No Strings Attached by Nicolette Day Page A

“You’re fucking with me. Right?”
    “I wish I was.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting off a headache. She relayed everything to Lilly in as much detail as she could, with so many people surrounding her. When she was finished, she felt drained.
    “You love him,” Lilly said softly on the other end.
    “Yeah.” Hayden sniffled. “I do. I love him. And now everything is ruined. He was my best friend, and now I’m just another notch on his belt.” She shut her eyes, trying to quell the suffocating pain in her chest, when someone plucked the phone out of her hand. “Hey, what the—”
    Jace stood in front of her, his dark eyes intense as he clutched her phone in his hand. Slowly, he lifted it to his ear. “She’s going to have to call you back.” He pressed a button to disconnect the call and knelt down in front of her. He set the phone on the empty seat next to her. Seeing him here, having him this close, made the emotions swirling around in her chest almost unbearable. He wore a pair of dark jeans that hugged his narrow hips and a gray T-shirt that showed off nearly the full stretch of artwork that branded his arm. His hair looked damp, as if he’d just jumped out of the shower.
    “Jace…what are you doing here?”
    Don’t get your hopes up, Hayden. He just came to say good-bye. Jace wouldn’t have let you leave without saying good-bye.
    “First of all, you are not a notch on my belt.” He slid his fingers up her long skirt and wrapped them around her calves, sending a fresh wave of heat through her thighs. He raised a brow. “Understand?”
    She nodded, not knowing what to say. Not fully understanding why he was here. She was too afraid to hope. “Are you here to say good-bye?”
    He shook his head and pressed his lips together. “I’m here to give you this.”
    He set a cup of coffee next to her and on her right knee, a little paper Amelie’s pastry bag that smelled like warm chocolate and almonds. His lips tipped into a half smile that melted her from the inside out.
    “It’s Saturday,” he said. “You missed our date.”
    She choked on a laugh and nodded, disappointment washing over her, drowning her. God, this hurt. Part of her wished he hadn’t come. Walking away was going to be so much harder now.
    “And…” He didn’t break eye contact as he dragged a duffel bag over and began to dig through it. Wait…a bag? Jace finally produced a little velvet box and balanced it on her left knee. “This.”
    No. It couldn’t be. They both stared at the box silently until a woman’s voice rang out over the intercom.
    “Flight 1442 to Atlanta is now boarding.” People started to shuffle around them, rolling their bags to board the plane.
    “Jace…”
    He held up his hand to quiet her, though her heart didn’t listen. It beat in an almost deafening rhythm, filling her with emotions that were just too tangled to sort out.
    “I’m coming with you.” He wasn’t joking. His eyes matched his tone, deadly serious.
    “What?” Her voice squeaked, and she felt dizzy. “You can’t. What about the club and your home…”
    “It’s all worked out,” he said calmly. “Nate’s going to cover everything while I’m gone. And as for home… you are my home, Hayden. It doesn’t exist without you.”
    He released her calves to stand on his knees between her legs and trap her trembling fingers between his palms. So, he hadn’t left her. He’d been working out a way for them to be together. A tear slid down her cheek, scalding her skin almost as much as his touch.
    “I don’t understand,” Hayden said. “How did you do all this so fast? It’s impossible.”
    Jace grinned. “I think Nate sort of saw it coming after last night,” he said. “It didn’t take too much convincing to get him to help. There are still a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up, but it’s nothing he and I can’t handle over the phone. And you said they’d let you take an assistant. Since Lilly