Page 64 of Wanting More
So, she came to his room instead. The realization felt like a purr of an engine in his chest, full of satisfaction and excitement.
Dammit, he had to focus. He was becoming too acutely aware that she was only dressed in her pajamas in his bed, and he was halfway undressed with every pulse of his heart.
"Okay, try flexing your foot. I don’t want it so tight you can’t move it," he offered.
Gingerly, she tried to move her foot in his lap just as the sound of the bathroom door opened. Sapphire jerked in his lap and promptly let out a strangled little cry at the obvious pain in her foot from the sudden movement.
Hayden's hand shot out to her mouth and covered it. They both froze and listened. With held breaths, they listened to the complete unnatural silence of the outer hall. Hayden could feel the luscious, pillow softness of her lips against his palm and felt his body grow heavier. Both of their chests deflated in unison as another second of silence passed. They were in the clear.
Hayden began to reluctantly remove his hand from over her lips when he heard the sound of his door crashing open behind him and the ominous voice.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Chapter 20
Sapphire's whole body stiffened while her heart threatened to burst in her chest at the sight of the seething man standing in the open door.
Never more so than now, Joel looked exactly like the gangster people whispered him to be. Shirtless and wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs, his face was hard like granite. No traces of the golden dimpled face angel remained, only the hard face of a fallen one.
Like electric currents in the sky, Joel's blue eyes singed across the space of the room, settling on her before flicking to Hayden, whose hand was pulling slowly away from her mouth.
His ferocious words still hung in the air, echoing around the room and in her head.Just what the hell do you think you're doing?
With his hair damp and pushed back from his face, Hayden slowly stood to his full height and turned to face his brother and friend. It felt as if all the air in her lungs was seeping out elsewhere, like a straw with a hole in it, not allowing her to catch her full breath. She sat frozen on the bed and watched as the two men faced each other like titans.
"I'm helping bandage up her foot. What the fuck do you thinkyou'redoing?" Hayden's voice boomed like thunder, and Joel's eyes filled with lightning.
Joel's frowned somehow deepened. "Her foot?" Shifting, he peered around Hayden's broad frame toward her, his electric eyes scanning her body and stopping on her bandaged foot momentarily before snapping back to Hayden in sizzling accusation. "With your hand over her mouth?"
"I was trying to avoid this." Hayden cast out a hand, indicating the both of them.
Joel didn't acknowledge him, instead, his energized gaze settled on her snapping her to attention like a daydreaming soldier in front of a commander. "What happened?" he demanded.
"I-" She opened her mouth and began to speak, but she was cut off.
Hayden shifted between her and Joel, blocking Joel's line of sight toward her. Joel made a sound low in his chest and stepped threateningly closer to Hayden.
Unfazed, Hayden tilted his head and looked down his nose at Joel, and explained matter-of-factly. "The window in her room broke when she tried to close it." Sapphire hoped he would leave it at that but groaned when he went on, noting the satisfied glean in Hayden's gunmetal eyes. "And since her room is too cold to sleep in, she came to sleep in my bed. That's how I found her."
For a second, it looked as if Joel had been punched in the gut. "Why didn't you call me? Why did you come to his room?"
There it was. The real question. Why did she choose Hayden's room over his?
Carefully she slid further down the bed toward them. She wanted to push them apart, to touch them and somehow ease the burning anger between them. "Honestly, because it was the shortest distance to hop to when I came down the stairs. The door was slightly ajar." And she figured it was the tidiest. She had caught a glimpse in Joel's room before and knew he had clothes strewn about in there.
Joel didn’t seem satisfied with her answer. Turning his head to Hayden, he gave him an indignant look. "Fine. Come on. We'll fix the window now."
"No!" she cried, bringing their attention back to her. Moving until she was sitting at the edge near the end of the bed, she looked up desperately at them both. "Look, you both are tired; it's late…no, technically early," she corrected, looking at Hayden's alarm clock next to his bed. "Just…let me sleep here."
Joel's brows shot up. "Excuse me?"
Hayden turned to her and gave her a satisfied look. "I'm fine with that," he said smugly.
"I bet the fuck you are." Joel's eyes crackled with barely concealed rage as he reached out and pushed at Hayden's chest.
Sapphire gasped as she watched Hayden barely rock back from the hard shove, his jaw hard as granite as he refused to step back and give an inch.
Standing his ground, Hayden crossed his big arms, his biceps flexing powerfully at the simple gesture. His voice was chillingly matter of fact when he spoke. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
