Chapter 7

chapter

seven

Mills

Because Hayden is Hayden, he answers with the most literal response.

"Using the dog park, of course."

Another dog parent chimes in. "Mills! Have you met Shelby? She's adorable!"

An elderly dog with three legs trots over to me and sits on her haunches.

I eye Hayden skeptically and then look back down at Shelby. "I didn't know you had a dog."

"As of today I do."

"You're terrible at stalking, you know that? Most guys would just sit in their apartment, scroll on social media, and try to hack into my Instagram account. But you? You're just right out in the open."

One of my dog mom friends looks confused. "Am I missing something?"

I'm getting tired of explaining this. "This man is obsessed with me, so he went and adopted a dog so he could see me."

Angela squawks, but I can't decide if it's a positive or a negative type of squawk.

"Not only that, he showed up to my commercial audition and got cast opposite me," I say.

Someone else gasps. "Are you talking about that lube commercial? Girl. I can't wait to see that."

Glad it's not just me who is desensitized to men's behavior.

Speaking of men, Hayden has to chime in now. "She did amazing."

I tense up. "I think I'm going to ask Susan to reshoot it. With someone else."

This seems to blindside Hayden. "Why would you do that?" he asks.

"Because I think it's not quite right yet," I lie.

"But that's for Susan to decide."

Angela, the other dog mom, looks between us like she's watching a tennis match.

Hayden grabs me under the arm, not in an alarming or forceful way, and guides me across the field to a shade tree. "Let's chat."

"We have nothing to chat about," I say.

"Yes we do. Why would you want to completely change that commercial?"

I shake my head. "We both got caught up in the moment. We can't release that into the world. People will think we're together."

My words hurt, and a little bit of light goes out of his eyes.

"Sure, but won't that make those stupid lines even more convincing? Susan said we had chemistry," he says.

I pick up Monster, who's been pawing my leg. Holding my little buddy in front of me is a convenient shield. "Nobody is questioning our chemistry." No one indeed. Hayden and my chemistry is off the charts. I can feel him everywhere right now in the way he studies my face for answers. It's as if my body already anticipates his touch. "It's just too much for me."

"What was too much?" Hayden asks.

Once again I have to ask, "Are you kidding me? Everything that happened…after."

He smiles wickedly. "I've been thinking about that too."

"That was crazy."

"Crazy hot. But not on camera."

"No, but every time I see that commercial I'll think about what happened…right after."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Good…bad…no. Just too much too soon. I don't even know if I can trust you," I say.

He smirks. "You want a background check? Because Stella at Stel Securities can send one right over. She just sent one to the adoption agency.

God, he's relentless. And smells so good. And that smile threatens to break me down.

Looking everywhere but at him, I stammer. "I-I have to go rest now before my gig tonight."

"I'll see you after the show," he says.

And I want to tell him to give me space, but the words don't come.

Weirdly, that was the best set I ever had in my hometown. I never sell out. Heck, I rarely sell out a third of the club.

Tonight, the place was packed, and the crowd was amazing. I killed it. It went even better than Chicago. The best part is I got 20 percent of the ticket sales.

Seeing Hayden in the audience halfway through my set might have had something to do with it. He was sitting at a table with a woman close to his age. Gorgeous, and obviously wealthy. Watching her make eye contact with him and touching his arm made me about fifty percent snarkier on stage, and I brought out some of my older, riskier jokes about men.

It was taking a considerable gamble, but the audience loved it.

One of the bouncers, Jimmy, who I've become friends with over the years, walks with me to the back alley where my car is parked.

Just as I'm about to head to my car, Hayden and that elegant woman are crossing the end of the alley on the sidewalk.

Hayden's gaze falls to me and he turns to approach.

"Careful with the quick turns, H, I'm not super steady on my feet," the woman cackles, clearly a little tipsy.

Okay, I think, taking all this in. Clearly, he has a girlfriend. I should be either completely pissed off right now that he used me to cheat on her. Or he's just dating around, and what there was between us didn't mean anything, which takes the pressure off me.

But none of those feelings land right with me, and all I can feel right now is plain old jealousy.

Who is this bish, I want to ask.

The woman sees me and lunges forward, a little wobbly on her feet. Jimmy, still standing next to me, steps in between us, but I pat his arm, assuring him that it's okay.

Curiously, I catch Hayden jealously eyeing my hand on Jimmy's arm.

The woman seems unbothered by Jimmy's imposing presence.

