“I didn’t lose.”

“You didn’t win! You have to take a shot.”

I have had way too much to drink and Hadley can barely hold her head up, but it’s been the best night I’ve had in a very long time.

We ate pizza, talked about college and the time that she beat me in a debate in class. One that I should’ve won, but Professor Stein was moody and didn’t think my argument contained passion and depth.

I don’t know what that mattered since I was right .

“You didn’t beat me,” I say, my mouth feeling hard to move. “You take the shot.”

Hadley picks up the glass and knocks it back. “Don’t be a pussy. You lost—pay the price.”

I rise to the bait, not willing to let her win, and fill my glass, keeping my eyes on her the whole time and let the liquid slide down my throat, burning the whole way.

I cough and Hadley bursts out laughing.

My laughter follows and I shake my head. “We’re both plastered.”

She lifts the bottle, turning her head to the side to look at it. “We are.”

“Last time we drank this much we had amazing sex,” I lean against the coffee table, resting my head on my hand. I have a very heavy head.

“You’re giving yourself a lot of credit there, Hennington. I never said it was amazing.”

My ego is instantly bruised. “Really?”

“It was decent.”

“Decent?” I ask, no longer feeling too drunk.

She giggles and grabs her full shot glass, tossing it back. Her long brown hair is coming out of her knot thing on her head, her throat exposed, creating a long line as she gulps the liquid down. I am transfixed on her neck, and the soft skin there that I want to run my tongue down.

This is bad. We need to stop.

I grab the bottle, putting it behind me. “No more whiskey.”

Her lips turn into the most adorable pout. “You’re no fun.”

“I’m a lot of fun.”

She scoffs. “Please. You spent all of college doing what?”

“The same thing as you!”

“Exactly. No fun. We studied. We prepared for real life. We didn’t do anything adventurous or reckless.”

I’ve had enough reckless in my life. I have seen the consequences of being reckless. My biological father killed himself when I was ten years old. My brother and I were down in the living room, playing video games, which he told us to do, and then fifteen minutes later, our lives were no longer the same.

Mom came home, found him dead, and then the world imploded around us.

He lost all our money being reckless. He left us with debt, no answers, and heartache for a lifetime.

So, no, I don’t do things that are reckless. I work hard, I save my money, and I am extremely careful with my emotions.

Except with Hadley.

She’s the only person who I ever lose control around.

Like now.

“I think we are in a much better place than the people who made stupid decisions,” I counter.

“Maybe, but maybe not. This is the most irresponsible thing I’ve done in two years.”

“Get drunk?”

She nods. “Well, get drunk with you. The guy I can’t seem to hate enough.”

That gets through my drunken fog. “Why do you hate me? I’m lovable.”

“That’s the issue!” Hadley says and then burps. “See! I am a mess around you. I want to hate you so much, but then I think about your lips and your face and your hands and…damn it, I need to shut up.”

“I think about you too.” The words slip out before I have a chance to stop them.

Hadley’s eyes find mine. “We shouldn’t think about each other.”

“No, we probably shouldn’t.”

“Confession… I think about that night. I remember it all. You’re the last man I slept with.”

It rocks through me. My heart, my head, and my cock love the confession far too much. Hadley is stunning, even drunk, hair falling out of her messy ponytail and sweatshirt falling off her shoulder. If anything, she’s even more beautiful because she’s not polished.

I move around the coffee table that separates us and bring my hand to her cheek, brushing the soft skin there with my thumb. “Confession…when I’m alone and jerking off, it’s always you I think about, and right now, I want to strip you down and make you scream my name, so I have a new memory to think about.”

“We probably shouldn’t do that.”

“We definitely shouldn’t do that.”

She shifts her body towards me, hand wrapping around my wrist, and leans in. “But I’m tired of doing the right thing.”

Her lips are on mine a second later, and I don’t care much about what we shouldn’t do either.