He catches the pillow easily, mouth agape like he can’t believe I’d dare to throw something at him after he purposely chose a movie that made me sob.
“Don’t be mad.” He sets the pillow on the floor out of my reach.
“I’m allowed to feel however I want to feel.” I grab a handful of popcorn this time and throw it at him. It’ll be a bitch to clean up, but right now it makes me feel better.
He picks a piece of popcorn off his shirt and holds it up, examining it. “Did you just throw popcorn at me?”
“You deflected the pillow too easily.”
His eyes glint with mischief, a shiver running down my spine in response.
Grabbing a handful of the popcorn he lobs it at me. It rains down over my shoulders several pieces falling down the tank top I put on.
“I can’t believe you did that!” I shriek, getting my own handful and throwing it across at him. I’m aware a huge mess is being made but in the moment I don’t care.
I don’t know how it happens, but one moment we’re laughing and being total children and the next his hands wrap around my wrists like shackles and I find myself lying on my back, pressed into the couch with his body settling between my thighs.
My breath catches, a tiny gasp passing between my parted lips.
His eyes widen the smallest bit, like he’s surprised to find us in this position. Neither of us moves, perhaps waiting for the other to react first. His eyes flick over my face, taking in every minute detail.
Seconds.
That’s all the amount of time that passes.
Barely a blink.
But it feels so much longer.
When he releases me, his grip loosening from my wrists I feel bereft. It’s like I’ve lost something vital and I can’t understand what or why.
He clears his throat, his eyes floating everywhere around the room and not landing on me.
“We uh we should clean this up.” He clears his throat, surveying the mess of popcorn all over the couch and floor.
“Y-Yeah, we should.” I sit up, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear. I’ve grown comfortable in Hayden’s presence but suddenly I feel awkward and out of place once more, like I don’t know what to do or say.
The two of us pick up the popcorn, tossing it back into the bowl.
When there isn’t a kernel to be found he takes the bowl, dumps the contents in the trash, and rinses it before putting it in the dishwasher. All while not meeting my eyes. I stand there awkwardly, hands in the back pockets of my jeans. Rocking back on my heels I nibble my bottom lip, trying to think of something, anything to say to ease this feeling creeping between us. Unfortunately for me I’ve never been very good with words.
Wiping his hands on a dishrag he exhales a sigh deep enough that his shoulders fall.
“I better go.”
“Why?” I blurt.
Reluctant sea-green eyes meet mine. “You know why, Emilia.”
A shiver runs down my spine at the sound of my name on his lips. “I really don’t,” I whisper.
His teeth gnash together and he white knuckles the counter. “If I have to tell you that’s all the more reason I have to leave.”
“Hayden—”
My plea falls on deaf ears as he moves in a blink, swinging the door open.
Don’t go.
“I’m sorry.”
With those two parting words he steps out, the door slamming closed behind him, and I’m left standing there more confused than I think I ever have been.
Chapter Eight
“If I have to tell you that’s all the more reason I have to leave.”
Hayden’s words play over and over on a loop in my brain as I run on the trail near the condo.
“If I have to tell you that’s all the more reason I have to leave.”
What does that even mean?
Is he mocking my age? My obvious innocence when it comes to … well, everything?
I hate that I don’t understand his meaning and I hate myself even more that it matters at all to me.
Ariana Grande croons in my ear about switching up positions and I groan, yanking out the earphones and letting them dangle. I’ve run longer and further than I intended but I needed to cool off. Not that it’s done much good.
But I need to hurry home and get ready. It’s my first day working with Rachelle and I want to make a good impression. I need this job. Not just for the money but for my mental sanity as well.
Returning home, I let myself into the condo. Tossing my keys on the counter I kick off my tennis shoes. Next goes my loose top, leaving me in only my jog bra and shorts. My muscles ache from tension, not the exercise, and I’m looking forward to my hot shower like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
I don’t make it to the bathroom before there’s a knock on the door.
Pausing, I look over my shoulder ready to ignore it but there’s another followed by Hayden’s voice.
“Emilia, I know you’re there I just heard your door close.”
The groan that leaves me is barely the tip of the iceberg that is my anger at him.
Crossing the room, I yank the door open. “What do you want?”
My words are scathing, and he won’t be able to mistake the tone.
“I…” He swallows thickly and I narrow my eyes. But his eyes? They’re not looking back at me. They keep dropping down before darting away but they always come back to the same spot—
Looking down I realize it’s because I’m in my jog bra.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I start in again, “more is covered right now than if I were in a bikini top. Get a grip. I already don’t know what your issue was last night and now you’re going to freak out over a bra? Come on Hayden, grow—”
My heart jolts at the feel of his hands on my cheeks, snaking around the back of my neck where he tangles them in my dark hair.
My eyes ask a question. What are you doing?
This. He answers with his lips.
The first second his lips press against mine is hesitant, unsure, but in the next he grows bolder, stronger. I don’t move for a moment, taken by surprise, but somehow my body takes over, following the lead of his mouth. My hands move from my sides, gliding up his solid chest and taking in every dip and curve of his muscles. My fists wind into the soft fabric of his shirt, holding him tight against me in case he changes his mind.
I don’t know how this is happening, or why, but I don’t mind. Not at all.
His lips against mine feel right.
All the clumsy and sloppy kisses of my past are erased with the expert sweep of his tongue. He holds me tight in his grip, not painfully, more so like he’s afraid if he lets go, I’ll drift away.
I kiss him back with everything I have, standing on my tiptoes to get closer to his height.
He lets out a manly groan that I feel everywhere, in places I didn’t know existed.
Hayden, my brain seems to hum. Hayden. Hayden. Hayden.
He’s invading my senses, rattling my very foundation with one kiss.
Pulling away, just slightly, he places a tiny kiss on the end of my nose. Our breaths mingle in the air.
“I swear if you try to say you’re sorry right now I will punch you in the face.”
He chuckles, rubbing his thumbs on my cheeks in soothing circles.