Page 101 of Best I Never Had

“Did you hear me?” I grit through clenched teeth. “I ditched him before we even had a chance to order our drinks.”

He sighs. “I heard you, Nat.”

“And that’s all you have to say? That youheardme?”

When he finally looks at me, his eyes look tired and weary. With the redness rimming his light eyes and the clenching tic of his jaw, a flash of fear zaps through me. What if I interpreted this all wrong? What if the way my heart pitter-patters and somehow aches at the same time whenever I’m around Hayden is all one-sided?

But then his nostrils flare and his eyes light up with anger, fueled by that fire igniting between us, instantly erasing those doubts. “What do you want me to say, Nat?” he asks. “Do you want me to congratulate you? Slap a hand on your back while I tell you to go back there and make sure to use protection with that fucking wannabe Justin Bieber reject?”

I scoff, mirroring his anger, making my face red and the tips of my ears hot. “You are such an asshole.”

“Well, if that’s what you think of me, I think I’ll go back to sleep.”

“You know what? Thank you for that bit of sound advice,” I say, a sarcastic smile peeking through the hurt in my words. My arms are splayed out, and my head is lowered slightly in a small bow. “I’ll make sure to pick up a box of condoms on my way back to Buca’s.”

I turn to walk away, my steps hobbling as the adrenaline tingles through my body. My throat starts to tighten as tears prick the corners of my eyes. The ache in my heart starts to become unbearable as I try to work through Hayden’s harsh rejection.

Then, just as I start to walk away, my arm is jerked back. I crash into Hayden, and my hands come up to meet his wide chest.

His hand moves to cup the back of my head, crashing his lips to mine. Our kiss is sloppy, completely urgent and hungry. My fingers lie flat against him before tightly gripping the thin fabric of his shirt into small, wrinkled clusters.

When our mouths open, welcoming the tangle of our tongues, I moan. As soon as I let the urgency become vocal, he grips me even harder. He moves us, my feet dragging along the hard floor as he steps into his apartment and closes the door behind me. My back crashes against the closed door while my fingers trail down his hard stomach, lifting the hem of his shirt. He breaks our kiss, chucking his glasses onto the side table at the entrance before reaching over the back of his shirt collar to pull it over his head. He peels off my jacket already hanging off my bare shoulders as the warm pads of his fingers run down the length of my arms.

“Turn around,” he orders, his bare chest heaving heavily.

I comply, my hands pressing against the cold, hard door and my cleavage swelling in front of me. His fingers trace along the short hem of my dress, lifting it to expose the bottom curve of my ass. He presses his free hand firmly against the door right next to my cheek.

“Tell me you didn’t wear this for him,” he growls into my ear. “Tell me you wore this dress for me.”

I turn my head sideways, facing him over the curve of my shoulder. When I see his eyes lowered as they skirt over my body, all I see is lust. Pure, hungry, aching lust.

“It was for you.”

“Onlyme, Nat.”

My breath hitches, completely ragged and uncontrolled. I’m so turned on I can’t even breathe correctly.

“Only you,” I say breathlessly. Just as the words leave my lips, his hand glides up the inside of my thighs. So painfully slow. His rough hands stop as they meet my lacy black thong, now soaked through the sheer material. When he finds the wet heat between my legs, he groans.

“Fuck.” His voice is low, so hoarse it almost sounds painful. “Did I make you this wet?” His finger hooks the bottom curve of my thong, teasing me in slow deliberate strokes. “I love that I do this to you…because you have no idea what you do to me.” I don’t hold back when a moan ripples through my throat.

My head rolls to one side, exposing my neck to him. Only this time, there’s no question what I want from him. His hot tongue meets the sensitive spot behind my neck, right where it meets my ear, making me shiver as the slick heat glides across my needy skin. I feel the tug of my zipper being lowered, gradually exposing my back and reminding him of the choice of negligee that I chose to wear tonight.

“You wore this sexy little thing for me too, didn’t you?” His fingers toy at the clasp that meets in the middle of my back, teasing as he calculates his next steps. My eyelids fall heavy and I suck in a sharp breath, feeling intoxicated from the desire I’m silently begging from him.

I nod, unable to form coherent words.

He finally unhooks my bra, letting it and my dress pool around my feet, around the sharp bottoms of my heels. I’m left only in my thong and stilettos.

“I’m going to fuck you so hard, you aren’t going to remember a thing about what’s his face back at Buca’s.” As the words leave his mouth, he presses his hard erection to my lower back, letting me know exactly how badly he wants this. Just as much as I do.

He flips me back around to face him. When I look down, I can see the strain of his hardness against the thin fabric of his boxers stretching to a full point.

He hoists me up, lifting me as my heels click together behind his back. His mouth lowers, enclosing it around my hard nipple, sucking and pulling, making the back of my head hit the door with unbridled pleasure.

“Hayden,” I moan, my nails digging into his shoulders.

One of his hands moves between us, dipping into my thong, while the other supports my weight. His fingers stroke my clit, gliding across the slick wetness. When his fingers dig deep into me, curving toward him as he strokes a spot that makes me draw in a sharp intake of breath, I moan again, loud and vulnerable. An electric thrum vibrates through my body as my back arches into him, all while I pull and tug at the roots of his hair, inflicting more pain than I mean to. His mouth moves across my bare chest, nipping and tugging at my skin before latching on to my other nipple.

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