Never Let Me Go (25 page)

I watched in delight as he shook his head frantically, his eyes squeezed shut. “Fuckin’ A, Michele, you’d test the patience of a saint. Please. Stop.”

I nipped and sucked at the tenderly sweet skin of the side of his neck. His arms encircled my waist, and his palms swatted my butt lightly and then grabbed hold. I gyrated my hips as I planted a kiss on his jawline. “Not until you admit it.”

He groaned. “No!”

I sighed, running one of my hands over the top of his hair, reaching around and pulling on a couple tufts at the nape of his neck. “Admit it!”

“No!”

I reached for the hem of his shirt, and let my hand dip below it and run along the ridges of his abs. Hayden grimaced and blanched, and I could feel him tense up beneath my touch one more time. I leaned forward and ran my tongue along his lower lip. He inhaled deeply, his eyes snapping open and meeting mine. “God
damn
it! I miss him, alright?!” He chuckled and reached pulled me forward. I rested upon his lap and nestled my head against his shoulder. “You’re evil, you know that?”

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. It wasn’t long before the sound of a car door closing completely distracted me. I turned to look and see who it was, but Hayden took my chin in his fingertips and guided my lips back toward his. Once more I lost myself in the feeling of being near him, being intertwined with him, being cherished by him.

Hayden’s hands fingered through my long blonde hair, and he sighed against my lips as he gave me another kiss. “You’ve got great hair,” he noted.

I cocked my head to the side and fiddled with a strand. “Really? I’m getting kind of bored with it actually. I’m thinking of cutting it or something before I head home.”

He nodded. “I love how it is now, but you’d look beautiful no matter what you do to your hair.”

I grinned, giving him a pop kiss. “Good answer.”

Somewhere behind us, Hayden’s front door burst open, and I turned to see who was coming outside.

“Mommy!” Skylar exclaimed.

Both my and Hayden’s heads whipped around, and sure enough, Skylar was off at warp speed, running toward her mother and hugging her legs.

Suddenly, I felt a bit self-conscious, watching the tall, leggy blonde with curves I’d kill for emerging from a silver Chevy Tahoe. Her long hair flowed with the current of the wind as she looked up at me, and a small frown settled upon her face.

A bit embarrassed at the position that Sam and Skylar had just found us in, I swung my leg over Hayden’s lap and stood up, settling myself on the swing next to him. I crossed my legs and looked over to my boyfriend hesitantly, but he merely shrugged and shook his head. I took that as him saying that not only did he not invite her, but he had no idea that Samantha was coming.

“Hi, baby,” Samantha replied, squatting down and hugging her daughter.

“Oh, Mommy! I’m so happy to see you! All my friends are here to talk about my party! Do you wanna know about my party, Mommy? Do you? Huh? Do you? We’re gonna have a tea party!”

Samantha looked up at me and Hayden, a smile spreading across her face as she kissed the top of her head. “Hey, sweetie. Why don’t you tell me all about what you’ve done this week, and later we can talk about your party when Aunt Livie gets here?”

Naturally, Sky took that opportunity to burst into her spiel and tell her mother all the things we’d done throughout the week. She completely ignored the fact that her mom was pulling her younger sister out of her car seat, because she started rambling anyway. “We did the golf, and I got a holy one! Oooh! And then, and then, Mommy, guess what? We got in the go-karts, and Michele BEAT Daddy in a race! She did that, she beat Daddy! And Daddy losed so then Daddy had to buy ice cream! And guess what Mommy, guess what Mommy? I went to Michele’s house and I played with the boys! I NEVER play with boys Mommy but I wanna go again to Michele’s house! She letted me help her make cupcakes, Mommy! And then, and then Mommy, she taked me to the beach, and we made a sand castle and it was bigger than me! And then, she bought me this bracelet. And then Mommy, we came home and we made dinner for Daddy, and oooh Mommy it was so good! And then, we got a movie from the Big Red Box and me and Michele put it on in my room, and me and Michele and Daddy, we watched it on the floor in my room with all my blankets and all my babies and I said, ‘I wish my Mommy and my Kynlee was here and I think my Mommy and my Kynlee would like Michele’ and then Daddy said ‘I think so too’. So do you, Mommy? Do you like Michele? Do you?”

