His for Now (His #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Sorry.  Daniella, I need to talk to you.  It’s urgent.  Just hear me out.”
    Scoffing, I listened to the voicemail a second time…and then a third.  The words he’d chosen were strange and infuriating.  He said he’d “had to” treat me like dirt because he had no other choice.  What utter nonsense.  Angrily, I deleted the message.
    Moments later, my phone rang again.  Once again, it said “Unknown Caller” on the screen.
    This time I answered.  “Stop calling me!” I snapped, prepared to hang up immediately.
    “Don’t hang up,” Hayden ordered in that strict, authoritative voice that usually made me tingle from head to toe…and in certain places in between.  This time it had no such effect.  I just felt numb, and a little annoyed.  “You need to listen to me Daniella,” he said.  “I need to meet with you.  I’m outside.”
    “You’re what ?”
    “I’m outside.  I came back to talk to you so please just hear me out.”
    My breath caught in my throat as I crept over to the front door and peered out the window.  I didn’t see any limo outside, but I’d known Hayden to rent a car on occasion so that didn’t mean much.  For all I knew he could be parked at the side of the house rather than the front.  Oh God, he was really out there.
    Knowing how close Hayden was made a shiver run up my spine.  We’d ripped each other’s clothes off right there just inside the front door to my house.  We’d made love on the living room floor.  And then in the morning he’d torn me to shreds before walking out without explanation.
    My hand was squeezing the phone so tightly I was sure my knuckles must be turning white.  “I don’t want to see you now or ever again,” I informed him icily, double checking to make sure the door was locked.  I wasn’t about to let the heartless bastard degrade me any further.  “Goodbye, Hayden.”
    “Wait.”
    It was just one word, but the way he said it made me pause.  There was desperation in his tone that I couldn’t remember ever hearing before.  My finger hovering over the “off” button on my phone, I waited expectantly. 
    “Daniella, you’ re in danger,” he blurted out.
    My temper flared.  “Where the hell do you get off?” I demanded indignantly.  “You made it very clear I meant nothing to you and then you randomly show up outside my house?   When I refuse to see you, you tell me I’m in danger ?  Seriously Hayden, you have the nerve to threaten me?  What are you, a psychopath or something?”
    “No.”  His voice cracked as he spoke, like he was getting emotional.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound like a threat.  I’d never hurt you, Daniella,” he assured me.  
    I snorted, letting him know exactly what I thought of that assertion.
    “You’re in danger because of me, though,” he continued.  “I’m so, so sorry, Daniella.  If I’d known…I never meant to drag you into this mess.  Please, come outside and talk to me.  Five minutes…just give me five minutes.”
    I hesitated and then opened the entryway closet, reaching for whatever jacket, coat or sweater happened to be there.  It got chilly once the sun went down.  I pulled out a red shawl and stared at it.  I’d worn it wrapped around my shoulders the night of Henrik Slate’s party.  Flashbacks of that night ran through my brain no matter how hard I tried to shove them aside.
    I’d felt so happy that night, Hayden rarely leaving my side as we walked from room to room of the luxurious mansion whispering in one another’s ear.  He’d acted like he was so proud to be there with me, just to have me on his arm.  Even in a room full of rich businessmen and important socialites who’d traveled from far away, he’d acted like I was the most important person in the room.  He’d acted like I was the only person in the room.
    That night he’d made me feel so special.  In fact, every single time I was with him he’d made me feel