Brady woke with Hailey lying on his chest. Her beautiful blonde hair was splayed across his shoulder. He gently trailed his fingers through her hair and inhaled her coconut scent. She was absolutely perfect, and he was in love with her. If only he could break through whatever barrier she’d created against football players and the fears that fueled her nightmares. Who was Gage, and why did she scream for him or at him almost every night?

At least, she’d let Brady hold her last night instead of asking him to leave like she had the other nights. He loved working out with her every day, having her near, touching and smelling her delicious coconut aroma, talking to her, and, best of all, hearing her laugh. She was unreal and even more beautiful to him than she had been on their wedding day. She was perfect-looking, the blonde bombshell every man thought was attractive, but to him she was so much more—fun, kind, smart, hard-working. She was the total package and the woman of his dreams.

It was hard to not want more from her physically though. He’d give away his house for a simple kiss from her, but he could tell she was still very hesitant around him physically.

Her eyes slowly opened. Then she blinked up at him. Were those long, dark lashes framing her blue eyes natural? His body heated up. His wife was lying in his arms, and it was all he could do to not smother her with kisses and show her exactly how he felt about her. He had to constantly remind himself that he’d promised he would wait until she asked him to kiss her.

Hailey blinked at him a few more times before he saw the standard shutter close over her emotions. He groaned in frustration and prayed for patience and the wisdom to help her with her fears and demons.

She pushed away from him and scrambled out of bed. His eyes trailed over her shapely form in a tank top and shorts even as his stomach dropped. He shouldn’t have stayed in her room.

“I’ll meet you in the gym.” She practically tossed the words at him before disappearing into her bathroom.

Brady sighed and sat up, pushing out of the tangled covers. He straightened the sheets and the comforters, putting the decorative pillows on top. Hailey was still in the bathroom. Slowly, he made his way to the stairs and his suite, his shoulders rounding with the weight of his failure. He’d tried to be so patient with her and careful with how he touched her and what he said. He didn’t want to scare her, but one night of holding her close might be all he got. He’d obviously made a mistake. Who knew how long it would take to earn her trust again.

* * *

Hailey walked into the exercise room, and her stomach did a triple backflip. Brady was wearing a fitted tank top today. No fair. Seeing the well-formed muscles of his shoulders and biceps reminded her of how it had felt to be snuggled up against him all night. She’d gotten very little sleep, and though she hadn’t minded, all of a sudden she was irritated. Why did he have to look and feel so good? Why did he have to be so good? She wished she could trust that he wouldn’t hurt her physically or emotionally like Gage had, but Gage had been a sweetheart to her too. Maybe all of Brady’s patience with her, his tender touches were just so he could have his way with her like Gage had done. Would Brady leave her after and break her completely?

She shook these thoughts from her head and barked out orders. “Leg workout today.”

Brady smiled. “I love your leg workouts.”

“Start with a hundred air squats to warm up.” Hailey turned away without waiting for an answer and started piling weight on a bar. He would change his tune after this workout. A dart of guilt stabbed her. Why was she mad at him? He’d been nothing but understanding and sweet with her. Maybe he just thought of her as a little sister like the rest of the guys on the football team. Maybe that was why he could hold her throughout the night and never even try for a kiss. Her insides were churning with the need to kiss him good and long. What would he do if she asked him to kiss her? The very thought had her tingling.

No. She couldn’t ask him when she was such a mess. It wasn’t fair to him. He was an amazing guy. They just needed to get through this marriage so he could move on with his life. The stress with William seemed to have settled, but Brady’s stalker was still sending letters every day. Maybe Hailey had more time with him. She could only hope.

She turned to face him and marveled at the defined muscles in his quads and calves as he squatted down and up. His form was good, so she didn’t need to correct him. She joined him in the squats to get her own legs warm and wished his form wasn’t so perfect so she could touch him and correct it.

Brady finished the warm-up squats and easily hefted the bar she’d prepared for him onto his shoulders. Hailey spotted him as he sank into a deep squat, loving the feel of his trim waist under her fingertips. He completed twenty reps, pushed the bar off, and dropped it to the ground. “Your turn.” He smirked at her.

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I wish I could do that much weight.”

“I don’t. Then you’d be some scary bodybuilder I’d have to call Helga.” He winked.

