Playing For Keeps (26 page)

"You know what!" she
snapped.

"Hmm, I really don't," he mused,
trying not to smile when she growled in irritation.

"My wallet," she bit out through
clenched teeth. "I need it back so I can leave."

"Then you're not getting it," he said,
shrugging his shoulders. She thought he was going to help her leave
him? Damn, his little grasshopper still had so much to
learn.

"Fine," she bit out. "Give me my cell
phone so I can call someone," she demanded, holding out her hand
expectantly.

"Sorry, I can't do that either," he
said, sighing heavily. Really, did she not know him at
all?

"What about my car keys?" she asked,
eyeing him cautiously.

He pursed his lips up in thought. It
would be best for both of them if she was limited to the cottage
and the center of town a mile down the road.

"No, sorry that's not going to work
for me either."

"This is kidnapping!" she sputtered in
disbelief.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is!"

"Nope."

"What the hell would you call it?" she
demanded, snatching his soda from him and finishing it
off.

"A romantic getaway?"

She snorted.

"If you really don't want to be here,
then go inside and use the house phone to call someone," he
suggested innocently.

She looked close to breaking out her
cute little fists of fury. "You know damn well that I don't have
any of the phone numbers memorized," she snapped. Yes, he really
did know that. Haley, thankfully, depended heavily on technology.
Once a number went into her contact list she never looked at it
again. That little tidbit of information used to earn an eye roll
from him, but now it pleased him immensely.

"Then I guess you're stuck here," he
said, biting back a smile.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously on
him.

"So," he said brightly, "do you want
to go for a swim, go fishing," he gestured to the long rock wall
that went out about three hundred yards into the ocean, "or are you
hungry? I can whip some burgers up in no time."

With one last look that promised
bodily harm, Haley stormed off back to the cottage.

Jason walked back to the cottage not
even bothering to check the sliding glass doors. Haley's little
smug smile had told him everything he needed to know. She'd locked
him out. He'd allow her this little victory, he decided as he
scooped up his shirt off the lounge chair and pulled it on and
headed for town. There was probably no need to tell her that he
snatched the cottage keys already.

She'd have to come to him sooner or
later.

Chapter 23

Three o'clock in the morning and Haley
was close to crying. She was so unbelievably tired. Her head was
pounding and she felt sick to her stomach. She hadn't slept in five
days.

Not one single wink.

Sadly it had nothing to do with the
cottage. The bed was firm, just the way she liked it, the air
conditioner ran perfectly keeping the little cottage at a cool 68
degrees, and the only noise to be heard was the sound of the waves
crashing against the beach. She really wished there was something
to complain about, because that would mean going to one of the
hotels down the road would provide her with the sleep her body
desperately needed.

The reason she couldn't sleep was
quite simple. The bastard who refused to leave no matter how many
times she begged, pleaded or threatened was one hundred percent
responsible for this little problem. Being this dependent on
another person for sleep was not healthy or normal, but no matter
how many times she tried to get that message across to her
exhausted body it wouldn't listen.

She tried everything over the past
three days. At first she thought relaxation would do the trick, so
she'd taken about a dozen hot baths, read a few books, and even
tried a relaxing moonlit stroll along the beach. When relaxation
didn't work she moved onto vigorous activity. She tried swimming,
long vigorous walks, and cleaning the cottage from top to
bottom.

Absolutely nothing worked. There was
no way she could handle another day without sleep, never mind the
four days Jason was determined to keep her for.

She sat up in bed and kicked the sheet
away. Damn it. If she was going to be stuck with him, then she
might as well get something out of it. She threw open her door and
walked down the short hallway.

Jason looked over at her and sighed.
She wasn't too surprised to find him awake. It seemed this little
addiction went both ways, thankfully, because if she was going to
suffer than so was he. Granted his inability to sleep might have
more to do with the small wicker chairs he was forced to sit in all
night.

"I don't know what you did,
but you wrecked sleep for me and since you won't give me back my
things I've decided that you will allow me the use of your body
for
sleep
," she
clarified, afraid he might get the wrong idea, "until we go home
and I can get a prescription for sleeping pills from my
doctor."

Jason simply looked at her through red
shot eyes. "Okay," she said firmly, nodding to herself. "Move your
butt," she said, gesturing for him to head to the
bedroom.

"No," he said softly.

She narrowed her eyes on him. "Don't
make me hurt you, Jason. I am way too tired for any bullshit
tonight, so move your ass."

He stubbornly shook his head. "Not
until you promise to spend the last four days with me."

"No."

They broke up and he really needed to
accept that, especially since they returned to work in two weeks.
She didn't want to have to deal with any of this nonsense at work.
He needed to accept this so they could both move on. It was already
hard enough being around him and not being able to touch
him.

She loved him so much and this was
killing her. The best thing he could do for both of them was to let
her go now so she would have some time, even a few days, to mourn
their relationship. She already knew she'd have to put her house on
the market and look for a new job as soon as she got
back.

After this she knew she would never
manage to be in the same room with him or spot him walking around
outside without feeling her heart break. She needed to put as much
space between them as she could if she hoped to survive
this.

"We have four days left, Haley. If you
want to sleep then you'll give me what I want."