"You were so funny! I loved your show, every minute of it!"

I accept her offered handshake and send a curious glance toward Hayden.

"Mills, this is my old college roommate Stella."

Great. Awesome. I paste on my best smile, the one I saved for when my parents would beg me to smile "better" for family portraits. "So nice to meet you."

She turns to Hayden and playfully slugs his shoulder. "She's even prettier than you described! Pretty, funny, smart…and you're not getting any younger, Hayden. Time to settle down."

I must have the most confused look on my face as I bust a gut laughing.

Hayden blushes and gently puts himself between Stella and me. "Okay, no more whiskey for you, Stel."

Then, Hayden turns to me with an apologetic look. "Sorry."

I arch an eyebrow. "College roommate, huh?"

"Hey, Hayden. Next time, give me more notice when you're going to one of her shows, and I'll bring Luke."

"That's very nice of you," I say. "But I'm not interested in dating anyone."

Stella cracks up, leaning against Hayden in a way that makes my blood boil, though I have no claim on him.

Seeing that these two are not bothering me, Jimmy steps away to answer a text message.

"No, sweetie. Luke is my husband," says Stella.

Somewhat clingy for a person who's married to someone else. I'm considering saying something to that effect, but Stella is digging through her bag. She then hands me her card. "I want to hire you to do your act at the Stel Securities holiday party," she says.

I wince. Corporate gigs are historically bad for me. People talking over me. Drunks heckling, more than at the clubs. But Stel Securities is a massive company and probably pays really well.

"I'll think about it," I tell her.

Just then, a car pulls up at the end of the alleyway.

"Luke's here!" Stella says. The driver exits and comes around the front of the car, slipping one muscled arm around Stella's middle. He looks like a bodybuilder and about ten years younger than her.

"Hi, babe," she croons, leaning into his strength. Luke kisses her lips and says, "You taste like bourbon."

She looks up at him with love in her glassy eyes. "Are you gonna take advantage of me when you get me home?"

"No," Luke says, gently putting her into the car and buckling her seatbelt. "I'm going to get you some aspirin and tuck you into bed, baby."

She mumbles something under her breath. As they drive away, she leans out the window with a big smile, waving to me. "Have fun, you two! So nice to meet you, Mills! Remember, I need a double date, Hayden!"

That was…a lot to take in.

"Your college roommate is quite a handful," I say to Hayden as we stand side by side, watching her leave.

"She's never like that. She'll probably send you an NDA when she sobers up."

I scoff. "Why would she do that? Who would I tell? I don't have a clue who she is other than your college roommate." I use air quotes around the last two words.

Jimmy is hanging back, but I sense he's on full alert once again now that Stella has left, and I'm alone with this man he doesn't know.

"I swear to god, I did not date her. We both went to UCLA, and we've never been anything more than friends," Hayden insists.

The harrumph I let out tells everyone in the vicinity that I'm unconvinced.

"Is this guy bothering you?" Jimmy cuts in. "Because I gotta get back in there for the next act."

I thank Jimmy and send him on his way.

"If you don't want to date me, why are you jealous right now?"

I turn to face Hayden, ready to wipe the smirk off his face. "I'm not jealous," I croak, a little too defensive.

"No?"

"Nope. Not jealous."

Hayden is not having it with my bullshit. "Let's cut to the chase," he says, resting one hand on my shoulder, electrifying every nerve down to my fingertips.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you I'm not seeing anyone else right now?"

"It makes no difference to me," I say.

"I have a proposal for you," he says.

"Oh god, I don't get engaged before the first date."

"I move fast so let's go get a drink and call it a real first date."

"What do you want, Hayden?"

Silence follows as Hayden squints at me and licks his lips.

"Fine, don't tell me. I know you're thinking of stealing my identity as soon as you murder me."

"Baby, when I pay you a compliment, it's the truth."

Fine. Go ahead and smolder at me. I'm not falling for that.

"How did I know you were going to be here?" I say.

"Because we share a brain."

"Hardly."

"It was a really great show," he tells me. "Let's go get a drink."

I tap my finger to my chin. "Let's see, you follow me home from the airport, you infiltrate my audition and get yourself hired for a part, you show up to my dog park, you show up to my comedy show. You're definitely a stage five stalker."

"If you want me to go away, I will. I'll even drop out of the commercial if that will make you happy."

