Page 32 of Not In The Contract

“Yeah, but Alex is notoriously hard to please,” Hayden reminded her. “If she’s found a hottie, it has to be the best looking person here.”

Frankie cleared her throat loudly, a small, amused grin on her face.

Hayden whipped around with an apologetic smile. “Which is obviously you, baby,” she said, kissing the back of Frankie’s hand.

“Yeah, yeah, nice save.” She chuckled. “We all know you’re coming home with me tonight.”

Hayden’s eyes dropped to Frankie’s smirk. “And every night,” she added, pressing a less-than-chaste kiss to her lips.

“Oi, none of that in front of the singles, thank you,” Taylor scolded.

I chuckled as they broke apart, looking a little sheepish. Secretly, I was glad I’d wrangled Taylor to come with me. God knows how I would have suffered if I’d been left alone with the happy couple.

Gold flashed in the corner of my eye and I turned to find Devon and another woman hand-in-hand, weaving through the crowd on the dancefloor. I set my drink down, enraptured as they danced together, twirling and laughing, the crowd around them parting to let them pass.

“Do you have a type, Alex?” Frankie asked.

Tearing my eyes from the dancefloor where Devon had almost collapsed in a fit of giggles, I looked at Frankie.

“Boy, does she.” Hayden snickered. “Alex is probably the pickiest person I know.”

“I don’t think we should confuse having standards with being picky,” I said wryly. “I don’t have the patience to waste time on something that isn’t going to last.”

“Right, because she’s only interested in building things that last forever,” Taylor added for me. A crude analogy, but she wasn’t entirely wrong.

“You are confusing work with love,” Hayden corrected me. “Relationships don’t start out rock solid like your skyscrapers. They take time and they can be rocky at first. But you’re expecting someone to come pre-made. It won’t happen like that.”

“I’m not exactly missing out either way, am I?” I asked. “It’s not like I have the time to entertain someone.”

“That is where you’re wrong.” Hayden smiled, her eyes sliding over to Frankie. “Youmaketime for them.”

“They’re going to make out, can we sit at another table?” Taylor sniffed, glaring at Hayden and Frankie.

“If they start making out, I’m goinghome.” I laughed.

But any distraction was welcome if it meant steering the attention away from my love life. I was happy teasing my friends about their burgeoning romances, but I had no such compunction toward myself. The conversation flowed around me as I watched them dance, and some of my worries about the next two months fizzled out.

Maybe living with a gorgeous woman for two months wouldn’t be that bad.

“You can’t skip out on weekend brunch just because you have a headache.” I sighed, nudging Hayden’s foot with my own.

She lay on my sofa, an arm theatrically draped over her eyes. “I have a hangover, you’re supposed to be nice to me,” she whined.

“You had one cocktail last night.” I chortled and ripped the blanket off of her.

“Fine.” She pouted. “I miss my girlfriend.”

“She went to check on the store, you sensitive little shit.”

“And it’s beenages,” she said, her frown deepening. “She said she was stopping by to visit her friends but I’m impatient.”

I shook my head and folded the blanket with a grin. “We’ll meet her at brunch,” I told her placatingly. “Not get up and let’s go.”

With a world-weary sigh, Hayden rolled to her feet and folded her arms. “We didn’t even schedule this brunch,” she said thoughtfully. “I wonder what’s happened.”

“Taylor sounded pretty excited when she called earlier.” I shrugged. “Maybe she’s finally gotten that resort deal she wanted.”

“Then it’s time to celebrate.” She grinned, her sour mood vanishing in an instant.