She had guessed right, she thought. The idea of getting her home seemed to spur him on. She tried not to let it bother her.
He shook his head. “You do have a way with words,” he told her.
Confident that she had managed to win him over, Hailey flashed another grin at him, one that he found he was becoming increasingly more susceptible to, and said, “Then let’s get to this, shall we?”
That grin of hers was really undoing him. Dillon found that it took everything he had not to sweep her back into his arms and kiss her again. But he was well aware of what would happen if he did that and he already knew how dangerous following that path could be. Each time he was near her like this, his immunity to her took another hit and it was becoming in dangerously low supply at this point.
Playing it safe, he took a step back, then he nodded his head and said, “All right.”
Hailey found that unsaddling Delilah took a lot less time than saddling her had.
It was the rubdown that took up most of the time. Still, that was over much too soon in her estimation. Then, before she knew it, she was back in the passenger seat of Dillon’s car and he was driving her home.
She told herself that she wasn’t going to ask Dillon about his sudden change of heart.
As it turned out, she contained her curiosity longer than she thought she would. The drive back to her house was filled with trivial topics she introduced just to fill the air. Topics she definitely wasn’t interested in and that she didn’t pay any attention to even as he was talking about them.
Before she knew it, he was parking his vehicle in front of her house. And then Dillon walked her to her door.
Adding insult to injury, after refraining from kissing her goodbye, Dillon turned on his heel and began to walk away.
This time, Hailey lost the debate she was having with herself to refrain from asking questions.
“What happened, Dillon?”
She asked the question so softly, for a second, Dillon thought he had only imagined hearing her voice and only imagined hearing the question she’d asked. But then he realized that she had asked because, in her place, he would have wanted to know the same thing.
He would have wanted to know why.
Taking a deep breath, Dillon turned around slowly and looked at her. He was keenly aware that he owed her an explanation. But he was a private man and there were parts of himself that he couldn’t share, at least not readily.
But that didn’t change the fact that he did owe her an explanation. So he gave her one. Or at least a partial one.
“I knew that if I continued kissing you, it wouldn’t stop there. And you’re too nice a person to have me do that to you. I didn’t want to compromise you,” he added. “It wouldn’t be right.”
Was that it? Really? If he was telling the truth, she couldn’t begin to describe the relief that washed over her. He was being noble.
But she didn’t want him to be noble. She wanted him to be himself, a man with needs. Needs that she could satisfy.
“Maybe I don’t see it as being compromised,” she told him gently.
“Be that as it may, I did. I do,” he corrected, even as he felt himself losing ground.
“Tell you what, why don’t you come inside for some coffee, or a beer,” she added, thinking that might appeal to him more than just a simple cup of coffee. “And we can talk about it.”
He was tempted. Very tempted, which was why taking her up on her suggestion was not a good idea. They would both regret it for different reasons. “No.” He shook his head. “I’d better go.”
She cocked her head, looking at him. “Why?” she asked, her voice soft and inviting. “I don’t bite,” she promised. “And I’d really like to understand your reasoning.”
“Trust me, it’s really better this way,” he told her.
“Better for who?” she wanted to know. When he didn’t answer her right away, she told him, “I’m open to being persuaded.” Hailey smiled at him, doing her best to win him over. “And besides, I’d like to express my thanks to you for taking the time to give me a really great day I’ll remember for a long time.”
She could see that he was wavering so she continued to press, “You can leave at any time. I promise I won’t handcuff you to anything that you can’t drag in your wake. But seriously, I’d feel a lot better if you’d at least let me offer you that beer.
“It’s still early,” she pointed out, and then elaborated, “Too late to do anything productive, but too early just to call it a day.”
He looked torn, but underneath his resolve, he knew he was slowly giving in because he really wanted to agree with her.
It was a short debate. “Okay, you win,” he told her, following Hailey in.
“I’d like to think that we both win,” she said as she closed the door behind them.
Chapter Fourteen
Once inside, Hailey went to the refrigerator and opened it.
“I can offer you the aforementioned beer or coffee, some tea, or I forgot I still have a partial bottle of wine from the spa’s grand opening.” Still holding the refrigerator door open, she turned her head to look at Dillon. “What would you like to have?”
You.
The thought flashed through his head. Heaven help me, I’d like to have you.
“Dillon? Did you hear me?”
Realizing he hadn’t replied, he quickly answered, “Um, yes.”
Hailey thought he hadn’t heard her, since his answer made no sense. Not wanting to embarrass him, she gave it another shot. “Well, just to review, I can offer you two kinds of beer. Light and real beer,” she said with a smile, then continued enumerating what drinks she had available. “Red wine. Coffee or tea. Those are
