Page 88 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

JACKSON

H ailey’s legs were stretched out in front of her, and damn if I couldn’t take my eyes off her thick thighs and the dainty gold anklet on her right ankle.

I’d seen my best friend half clothed and nearly naked countless times over the years, but tonight, it hit different.

Tomorrow morning, I’d be boarding a plane and I’d be leaving her here.

All of a sudden, I didn’t like the idea of setting her up with Ambrose.

She snagged another piece of pizza out of the box and took a big bite. Her cheeks puffed up while she chewed and I followed suit. We passed the small dipping container of jalapeno ranch back and forth while we ate and my phone played music.

“Who am I going to pig out on pizza with when you’re gone, Jack?”

“Your sister. She can match me slice for slice.”

“Hannah annoys me eighty percent of the time.”

“Obviously. She’s your sister. That’s what sisters do.”

“Katie doesn’t,” Hailey said pointedly. “The two of you get along like two peas in a pod.”

I chuckled. “Well, we are two peas in a pod. Or we were. Twins, remember?”

She rolled her eyes and left her crust in the box for me to eat later. Her hair fanned out all around her when she laid back against the pillows and rubbed her belly. “I’m so full.”

I sucked pizza sauce off my fingers and leaned back with her to clasp my hands behind my head.

We stared up at the fan turning lazily above our heads on the ceiling.

“It’s not too late for you to come with me.

I can help you get things sorted and packed.

I can hire the same guys to move your stuff out of your sister’s place.

You could crash with me until you’re on your feet in New York and—”

“Jack. Please don’t make this harder than it already is. My life is here. My sister. My friends. My job.”

I opened my mouth to speak.

Hailey shook her head and pointed a stern finger at me.

“Don’t. I know how you feel about my job.

Hannah feels the same way. But there are ladders to climb there toward well-paying careers with flexible hours and incredible benefits.

I don’t want to mess up an opportunity like this.

I just have to put in my time on the ground floor before I start climbing. ”

Put in her time on the ground floor?

Hailey had already been at the call center gig for two years, and out of those two years, there had been at least six nights where she showed up at my place with mascara tears running down her cheeks.

The customers she dealt with on a daily basis were the scum of the earth.

God forbid a person living in this century suffered any minor inconvenience with their fucking cell phone.

I’d had no idea how ruthless people could be when it came to their mobile devices until Hailey started working that job and exposed humanity’s most shallow and entitled qualities.

I wished that work on no one.

Not even my enemies—if I had enemies.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t mean to talk down about your work. You know I support you no matter what. But I also can’t pretend not to see the dark parts of that job and what it costs you to be there.”

“I can handle it.”

“I know you can. I never said you couldn’t.” I was the one who couldn’t handle how she was treated. I was the one who wanted to take calls for her and work as a shield between her and the scumbags who threatened to ruin her day with their insensitive remarks.

I got to my feet and went to the fridge. All my cabinets were empty but I still had a case of beer in the fridge that I planned on leaving behind for whoever moved in after me. Nothing made moving day better than a cold one in the afternoon.

I helped myself to a beer and held a second up over the door to Hailey. “Want one?”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

She wasn’t a drinker. Hardly at all. Her father had passed away from liver failure when she was only sixteen after spending his life glued to the bottle, and the stuff made her remember the bad parts of him instead of the good.

But every now and then, she’d treat herself to a drink or two, and I thought tonight might be one of those nights, considering the goodbye that the morning would bring.

“Sure,” she said.

I popped the caps off the bottles and brought them back to our living room picnic spot. When I handed it to her, she took a sip. Her nose scrunched up in the most adorable way.

“Don’t like it?” I asked.

“No. I like it. The first sip is just never what I expect.” She took another swig, and then another, and then she tucked her legs up under herself and sat facing me like a pretzel. My plain gray T-shirt was long enough on her to cover her up. “We should make a toast.”

“To friendship?”

“And new beginnings,” she said. “Even if they’re going to be hard in the beginning.”

