Jo took a deep breath. “I never met my father and I haven’t seen my mother in eighteen years.”
Hayden blinked rapidly, but stayed silent.
“I was born here, on Lanai, at a little cottage on the beach.” Jo smiled fondly. “I lived there for a little while, with my grandparents. But after a while they got tired of my mother expecting them to raise me while she chased men, so they kicked her out. Both of us.”
“Where did you go?”
“Uncle Jack, my mother’s older brother, took us in. He and my aunt Pam raised me while my mother continued her ways. I don’t remember it since I was just a baby, but I guess it got bad. She used to bring guys around all the time, and Pam had three young kids of her own to look out for, so she and Jack gave my mother an ultimatum—shape up or ship out.” Jo paused to take a steadying breath. “So, she did. She left and she never looked back.”
“She left you?”
Jo bit her bottom lip hard, desperate for the pain to keep the tears at bay.
Hayden’s hand was on her shoulder again, squeezing gently. “Joy, pull over.”
“What?”
“I need you to pull the car over.”
There was an urgency in his voice, so she slowed Jezebel to a crawl and eased the van off the shoulder, putting it in park. Rain was beginning to fall and the smell of wet pavement permeated the car as Jo rolled her window up. She looked at Hayden, who had just finished rolling his window up, too. He was staring at her, pain etched across his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“This,” he said, pulling her into his lap.
Hayden wrapped his strong arms around her and held her tight. Jo melted into his embrace, laying her cheek against his neck.
“You didn’t deserve that,” he murmured into her hair.
She raised her head to look at him.
Emotion swam in the deep blue pools of Hayden’s eyes when he spoke. “You didn’t deserve a mother who couldn’t love you.” He loosed a shuddering breath. “Jesus, Joy, you . . . you deserve so much more.”
“It’s okay,” she soothed, running her fingers through his hair. “I have Jack and Pam, and my brothers. It’s okay.”
She could tell the conversation had hit a nerve with Hayden, but she wasn’t sure what to do.
“No, Joy, it’s not okay. It’s shitty. It’s shitty that you got a mother who didn’t deserve you. A mother who left by her own accord, when some mothers . . . some fight with their dying breath to stay.”
Hayden’s body was coiled with grief. It wrapped around his corded muscles like a disease and Jo finally understood. “You lost your mother?”
He nodded slowly. “When I was six.” He tightened his arms around Jo, his breathing erratic. “She was sick. Her heart . . . I . . . it’s why . . . my scars . . . I . . .”
“Shhh . . .” Jo took Hayden’s face in her hands and kissed away his tears. “It’s okay,” she murmured between kisses. “I don’t need to know. Let’s just be here, okay? Just right here in this moment.”
Hayden nodded, burying his face in her chest as she stroked his hair. Jo closed her eyes and held him tight. Her heart pounded in her chest. One week. She’d known Hayden for barely more than one week and already she felt the lasting impact of him wrapping around her heart.
It was terrifying that in one week she’d reached a level this deep with him. It was beyond physical attraction, beyond desire and lust. Their connection was on a deeper level. A level that was sacred—where the true scars lived. The place very few ever got to see. But Hayden was there. Jo could feel him brushing up against the dark places where she kept all her pain locked away. And she could tell she had reached that secret place in him, too.
Both of them clung to each other, knowing going any further might very well destroy them. Because sharing that closed off place with someone who would disappear in five weeks was possibly the stupidest thing they could do. It would leave them vulnerable and aching worse than before.
But even knowing that, Jo couldn’t bring herself to unwrap her arms from Hayden. She couldn’t find the strength to crawl off his lap. And she certainly couldn’t fight the feeling of his lips as they traced the curve of her neck, the line of her jaw, the shape of her agreeable lips.
Kissing him felt better than breathing. Their lips were a balm to every wound their words had torn open. Jo tasted trust and affection and patience in Hayden’s tender kisses. And she wanted to live in the world his mouth painted over hers. One where nothing else but the feeling between them existed.
As the rain pounded down around them, Jo gave in, giving Hayden every part of her that he needed and taking just as much in return.
* * *
By the time they got back to campus it was late and the storm that had been brewing in the mountains was now battering the beach. Jo parked as close as she could to her apartment, but she and Hayden were still soaked to the bone by the time they raced up her stairs, with a soggy Piper hot on their heels.
“Can you grab some towels?” Jo asked. “I’m gonna get Piper in the bath before she drips all over the place.”
“Do you keep the towels anywhere special or should I just comb through your couch-closet?” Hayden teased.
“Ha-ha,” Jo shouted from the bathroom. “Towels are in the hall closet. Plus, everything on the couch is clean. I just haven’t gotten around to folding it yet.”
She could hear Hayden’s laughter as he muttered something about missing his maid. She found herself rolling her eyes. Who was this guy? He couldn’t drive and he had a maid? Talk about coming from two different worlds . . . But his laughter was still the brightest ray of sunshine in the storm and Jo decided she didn’t care where the hell he came from, as long as she got to keep him for a little bit longer.