I exhaled a sigh of relief as I noted that Skylar hadn’t told her mother that I’d been spending the night. I wasn’t sure how she would react to that, so I was glad that it hadn’t even been mentioned.

Samantha laughed as we headed into the house, holding Skylar and Kynlee’s hands. Sky was talking her ear off, and Kynlee, who I assumed was just waking up from a nap, merely looked frazzled and tired.

“It sounds like you had a lovely time, honey,” Samantha said, smiling at me. “Hi, I’m Samantha. You must be Michele. It’s nice to meet you. Little Miss Skylar Rose can’t stop talking about you. She even named her favorite Barbie doll after you.” She extended her hand to me. “I haven’t heard her talk this much about a single person since Bailey and Viktor moved back into town.”

I gave her a smile, unsure of how to react in a situation like this one. Hayden’s hand came up to rest against the small of my back as we walked together up the stairs.

“So what brings you by, Samantha?” Hayden asked, turning to face his ex. The mother of his child.

“Lizzie invited me. You didn’t think I’d miss out on helping plan my own daughter’s birthday party, did you?”

I watched as Hayden shrugged. “Well, you haven’t helped plan her past three birthday parties, so yeah, I kind of
did
think that.”

Samantha stopped dead in her tracks and glared at him. She put a hand on her hip and pursed her lips. “I was
busy
then, HJ.”

Just then, Hayden stopped, too, but I wasn’t sure if it was my place to stay while they had some semblance of an argument. I continued my entrance to the house, but Hayden grabbed my hand as it swung backward, signaling that he wanted me to stay.

“Okay, if you want me to lay all the cards on the table, I will. I’ll bite. Skylar, take your sister and go inside.” I watched in silence as Skylar looked back at us, then obliged. It must have been the tone in Hayden’s voice, because she didn’t even question him.

Once the door closed behind the girls, Hayden leaned backward against the railing and pulled me close, nestling me against his side. “Her first birthday, you were
busy
trying to avoid being a mother—,” he made air quotes with his fingers when he said ‘busy’, “and her second, you were too
busy
being a mother to your favorite daughter to remember that your other child had a birthday coming up. And let’s not even talk about the ruckus you started at her third, too
busy
to show up until the party was damn near over, and then starting an argument with my mom. So yeah, I can see how
busy
you’ve been.”

Samantha scowled, and she turned to point at me. “So
she
can be here to plan my child’s party, but when I do, it’s a problem?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. It’s just mighty convenient that the
one
time you want to act like her mother outside of the days I had to
force
upon you just
happens
to be when I’ve finally moved on from you. You never cared to be here before, but your last statement just reassured why you’ve decided to show up
now
. You’re not too
busy
to come scope out my new girlfriend, eh?”

He ran his free hand through his hair and closed his eyes. “You’re already here, and Sky’s already seen you, so you may as well stay. I’ll be civil for my daughter’s sake, but once we’re done, I want you out of my house.”

Good Lord!
I’d never seen Hayden so riled up, and I had to admit, I was a bit afraid of him at the moment.

Yep, shit just got awkward.

Chapter Seventeen

I’d never planned a little girl’s birthday party before, but within minutes of being in the presence of Hayden’s sisters, friends, and ex, I came to know just how all of them strived for perfection.

According to Hayden, he and Skylar had decided upon the tea party theme way back around Christmastime, and now it was up to all of us to execute that theme in the best way possible.

It took us nearly six hours to all agree on everything, but once we did, Skylar had to approve it before we could disperse.

