Ramblings From This Chick: A Naughty New Year with Nicolette Day and Giveaway

Friday, December 27, 2013

A Naughty New Year with Nicolette Day and Giveaway

A Naughty New Year - Nicolette Day

A mom by day and a romance writer by night, Nicolette Day harbors a weakness for black and white mochas and books that steam up her Kindle screen. She grew up in a one stoplight town where she once upon a time she only dreamed of becoming a writer. Now she lives in a slightly larger town in North Carolina where they have at least three stoplights. If you love young adult romance, check out Nicolette’s alter ego, Tara Fuller!

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A No Strings Attached Naughty New Years Even Check In

Hayden Summers stepped out into the chilly December air and breathed in the familiar scents of home. She could already hear the thumping sound of the live band playing inside. It had only been two weeks since Jace had left her in Sudan to come back and help his brother put on the show stopping New Years Eve party they threw every year at the Orchid Lounge, but somehow it felt longer. Of course that could be due to the fact that when he’d gotten on that plane to come home, they’d both been more than a little pissed at each other. Sure, she’d gotten hurt, but it wasn’t as if she’d been shot. She’d just gotten a little…trampled. What did he expect? She was a photojournalist. It was her job to jump into the fray, to capture the energy of the moment. Her job came with risks. He knew that going in. He was just so overprotective. And stubborn. And incredibly sweet and sexy and kind. And…she loved him. She loved him for all of it. She wouldn’t have traveled half way across the world for his stubborn ass if she didn’t.

She looked up at the hazy glow of the city reflecting from the low hanging clouds above. He thought she was careless with her safety. That she didn’t understand how he felt. Tonight she was going to prove that wasn’t true. It was why she was here, taking away precious time from her work, to surprise him. Her job may mean the world to her, but Jace meant more. So much more.

Even now, she could feel the invisible threads between them, tugging her closer to his heat, his smell, his smile. After the way they’d left things, she couldn’t deny that she was nervous. Only three months into a year long trip, and the man had already been pushed to his limits. Did he still think she was worth it? She tugged her coat tighter around herself and shivered.

“Is it just me or is it colder than I remember?”

Lilly rounded the car, her sky-high heels clicking against the pavement, streetlights glinting from her honey blonde waves. “Don’t tell me you already miss the desert.”

“Not even close,” Hayden said, following her through the parking lot where a line of people wrapped around the building, waiting to get in. The boys had done good. Not that she had expected any less. The Jennings brothers had managed to take an empty warehouse and turn it into one of the premier clubs in Charlotte in less than five years. Hayden’s chest filled with pride, forcing a smile onto her lips, despite her nerves.

“Happy New Year, Ron!” Hayden beamed at the bouncer holding back the crowd and his eyes opened wide with surprise.

“Hayden!” He grinned. “Does he know you’re here?”

She shook her head and Ron laughed, letting her and Lilly slide past the velvet ropes, earning them a few death glares from a group of girls shivering in their barely there dresses.

“Thank God. Maybe he’ll smile now. He’s been like a grumpy old dog since he came back,” Ron said. “Snapping at everyone. Locking himself in his office like a damn hermit.”

“Are you sure you’re not referring to Nate?” Lilly quipped.

Ron laughed, waving them in, and Hayden grabbed Lilly’s arm, pulling her through the crowd. “Don’t start. It’s a new year. Show a little forgiveness.”

Lilly grumbled something that sounded a lot like yes mother and followed close behind. They shed their coats in the coatroom and slipped back out into the madness. Live music vibrated the room. Bodies writhed and twisted and jumped, the excitement almost infectious. Lilly cast a bored look around and sighed.

“Let’s find your prince charming,” she said. “Sounds like if you don’t kiss him by midnight, he might turn into a toad. Or an asshole. Wouldn’t want him to suffer his brother’s fate.”

Hayden rolled her eyes and froze halfway across the room when a familiar voice boomed over the loud speakers.

“Three minutes to midnight!” Jace called. “Almost time to pucker up or shut up people!”

