Chapter 12

Jamie

"Everything OK?" Hayden asked, looking me over.

I just snorted and then grinned.

"Oh, I just wanted to get the hell out of the way."

"Of the little girl…?"

"No." Did he not know? There's no way he could've gone through life looking like he did and not be aware of it. "Hot male model saves child and then mops floor afterwards!" I spread my hands out as if this was a newspaper headline. "I just didn't want to get caught in the rush." He shook his head in confusion. "Of women throwing their numbers at you?" Still, he looked puzzled. "In case you're unaware, that shit is catnip for women. I saw a gleam in multiple women's eyes in the bakery. At least some of them were planning a wedding inside their heads with you as the groom. I figured I'd remove myself in case one of your future baby mamas was standing there."

"Baby mamas…" He blinked. "I don't plan on having kids."

"OK," I replied with a shrug. "But men say that all the time and…"

Then change their mind.

The one serious relationship I'd had was with Rohan. We'd met in trade school, and while I'd checked him out, I'd turned him down each time he asked me out on a date. I couldn't deal with the gossip of all the other apprentices, but when he asked me out on the last day of our final trade block, I'd said yes. One date led to another and another, and a connection was formed beyond having someone to bitch about being a mechanic with. He loved old muscle cars like I did, liked long, lazy Sunday mornings in bed. His enthusiasm for bacon matched my own and we never fought. Being with him was like spending time with a male version of myself, and I thought we were completely on the same page until one day, when we were around at his parent's place, one of his relatives asked when we were going to get married and have kids.

It was like floodgates had opened. His family members analysed our place, identifying all the things that would need to change to accommodate the babies I'd be popping out. Others discussed how I'd have to quit my job and stay home, catering to my children and Rohan's every need. Each muscle in my body grew tighter in sync with their increasing enthusiasm. It wasn't as if Rohan didn't notice, his own grip on my hand clamping down, holding me in this spot, his fingers biting into mine when I tried to pull free. I stared into his eyes, willing him to tell them, to set them straight. We'd talked about this, agreed that we never wanted to get married or have kids.

Then he turned around and changed his mind.

"Jamie will make a great mum and wife," he said, much to his family's satisfaction. "Won't you, love?"

I would be if that's what I wanted. I knew my way around a mop and a fry pan, Mum having put me through my first apprenticeship, but the idea of doing that all the time and only that? No, worse, with a small human in tow. Or multiple, because no one wanted to have just one child. I'd been filled with a strange kind of hysteria, my chest getting ever tighter because it felt like a trap. One everyone around me had been herding me towards, simply because of my gender.

We'd had a roaring fight when we got home and then it all came out. He'd changed his mind. That was fine, I wished him well, I told him through the tears, but I hadn't. I was never going to become the mother of his child and he needed to find someone who wanted to if that's what he wanted.

He did.

About six months later, he was engaged to a lovely girl and I… I felt like my eyes had been opened. People said one thing and meant another, and so they couldn't be trusted.

"You sure?" I joked, nodding to the bakery. "We could go back in. You could point out the hot girls, and I'll play the game of ‘Have you met, Hayden?' I'm pretty sure you'd get at least a few phone numbers by the end of it."

"I'd never disrespect you like that."

I blinked, unable to work out why his face had turned to thunder. Those blue eyes almost glowed as he stared at me.

"But this is all fake?—"

"Until this week is done and your mother is on the plane, flying back to her harpy's nest, there are no other women for me." I watched his hand shoot out as if in slow motion, catching the way the sun made the golden hairs there gleam as he took my hand in his. There was a strange kind of comfort from that touch. His thumb brushed across my knuckles, moving back and forth in a soothing rhythm. "Millie asked us to do this for you for a reason." A small smile formed and that let me take a full breath. "She knew we'd do right by you, and I will. No one from the outside will ever think I am anything other than your boyfriend."

"For just a week." Somehow I need to say that, to console myself or to protect myself.

"Just for a week." A dimple popped in his cheek. "Though, if at the end of it you are like no, no, Hayden don't leave me." My eyes narrowed as I watched him affect a dramatic pose. "I guess I could extend things."

"Extend things…" I growled, then punched him in the arm, only to be forced to flick my fingers in pain. He grinned when it became evident he'd tensed his bicep in anticipation of it. "I don't know how the hell I'm going to get through a week."

