He pressed the contact for Sapphire on his phone and waited.
After two rings, the line picked up, and a brief airy silence filled the line before the smooth voice answered. "Hello?"
God, why did her voice have to sound like that? So smooth and a little sleepy as if he had just woken her from a midday catnap.
Joel frowned at the turn of his thoughts and glanced up to the second-floor windows. "I'm going to pick up some Chinese food, and you're going to eat it."
"...is that an order?" she asked in that syrupy smooth voice that had no right belonging to some kid.
"It is," he smirked. "Because I'm afraid you'll die up there since you never come out, and I really don't want to explain to the sheriff why there is a malnourished dead girl in our spare room."
There was a light chuckle on the other end, and Joel hated he couldn't have seen it in person. He couldn't be sure if he had seen her laugh yet. Hell, he was having trouble recalling her ever smiling.
"I've got a long way to go before I'm even close to the definition of malnourished."
Joel felt his grip on the phone tighten as he fought back against the mental recollection of her body she conjured in his mind. She was right on that; she was a curvy thing. Ample was the word that came to mind as he unwillingly thought of her shape. He immediately pushed the image away. She was a kid, he reminded himself firmly.
"Yeah, well, we'll be back in fifteen," he replied, his tone gruff.
There was a pause of silence on the other end, and he pulled the phone away from his ear to check if they were still connected. Hayden, who was standing close enough to hear most of the conversation, looked up to their building. There was a shadow of movement by the windows.
Eventually, she spoke again, and there was a hint of humor in her voice. "So, required family dinner in fifteen? Understood. See you then."
The line disconnected with a beep.
"Little smartass," Joel grumbled under his breath with a grin. Looking at Hayden, he gestured across the street. "Let's take the bikes."
It didn't take them long to get everything. Splitting up, he retrieved the food while Hayden stopped to get beer and soda. Walking through the darkened café and up the stairs carrying their haul, Joel wasn't sure what he was expecting when he finally made it to the top. But he was sure it wasn't the soft sight in front of him.
Standing next to the dining room table, wearing a thick pair of pink fleece pants with green hearts plastered all over them and a matching top, Sapphire was setting down the last glass on the table. Neatly arranged were three plates, three mismatched milk glasses, and carefully lined up silverware, all laying on folded paper towels. But it was the sight of her that stole both his and Hayden's attention as they awkwardly stepped forward into the room. With her curly hair hanging down past her shoulders and her feet clad in what looked to be moccasin house-shoes, she looked—soft. The plush outfit had a startlingly intimate quality to it, giving her a soft look. Despite her usual beautifully harsh countenance, the cozy outfit undermined it at every turn. Joel had to fight the overwhelming urge to take her in his arms and squeeze her like a stuffed fair prize.
"I had no idea we owned real plates," he murmured, hurrying to cover up his awkward staring.
"I found them buried under the largest stack of paper plates I've ever seen." She tried to give him another of her quelling looks as if to admonish him for his blatant wastefulness, but all Joel could do was grin in return. That damn outfit was just so cute it was effectively dampening all the hard edges she put around herself.
Setting down the beers in the center of the table and a few different cans of soda near her plate, Hayden gave her a provoking look. "Which is worse? Using biodegradable paper plates or dishwashing detergent and tons of water each week hand washing the dishes?"
Joel watched the fire of challenge ignite in Sapphire's eyes at the goad. Looking between the two, he could feel the smoldering embers of a battle that had been simmering between them for days. For some reason, it annoyed him.
Setting the bags of food down with a noisy clatter, Joel smiled as she turned her gaze away from Hayden's to look at him. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got two types of chicken and a Mongolian Beef."
Sapphire sent Hayden one last scowl before shrugging one fleece-clad shoulder. "I'm not picky." A sudden leery look passed over her face as she looked at the food he was unloading from the bag skeptically. "As long as it isn't baby corn or watercress, I could care less."
Both he and Hayden made a face of disgust.
"I wouldn't feed baby corn to a dog, much less a human." Joel's disgusted scowl deepened at the thought of the little offensive vegetables. They were hard and crunchy and in no way related to corn in taste. Why on earth would anyone want those things?
There was a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips, but she suppressed it, stopping it before Joel could finally log down the date and time when he finally got her to smile. Damn, she was so serious. It was almost unbelievable she was Jennifer's daughter. If she were here, she would be smiling and flirting her ass off.
Seated at the table, he handed Sapphire a carton of the orange chicken. Joel grabbed the Mongolian beef and began eating right out of the container while Hayden turned on the TV for background noise. Occasionally Joel snuck a peek at her as she meticulously used her chopsticks to eat each piece of the glistening chicken.
God, she was different from Jennifer. But similar enough for him to realize they were both dangerous in their own way. Jennifer was the obvious type of danger mothers warned their sons about, the type other guys fucked and went back to their friends and bragged to them about. Jennifer was the sort of dangerous that would let you sink into that calculated sultry warmth while embedding her claws deep into your back. But this girl—her daughter—well, it was safe to say the apple fell fucking miles away from that tree.
Joel couldn't help but watch her as she carefully unfolded the paper Chinese food takeout box further back to reveal more of the steaming food inside and wondered if she ever really smiled. A true genuine smile that softened her eyes. Not the flinty smile that made those cinnamon eyes fill with cold hard skepticism. Yeah, she was dangerous, all right. Dangerous because he found himself obsessed with the need to sneak past those carefully built walls of hers and see if he could be the one to make her smile.
"What?" she asked, catching him staring. She raised one arched brow at him, and it gave her perfectly structured face a somehow even sharper expression.
Joel smiled. She reminded him of some sort of Disney villainess on the outside, but he suspected there was just a vulnerable young girl beneath that well-crafted icy veneer.