Just the sound of his voice sent a shiver of heat down her spine. The roar of woman screaming drowned out the rest of his words. Hayden pulled her bottom lip through her teeth and her heart pounded, beating out a worried rhythm against her ribs. Would he be mad she came? Maybe he just needed his space. In the past, it had always been better to let him cool off first. Maybe she should have-”

Lilly gave her a shove towards the front. “You’re doing it again.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Thanks.”

“He loves you, Hayden,” Lilly said. “Nothing is going to change that.”

She nodded and swallowed a lump in her throat, smoothing her hands over the silver mini dress Lilly had loaned her. She knew Jace loved her. Even before they decided to take their relationship to the next level, they’d been best friends for as long as she could remember. That kind of love didn’t just go away. But then again, neither did the kind of loss Jace had endured in his life. His father. His mother. He’d even almost lost his brother. It was a miracle Nate had come back from combat alive. And now Hayden was putting herself in a position where he might lose her as well. Her heart ached for him just then. To know the kind of turmoil he must have been in, watching her risk herself over and over. She had to make this better. She’d be more careful. She just hoped their two weeks apart hadn’t made him rethink his decision to sacrifice his life back home while she chased after her dreams. She’d barely made it two weeks without him. She’d never survive a year without Jace.

“One minute!” Nate’s voice called over the speaker. She spotted him standing on the bar, microphone in hand. And Jace was next to him. Her heart fluttered at the sight of him. In dark jeans and a snug black button up shirt that was rolled up to his elbows just far enough to show off his ink, he looked good enough to eat. Or lick. Or kiss. Or…

“Pretty boy!” Lilly called once they’d pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Nate looked down, his blue gaze intense when it landed on Lilly. She rolled her eyes and waved him off. “Not you, soldier boy. Your better half.”

Nate nudged Jace and smiled when he spotted Hayden, a look of relief settling over him, easing the tension in his big frame. Jace looked confused as he searched the crowd, but that confusion turned to something unrecognizable when his eyes found Hayden. Her heart raced and her pulse pounded. That quickly, the rest of the room faded away, turning to nothing more than a stormy sea of people, Jace the beacon of light guiding her home. She took a hesitant step forward and Jace dropped the microphone on the bar and jumped down to the floor, never taking his eyes off of her for even a second. In five log strides, he ate up the distance between them, and had her in his arms. In the background the countdown started.

“Ten, nine, eight…”

Jace crushed her against his chest and pressed his lips into her hair. “What are you doing here?”

She laughed, but it came out more of a sob, as relief rushed through each of her limbs, making her legs feel like Jell-O.

“I missed you,” she whispered. “I couldn’t stand the thought of not ringing in the New Year with you.”

“Three, two, one…Happy New Year!”

The crowd erupted and Auld Lang Syne began to play. Jace pulled Hayden back and his mouth crashed into hers. Lips danced and tongues dueled in a kiss that extinguished all of her doubt, leaving only the burning desire that had sparked the instant he’d touched her.

“God, I missed you,” he said against her lips. His hands roamed down her back, over the curve of her backside, before venturing under her dress. When his fingers encountered the surprise she’d left for him he groaned, squeezing the bare curve of her ass.

“No panties?” He nipped at her bottom lip. “What are you trying to do to me?”

Hayden batted her eyelashes innocently. “You don’t like?”

He hauled her against the erection filling his jeans and growled into her ear. “No. I don’t like. I fucking love.

###

In an instant, the hollow, aching pit that had settled in Jace’s chest the moment he’d boarded that plane in Sudan, was gone. Filled with all of the light and love that Hayden brought into his life. He still couldn’t believe she was here. He knew what kind of timeline she was on for her job, the things she was missing by being here. But she was here. For him. He kissed her harder, needing to brand her, so that every leering mother fucker in this bar knew who she belonged to. Who she would always belong too.

