Page 73 of Torrid Passion
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I tell her. I turn to face Hayden. “And, I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Oh, no you don’t, young lady,” Stella shakes her head, and a few dark long curls escape from the messy morning bun plopped on top of her head. It goes perfectly with hermornings-should-start-middayyellow nightgown and her oversized Tweety Bird slippers. Those were supposed to be a Christmas gag gift, but she loves them so much. “You can’t sass your way out of this. Our roof, our rules,” she says.
I flash her an incredulous look.
So does Hayden.
“Okay, I think you’re taking this a little too seriously,” Hayden says.
“I agree,” I side with her.
“I’ve always wanted to say that,” Stella laughs. “Dad used to barrage my older brothers with that trademark line whenever they were past their curfew and would try to sneak into the house undetected.” Uncle Keigan can be a hardball. “I’ve always wanted to say it. This is practice until I have my own kids.” Stella laughs wholeheartedly.
Hayden and I join her.
“On a serious note, where the hell were you?” Stella asks when she finds her composure.
“Why are you up so early?” I answer with my own question.
Deflate and delay.
“The Emmy Awards are next month and that means a lot of award parties taking place across LA,” Hayden explains. “Soon, women will be flocking to our stores in search of their red-carpet frock.”Love that British word.“We wanted to make sure we were ready. We left the office at nine last night and decided to finish working from home. Around two o’clock in the morning, I was seeing double and Stella could no longer remember her name, so we called it a night. We figured we’d get up really early to finish our work. FYI, today, I will be functioning with only four hours of sleep.” In other words, don’t test her patience. “As we were getting ready to go to bed, we noticed you, young lady, were still out painting the town red.”
“Yeah, and we even texted you, but you didn’t respond,” Stella adds.
“My phone might’ve been off,” I explain.
“Might’ve been?” Hayden questions.
“It’s impolite to give your phone too much attention when you’re in the company of someone.”What a great explanation!
“Had it not been for the fact you were hanging out with Loki, we would’ve called the police,” Stella says.
“What do you have to say in your defense?” Hayden demands.
“I lost track of time?!” My voice goes up a few octaves.
Stella and Hayden squint their eyes at me.
They’re not buying it.
“You mean Loki and you were just hanging out since you texted us after the Magnus fiasco?” Stella asks.
“Something like that,” I answer with a firm nod.
“Wow. You had a lot of catching up to do,” Hayden says.
“A lot more than you think,” I say.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Stella asks.
I close the gap between us. “Let’s say we spent a lot of time together… getting to know each other…reallywell.”
“You mean you were sharing the highlights of the last three years?” Stella asks, confused.
“That’s not what took most of the night,” I say.
Stella squints harder. When realization sets in, her eyes widen so much, they threaten to take over her face. “You mean you got to know each otherreallywell in the biblical sense?” Stella shout-whispers.
