Page 100 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

JACKSON

I heard my front door open at half past six on Wednesday evening. The takeout I’d ordered for dinner had just arrived, which was pretty fortunate timing, and I was busy popping the lids of the Thai containers when Hailey found me in the living room.

She tossed her purse on the sofa and held her arms out wide. “I made a new friend on my first day.”

“Of course, you did. You’re charming as hell. Who wouldn’t like you?”

Hailey batted her lashes dramatically at me. “I know. He’s a doll. Super sweet. Really funny. He poked fun at my outfit, but besides that—”

“He has good reason to poke fun,” I said, looking her up and down.

Her blouse and slacks weren’t doing her any favors.

Not that they had to. She sat at a computer all day and had to be comfortable.

But still. Hailey had a killer body and it might make her feel a little more confident to dress in clothes that made her feel good.

“How long have you had those pants for? Three years?”

“That’s not the point.” Hailey looked down at her pants and frowned. “They’re not that bad, are they?”

“They’re not good, babe. You have a safety pin where there used to be a button.”

Hailey turned pink. “How did you know that?”

“Magic.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Whatever. They’re just pants. And I don’t like spending money on clothes I only wear to work, okay?”

“Hey. Don’t get mad at me. This new work friend of yours is the one who brought it up.”

Hailey came into the living room and hovered over the containers of Thai food. She inhaled the steam and her eyes practically rolled back in her head. “This smells so good.”

I didn’t want her to have to cook or feel like she had to when she came home after her first day of work.

So far, it was going better than I thought it would.

I figured her first day would have been a bit of a nightmare.

Starting a new job was never really a good time.

Being out of your depth and surrounded by people you didn’t know was never fun, and even though Hailey was the easiest person in the world to like, I knew she might come home wanting to pull her hair out.

“Aside from your new friend, how was work? What’s the office like?”

Hailey sat down cross-legged at the coffee table and I joined her. She helped herself to a plate and began spooning Pad Thai onto it. “Honestly? Not that great. Jeremy was the only good thing there. And the coffee machine. It was pretty fancy.”

“But you don’t like the office?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, Jack. I just… I didn’t feel like I belonged there. And I felt so drained by the end of the day. Like, I don’t remember a time I felt so tired.”

“Maybe it was stress? I know you were feeling a bit on edge about starting the new gig. Maybe it will pass once you have a couple of days under your belt?”

Hailey pushed her Pad Thai around on her plate with her fork. “Maybe.”

“You don’t sound convinced.” I chuckled. “Talk to me. What’s up? What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Hailey peered up at me from beneath her brows. I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to open up or keep her thoughts to herself. Finally, she said, “I don’t want you to say, ‘I told you so.’”

“Hails, am I the kind of guy who would do that?”

She stared blankly at me. “Like clockwork.”

“I promise I won’t this time.”“

She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Fine. I’m… I’m thinking about putting my notice in and quitting.”

That wasn’t what I was expecting. Not at all.

For years , she’d been pushing back against anyone who told her this job was holding her back.

She’d steadfastly refused to reconsider and insisted her future was climbing the corporate ladder at her company.

Right when I’d decided not to nudge her out of the job, she was deciding she wanted out on her own.

“What changed that made you feel like this?” I asked.

“I had some of the worst customers I’ve ever dealt with today.

And Jeremy said it’s not normal at this office to have a bad balance of good and bad customers.

In Nashville, one in every ten calls was a bad one.

But here? It’s more like seven out of ten are bad. I’m not sure where he got his numbers.”

“Damn.”

“I know,” she muttered. “It’s garbage. And I just sat there and took it and stared at my computer wondering why the hell I keep subjecting myself to this.

How long will I be able to keep going like this before I explode, Jackson?

I know I’m a patient person, but today, something felt off.

It took all the willpower I had not to scream into the phone at them that I was a person too and they had no right to treat me the way they were. ”

She was saying everything I’d waited for her to say since she started that damn job. “You’re right. They don’t have a right to treat you like that. Or anyone for that matter.”

Hailey nodded slowly. She still seemed tired. Drained. Like these assholes had zapped all her energy out of her. “I was so tired this afternoon. I realized this job is eating away at my spirit. And I don’t want to let it anymore.”

“Good. Your spirit is too perfect to share with the bottom feeders that are your company’s customers.”

She gave me a sad smile. “Thank you, Jackson. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Your life would be empty.”

She giggled and shook her head at me. “Or easier. Much easier.”

“Bully.”

“You started it.”

“That’s what you always say.”

Hailey shoved my chest. “Because it’s true! I get two minutes of seriousness from you and then it’s back to horsing around.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“Charm.” Hailey scoffed. “Please. You wouldn’t know charm if it walked up to you in a red dress and slapped you silly.”

“Depends how tight the dress was.”

Hailey buried her face in her hands. “Why do I even bother trying?”

I laughed and pulled her in for a hug. “You know I kid. I’m sorry. I’ll stop now. I can’t help myself sometimes. Especially when you make it so easy.”

“Watch it.”

“I’m shutting up.”

Hailey snuggled in close to my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist. She let out a sigh as I breathed in the scent of her coconut shampoo.

“You know I’ll always have your back, right, Hails?”

She lifted her cheek from my chest and blinked up at me. “I know. And I’ll always have yours.”

I stroked her cheek and brushed a strand of hair away from where it was trying to get caught in the corner of her mouth. “And together there’s no enemy we can’t face. Right?”

She nodded. “Right.”

She was so close I could count the freckles dusted across her nose and cheeks like splattered brown paint.

Her skin was fair from the winter months we were leaving behind.

Soon enough, she’d have that bronze glow of summertime and her hair would get lighter.

It had never escaped me how many changes Hailey went through from season to season.

Right now, I was caught up in the fair skin and the contrast of freckles, the dark lashes and rosy cheeks.

Kiss her.

I swallowed.

It felt like we were back on the blankets and pillows in my Nashville apartment. Something inside me was burning. It was familiar and hot and wild and it dared me to act. To pull her to me and kiss those lips of hers and steal her breath away.

I could take the weight of the day from her shoulders. I could bear the load for just a little while.

Hailey’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine until they settled on my lips.

Kiss her.

I leaned in.

Hailey’s eyes widened just a fraction.

I hesitated.

Did she want this? Was I misreading her?

Hailey’s lips parted ever so slightly. A shaky breath left her and she didn’t pull away.

So I closed the distance between us.

My lips grazed hers. Hailey pressed against my chest, but as soon as I sealed the kiss, she relaxed.

The pressure she applied to my chest disappeared and she leaned into the kiss and let me work my hand along the side of her jaw to the back of her neck, where I held her close and gripped the hair at her nape in a tight fist.

She tasted like Pad Thai and I was famished.