Searching for Hailey Bradshaw

Chapter 5

"Wow, you did make it," Daniel yelled, when he finally reached her. Though he was only a foot away from Hailey, he still had to holler in order for her to hear him.

After his greeting, he immediately glanced toward Tony who was hovering at her elbow and his smile faltered. Though he couldn't hear her over the roar of music and talking, Hailey laughed aloud when she realized he'd just mistook Sasha's man for the pretend boyfriend she'd made it sound like she had. With no intention of correcting him, she blinked in surprised confusion when he took defeat gracefully and held out his hand toward Tony in greeting.

"Daniel O'Brien," he yelled the introduction. "You're Anthony Windsor, the basketball player, right?"

Tony grinned and nodded, obviously tickled to be recognized.

"Good game last week," Daniel shouted. "That three-pointer you made in the last two seconds was incredible."

"Thanks," Tony hollered back.

Daniel took a small step backward and his gaze seemed to zero in on the close proximity in which Tony stood to Hailey. Still strangely disappointed by his gentlemanly reaction to the discovery of her supposed boyfriend, she risked a glance up into his eyes only to jump when she realized he was watching her.

Forcing out a sad smile, he lifted a hand to press it directly over his heart and said, "Ouch," quietly enough that she had to read the word as he uttered it.

Ouch? Hailey's lips parted as she gaped at him. The juices in her stomach started to churn until she felt a sharp pain. Her skin prickled with awareness. Ouch? He thought she really had a boyfriend and he all he could say was ouch? The single remark was so unbearably sweet she felt herself sigh.

Thank goodness it was so loud around them he couldn't hear the sentiment, otherwise she'd be horribly mortified about letting him know she'd just melted into a puddle at his feet. But, wow. No one had ever acted so crushed about the fact that they couldn't have her before. Usually, a boy would move on to flirt with one of her sisters, because hey, out of the five Bradshaw quintuplets, there were three pretty girls to choose from.

No longer wanting Daniel O'Brien to assume Tony was her boyfriend, she opened her mouth to confess. But it was as if her roommate knew Hailey needed salvation. Sasha showed up then, and immediately latched onto Tony's arm, leaning heavily against him.

Hailey could've kissed her.

Daniel frowned at the new arrival a moment and then turned expectantly toward Hailey as if he thought she should pounce on Sasha and yank her off Tony by the hair.

Instead, Hailey pointed her finger at her roommate and yelled, "This is Sasha, my roommate."

Daniel nodded and lifted his hand to wave at Sasha.

Hailey then pointed to Tony. "And that's her boyfriend, Tony."

At that announcement, Daniel's gaze snapped to Hailey's. His eyes seemed to probe unmercifully. Hailey suddenly felt breathless. Okay, so she'd pretty much just told him she didn't have a boyfriend. She still hadn't admitted she was in any way interested in him. But the smile that lit his face was so blinding a person would've just thought he'd won the lottery.

It forced Hailey to think maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Sasha bumped her shoulder to get her attention. Snapping her entranced gaze away from Daniel, she turned and read her roommate's questioning look.

Hailey leaned close and hollered, "Daniel O'Brien," as she motioned toward him.

Having heard enough about him in the past few days, Sasha recognized his name immediately. Her eyes popped open wide and her mouth dropped. She looked from Hailey and then back to Daniel for a moment before she turned to Hailey. Mouthing the word, "Oops," she then threw back her head and proceeded to laugh uproariously.