Hayden joined her in the bathroom, happily kneeling next to her to get his hands dirty scrubbing Piper clean. They might be from different worlds but Jo was certain that they were the same underneath. His heart spoke the same language as hers and that was the only thing that mattered.
Jo tried to keep the desire pooling in her belly contained as Hayden helped her wash her dog. But every time their hands touched she was transported back to the van, where she’d let him touch a piece of her soul. They hadn’t done more than make out like high schoolers, but even though they hadn’t broken the physical rules they’d set for themselves, Jo knew emotional ones had been crossed. And now there was no going back.
Hayden seemed to know it, too. His guard was down as he grinned at her, planting sly kisses on her cheek or shoulder whenever she was near. The easy way he touched her calmed her jittery nerves, letting her excitement take over as she lowered her own defenses.
Once Piper was clean and toweled dry, Jo stood up and turned the shower on. “Your turn,” she said, grinning at Hayden.
“You’re gonna let me shower here?”
“That depends, did you bring your stuff?”
He smirked. “I have a confession to make. This is the stuff I was referring to,” he said pointing to his scars.
He was shirtless again and Jo took a step closer so she could press her hands to his impressive pecs. “Well your stuff is welcome here anytime.”
Hayden grinned and peeled her shirt off while kissing her. In an instant he had her pressed against the steamy full-length bathroom mirror. His hands were in the waistband of her shorts when she pulled away, panting. “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think there’s one rule we really shouldn’t break.”
Hayden’s forehead met hers as he exhaled. “You’re right. But that means I need to make this a cold shower.” He placed a kiss against her wet hair. “I’ll be quick.”
“Take your time,” she said, kissing him back.
Hayden groaned low in his throat. “You’re killin’ me, Joy.”
Hayden
After the cold water did its trick, Hayden turned the shower knob warmer, giving himself a small reward for reining
himself in when it came to Joy. Letting her in had been like breaking down a wall, which was wonderful, except now it was even harder to hold himself back.
He let the warm water wrap around him as he wondered how long he could physically go without breaking the most important rule they’d set. If he was going to have a fighting chance at all, he was going to need a lot more than some thoughts about gross food to keep his Little Olympian on the swimmer’s block and out of the pool.
Hayden exhaled, turned the water to cold one more time, then shut it off completely. So much for enjoying a warm shower. He toweled off, realizing maybe he actually should’ve packed some stuff. His clothes were wet from the storm, but now that Joy had seen the worst of him, his modestly vanished. He wrapped a towel around his waist and padded out into the kitchen to find Joy.
She dropped the soda she’d been about to drink into her kitchen sink when she saw him walk toward her in nothing but a towel. It made Hayden grin from ear-to-ear.
Beautiful coral tones blossomed in her cheeks and she held a spatula out at him like it was a weapon. “Oh no you don’t.”
“What?” Hayden asked, feigning innocence.
“I know what you’re doing, mister.”
He couldn’t hide his grin. “What am I doing?”
“Flaunting all your sexiness so I’ll cave on my rules.”
“My sexiness?”
“Yes. Don’t try to pretend you don’t know you’re sexy.”
“I would never.”
Joy was grinning now, too. Hayden kept walking toward her and she kept backing away. Finally the kitchen island was between them. Each of them stood at opposite ends feeling the other out. Their flirting had just become a game of cat and mouse, and Hayden was ready to play.
He waited, watching Joy like she was his prey. As soon as she made her move he pounced. Joy shrieked as she ran down the hall toward the bathroom with Hayden hot on her heels. She was fast, but he was faster. Their footsteps thundered along with the storm and Piper joined in the ruckus adding her barking to mix.
Joy’s yelp of laughter nearly undid Hayden as his arms slid around her waist and he effortlessly hoisted her off her feet. “I’ve got ya, now.”
“No!” she shrieked between giggles. “Oh my God, stop! Tickling is not fair.”
“All’s fair in love and war.”
“Well in that case . . .”
Joy twisted in his arms and Hayden suddenly felt a rush of air on his nether regions. He looked down at the same time Joy did. Both of their eyes went to the towel she’d tugged free. It lay in a useless heap on the floor.
Hayden immediately let Joy go and her hands flew to cover her eyes. She turned blindly toward the bathroom and ran. Mistake. She misjudged the door and slammed into the wall instead. She bounced back so fast, Hayden barely had time to catch her. His arms shot out, instinctively pulling her against him for support.
Joy yelped again but this time it was because Hayden was completely naked and his Little Olympian was pressed against her back—in all the excitement, there really wasn’t anything little about it.
Joy
Jo stood still as a stone as she felt Hayden’s impressive length press against her back. After a painfully awkward moment, he wisely let her go, and she rushed away from temptation and into the shelter of her bathroom.
She shut the door behind her, leaning against it while she tried to catch her breath.
“Sorry,” Hayden called from the hall.
“My fault,” she called back.
A smile defiantly formed on her face as her cheeks flushed.
Well shit, Jo. You had to go for the towel, didn’t you?
She’d certainly made things more difficult for herself. Jo wouldn’t be forgetting Hayden’s impressive manhood anytime soon—or the feel of it pressed up against her. Dammit. Why did every part of him have to be so extraordinarily tempting?
