Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter 108

A lollipop as a reward? What, does he think I'm five?

I was just about to call Hayden out on how childish that was, but before I could say anything, he plopped the candy into my hand and grabbed some water, even bringing my water bottle over. He sat down on the bench and patted the spot next to him. "Take a break."

Did I really need a break? I hadn't done much except deal with drama. But since Hayden had already parked himself, I gave in and sat down too. Without him, I couldn't get anything done anyway. It hit me then-he was subtly taking charge.

"You were really fierce just now," Hayden commented.

I took a sip of water. "Was I?"

"Yeah, kinda scary," he said, making me turn my head to look at him.

He nodded. "Really."

For some reason, seeing him like this-a tall, strong, no-nonsense military guy-reacting that way caught me off guard. It was so out of character that before I knew it, I blurted out, "How old are you?" I meant it as a tease, like, 'You're acting like a kid.'

But he answered seriously, "I already told you."

Huh?

momentarily confused, and then he added,

Oh...

he said, like he was filling in the blanks for

myself at a loss for words. Conversations with him always seemed to be on different

of water, and then he mentioned, "Macy called me. She heard we're working together and suggested I bring you back

time Hayden had

trying to set me up with Hayden. Bringing her up now would only make things awkward between us. Now that he mentioned her, I had to respond. I forced a smile. "Did you tell her you're

ear," he replied, and I looked at

his head back to drink his water. His Adam's apple moved as he swallowed, and

+25 BONUS

Chapter 108

His hearing was annoyingly

being on my own," I said, then added more pointedly, "I

no intention of getting closer to him, so I needed to keep reminding him to

ourselves in close proximity,