"You need sleep just as much as I do,"
she pointed out.

He nodded his agreement. "I'm willing
to go without if that's what it takes."

"We're not getting back together," she
said, feeling more exhausted than she had five minutes
ago.

"I'm not asking for that, Haley. I'm
asking for some real time with you."

"You expect me to believe
that?"

"Yes," he said, sounding as exhausted
as she felt. "I just want time with you."

She considered him for a moment. At
this point she was willing to fork over her kidneys if it meant
getting some sleep. "Fine," she said slowly. "But just time. No
kissing, sex, or touching."

He sighed with obvious relief as he
got to his feet. "That's fine," he said, walking past her to the
bedroom. She followed him, eager to finally get some
sleep.

"Underwear stays on," she announced,
as she walked into the room.

Jason yanked his underwear back on,
probably too tired to argue, and flopped down on the bed. After a
slight hesitation, Haley lay down and curled up against him. In a
matter of minutes she felt her body relax and started to drift
off.

****************

"Oh my god, no! It's going to bite
me!" Haley squealed, jumping back as the small crab moved towards
her.

Jason chuckled as he watched his
little grasshopper run on her tippy toes, trying to get away from
the small crab that really did seem to have it out for her. Every
time Haley changed direction so did the crab.

Now, Jason could very easily fix this
little problem for his little grasshopper by picking her up, but he
was following her rules. He only had four days left to convince her
that she couldn't live without him, and if that meant he had to
follow her rules to spend time with her than he was damn well going
to follow them to a tee. He wasn't about to give her a reason to
break their agreement.

That's why an hour ago when he woke up
to find Haley curled up in his arms, he quickly jumped out of bed
and the hell away from her. She looked a little confused and hurt,
and he almost ignored her rules and took her into his arms, but he
forced himself to keep his head in the game. He said good morning
and left her to take a shower, and not joining her had almost
killed him, and made them lunch.

After lunch it had taken a little
prompting and about a dozen reminders that she promised to spend
the last four days with him. With a resigned sigh she followed him
to the beach. For the first time since he wrecked her flowers a
heavy awkward silence rose between them.

He bit back another apology,
remembering what his father said, and walked next to her, trying to
figure out what the hell he should say to her. Unfortunately Haley
seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he was. He knew she was on
the verge of suggesting that they go home again, when thankfully
they'd found the little crab hell bent on attacking her.

Now they both laughed, watching the
little crab's antics, the awkward silence forgotten.

"Jason!" Haley shrieked as the crab
made a grab for her toes.

Sighing, Jason bent over and plucked
the small crab up. He raised it so he could look at its tiny little
buggy eyes. "It's kind of cute."

Haley squished up her face adorably.
"If you say so."

He noticed that she didn't make any
move to take a closer look. In fact, it looked as if she was trying
to discretely step away. Jason bit back a smile as he held it out
to her. She squealed, jumping back and almost fell on her ass in
the ocean.

"Get it away from me!"

"Aw, come on, Haley. He just wants a
little kiss," Jason said, shoving the crab towards her once again.
"Just a little kiss."

Haley giggled even as she ducked out
of the way.

"Come on, he likes you!" Jason said,
chuckling as he chased after her.

"Go away!" Haley said, laughing so
hard that she stumbled several times, but somehow managed to take
off when the crab came within her personal space.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kick
your ass for this!"

*************

Haley dropped her book as she latched
onto Jason's arm and tried to drag him away.

"That's false advertisement!" Jason
said, heading back for the door that they'd been unceremoniously
kicked out of ten minutes ago. "The sign says, 'All you can
eat.'"

Thankfully the last several months in
Jason's company had pretty much cured her problem of embarrassing
easily, otherwise she'd probably be turning bright red right now
and wishing for a hole in the ground to open up and swallow her
whole as people stopped to gawk at them.

"They were closing," she pointed out
softly.

"That's no excuse," he said, glaring
at the wait staff that watched them nervously from behind the
curtains.

"I think they ran out of food," Haley
said, doing her best not to laugh when he pouted.

"Bastards," Jason muttered.

"Come on, I'll let you treat me to a
late movie," she said, tugging on his arm. He reluctantly let her
lead him away, only throwing the occasional look of longing towards
the restaurant. Haley did her best not to roll her eyes. The man
was way too obsessed with food. As they stepped into the long line
outside the movie theatre a thought occurred to her.

"You never brought me to a buffet
restaurant at home," she pointed out. Now that she thought about it
she was really surprised that he hadn't. It seemed like the perfect
type of restaurant for Jason, heck, for Jason and his father. They
both adored food, which is probably why his parents stopped with
just one child. Just the thought of a bunch of little Jason's
running around eating their parents out of house and home was
frightening.

Jason mumbled something.

"What?" she asked, tearing her eyes
away from the list of movies playing.

"I said, I've been banned," he
grumbled unhappily. "It's all political," he sniffed.

"Uh huh.......and your father?" she
asked, already having a sneaking suspicion of what his answer was
going to be.

"He's been banned since 1995," Jason
said with a shrug.

"I see," she said, her lips
twitching.

"In two years the band in Las Vegas
will be lifted. We're planning a big trip," he said, looking at her
hopefully.