I yawn. “What does it matter?”
“I don’t know why it matters, but it fucking does.”
What does that mean? “What —?”
Aiden chuckles and pats him on the back. “Start at thebeginning, Dax.”
But Dax is too busy glaring at the place where my breasts hide to take his advice. He can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the gigantic hoodie covering me to my knees. “I can’t. I’m not kidding. Whose?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine. Here.” I step back and pull the hoodie over my head, launching it at Dax. He catches it in mid-air without taking his eyes off me. Strangling it in his grip.
“Oh,” Aiden grunts.
“Holy shit…is this better or worse?” Dax mumbles.
“Better, definitely better,” Aiden replies, eyes wandering over my new outfit.
“What the hell are you two going on about?” Their stares are making me tingly and weird, so I give myself a distraction and tease out the braid that has been threatening a headache because of how tightly it is pulling at the base of my scalp. I squeeze around Dax and make my way up to the apartment, hearing both following behind.
I circle the armchair and take a seat.
Dax groans and slumps onto the sofa. Aiden glides around me and sits beside him. Where one has agony carved into his face, the other is all soft grins and wide eyes.
Dax inclines his head toward Aiden but still doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Is this some kind of punishment?”
“Nope. She has no idea.”
Oh god, what now?“No idea of what?”
“Of the effect you’re having, Tiger.”
The effect…?Aiden nods toward Dax and I take a good look to see what he means. The man rubs his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, massaging his temples and up to his hairline. His gaze flits as fast as hummingbird wings from my head to my chest to my abdomen to my feet and back up again to linger on my lips before moving again. He’s distracted and pained. As I watch, he opens hismouth twice to speak but is only successful on the third try. He’s probably gearing up to shout at me after what happened today. I’m due an‘I told you so’and I probably deserve it.
“You changed your hair,” he says. It’s so far removed from what I expect him to say that I laugh. The sound reverberates off every wall.
“Wow, you’re going to need to work on your attention to detail there, Dax. I’ve been here five minutes, and you’ve only just noticed?”
“There were other things to notice first,” he grumbles.
“Look,” I defend, “It’s Koko’s hoodie. I wore it to keep warm and stay incognito.”
“No…the…” Dax waves me off, but Aiden speaks over him with another left-fielder.
“You do yoga, Tiger?” Aiden defects from Dax’s side to mine, sitting on the arm of the chair I’m in.
“What?”Why would he ask…oh…ohhhh.The skin-tight sportswear. “Well, fuck.”
“If it’s on offer,” Aiden teases, his words a warm whisper at my ear.
“I…you…” Dax is still stumbling over his words. I’ve never seen the man so out of sorts.
For goodness’s sake. Show a little skin, and sane men lose their marbles. “Give me back the hoodie.”
“No!” they both shout, Dax a little more vehemently than Aiden.
“If I hope to get a sensible conversation with you about what happened today, I’ll need you to hand me that hoodie.” There’s no way I can stand confidently in a room with two attractive men staring at me without crumbling under their scrutiny. My cheeks are aflame, and the self-deprecation is already a million voices loud and swarming in my brain. I need to focus and not succumb to my inner pathetic nobody in borrowed clothing while flouncing a bruised and scarred body.
Dax stands and removes his white shirt. Only when he has all the buttons undone do I realise he’s going shirtless so I can cover up. He’d rather have me wear his clothes than Koko’s?Is he jealous or is he just that eager to cover me up?
