Page 101 of The Wingman

“You agree to wingman me, but then act like a territorial asshole the whole night. This isn’t how friends act.” The thing that’s been bothering me for months rises to the forefront of my mind. “And you don’t touch me anymore,” I add quietly.

His eyes burn me. “What about the other night?”

My stomach dips. The toy, the way his fingers tugged at my nipples, stirring pleasure through me. The way he used the toy on me to make me come harder than ever. And how he laced his strong fingers through mine at the end.

“Not like the other night. Or the other morning.” I swallow. “You don’t hug me. You don’t put your arm around me anymore. You don’t…” It sounds so stupid. “You don’t tickle me. And you move out of the way so I don’t accidentally touch you.”

Silence falls heavy between us for a moment. Then he laughs, but it’s not his typical lighthearted, happy Hayden laugh. It’s bitter, frustrated, like it hurts him.

“I don’t touch you anymore.” He shakes his head to himself. “Yeah, I don’t touch you anymore, Darce. I can’t.”

His eyes sharpen, pinning me, and he takes a step forward. Then another. Until we’re inches apart and I can feel his warmth.

“You want to know why?”

So I can hear him say the hurtful words out loud? “I know why.”

I turn away, but his fingers come to beneath my chin, tilting my face to his. A tingle of pleasure runs through me at the dominant gesture.

“Go on, then.” He stares down into my eyes, challenging me. “Say it.”

“I broke Kit’s heart. I hurt the person you care about.”

“No.” He exhales heavily, but his fingers stay beneath my chin. “You couldn’t be more wrong, Darcy. I know you weren’t happy with him. And after the things he did, how he proposed when he knew you didn’t want it, I don’t care that you broke his heart.” His throat works as he drinks in the sight of me.

“You don’t want me to get the wrong idea about you and me, then.”

“Wrong again.”

My heart pounds at the desperate, hungry look in his eyes. “Why, then?”

“You should leave.” He drops his gaze, but his focus stays on mine. “Before I make a mistake.”

A thrill shoots through me. “What kind of mistake?”

Heat flares in his eyes and flashes through me, curling and twisting between my legs in a delicious pressure. His attention falls to my lips like he’s remembering what they felt like against his at the cast party.

God, I wish we’d kissed the other night.

“You want to know why I don’t touch you?” His blue eyes grow a shade darker. “Because if I start, I won’t stop.”

His weird moods this week. How pissed he was when Alexei asked me out. When Alexei showed up with flowers, Hayden looked like he wanted to kill him.

He’s notupset I’m moving on.

“You’re—” It can’t be true. It goes against everything I know about him.

“Say it.”

I swallow, heart pounding, and I shake my head. Being wrong about this would humiliate me.

“Say. It.”

“Jealous,” I blurt out. “You’re acting jealous.”

Tension hangs between us, crackling and electric.

He tilts his head, breathing uneven. “Who wouldn’t be, Darce?”

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