“You weren’t like that with . . .” I trail off, and Mike shakes his head against his pillow.
“No. I never even thought those things with anyone else. You have no idea what you do to me, Hailey. You bring it out of me.”
“Your inner caveman?” I ask with an impish smile, and Mike fists his hand in the back of my hair, applying pressure as he smirks at me. I bite my lip between my teeth, and he releases my hair to sweep his thumb across my mouth, laughing with surprise when I bite down on it.
I release his thumb to smile up at him, loving the way his laughter touches his eyes, the way they crinkle at the corners as he gazes down at me with more love than should be possible after so short a time.
“What’s on your mind right now?” I ask, and Mike lifts himself up on his elbow to let his eyes rove over my lips, my chin, my cheeks, the tiny freckle on my nose. Finally, his gaze settles on mine.
“I wish I could wake up with you tomorrow.”
My throat thickens, and he kisses me softly. It’s not a fiery kiss—it’s a plush blanket that wraps itself around me, that warms me from the inside out. He pulls away and tames another curl that’s tumbled over my forehead.
“What else?” I ask when a secret smile touches his lips.
His attention slides from my hair to my eyes, and he holds them when he says, “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
I can’t stop the way the corners of my mouth turn up even as I roll my eyes. “You are such a liar.”
Mike’s expression sobers, his voice full of sincerity when he says, “I would never lie to you, Hailey.”
I don’t respond. I just stare up at him.
“Do you believe me?”
I give a small nod of my head, but it doesn’t seem to ease his concern. His fingers thread into my hair, and he rubs tender circles over my temple with his thumb. “I want to give us a shot. I want this to work.” He pauses like he wants me to say something, but I don’t know what to say. Danica forbade it. And besides, he’s leaving in a matter of hours, if not less, and I won’t see him again for weeks. Months. We’re not even together yet and he’s already leaving.
“I’m going to be gone for a long time,” he continues, “and you know there are fans . . . girls.” I feel his fingers tense in my hair like they want to drum against my scalp. “But you only need to know one thing.”
“And that is?”
“I don’t want them,” he promises. “I want you. I’ve waited for you for too long to mess this up.”
“You’ve waited for me?” I ask, incapable of understanding. We just met. He didn’t even know I existed before a few weeks ago.
“I’ve waited for you my whole life, Hailey,” Mike says, and when a silent breath catches in my throat, he waits for me to release it. “Will you give me a shot?”
That question is so much more complicated than he knows. If Danica knew I was in his bed right now . . . if she knew all the ways he touched me last night . . .
I worry the inside of my lip, wondering how Mike and I could ever possibly work. We’d have to keep our relationship a secret from Danica, and if Lifetime movies have taught me anything, it’s that secret relationships are never a good idea.
And frankly, neither are long-distance relationships. When I was eighteen, I was dating a guy named Tom, and he cheated on me after he went off to state college. Granted, I was kind of relieved, since it meant I didn’t have to keep spending hours on the phone each night listening to how much he missed me, but still . . .
And Mike is going to have so much more opportunity than a frat house at state college. He’s going to have girls literally lining up. They’ll be in single-file outside of his clubs. They’ll be screaming his name in the front row of his shows. They’ll be standing outside of his bus, in short skirts and skimpy tops.
“What would giving us a shot entail?” I surprise myself by asking, and even though I haven’t answered yet, Mike is already smiling.
“Let me date you,” he says. “Don’t date anyone else while I’m gone. Just me.”
“You’ll be on the other side of the world,” I point out, and he brushes his fingers over my arm, sending goose bumps dancing over my skin.
“I could be on the other side of the universe, Hailey, and it wouldn’t keep me from you.”
Butterflies swarm in my stomach at the sincerity in his words, at the promise in his eyes, and in spite of my dry throat, I nod and manage a tiny “Okay.”
“Okay?” he asks with hope glinting in his eyes.
This is probably the wrong decision. I’m probably going to regret it. But I started falling for Mike Madden the moment I made him laugh beside me on his tour bus, and I don’t have the strength to break my own heart. Not today, not with his eyes shining with happiness, not when I’m the one who put it there.
“Okay,” I say again, and Mike seals the promise with a kiss that wraps itself around my worries and makes them disappear. They’ll matter tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, but for now, this morning, there is only Mike Madden—rock star, gamer, pizza lover, drumstick twirler, beer drinker, sex god.
My boyfriend.
We’ll have to say goodbye soon, but for better or worse, I know this is just the beginning.
Chapter 36
Dee: Hailey, please PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD tell us you had mind-blowing sex with Mike last night.