In one swift move, Jace gripped the backs of Hayden’s thighs and lifted her up. She squealed and her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck. He started towards the back, on a path to his office, and Hayden laughed.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere where I can show you and your sexy little ass just how much I missed you,” he said. “Properly.”

He strode into his office and kicked the door shut behind him, then deposited Hayden on his desk and locked the door. She pulled her bottom lip through her teeth, her gaze crawling over every inch of him, making him hot enough to bust his zipper. Jesus…how this woman could do this to him with nothing more than a look was completely beyond him. He wedged himself between her parted thighs and Hayden threaded her fingers through his belt loops to tug him closer.

“You’re not still mad?” she said.

He slipped a finger under her chin and tipped her face up. “I’m an asshole. I had no right to be mad. You just…you scared the hell out of me, Hayden.”

He stroked the almost healed scrape on the side of her jaw line. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. Please, don’t make me ever have to find out.”

Hayden slipped her hand over his and met his gaze. “You won’t have to. I’ll be more careful. I swear.”

Unable to resist anymore, he leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, tasting the mint on her tongue. When Hayden whimpered, and undulated against cock, he groaned.

“Fuck…I want you, Hayden,” he said. “So much.”

“Yes,” she gasped.

Jace slipped his fingers under the hem of her dress and shoved the material up until it bunched around her hips, leaving her bare for him. He’d love to have her naked, in their bed, but he couldn’t wait. Two weeks apart had felt more like two years. He breathed a curse and fumbled between Hayden’s clumsy fingers to loosen his belt and zipper. Once he was free, Hayden wrapped her hand around him, her soft touch nearly enough to make his eyes roll back in his head.

He slid his hand up the inside of her thigh and parted her wet folds with his fingers, before sinking two digits in to fill her.

“Oh God!” Hayden slipped gripped a fist full of his shirt and began to pop open the buttons. “Don’t you dare stop.”

He chuckled and cupped her breasts through the thin shimmery material, rubbing his thumb over her nipple again and again, until she was riding on his hand. Fuck, he loved this. Seeing her on the edge, knowing he was the one to put her there. He pulsed in Hayden’s hand and fought the urge to thrust. He wanted inside of her. Fuck that, he needed it.

He kissed a path up her neck and nipped at her ear as he removed his hand and replaced it with his cock in one smooth transition. Hayden gasped as he stretched her and shoved at his shirt, pushing it over his shoulders. He shrugged out of the material and moaned as Hayden leaned forward and began to trace his tattoos with her tongue. Fuck…did she have any idea what that did to him?

He jerked her to the edge of the desk and pounded into her, her panting and moaning only urging him on. He grabbed a fistful of the loose curls hanging down her back and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I love you,” he said. “Don’t you ever doubt it.”

“Jace,” she breathed, closing her eyes. “I love you too. So much.”

He slammed into her and Hayden detonated around him, her tight walls milking him for all he had to give. Three quick thrusts later and he gave in, empting himself into her as he bit her shoulder and growled into her neck.

After, Jace rested his forehead against her chest as Hayden pulled her fingers through his damp hair and kissed his head, smiling.

“Happy New Year,” she said.

He stood and cupped her face, softly kissing her top lip, then her bottom. He gripped her chin and pressed his forehead to hers. “As long as you’re with me, it will be.”

The End

She wants one night. He wants her forever.

Hayden Summers just landed the job of a lifetime taking pictures for Time magazine, but she’s determined to leave with no regrets. The first thing on her list? Erase the memory of her cheating ex with a wild night of anonymous sex. The second? Figure out why her best friend, sexy bar owner Jace Jennings, stopped speaking to her the night she told him about the job.

Jace has a problem. Hayden isn’t just leaving the country, she’s risking her life—just when he’s realized he’s in love with her. When fate traps them in the storage room of his bar together, barely contained desire simmers to surface. In one last attempt to keep her, Jace offers Hayden the one thing she wants: a night of hot sex, no strings attached. But when the night is over, will Jace be able to let her go? And will Hayden leave with her heart intact?

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