"Together." The smile faded and something else rose, my focus sharpening as I tried to interrogate what. "We'll get through this together."

Another squeeze of my hand and then he was turning to the steering wheel. "But we've got more baked goods than two people have a right to possess, and I dunno about you, but I'm hungry."

"I should be getting…" My stomach rumbled, making clear what I was about to say was very, very wrong. I was about to tell Hayden I needed to get back to the garage, but apparently that was a no from my body. "Pie in my belly."

"Sounds like a plan. We'll sit by the beach and eat, yeah?"

When he shot me a sidelong look to confirm, I found myself relaxing. We'd hung out plenty of times, though usually with Millie in tow. This lunch was considerably lower key than Brock's big spread, so I nodded. Just two friends hanging out and munching pies. I could do that.

Which is how we found ourselves sitting on the stone wall between the road and the beach. The pie was amazing, full of a thick curry sauce and tender chunks of chicken. I ate mine quicker than I would've thought possible, drawing a smile from Hayden. He offered me another, which I initially refused.

"A belly full of food and I'll be dozing off under the car I'm working on," I replied.

"Have it," he said, pressing the pastry into my hand. "You can always go home and have a nanna nap after work."

"No, I can't." The regular rush of the waves, the salt air, they all worked to relax me, but that feeling of peace started to fade. "We go for drinks on a Thursday night, and then I'm supposed to go out for dinner with Brock." I frowned. "Though I'm not sure if he'll be keen on that idea anymore after the way I behaved." I stared down at the sand. "I need to apologise, to make amends. He was just doing something nice for me and I?—"

"Got spooked." His gaze held mine. "Something we'll all have to keep in mind. Big gestures, public ones, they make you feel jumpy, right?" I nodded. "So things need to be lower key and anyway." He let out a long sigh. "I shouldn't be helping my ‘adversary' out in the fight for your hand, but while he's a grumpy prick, I think you'll find that he'll move on pretty quickly if you tell him what went wrong." Hayden shook his head. "Us McDonald boys are somewhat results focussed. Eye on the prize and all that, not the shit that goes down on the way to achieving it, which reminds me."

That big smile was back, and it was easy to see why the modelling scout had tapped him and his brother on the shoulder. Hayden was a picture of golden perfection right now.

"I brought you here to help settle you, make you feel a bit better, so…?"

I laughed when he looked at me hopefully.

"So goal achieved," I replied, giving him a shove, which just had his arm snaking around my waist to stop me. I was drawn closer, and I went without protest. Because it was nice to pretend, just for a minute, that he was my boyfriend and he'd come to rescue me from embarrassment at work. That we would have days, weeks, years of lazy afternoons, sitting in the sun. That's why I rested my head on his chest, I told myself, to indulge in that fantasy just for a moment. My eyes closed momentarily and I breathed in, focussing on just the here and now.

But that was never going to last long.

At some point I remembered I had a job to go back to and an apology to make, so we packed things up and walked back to the car. There was a companionable silence as we drove back to the garage, one where he kept shooting me little smiles every time I looked his way, which helped buoy me up for this.

"Hayden," Brock said, appearing in the doorway of the garage when we pulled up. He nodded to his brother then turned to me. "Now, Jamie?—"

"Just let me apologise and then you can ream me out," I said, holding up a hand. He stared fixedly at it before transferring his attention to me. "I'm sorry. What you did was… lovely. The food was from that place you ordered from for my birthday?" Brock nodded. "Well, thank you. That was incredibly sweet and I…" My work boot dragged through the dirt as I fought to get this out. "And I'm not really good with sweet. Can we have one of those snarky, bantery fake relationships instead? Like I call you a dickhead and a wanker and you?—"

Whatever I had to say was cut off by a sharp smack to my arse. My eyes went wide, my hands slapping down on my now stinging behind.

"As you wish," Brock said with a grin. "Now, get back to work."

Every guy in the garage saw that, and so my face was as flushed as my butt cheeks as I walked over to the car I was working on.

"So that's how it's gonna be," Clinton said with a leer.

"It is, and if you don't keep your mouth shut and get on with your work, you'll get a belting too, just not on your butt," Brock snapped.

"Damn…"

At that, everyone shut up and turned back to their work, which was just what I needed. Find the source of the engine whine, not sit around whining myself, I grabbed a wrench and approached the engine bay, but as I leaned over? I had a hot reminder of what was to come once knock off time came around.