I lifted my beer. “Here’s to you coming to visit me as often as possible.”

“Once a month if you’re paying,” she teased.

“Done.”

“And here’s to a minimum of three phone calls a week. At least an hour long.”

“Deal.”

“And I’m keeping this shirt,” she said.

I laughed. “It’s yours. Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

We tipped our heads back and drank greedily.

Before we knew it, our first round was gone and I found myself going back to the fridge for seconds, of which I was surprised Hailey wanted to partake.

Maybe she was doing what I was doing and trying to numb the sadness that was encroaching on my heart at the prospect of standing at the curb and hugging her goodbye tomorrow morning.

I didn’t have any family left besides my sister.

I had Hailey. And I never pictured a future where she wasn’t just a short drive away from me.

It was going to hurt like hell.

But life and progress demanded change. My business was flourishing.

I was cashing checks of the likes I never dreamed I would see and I’d worked too hard to let it slip away because I was afraid of change and temporary discomfort.

Besides, Hailey would have killed me if I didn’t pursue this opportunity fully.

That was the kind of friend she was.

Her anklet caught the light as she adjusted again and brought her knees up. I did a valiant job of not looking down at her black bikini cut underwear as she sat shamelessly in front of me. “Before I come visit for the first time, you’re already going to have found the best pizza joint in New York.”

“That’s a tall order.”

“I believe in you,” she said with a knowing smile.

Had she always been this beautiful? What was it about her tonight that had my gaze lingering on parts of her I felt like I’d never noticed before?

Like the dramatic way the two points of her cupid’s bow met in a perfect M.

Or the daintiness of her ankles and wrists and the three small freckles under her right eye.

“What are you thinking about, Jack?”

I focused my attention on the half-empty beer bottle in my hand.

I couldn’t tell her the truth. That I was thinking about what it might be like to be more than just friends with a girl like Hailey.

I could be goofy with her. I never showed that part of myself to the women I courted for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next.

I was thinking about how Kim might have been right all along about how there was something else between me and Hailey. Something fiery and wild and impossible to catch without stepping back and taking a breath.

I was thinking about what Ambrose wanted with a woman. A family. A traditional home. Family dinners on Sundays and birthday parties and garages overpacked with toys and Christmas decorations to the point where we’d have to park our cars in the driveway.

“How much I’m going to miss you,” I said.

She leaned forward and put her hand on my knee. “I’m going to miss you too. But this will be worth it. You’ll see. You’re going to make it big in New York. I can feel it. We’ll never stop being friends no matter how far away we are from each other. I promise.”

“Me too.”

Her hand was still on my knee. Her touch was warm and familiar and safe. I stared at her hand and her father’s brown leather watch on her wrist. I’d taken it to a jeweler and had them add extra holes to the leather band so it actually fit her. She’d cried when she opened it.

I damn near had, too.

She squeezed my knee. “Are you okay, Jack?”

“Yes.” No.

She moved in closer. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I forced a smile. “Are you?”

She shrugged. Then she leaned in, wrapped her arms around me, and hugged me. Her cheek rested on my chest and it was natural to wrap her up in my arms and pull her between my legs so I could rest my chin on her head. She took a deep breath and her fingers curled up in the fabric of my shirt.

When she lifted her cheek from my chest and gazed up at me, her eyes were glassy with tears. She sniffled. “You smell good.”

It felt like that wasn’t what she wanted to say, but she said it because it was safe.

Fuck safe.

I put a finger under her chin. She sucked in a breath as I guided her lips to mine.

And then it happened. I kissed her. I kissed her like I wasn’t kissing my best friend.

I kissed her like I was kissing the woman of my dreams, and an electric jolt shot through me.

Hailey let out a soft, whimpering moan as she leaned into me, succumbing to my touch and the temptation neither of us seemed able to resist.

I wanted Hailey more in that moment than I’d ever wanted any woman before.

And unless I was misreading the situation, she felt the same way.