Yeah right. If Hayden drops out of the commercial, Susan will flip her lid. She's already been texting me all day telling me what incredible footage she shot.

I can handle one drink. Outside. In public. Not because I'm scared of Hayden but because I'm scared that I'll start to put my hands all over him the second we're somewhere private.

"Hold on one second," I say, whipping out my phone. "I just have to ask my neighbor to let Monster out one more time if I'm not coming home right away."

Hayden shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Out of curiosity, this guy has a key to your apartment?"

Dog business arranged, I stuff my phone back into my bag. "Yes. He looks after my dog while I'm traveling and he lets him out to potty when I have a late gig."

"I don't like it."

I fold my arms over my chest. "You don't like anyone to interact with me who's not you."

He laughs. "Now you're catching on."

I stare at his kind eyes and his handsome square jaw. Certain parts of me flutter spontaneously as I recall all the kissing and touching—and more—earlier today.

"One drink."

He holds up his hands. "That's all I ask."

Why do I have the feeling that Hayden will be asking for way more than that?

Hayden pulls my chair out for me at Sandy's, my favorite neighborhood bar with outdoor seating. I'm not a jazz fan, but I like that it's never too crowded.

Hayden orders a summer shandy and I order a rosé.

"Do you not have better things to do than follow a comedian around town? Like, run your company?"

He shrugs. "I'm the boss. I've set everything up to run itself. I do what I want."

"Congratulations. Corporate bosses are the reason I went into stand-up comedy full-time. Yet another reason we shouldn't be together."

"And this corporate boss thinks you work too hard," he says.

"Says the man who's not the boss of me."

Hayden laughs at this. "You're funny."

"Hence why I earn the big bucks at the Laugh Lodge," I say as the waiter serves us our drinks.

My date lifts his glass of citrus-scented beer and makes a toast.

"To working less."

We clink glasses.

"We're supposed to make eye contact when we do that," he says.

"Who made up that rule?" I say.

"Normal people."

"There are none of those at this table, sir."

"Fair enough. It's hard to maintain normalcy when all I think about is us."

That came out of nowhere. And when the heat in his eyes arcs electricity me down to my core, I'm not prepared for it.

I awkwardly clear my throat and take a sip of wine. And then another one. And then I drink it all down in the next gulp.

"You seem flustered," he says.

Flustered? Just out of my mind with confusion over my feelings.

"Well, you just met me yesterday, and today, we did things that I definitely do not do before a first date."

"There are no rules about that sort of thing. When you have a connection with someone, you have a connection."

I lean in. "So you're telling me I should just go with it?"

"I'm telling you to just ask yourself what you want. Anything you want, I can get it for you."

"What if all I want is to go home, put my feet up, and eat chicken nuggets?"

"Then I'll rub your feet while you eat nuggies."

"That doesn't sound like fun for you," I say.

"How do you know I don't have a foot fetish?"

"Do you?"

"No. But I still want to rub your feet."

And then Hayden leans forward and closes his lips over mine. There it is again: the zing.

His hand goes to my jaw, angling my face a certain way, letting him deepen the kiss. He tastes like citrus, and his face smells like his spicy aftershave. His five o'clock shadow brushes against my chin in the best possible way.

"Get it, girl!"

I snap away from him and blink my eyes. A group of women dressed for clubbing and probably already a little tipsy stroll past, one of them giving me a thumbs up.

"Trust me," Hayden says, "I'm the lucky one."

"I need to get home to Monster," I say.

"I'll drive you," he says.

"But my car is at the Laugh Lodge."

He levels me with a stern gaze. He is so over the minute details of my life, but what he doesn't understand is that when you don't have a zillion dollars, the minute details are very, very meaningful.

"I can get your car home for you. Also, I can have someone take care of your dog when you're not home who's not your weirdo neighbor."

"Pete's not a weirdo."

"Trust me, he is."

There's no winning an argument about labels when the real issue is he's jealous of my sweet neighbor.

What is it like to have people who do errands for you? Retrieving cars? How do I get paid to do that?

"Do you have people to go to the post office too?"

"Why? You need some stamps?"

"Maybe."

"Just say the word. Use me. I'm at your disposal."

I think for a moment. Hayden definitely stalked me. But he's been very forthright about it. Does that make it better? Does that make me like him? Is there something wrong with me?

No, I definitely am into him for his looks, but he's making me crazy for more kisses.

Maybe it's the wine, but I've only had one glass.

If I die, I die.

"Let's go."