Sharing Hailey Read Online Free Page A

they’d lost him. Mark backed her against a wall and placed one hand against it next to her head. He dropped her hand and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him as he leaned in.
    His brows were drawn. She dropped her gaze to his lips, hoping he would kiss her again, afraid that he would.
    “Don’t freak out on me, Hailey.”
    It was a little late for that. “Where’s Tony?” She tried to escape his intense gaze, but he applied gentle pressure to her chin.
    “He’s checking our departure gate.”
    “But—”
    “We’ll talk about this later. Just don’t freak out on me. Okay?”
    “You surprised me.”
    “I know. I’m sorry. But it’s been a long time coming.”
    Once again, he left her speechless, her mouth gaping.
    “Okaaay, I guess that wasn’t the right thing to say.”
    “Ya think?”
    He smiled. “Well, at least you’ve got your sass back.”
    “Jake calls it ‘bitchy.’”
    Mark shrugged. “Jake’s an Aggie. He doesn’t know any better.”
    “ I’m an Aggie.”
    “Your point being…?”
    She didn’t have a comeback for that. Honestly, she was still back at “it’s been a long time coming.”
    He released her chin, grabbed her hand and stepped back. “Come on. Let’s find Tony and get some lunch.”
    “You didn’t wake me up for lunch,” she complained, although she wasn’t hungry. She just didn’t know what else to say.
    “You didn’t miss anything.”
    “You were able to eat with me sprawled across your lap?”
    “No.”
    “Then how do you—”
    “I looked, I smelled. We’ll get something at Stinger Ray’s.” He nodded to a spot ahead of them. “There’s Tony.”
    * * *
     
    Two and a half hours later, with the last leg of their trip completed, Hailey removed her leather jacket. She stepped onto the stairs leading down from the airplane to the tarmac of the Kona airport, which was built on a massive black lava field. She drew in a deep breath of the hot, sweet Hawaiian air. She loved this airport. It was comprised of a bunch of open-sided wooden roof buildings—really more like shade structures than buildings. They were surrounded by a black lava rock wall about five to six feet tall. Coconut trees seemed to grow wild among the buildings, their fronds and thick, striated trunks providing more shade. Its open-air design was a preview of the next two weeks. Dining outside, swimming, walking on the beach, hiking, open-air shopping, card games on the lanai. Even when they watched the bowl games, the huge glass doors of the game room would be open to the ocean breeze and the sounds of the surf.
    At the bottom of the stairs, Mark took her hand and led her through the crowd, across the tarmac and through the terminal to the baggage carousel, while Tony went to pick up the rental car. As they waited for their luggage away from the main crowd, Mark put his arm around her waist and rested his hand on her hip. This morning, she would have thought nothing of it and leaned into him. Mark and Tony were always touching her—draping an arm over her shoulders, holding her hand, massaging her neck or back, pulling her onto their laps. While she might have wished their actions were romantic, she’d known they weren’t.
    Now, she was confused. Mark had changed the rules. But where did that leave Tony? She knew she couldn’t have a romantic relationship with both of them. She also knew she couldn’t have a romantic relationship with one of them when she had a crush on both. And it had to be a crush. You couldn’t fall in love with two men. The universe just didn’t work that way. You had one true love. Period.
    Mark let go of her and stepped up to the carousel. He lifted her black, rolling bag with the bright yellow plumeria flower she’d stenciled on it. A few minutes later, he stacked his and Tony’s duffel bags on top and rolled them toward her. He took her hand then maneuvered her and the luggage out to the curb, where Tony waited with a white RAV4.
    Tony and Mark