No Strings Attached Read Free Page A

to happen if that asshole’s hand drifted any lower on the irresistible curve of her back. He really needed to get it together.
    He still hadn’t recovered from seeing her in the tight scrap of black fabric she called a dress. From having his mouth on her, tasting just enough of her to torture him. He’d had to walk away before he did something stupid or embarrassed himself. He was still hard as granite, even with the distance between them. When she climbed up onto that bar, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but he sure as hell wasn’t thinking friendly thoughts. Maybe brush the caramel-colored hair from her pleading eyes. Kiss her. Drag her to the back, shove that little dress up, and touch her in every way imaginable until she promised not to leave him. That’s what he should have been doing. Making her see him differently. Giving her something she wouldn’t be able to live without.
    He rubbed his lips, reigniting the taste of her, and stifled a groan. “Is Ron letting every horny asshole in Charlotte in tonight, or is it just me?”
    His brother shook his head and chuckled as he mixed a drink beside him. “Are you referring to all the horny assholes in general, or just the one talking to Hayden?”
    Jace made a grunting sound and focused on making the next batch of drinks for the girl pressing her cleavage against the bar with a come-and-get-me smile. He wasn’t interested. For almost a year, he hadn’t been interested in anyone other than the one person he couldn’t have. It had been easy to ignore his feelings for Hayden when she’d had a boyfriend. He’d been able to go out, bring a woman home for one sweaty night of pleasure that never left him quite satisfied, and then send her on her way. But after that asshole had cheated on her, left her broken and needing him to stitch her back together, it became impossible to lie to himself anymore. He loved her. As much as he’d tried to deny it, she was forever the voice in his head. In his heart. Pushing him to be more, to be better. And now she wanted to go to a place from which she might not come back. A place where he couldn’t protect her. He rubbed his chest, then poured a round of shots for the girls in front of him and slid them over.
    “Those guys are regulars, Jace.”
    “Maybe we need new regulars,” he grumbled.
    “Maybe.” Nate shrugged. “Or maybe you need to stop lying to Hayden about how you really feel about her.”
    Jace clenched the bottle in his hand. Was it that obvious? If it was, he needed to get it together. It would only complicate things if she knew. Hayden was hell-bent on leaving. If he brought up his feelings now, she’d think he was just trying to talk her out of taking this job. It would only push her further away. And he wasn’t willing to risk losing her because his dick didn’t understand the boundaries of the friend zone.
    “It’s not like that,” he said. “I don’t want her to get hurt again. The last thing she needs is another asshole like Shane in her life. It’s taken her almost a year to get over that shit.”
    Nate backed off and let one of the other bartenders take over the already tipsy crowd pushing against the bar. “I call bullshit. You love her.”
    “You love her, too.”
    Nate laughed. “Yeah, I love her like a sister. You’re in love with her, and you’re a fucking liar if you say otherwise. So, why are you holding back? Why are you just watching this happen? Letting her leave?”
    “ Letting her leave?” Jace laughed humorlessly and stalked to the other end of the bar to put some distance between them and the crowd. Nate stuck the bottle he’d been holding under the bar and followed. Even with the extra distance, Jace’s gaze still gravitated to Hayden. The guy next to her whispered something in her ear, and she giggled as his hand disappeared below the bar, out of Jace’s line of sight. Motherfucker. This wasn’t how she should be spending her last night at home. She should be