Page 52 of Wanting More
For some reason, she felt her stomach fill with anxious warmth thinking about Hayden with another woman. It was easier thinking of Joel that way. Some woman with her arms wrapped around his strong neck and him giving her that devilish smile of his—nope—Sapphire stopped herself suddenly. No, it wasn't any easier thinking of Joel like that either. They…they were hers, dammit. She blinked at the odd possessive thought. It was wrong. They certainly weren't hers, but it felt good to think it just for that moment.
Completely unaware of where her thoughts were at the moment, Joel leaned one arm on the back of her chair and gave her the very same wicked grin she thought of some other woman getting. "Is that right?"
The warm presence to her right brought her attention around to Hayden as he too turned toward her, this time his knees brushing along her jean cover thigh. "And why is that?" he asked.
Feeling completely surrounded, Sapphire hated herself for grinning under their undivided attention. These two were changing her, spoiling her with their attractive smiles and heated presence. She licked her suddenly dry lips watching as Joel's eyes darted to the movement for a fraction of a second before his gaze training back on hers.
"Fishing for compliments?" she asked.
"Maybe," Hayden replied, his voice so much deeper than it was before.
Sapphire couldn't help but smile as she looked at both of them, making sure they were paying attention. "You both are very good-looking. You don't need me to tell you that," she informed them.
Joel's eyes dropped to her lips again before pushing away from her chair and sitting back straight to eat his steak. "It never hurts to hear."
Feeling the sudden loss of his attention, Sapphire turned to see Hayden doing the same, their attention completely neutral again. For a moment, it had felt so—hot—under the direct beam of their focus. Picking up a roll of sushi, Sapphire stuffed it into her mouth. She was just imagining things.
"As I was saying," she said eventually. "I just think I may be cramping your style right now, and once I'm gone, you two can go back to-"
"There is nothing to go back to," Hayden told her simply.
"You're not cramping any sort of style, so put that out of your mind," Joel echoed. "For now, things are working just fine. When we get back, look up the discount and if you need to put our address on your license, then do it. Whatever you need, goldilocks."
She wanted to say something funny, to give them both a sly look, or just do anything but feel the sudden pain of emotion in the back of her throat. Not trusting herself to drop her chopsticks, she carefully sat them down. Why did they do this to her? For a moment, she just breathed, not daring to look at either one of them.
"I wish I knew why you two were so nice to me," she finally whispered, staring at her plate.
The warm heavy feeling of Hayden's arm enveloped her shoulders, tugging her gently closer to his muscular frame.
"Give me one of your fancy sushi things. I want to try it," he ordered.
Sapphire tried and failed to hide her smile. Both he and Joel had scrunched up their noses when she first ordered the sushi. With his arm still around her shoulders, Sapphire carefully picked up the little discus of food and hovered it inches away from his lips.
Her heart nearly stopped as Hayden met her gaze and opened his mouth. All the noise in the overcrowded restaurant seemed to fade to nothing as she gently placed the food in his mouth.
Another arm snaking around her waist tore her attention from Hayden, and Sapphire turned to come face to face with Joel's seething grin and near lambent eyes.
"I want some too," he demanded, and Sapphire nearly laughed.
Obediently she balanced another discus of sushi between her chopsticks and fed him a bite as well. With both men fed and satisfied, they allowed her to eat her food.
She was eating her food and halfway listening to the conversation Hayden and Joel were having over her head about—surprise—their bikes and the endless modifications they wanted to do to them when the bartender came back holding a tiny plate of chocolate cake in his hand with one lit candle sticking out the top.
"I believe this goes to you," the bartender chuckled as he placed the cake in front of Hayden. "If you like, I can gather all the employees to sing you an off-key Happy Birthday."
"Yeah, you can fuck right off on that, but thanks," he added with a smirk before looking pointedly at Joel. "You're a dick, but thanks."
"Please tell me today isn't your birthday?" she asked in horror.
Using his unused salad fork, Hayden cut into his cake and lifted a huge dark piece to his mouth, and paused. "It is. Why?"
She gave him an outraged look. "What do you mean why? I made you come to my stupid college tour. That's not what anyone wants to do on their birthday."
"I did," he said simply as he pushed his cake plate toward her in silent offering. "I enjoyed it."
Sapphire shook her head at the offer and just stared at the man. She wanted to reach up and push back some of the fringe of his overly long hair. She wanted to see his handsome face fully again. He looked so sincere, as if…he really meant it. That spending his day traipsing around a college campus with her was truly something he wanted to do.
An arm reached past her, and Sapphire watched with stunned amusement as Joel greedily forked a huge chunk of cake off the plate. "Trust me," Joel grumbled next to her. The warm puffs of his breath hit the side of her neck as he leaned into her to steal more cake. "It's more than either of us ever do for our birthdays. It's either absolutely jack-shit or sit around and get drunk at the house."
