alone was privy to some wicked secret. It irked Jeremy whenever Brad got that way. It was usually
because Brad had managed to pull one over on him. This time, considering the way Haley looked in her
tiny string bikini, Jeremy would admit defeat. Gladly.
“No, it wasn’t so bad. Haley is… Damn.” He rubbed his stubbly jaw and tried to figure out what it was
about her that made her so appealing. He’d met other attractive women. He’d bedded plenty of them.
But Haley had a look about her, as if she waited for a guy to tap into all her secret desires.
“Yo, Jay!”
Oh right— Brad. “Sorry, I got sidetracked there for a minute, what’d you say?”
Brad laughed, but then he seemed to sober. “I’m trying to explain to you that Haley is a very dear
person. She’s been hurt a lot by her ex-husband, so be gentle with her.”
Jeremy nearly snarled. “I’m not a Neanderthal.” Then he wondered about Brad’s words. “Hurt as in
physically ?” Just the thought enraged him.
“I can’t go into a patient’s history, but yes, her husband was not…tender.”
That was not what Jeremy wanted to hear.
After promising to be careful with Haley, he severed the connection with Brad and called the car rental
company. He gave them an earful before wrangling a promise from them to send out another car. He also
warned them against charging him for towing. It wouldn’t be a good idea for the assholes to try and shaft
a cop. That done, he went to check on dinner.
Jeremy had everything just about ready. He wasn’t a gourmet cook— hell, he hated to cook—but he
could fire up a grill and whip together a salad. It didn’t take a genius to manage some burgers and greens.
He hoped Haley liked hamburgers. He really hoped she wasn’t a vegetarian. Shit. If she walked in
smelling cooked meat and ended up hurling, that would really put a damper on the evening. He wished
he’d thought to ask her when he invited her to dinner. She’d flustered him with the way she called him
Jay. She made it sound sinful. Sexy. He never much cared for the nickname, but that was before Haley’s
husky bedroom voice had uttered it. Now it was his favorite name in the world.
He heard a tentative knock on his screen door and practically tripped over his own feet to get to it.
Haley stood on the other side. She wore a sweet little tank-top style dress and a pair of sandals. Her
brown, sun-kissed hair was down and reached just past her shoulders. He liked it. It appeared delicate
and soft, like her. The white dress hugged the gentle curves of her small frame. Even through the screen
door he could see she wasn’t wearing a bra. Christ, she was something else. He desperately wanted to