“Dyl?” Tim’s voice is breaking up. “I’m in a tunnel. Can you hear me?”
“I can’t hear you! I’ll talk to you later,” I say loudly, and then disconnect the call.
I slide my keycard into the door and let myself into my room. I go stand by the window and stare out at the mountains in the distance.
Jasalie’s like a puzzle I can’t figure out. I didn’t mean to hit on her when I left like that. It just…happened. She’s intoxicating, not only the way she smells like roses and spring but all of her. I’d been fighting touching her all through lunch, and when she opened up to me in the car and put her arms around me, I nearly lost it.
She’s the sweetest tough girl I’ve ever met. And the hard-as-nails side that she uses to literally repel people and keep them at arm’s length has me constantly aroused. I know she’s got her guard up for the world at large, but I’ve never met anyone better at genuinely deflecting attention off of herself. Jasalie managed to spend an entire afternoon making me think we were getting acquainted with each other, and here I am not knowing any more about her now than I did when we met.
Except when she drove us to that house. Even she couldn’t mask the deep pain behind her eyes when we sat outside and watched the little girl run across the lawn.
I was desperate for her to tell me the truth, to let me in. But I knew the timing was wrong. And then she surprised the hell out of me with that pact request. No, I don’t want to just screw her and say good-bye in three days. That’s the exact opposite kind of relationship I want with her. I want her to be my exception, the one woman who can handle my crazy life and accepts me for who I am.
But the logical side of me was relieved she and I are on the same page. No strings attached is the best I can offer her. The fact that she agrees will make this whole weekend easier because it’s the only option for me right now.
So I’m going to have to keep my feelings in check. Because I already know that I could fall harder for Jasalie than I have for anyone in my life. The kind of falling that isn’t optional—I couldn’t look away from the moment I first laid eyes on her, and the more time we spend together, the more all-in I am. So, for the next three days, I’ll get to know as much of her as she’ll share with me. Even if in the end I walk away wrecked.
* * *
Jasalie
“La, la, la, la, la! Jasalie’s in love!” Lilla dances around my room with her hairbrush, singing into it like it’s a microphone. She’s still in a bra and underwear. I’m sitting on the bed, fully dressed in a little black dress and already sweating in anticipation of tonight’s promotional dinner. I’ve also bitten my fingernails—a terrible habit I’ve mostly quit but return to when something’s got me really strung out.
But Lilla’s crazy song makes me laugh despite myself. “Lilla, it’s not like that. Like I told you, Dylan needs a favor, and so do I.”
Lilla’s eyes assess me carefully. “Who’s the money for? I know you would never take that kind of a deal for yourself. You’re far too selfless.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s for…my mother.”
Lilla gasps. “You found her?”
The only reason Lilla knows about my childhood is because she’s so damn nosy. My first day of work happened to be the week before Mother’s Day, and Lilla asked me what I was getting my mom so fast I couldn’t think up a lie.
“Not exactly.” I twist the hem of my dress in my fist. “My mom is in some financial trouble. I received a letter from some company. She doesn’t know I’m trying to help her.”
Lilla’s arms are around me so fast I can’t fend her off. “You are so amazing to do this for your mom,” she says quickly.
I pull away from her as fast as I can. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Of course it is! Only you would deny that what you’re trying to do is nothing short of incredible. Now—did you tell Dylan who the money’s for?”
“No.” I point to her. “And neither will you. Not one word, okay?”
She pretends to zip her lips shut. “Not even if I’m smashed on vodka. But the thing I don’t get, Jase, is you told me about your past the day we met. You were shy about it even though you shouldn’t be, of course,” she adds quickly. “It’s not your shame your mother left you on the doorstep of social services when you were four. It’s hers.” She looks at me more closely. “I thought you knew that.”
“I do know that.” I squirm. “But Dylan won’t. His life’s perfect.”
“I think you should tell him,” Lilla advises me. “No one has the perfect life. Although he could be the one exception. And what if you two get close? You’ll want to let him in on that part of your life. Won’t you?”
I shudder. The very idea of sharing my painful past with someone as perfect as Dylan Wild horrifies me. “No. Nothing’s happened between us. Besides, even if something did, it’s just for while we’re in town. Three days.”
“I just don’t get that part. Was it your idea? I’m assuming it must have been. Only you’d be silly enough to think up something like that.”
“Actually, it was both of us.” I ignore the way my chest clenches at the memory of Dylan wanting no strings between us. “He seems to think along the exact same lines as me.”
“You’re both quite stupid if you ask me. What if you two actually fall for each other? Then you’ve screwed yourselves.”
“Well, that’s something I’m good at. It’s just for the best.”
