I don’t want to go to the doctor when I have this waiting for me. A cozy oasis! A comfy corner! A Christmas cuddle zone!
“Yeah, you need to get checked out. Pretty sure you have a concussion.” Hayden faced me, his gorgeous smile on display. “What, pray tell, is a Christmas cuddle zone?”
“I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud.” I rubbed the center of my forehead. Sighing, I stood to my full height and plastered on my best fake smile. “Thanks for your help. I plan to remain in this snow globe room until Christian drags me out with cash bribes.”
His jaw clenched before he stepped closer. “You’re seeing a doctor.”
“I feel fine, Hayden.”
“Stop being an idiot,” he bit out. The wrinkle had returned between his eyes, and he dragged a thumb over one of his eyebrows, something he did when stressed. “That came out harsher than I intended.”
“Clearly.” I placed my hands on my hips as a bout of dizziness hit me.
“Char—” Hayden reached out and gently gripped my elbow, his large fingers rubbing circles over my sweater. “You have two choices. Either I carry you to the doctor, or you walk with me.”
Something about his statement reminded me of how he spoke to Gwen. The soft voice, the either/or option I’d witnessed him using.You have two choices, Gwen, the red or the blue cup.“Are you being a daddy to me right now?”
Something flashed in his eyes. “You’re not leaving me a choice when you’re acting this stubborn.”
The grip on my elbow tightened as he pulled me gently toward him. Our chests were two inches apart, and I forgot how to use my lungs, even though their sole purpose was to breathe in oxygen. We were so close.Oh my goodness.
His breath hit my face, and the base of my neck throbbed with my pulse.He’s touching me.He tilted my chin up, hisgray gaze moving from my eyes to my mouth and then to my forehead. “You have a bruise, right here.” His fingertips grazed my forehead, sending goose bumps down my spine.
“And a lump, Charlotte.” He sighed, pressing his lips together as his gaze darkened. “When you got out of your car, with blood on your forehead and face, my heart stopped for a second. I need to make sure you’re okay. I’ll do whatever you want after, just… stop being so stubborn.”
His voice was rougher, deeper than I was used to.
“You make me sound ridiculous. I was always going to go.”
His lips quirked as he narrowed his eyes. “Mm, sure.”
“I was.” I poked him in his chest and immediately pulled back my finger. He was rock hard and warm.
“You choose the second option then?”
“The one where you walk me to the doctor?” I stepped out of his reach and felt the absence of his warmth. How annoying, my personal fantasy was also a furnace. Just yet another reason we’d be perfect together, because I was always cold. It was unfair. Maybe it was the accident, or the fact that he had touched my chin, but I decided, in that moment, that I wanted to play with fire, see if I could find any evidence that he viewed me as more than Christian’s sister. “I actually want the first option.” I put my arm to my forehead. “I’m feeling faint. Not sure I can walk. Please, be my daddy.”
The second those words left my mouth, the temperature in the room skyrocketed. Hayden’s gray eyes burned like charcoal, his breathing quickened, and his jaw tightened,but in a different way than I was used to. This wasn’t an annoyed look, it was interest. Heat.
He remained a statue, unmoving, but his eyes told me enough.
We were in a stare down, a war where I wasn’t sure what the winner won or the loser lost. I never thought I’d get a reaction, and now I didn’t know what to do with it. Was it the use ofdaddyto rile him up? Words escaped me, which had happened three times in my entire life. This being the third.
I arched a brow, daring him to make the first move, to say anything. Ten, twenty seconds went by before he ran a finger over his eyebrow.
“Charlotte,” he said, his voice deeper than I’d ever heard. He cleared his throat. “If you need me to carry you, I certainty can.”
Before I could respond, a knock pounded at the door. I jumped, my heart bursting out of my chest at the interruption.
“Knock, knock! Let us in, Charmander!” Christian’s voice boomed through the wood. “We have ice, medicine, and whiskey.”
“I’m good at massages too,” Garrett said.
Whatever moment, if one could even call it that, between Hayden and me evaporated like boiling water in a blizzard. Poof. Gone. Burst. His expression hardened and went back to indifference, like he didn’t care if I was a goat or a pizza or me.
“Do you give forehead massages?” I asked, teasing Garrett as I opened the door.
“I’m a forehead virgin, but I can still make you feel good.”