Hayden and Samantha didn’t clash again for the rest of the day, except for one small incident in the kitchen when Samantha excused herself to call her husband for over thirty minutes. I couldn’t help but think if they butted heads
that
much while simply planning the party, I couldn’t imagine what they’d be like the day of.

When Livie, Lizzie, and Samantha left for the evening, Bailey offered to take Skylar home with her so that Hayden and I could go out. Hayden had expressed to me that he hated when his friends offered to babysit just so that he could do young people things, but then Summer—who I’d found out was Skylar’s godmother—had come to Bailey’s defense, saying that Hayden never had the chance to be young, and he deserved a night out. Besides that, she they told us they had a girls’ day planned for Skylar, Bailey’s daughters Grace and Peyton, and Josslyn while the other boys went out.

So, once Hayden conceded—which didn’t take much thanks to his two best friends ganging up on him—Skylar packed a bag and was on her way.

An hour after he sent Skylar off, Hayden and I were out the door. I’d dressed down for the occasion in a pair of jeans, my three year old navy Chuck Taylor Converses, and two long sleeved t-shirts layered over each other.

We were pulling into a small, empty field, when Hayden shut the car off and leaned over to kiss me. I opened my eyes wide, taken aback by his unprecedented affection. I smiled against his kiss, and gasped when he pulled away.

“Come on,” Hayden said, hopping out of the car. I reached for the door handle, but he raced to my side and opened it for me. He turned around so that his back was facing me, and then he crouched down, his hands on his knees. “Hop on up.”

I glanced at him skeptically for a second, then scoffed. “I’m not getting on your back.”

He chuckled, turning around to face me. “You sure about that? It’s quite a walk from here to where we’ve got to go.”

Getting my wits about me, I ambled out of the car and, on a running start, jumped up onto his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. He grabbed my thighs as he walked toward the trunk of the car. With a small
beep, beep,
the trunk popped open, and Hayden reached forward to grab a backpack. He moved my arm and then tossed one of the straps of the backpack over his shoulder. With that, we—well, technically
he
—started the walk up the hill.

He held me securely and we walked up the incline, and I admired the view as the sun began to set before us. I rested my head against Hayden’s back as he led us through the field.

“Soooo,” I said, dragging the word out. “What’s in the bag?”

Laughing, Hayden bounced a little, adjusting me on his back and gripping my thighs tightly. “I’m not telling you. It’s a surprise.”

“Are you serious? I hate surprises.”

“Okay,
Skylar.
”

“You can’t see me, but I’m sticking my tongue out at you.”

He laughed again, and we approached a small, white picket fence. He reached for it and pulled it open. “I promise, you won’t hate this surprise In fact, I think you’ll
love
it.”

“Sure I will.” Sarcasm dripped from my tone.

He knelt down and I climbed off his back. I took his hand and he led me through the fence. We walk maybe two feet, and the first thing that I see is that we’re on some private property, and there’s a picnic blanket laid out on the floor with pillows all over. There was a small table with two medium pizzas, a laptop, and a projector resting atop it. About five feet in front of the blanket was a large black sheet pinned to a clothesline, and two gargantuan speakers on either side of it.

“Hayden, what is this?” I asked, utterly flabbergasted.

He grinned, waving his hand in the direction of the scene laid out before us. “I got us a private movie theater. And only two people are invited. D’you wanna guess who?” I shook my head, trying to fight the urge to throw myself at him. “This is my Grams’ property. The acoustics are amazing up here. Every year on the night before Skylar’s birthday, I bring her up here with chicken wings and a box of cupcakes. We watch movies until it hits midnight, and we celebrate her birthday like that, just the two of us. To this day, my daughter is the only girl I’ve ever brought here. Until you.” He walked over to me, his arms circling my waist. “Up here, we can be all alone. No
Brody.
” He gave me a kiss on the lips. “No
Samantha
.” He gave a kiss to my collarbone. “No kids. Just you.” A kiss grazed my jaw. “And me.” A kiss lingered on my lips. “And I love it. I love
you
.”