She could no doubt feel the tension between them. An undefined discomfort that had been growing all day since the beach.
As if sensing this, Joel gave her a wide grin dispelling some of the hostility in the air. "He looks like a man who doesn't know the meaning of proper beard care. You probably have carpet burn from that thing, unlike mine, which is silky smooth."
Understanding the silent and unsubtle invitation, she smirked and raised her hand to his. Hayden's jaw clenched as he watched her eyes widen at the feeling. Of course, his fucking beard was soft. The asshole took up one whole shelf and a drawer in the bathroom with all his grooming shit. It better be fucking soft.
Joel gave her a smug grin at her evident shock. "I told you."
"It's like butter," she remarked, seemingly unable to take her hand away from its golden glory but made herself nonetheless. "Do you have a little beard bonnet you put on at night?" she asked, indicating to her own bonnet the long satin bag-like cap on her head that hid her curls from view.
Joel laughed, and Hayden couldn’t help but smirk as they both followed her into the kitchen.
"No, and I doubt I'd be as cute as you in yours," Joel said with a wink.
There it was again. Hayden's eyes narrowed in the almost imperceptible stiffening of her shoulders before she quickly turned away to face the kitchen counter. Hayden looked to Joel, and their eyes met. He saw it too. It was something they had noticed about her, something they had only talked about briefly. Any touch or sign of affection by them made her body turn to steel, and that cold wary look he very much despised returned to her eyes. Granted, it wasn't as bad when she first got here, but it was still there, and it bothered him. He knew there was a reason—a story—to why such a beautiful girl flinched at any sort of male attention, and it was slowly burning him alive from the inside to know that reason.
Pulling his thoughts back to the present, he watched as she pulled out an old tea kettle from beneath the cabinet and held it under the faucet as she clicked on the stove. She was making tea. Silently in the quiet stillness of their kitchen, both he and Joel watched the slow act. There was something so feminine about the task. Her delicate, familiar movements sent a homey warmth in the air Hayden couldn't describe.
With the pot filled and her tea bag in her mug, she had no choice but to turn back to them.
Self-consciously she ran her hand over the long, black bonnet that held her curls safely for the night and tentatively met their eyes as she sat down at the table. "You've probably never been with a girl who wore one of these, right?"
Hayden thought of all the blonds and brunettes he had been with in the past, and not one of them came close to a girl like her.
Something seized in his chest.
That was not the question, you fucking sicko.No, he carefully spoke the words firmly in his head; none of the women wore bonnets. Nothing else. No comparison, just that.
Joel gave her a deadpan look. "I may not have slept with any women who wear such cute sleeping bonnets," he informed her as he twirled an abandoned fork on the table's surface. "But I do have access to the internet, and I'm knowledgeable enough to know lots of women wear them, so they're not completely alien to me, darlin."
Sapphire hid a smirk as she turned back to get up for the boiling pot.
"Mmm, well, most men don't find them cute," she said with a little shrug, her back toward them as she carefully poured the boiling liquid into the mug. "But there's no helping it. Women with curls have got to have it."
Hayden's interest peaked at that. "And did someguytell you that?" he asked, his voice low and his words even. "That he didn’t like your bonnet?" he pressed.
Her hand stopped mid motion in stirring her tea. The little clinking noise the spoon made on the side of the porcelain with each stir halting, leaving the air still. Turning just her head until she was looking over her shoulder, her eyes met his before going to Joel, where he too watched and waited for an answer.
Hayden watched her throat move slightly as she swallowed, but her face remained infuriatingly unreadable. She could no doubt play poker with the best of them with that face, he thought. Turning back to her cup, she resumed stirring the amber liquid.
"Maybe."
Hayden could hear Joel's deep pull of air before he released it in one gusty exhale. No doubt calming his nerves the same as Hayden. Why did pain lance through his nerves at the thought of some guy with her? Some guy speaking his inconsequential opinions on her night headwear.
"And where is thismannow?" Joel asked, his voice deceptively neutral.
He must be feeling the same as him. Hayden could tell by Joel's tone the simmer of destructive possession underneath. Fucking hell, they really were turning into a pair of overprotective uncles.
Finished with her tea, Sapphire held the mug in both hands and turned to give them both a coy smile. "That's a conversation for another day." She gave them both a meaningful look. "Thank you for taking me to the beach today. I really enjoyed it."
In silence, he stood next to Joel as they watched her climb the stairs.
Chapter fourteen
"So,how'slifewithyour new roommate?" Vic asked as he passed Hayden to the Blue Moon tap to Hayden's right.
Popping the maraschino cherry into the glass, Hayden nodded at the woman standing on the other side of the bar before handing her the Old-Fashioned drink.
Hayden thought about Vic's question. It had been a few days since they went to the beach. A few days since her hand had run through the short hairs of his beard, and her eyes lit up as if she were looking at him for the first time. Hayden shook his head in a frown at his straying thoughts. Taking another customer's crumpled dollar bills, he grabbed a clean glass and stepped up to the Guinness tap to pour.
