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I shouted the man’s name so abruptly it actually turned Jax’s head. In the meantime, Preston’s soft brown eyes met mine. They reflected back the same recognition, even if Jax didn’t immediately notice it.
“Nice to meet you, Harper Hayes.”
The memories came flooding back all at once. A night of speed dating, in a forgotten bar. Nine random men that I had absolutely nothing in common with, followed by one handsome nerd and fellow programmer I connected with on every possible level.
We’d gelled physically, mentally, socially, all the way until the buzzer sounded and our ten minutes were up. After that, we’d ditched the rest of the group and snuck off. The chemistry between us had been instant and electric. We found a dark corner of the bar and made out like teenagers, kissing until our faces hurt, then took off to find the nearest room we could rent by the hour.
Once there, ‘Preston’ had fucked the absolute daylights out of me, and I him. We screwed ourselves stupid, in total, blissful anonymity. We rode each other wantonly, recklessly, until dawn streamed golden rays of unwanted sunlight through the broken blinds, eroding away the fantasy, and ending our time together.
Afterwards, I intentionally gave him all the wrong contact info. In my defense, I’d only recently gone freelance and my mind was buzzing with all new ideas. I had a ton of work to do. Prototypes to draw up. I just didn’t have time for a boyfriend, or a fuck-buddy, or whatever he might turn out to be.
Or at least, that’s what I told myself.
As it turned out, I couldn’t have changed my mind even if I’d wanted to. I knew very little about him, and the speed dating company wouldn’t give out any personal info. All I had was his first name, his likes and dislikes, and the memories of an unforgettable, dripping hot night.
At the moment, Preston’s almond-shaped eyes were staring back at me with the same look of fond recollection, perhaps fucking me all over again in his mind. He kept his expression blank and unreadable, though. It was a discretion I appreciated.
“Anyway…” Jax continued awkwardly, “she dated Adrian for a hot minute.”
“Adrian from 3C?” Preston asked.
My gaze snapped back to Jax. “You and Adrian live in the same building?”
“Yeah. And by dated, I mean fucked over,” Jax went on. “And by fucked over, I mean she rejected him so hard he ended up with someone else entirely. Someone who really, really sucked.”
Preston’s look went grave. “Do you mean—”
“Yes. The demon queen herself.” Jax grimaced. “Before he finally wised up and left her, of course.”
Jax’s look of smug satisfaction had me shaking my head. “It wasn’t like that and you know it.”
“Wasn’t it?” he shot back.
I tried to think, but my head was still spinning. The history between us seemed ancient now. As Adrian’s best friend, the three of us had been around each other so much growing up. Both before and after Adrian told me he loved me.
My thoughts were interrupted by Jax reaching out for me all of a sudden. I pulled back.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Better let me have a look at your head,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because you haven’t taken your hand away from it since we got here.”
Numbly, I realized he was right. I pulled my palm away, and looked down on it.
“There’s no blood,” I assured him. “It’s fine. But thanks for the assist.”
“Assist?” he chortled. “Don’t you mean rescue?”
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “If that satisfies your hyper-masculine need for validation, then sure.”
Preston chuckled. Jax did too.
“It does, actually.”
“Anyway,” I continued, “I’d have handled it.”
