Page 18 of Hard to Judge

I look at the door closest to me. If I slip out before they get in, Arlo won’t bring it up again. It’s the safest bet. It’s the only bet that leaves me intact, as much as I am.

When have I ever done anything for myself?

Not since I met Arlo.

Hailey slides into the car, shifting along the back seat and making room for Arlo. Her long red hair clings to her neck. My fingers itch to pull it from the creamy column and bite my way from her collarbone to her jaw. She shakes out her mane, righting it before the temptation becomes a compulsion.

Then her gaze finds me.

She pauses for a fraction of a second before her green eyes widen, and her mouth falls open. “Hota!” Her open lips curve into a massive grin that somehow brightens the winter gloom.

Hailey pokes Arlo in the ribs before he’s fully seated. “You didn’t tell me Hota was here!” Then she launches herself across the car.

I have no choice but to open my arms and brace for impact. She knocks me back into the seat and wraps her arms around my neck. Her hair blinds me for a second before I brush it away fromboth our faces. It’s so soft and smooth, it would have caused a war on the Silk Road.

Arlo’s features are locked on us. Where I expect to see a grimace or a lusty scowl, there is a hopeful smile. It warms my insides while simultaneously signaling danger.

“What are you doing here?” Hailey levers back and smacks a kiss on my cheek.

It’s at that moment I realize her lush ass is nestling in my lap.

I grab her around the waist and set her on the seat beside me before she feels my quickly hardening dick. “What I’m told to do.”

Her smile falters, then falls off her face completely. A tiny furrow gathers between her eyes. “You always do what you’re told.”

My shoulders bob. “I don’t mind it.”

“You’re a grown man, Hota. A brilliant one at that. You shouldn’t always be taking orders from him.” She hikes her thumb over her shoulder at Arlo.

“He doesn’t,” Arlo defends. I’m not too certain whether he’s defending me or himself.

Hailey scoffs and rolls her eyes at Arlo. She turns, letting him see her expression too. When she looks back at me, her gaze is narrowed to a dangerous point. “If you could do anything at all right now, what would you do?”

“Put the smile back on your face.” Even though it’s the complete truth, I don’t mean to say it.

Her head tilts. “Why?”

I pinch my lower lip between my fingers, wishing I’d just kept my mouth shut.

She jabs my ribs just like she did to Arlo.

“Ouch,” I grouse while I pick her up again and set her in her original seat.

My friend’s laughter fills the car. It’s an intoxicating sound that I haven’t heard in too long.

“Oh, hush,” Hailey threatens him with a sinister grin, then she turns her eyes on me.

“You might as well tell her. She’s a lioness with a bone,” Arlo advises.

Before he’s finished his sentence, Hailey is back on my bench and pushing me toward the front of the car with her hip.

“If you want to kick me out, you’re going the wrong way.” I laugh and shift over, not because she’s moving me but because she’s trying to, and I oblige.

“I’m not trying to kick you out.” She shakes her head, removes her coat, tosses it onto the back seat, and then crooks her finger at Arlo. She pats the space next to her that she made and Arlo comes without argument. “I’m trying to get us closer.”

“Why?” I ask the question, truly baffled by the gesture.

She crosses her arms over her chest, plumping her cleavage. “You first.”

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