Page 83 of Finding Hayes
We left a half hour ago, and she was heading home. Happy for you, brother.
King
By the way, are you sure you two want to sell that farmhouse? I think she loves it there, brother. Maybe you should think about keeping it, Captain.
I set my phone on the center console and started driving toward our house. It was our house now, wasn’t it? It didn’t matter that this relationship wasn’t real—she’d been the first person I’dwanted to tell the news to. The first person that I wanted to see.
I didn’t know what we were anymore. It had been a few weeks of sleeping in the same bed, making out like teenagers, showering together—we’d traded more orgasms than one could imagine, but we hadn’t had sex. And I didn’t even know why we were holding back anymore.
Even she’d suggested we just tear off the bandage.
It was me who was afraid to take that step. And it made no fucking sense.
We were both on the same page.
We were having fun.
We knew how this would end. We’d agreed we’d stay friends after our very amicable divorce, but right now, playing house was a lot of fucking fun.
Our attraction was impossible to miss. We wanted each other. We were two consenting adults.
She wanted it.
I wanted it.
And I was done holding back.
It was time for me and my wife to take things to the next level.
twenty-two
. . .
Savannah
I’d just finished uploadinga bunch of content reels for social media, and even I was surprised by the way things had blown up for me with this house. I was making a design name for myself through this project, and I couldn’t believe how many people were following along on the journey.
Abe would be so proud.
My chest squeezed at the thought.
I’d offered to make dinner, as Hayes did most of the cooking when he was home. But I knew he’d had a long couple of days at the firehouse, and we’d stopped feeling the need to go out and be seen so much, as everyone in town just believed we were a couple now.
Even Belinda, who had been here today to clean the house, would share how happy it made her to see Hayes and me together. She’d tell me how different he was now and how he never used to smile or speak much before I moved in.
So nothing about it felt fake anymore.
Sheana hadn’t dropped her lawsuit, even though Easton hadmet with her attorney to try to put it to rest. He’d advised us to keep doing exactly what we’d been doing as far as sharing a bed and being affectionate when we were in public, but he didn’t think we needed to go overboard otherwise.
And the truth was, we weren’t even acting anymore.
When he wasn’t working, we were together. He’d come to the farmhouse and hang out while I worked. I always stopped by the firehouse when he worked. We went out with friends, and we did normal things that a regular couple would do.
In fact, this fake relationship would go down in the books as the best relationship I’d ever had.
Hayes and I may have spent years apart, but he was still my best friend. That hadn’t changed at all. And the fact that he gave me orgasms every night I spent in his bed only made things all the better.
But we hadn’t had sex. And I wasn’t the one stopping it. It was he who was holding back. Maybe he thought I’d get too attached if we crossed that final line. And maybe he was right.
