Chapter 263: I Will Slap You

April opened her mouth to snap back at Nat, but before a single word could escape her lips, Nat reached out, his long fingers cupping the chin of her flushed face to tilt her head up.

"That’s exactly what villains do, ain’t it?" he drawled softly, a wicked glint flashing in his eyes.

Before she could react, he brought his mouth right back down onto hers.

This time, his other hand slid around to the back of her head, his fingers tangling firmly into her damp, freshly washed hair to hold her in place.

Where the first kiss had been a sudden, explosive claim, this one deepened with deliberate, possessiveness. It was hot and entirely consuming.

April’s hands hovered near his broad chest, her fingers clutching tightly at the top fold of her towel to keep it from falling.

She knew she should push him away. She knew she should enforce her boundaries, but as his thumb traced the side of her jaw and his lips pressed against hers with unyielding demand, her mind seemed to stall. She didn’t push him back. Instead, she stood still to the spot, simply taking it, her senses drowning in the overwhelming scent of rain and leather that clung to him... as well as a faint stench of blood and death clinging to him.

"You arrogant bastard!" Xavier hissed, his voice dropping into a lethal, low register as he stepped directly into Nat’s space, yanking Nat’s shoulder back with brutal force and abruptly cut off the kiss.

The ambient temperature in the suite plummeted instantly, an aura of pure, suffocating frost radiating from Xavier as he tried to step between Nat and April. "Release her."

"Why should I, Reed?" Nat sneered back, stumbling back half a step before regaining his posture, his eyes blazing with unbridled aggression. "She’s not yours,"

His grip on April’s waist only tightened, his broad frame shielding her like a territorial beast claiming its prized bounty. "But if you’d like to fight me for her, be my guest. I’ll be more than happy to hand your saintly ass to you."

"You—"

​"Enough!"

​April’s voice sliced through the suffocating tension like a blade.

​She finally shoved hard against Nat’s broad chest, and managed to force him back half a step.

She swiftly gathered the top fold of the towel, securing it tightly against her chest before stepping back out of both men’s immediate reach.

​Her face was flushed red, her lips slightly swollen, but her eyes burned with a dangerous, cold authority that immediately halted both men in their tracks.

She had no idea why her body and thinking process had stalled this whole time but she was once again functioning and would not stand still while they bickered like children over candy.

​"Both of you—shut up and back off," April commanded, her breathing still slightly uneven as her mind fought to regain its usual ironclad control.

She glared at Xavier first, whose icy posture faltered for a fraction of a second, then turned her sharp gaze to Nat, who was still licking the trace of her flavor off his lip with a dark, satisfied smirk.

​"You’re both acting like fools," April said coldly, smoothing down the edges of the towel with stiff, trembling fingers.

"Xavier, it was an accident—we slipped on the grease," she stated, her voice sharp as glass as she adjusted her posture.

Xavier wanted to say something—maybe an apology or an explanation—but no words came out of his lips as he opened them so he closed them back and clenched his fists.

Turning her glare toward Nat, her eyes narrowed into cold slits. "And Nat, if you ever grab me or pull a stunt like that again without my consent, I swear I will slap you."

​Nat’s smirk wavered slightly, though he merely tilted his head, his eyes flashing with a mixture of amusement and razor-thin restraint.

​"Your hands can’t do much damage," Nat drawled softly, stepping back just half an inch.

​He played dumb, brushing the threat off with effortless bravado, but beneath his cocky exterior, he knew the true weight of a slap from her. A slap right then wouldn’t just be physical—it would be a outright, cold rejection.

Pushing her any further risked turning himself into an insufferable nuisance in her eyes, leading straight to being ignored or cut off completely. That was a line neither he nor Xavier could afford to cross.

​Regardless, Nat’s gaze trailed sharply toward Xavier before settling right back on April, his tone dropping into a dangerous, jealous rumble. "Accident or not, sweetheart, that little ’fall’ had you two smooshing lips, and it didn’t look like you had any plans on stopping. If I hadn’t walked in, you two would’ve kept going and—"

​"Nat," April warned sharply, cutting him off before he could finish.

​A sudden, intense heat flushed across her cheeks, and she couldn’t tell if it was from sheer fury at his blatant words or sheer embarrassment at being called out.

​Nat’s smirk broadened, a dark, wicked glint returning to his eyes. He reached out, slowly running the back of a knuckle along the curve of her warm cheek, ignoring the way her jaw tightened under his touch.

​"And when I kissed you, Sweetheart," Nat whispered, leaning in just close enough for his warm breath to brush her ear, "you didn’t push me away either. You like getting kissed, huh?"

​April’s eyes widened in shock at his sheer audacity, her chest rising sharply as her mind scrambled to assemble a scathing retort that would strip the arrogant grin right off his face.

"I don’t—"

​Knock. Knock.

​Two firm, deliberate knocks echoed against the door, cleanly shattering the volatile, thick atmosphere in the room.

"Miss April?" Samuel’s calm, measured voice echoed from the hallway. "Miss Emily has returned with the new attire, escorted by Mr. Reed’s security detail."

​April let out a slow, heavy breath, using the interruption to anchor her spiraling thoughts.

She took two steps backward toward the inner dressing alcove, keeping her eyes locked on the two men standing in the center of the room like two predators sizing each other up over fresh prey.

​"Get out of my room," April said flatly, her voice leaving no room for negotiation. "Both of you. Now."

​Xavier adjusted the cuffs of his pristine shirt, casting one last, deep look at April before giving a polite, restrained nod.

"I will be waiting in the main corridor to escort you down to the vehicle." He turned his cold gaze toward Nat, his tone dropping back into absolute ice. "After you, Collins."

​Nat scoffed, rolling his shoulders as he let out a low, guttural laugh. He threw one last burning, possessive look over his shoulder at April, his eyes promise-bound and unrepentant.

​"This isn’t over, April," Nat drawled softly, stepping out into the hallway.

Outside the doors, Samuel stood perfectly still, watching the two towering figures stride down the corridor in opposite directions.

The thick, suffocating hostility trailing behind them was impossible to miss. Samuel narrowed his eyes, instinctively adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses as a quiet sigh escaped him. What has the barbarian done this time?

Inside the dressing alcove, April leaned her head back against the cool wall, her hand pressed against her racing heart.

A harmless kiss, she thought to herself, taking her hand to rub her flushed face down. Right. As if anything involving those two could ever be harmless.