Hailey bit at her lip. She put three forty-fives on each side of another bar. Brady stared at her. “Whoa. I’m serious. I don’t want Helga for a wife.”

Why did he always tease about her being his wife? This isn’t real, she wanted to shout at him. If it was real, she would forget the killer workouts and just kiss him all the day long.

She squatted down and grasped the bar, quickly powering it over her head and onto her shoulders. Sheesh, it was heavy. Brady hurried around behind her and grasped her waist, making sure she kept her back in alignment as she squatted down deep then straightened. After twenty reps, her legs were quivering. She pushed the weight over her head. Brady grabbed the bar from her grasp and set it on the ground.

Hailey whirled on him. “I can do it myself,” she yelled at him.

Brady’s eyebrows arched up. “You okay?”

Hailey spun away and grabbed some thirty-five pound dumbbells. “Dead lifts next.”

Brady didn’t say anything, pulling a set of eighties off the weight shelf. Hailey felt like a piece of dung as she kept her back and legs straight and lowered her upper body, feeling the strain in her hamstrings. He didn’t deserve this. She was grumpy and confused and wanted with everything in her to kiss him. Brady didn’t need her anger or her kiss. He deserved a wife who wasn’t a mess. Maybe when they got William and his stalker cleared up and their marriage annulled, he could find a sweetheart who would be good for him. The thought of Brady with any other woman made her want to spit fire.

She shelved the weights. “Box jumps.”

Brady’s forehead wrinkled, and his lips thinned, but he didn’t say anything about how ornery she was being. They leapt side by side on and off the platforms. Brady’s was a foot higher than hers, but he was a foot taller than her, so she didn’t feel too badly.

Next, they did weighted calf raises and then jumping lunges. After that, they started back with the weighted squats. She made him go through the rotation five more times. Hailey’s legs were quivering, and sweat was trailing down her back as they finished the last set of lunges, but she was still angry—at herself, at the thought of Brady being with someone else, at Gage for ruining her every dream of what a marital relationship could be like, at William for being such a jerk, at Brady’s stalker for not backing off like they’d hoped.

“Stairs,” she muttered to Brady.

He nodded, and they exited the workout room and ran twenty flights of his stairs and then did jump squats up all three flights of stairs five times. Brady didn’t say anything, but they were both panting for air as they finished.

“Let’s go outside,” she said.

They went into the backyard, and even though Hailey’s legs were wobbly, she decided to get creative and really push him. They crossed the huge lawn doing elbow to instep lunges, crab walks forward and backward, inchworms, sprints, and then bear crawls. It was miserable with the heat and humidity, but Hailey reveled in pushing herself and Brady hard and the fact that they both were dripping sweat. Stinky from the workout, maybe she wouldn’t be quite as tempted to tackle him and kiss him to ease this growing tension.

When she finally knew she couldn’t keep going any longer, she forced him to do one more round of each exercise across the lawn then excused herself to go shower. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, she scurried to her room.

* * *

Brady was confused and exhausted. Hailey did a great job pushing him physically, but today had been absolute misery. She wasn’t herself, and it was his fault. He wished he could hit rewind and not have stayed in her room last night. She was obviously upset at him about it, and he didn’t know how to find the carefree, happy Hailey again. He cursed and followed her into the house. She grabbed a water bottle and hightailed it up the stairs. Brady watched her go, wishing they were really together like the public thought they were and he could chase after her.

He drained his own water bottle then downed a protein shake as he walked to his suite. Showering off the sweat, he toweled off, brushed his teeth to get the taste of the protein shake out of his mouth, and put his swimming suit on. He was going to swim and sit in the hot tub to try to ease some of the tension in his legs or he would be really sore tomorrow. Swimming often helped him recuperate, and with as grumpy as Hailey was, he didn’t think she would want to be around him.

Coming down the stairs, he almost bumped into Hailey as she exited her suite. Her long, blonde hair looked like gold as it trailed down her back all wet from the shower. She had no makeup on, and she looked fresh and beautiful in a red t-shirt and white shorts.

Her eyes met his, and they flickered with a fire that had him stuttering back a step. She glanced over his chest before meeting his gaze again. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Um … I was going to swim so I hopefully won’t be as sore tomorrow. That workout was tough.” He smiled, but it fell away when she didn’t return it. Man, he had messed everything up. How was he going to fix it?