Maybe Jo would be taking a cold shower, too. Or maybe . . . a nice long, hot one was in order.
* * *
When Jo came out of her bathroom, showered and fresh, she almost didn’t recognize her apartment. The clothes from her couch were all neatly folded and stacked on her table. And the assortment of dishes that normally cluttered every available surface were piled in the sink, where Hayden stood washing them.
“How long was I in there?” she asked.
Hayden looked up, grinning when he saw she was wearing nothing but a towel.
Two could play this game, Hayden.
“I couldn’t help it,” he said, his eyes never leaving her towel-clad body. “I’m a neat freak and your mess was staring at me. I never lose staring contests, Joy.”
Jo laughed as she sidled up to Hayden in the kitchen. His hands were still in the sudsy water at the sink so she stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “What happened to ‘my mess is your masterpiece’?”
Hayden’s chuckle rumbled through his back as Jo pressed her cheek to it. “My neat-freakishness knows no bounds, Joy. It’s really more of an addiction. You can’t hold it against me.”
She laughed. “Well, I have plenty of mess to keep you busy.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Wait until you see my bedroom.”
Hayden spun in her arms, facing her now. “Is that an invitation?”
Jo gasped, but it wasn’t from his question. It was because of the sunburn attacking his chest. “Hayden, you’re burnt.” She hadn’t noticed it in the dim lights of the kitchen, but up close it was blatantly obvious.
Hayden looked down at the pink skin of his chest. “Yeah, it’s been getting worse since I got out of the shower. I’m not used to getting much sun there.”
Jo inspected his skin with concern. “This is bad. You need to put some aloe on that before it starts to blister.”
“Really?”
“Hold on,” Jo said, darting to her bedroom to grab her favorite after-sun treatment. Hayden was still at the sink drying dishes when she returned. “Those can wait,” she said pulling the plate from his large hands. “Your skin can’t.”
Jo pumped her home remedy of coconut oil and aloe into her palm and began to spread it on Hayden’s broad chest. He hissed at first and her hand jumped. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so cold.”
“It’s not that cold, your skin is just on fire.”
“Oh.”
She worked quickly and quietly until she got to his shoulders. He was so tall she couldn’t reach very well even on her tiptoes so Hayden hoisted her onto the counter. He moved closer, settling himself between her thighs as she continued to sooth his shoulders and chest with aloe. His eyes watched hers the entire time.
Jo could feel the electricity building between them. The air was charged with desire and she was suddenly regretting her decision to wear nothing but a towel into the kitchen. She needed more of a barrier between them. Hayden’s bare skin seared hers everywhere they touched. The peaks of his hips pressed into the inside of her thighs in a heavenly way and his finely sculpted torso begged to be touched.
She’d covered all of his burn with lotion but she continued to reach for more, knowing her hands needed something to do or they’d get her into a sinful amount of trouble.
Seeming to read her mind, Hayden reached for her hand. “I think you got it all.”
Jo wanted to reply, but every word she’d ever known vanished when she looked into the swirling sea of his deep blue eyes. They were bottomless and she wanted to drown in them.
Hayden’s strong hands moved to her hips, gripping them firmly as he pulled her closer. She sighed when Hayden’s lips met hers. But they only remained there for a moment before traveling down to her throat. One hand held her neck, cradling her to him, while the other slowly slid up her thigh.
Jo gasped as Hayden’s hand hooked around her legs pulling her closer still as he lowered her back to the counter. In a flash he joined her on the kitchen island. It groaned under his weight, bu
t Jo didn’t care. The whole damn apartment could crash down around them and she wouldn’t care. Not when Hayden’s hands snaked further and further up her thighs, promising ecstasy.
Hayden whispered her name, but Jo’s response was drowned out by an explosion of noise. Barking erupted by the front door startling Jo from the spellbound moment in Hayden’s arms. Both of them jumped apart like they’d been caught red handed. They hadn’t, thankfully, but the look they shared spoke volumes. Jo had let herself get carried away—and it couldn’t happen again.
She wrapped her towel tighter and hopped down off the counter.
Hayden instantly looked uncomfortable. “Do you want me to hide?”
Piper continued to bark at the door.
“Yes, and put some clothes on.”
Hayden
Hayden stood in the tiny laundry closet. He’d already put on his clothes that had been in the dryer. They were still damp but that was the least of his worries. He waited anxiously while Jo called Piper off and checked the front door. Finally, she returned telling him the coast was clear.
When he stepped back into the living room he could instantly tell something was wrong. Joy was dressed and her face was painted with concern. At first, Hayden thought she was upset that things had escalated so quickly between them, but the way she kept glancing out the window made him think otherwise. “What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing, but . . .”
“But what?”
“Piper doesn’t bark at nothing, but when I opened the door no one was there.”
“Maybe the storm spooked her.”
“No. They’ve never bothered her. That was her alarm bark. She only does that when someone’s here.”
“Why do you keep looking out the window?”
Jo finally turned to face Hayden. “The blinds weren’t closed all the way. What if someone saw us?”
“Joy, you’re being paranoid.”
The Summer Boyfriend Page 16