She swallowed and looked away. “Okay.”

Brady stepped toward her and inhaled her coconut scent. He still wished he could whisk her away to Jamaica for a week and thought of it every time he smelled her. “Hailey?” he said. “I’m sorry about last night.”

Hailey’s eyes darted up to meet his, and she shook her head. “Are you kidding me right now?” She practically yelled at him.

He straightened, praying he could come up with the right response to fix things between them. “I didn’t mean to upset you by staying in your room all night. I just want to be there for you.”

Hailey stepped toward him and shoved at his chest. “Why?” She demanded.

Brady backed up a step, lifting his palms up. “Why?” He was so confused. Why wouldn’t he want to be there for her? He loved her, and before today, being around her had been the happiest time of his life.

She kept coming toward him, and even though physically he was so much stronger than her, he kept backing away because he didn’t know how to deal with the fire in her eyes or her question. Did she want to know his intentions, or was she questioning why he couldn’t stay away from her? He’d hoped she would someday return his feelings, but at this moment he was seriously doubting it.

She planted her hands on his chest and pushed him against the wall. “Why do you have to be so perfect?”

Brady had never been so confused in his life. If he was perfect, why was she so upset with him? “I’m … not sure what you want from me here, Hailey.”

She shook her head at him. “I want you, Brady.” She poked him hard in the chest.

His stomach lurched and then pooled with a delicious warmth as her words sunk in. Her hands on his chest were giving him good tingles, and even though she was obviously still upset, she was looking at him like she did want him.

“And that’s not a good thing?” He shouldn’t have said that, but he was still baffled by the signals she was sending him.

Hailey stepped even closer, and her hands worked their way up his chest across his shoulders and around his neck. Brady couldn’t stop the low groan that came out. He wanted her so much it hurt.

“No, it’s not a good thing.” Her voice was low and sad. “You’re the kindest man I’ve ever known, and you hold me when I scream in the night without ever asking for more. Then you give me these looks that I know mean you want me like I want you, but I can’t do this, do you understand?”

Brady couldn’t resist sliding his hands around her lower back and pulling her flush against him which elicited the cutest gasp from her. It was all he could do to not kiss her. “No. I don’t understand anything you’re telling me. I’ve fallen completely for you, Hailey. I’d do anything you want … anything.”

“Then why don’t you kiss me?” The words seemed to rip from her, and as soon as she said them, she tried to back away from him.

Brady was done playing these games. Instead of letting her go like he usually would, he held her close and bent down to her. “You seem afraid of physical affection, Hailey. I haven’t kissed you because I’ve been trying to show you that I care for you, not just for your body, and that I can wait until you’re ready.”

Hailey blinked up at him, stood on tiptoes, and gently kissed his cheek. Her warm lips and the feel of her in his arms was driving him insane.

“I’ll never be ready,” Hailey whispered. She looked down and then met his gaze. “But I still want to kiss you. I think about it nonstop.”

Brady felt a cold chill trace up his spine even as the thought of kissing her heated him through. Why would she never be ready? If she wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t kiss her, even if she wanted it. But Hailey’s hands slid from his neck to grasp his face, and she pulled him toward her.

“You said you’d wait until I asked,” Hailey murmured. “I’m not above begging, Brady.” Her voice was deep and throaty as she whispered, “Please, please kiss me.”

Brady pulled in a ragged breath. He knew he should slow down and talk this all through, figure out why she thought she’d never be ready for physical affection, but he couldn’t resist her, especially when she’d asked him to kiss her.

Their lips met and tenderly held for a few unassuming, perfect seconds. Hailey sighed sweetly. Then she framed his face with her hands and kissed him with all the passion he’d known this vivacious, amazing woman had inside of her. Brady tried to not just devour her, but it was hard to rein in his emotions. Hailey was meant to be his. If only he could convince her of that. He’d waited a long time to find a woman he could truly give himself to. Was it possible to heal whatever wounds she was still smarting from? It was like she’d covered them up with Band-Aids, and instead of recovering, the wounds had festered.

He felt her tremble under his touch, and his love for her ratcheted up a notch. She was so tender and innocent. He’d do everything in his power to be the man she needed.