Sleep is not my friend. These last couple of days have been nothing but sleepless nights. After Jace's proposition, how the hell could I get any sleep? It's all I can think about.

No strings attached sex with Jace Maxwell?

Yes, the guy gets under my skin, but there is no denying how insanely sexy he is. And after he defended me at the bar, and beat the shit out of a guy for me, I cannot deny my attraction to him anymore.

I also can't ignore all I've heard about him. Every girl who talks about him and has been with him raves about how good he is in bed. They go into detail about the orgasms he has given them. The toe-curling sex that lasts all night long.

I really don't know how to feel about this. Jace has been with so many other girls. But that shouldn't matter. I'm not looking for a relationship with the guy. It would just be sex. We can both sleep with other people if we so desperately want to. There's no real commitment being made.

Fuck, am I really even considering this right now?

These same thoughts keep going around and around in my head and not even the upcoming game tonight can put them at ease. I am sitting on the bench tying my shoes and all I can think about is Jace using my shoelaces to tie up my hands while he fucks me senseless.

What the hell is wrong with me?

"You ready?" Hadley asks, slapping my shoulder, startling me out of my Jace-filled trance.

"Yeah," I mumble, standing and linking my arm with hers.

"Damn, you are so tense," she laughs, squeezing my arm. "This game should be a piece of cake. Their star blocker is out with mono. We totally got this."

I force a smile. I don't care about this game. I know we can beat West Ridge blindfolded. What's making my nerves all stand on edge is the thought of seeing Jace standing outside the locker room.

I keep my head down, focusing on my shoes. I don't even look up when stretching with the team. Seeing Jace might make me pass out.

"Five minutes." Jace's voice makes my heart slam into my ribcage. He's standing right behind me. I don't look, but I can sense his eyes on the back of my neck.

Nervousness settles over me. Is he watching me with a sultry smirk? Panning his brown eyes over every inch of my body?

I want to run back to the locker room and cover myself with a million towels because now I feel completely exposed and vulnerable under his gaze.

Once the game starts, my nerves don't let up. Every light seems brighter, hotter. Every sound is louder. When the ball connects with my skin, it's like a fire is being ignited under the surface. It doesn't help that every time I look up, Jace is right in my view.

West Ridge spikes the ball over the net. I dive for it, but I'm too slow. The ball collides with my knuckles and shoots under the net.

"Fuck," I mumble under my breath, slapping my palm against the hard floor before standing up.

"Get your head in the game," Coach Carr barks. Sure, the only time she's not looking on her phone and is actually watching the game is when I fuck up.

For some reason, I look to the other side of the court. Jace is watching me with his knuckles pressed to his lips. His eyes are heavy.

The sound of the ref's whistle brings me back to the game. West Ridge serves the ball. I bump it to Hadley for the set and Addison spikes it over. West Ridge misses the block.

We have the serve now.

Sienna has the ball and when the ref blows his whistle she slaps it over.

For a second, literally just a quick second, I take my eyes off of the other team's play and look at Jace who's fixated on the game.

I turn back to the court and the ball is barreling toward me. I run to it and dive. But so does Sienna. She slams into me. Her nails, which she always insists on having done in acrylic stiletto shape even though it's not ideal for a volleyball game, dig into my forehead as we collide and tumble on the ground. Her body rolls over mine, knees dig into my back.

I groan under my breath as pain heats up my face. I reach my hand up to my forehead to soothe the skin. A wetness coats the tips of my fingers. I lower my hand and the tips of my fingers are covered in bright red blood.

But I don't care about the blood. I'm fucking pissed.

"That was my fucking ball," I bark, jumping to my unsteady feet, and spinning toward Sienna.

She stands too, looking like a deer in headlights because I am right in her face, swearing like a sailor.

"You weren't paying attention," she says weakly.

"Then speak up and call the damn ball!" God, I am being such a bitch right now. But I don't care. I'm sexually frustrated and now my face hurts. "Fuck," I curse under my breath as blood trickles down the bridge of my nose. I try to wipe it away.

Coach Carr and Jace run onto the court. Coach grabs my chin and tips my head back, examining the cut on my forehead. For a moment, I swear she turns green. She drops my face and looks away.

"Jace, go take care of that." Coach Carr speed walks off the court, motioning for the ref to resume the game while Jace holds onto my arm, leading me off the court and into the locker room.

"Are you okay?" Jace asks, fumbling in one of the lockers, pulling out a small first aid kit.

I sit down on the bench and wipe my bloody fingers on my shirt. "Just peachy," I mumble. Not so thrilled to be sitting here, bleeding, inches away from Jace's face as he crouches in front of me.

He dabs a piece of gauze on my forehead just below my hairline. I wince a little at first but then it feels kind of good. Soothing. Or maybe that's just his breath on my neck.

"You shouldn't have blown up on Sienna like that."

I keep my mouth shut because I know he's right.

"She was quick on her feet because it looked like you were anywhere but the game." He takes a moment to look into my eyes but when he blinks he goes right back to tending to my wound.

He continues to talk about the game and the team. Meanwhile, I don't hear any of it. I'm too focused on what he said to me in the car. His proposition. How when he asked me to be his fuck buddy I just wanted to scream yes, fuck yes, take me right here right now in the passenger seat of my car.

As I'm sitting here with him now, those same thoughts are bustling through my mind.

He grabs a butterfly bandaid from the first aid kit and gently applies it to my forehead.

"There, all better." He smiles and I swear I can fucking melt. His smile falls as he studies my tight expression. "What?" he murmurs, brushing his fingers through fallen strands of my hair, tucking them behind my ear, making my heart nearly fly out of my chest.

I swallow hard before opening my mouth. "The other night... what you said..." Am I really doing this right now? But I can't stop my lips from moving. "It would just be sex? No strings, no nothing?"

Jace looks at me with furrowed brows. But suddenly, his brown eyes widen and glisten with intrigue. "That's what I said. That's what you want, isn't it?"

For the past couple of days, I had been playing out this conversation in my head and each time Jace was a snarky arrogant bastard. Laughing at me, making fun of me for caving in unable to resist his temptation.

But he's anything but that. He's sweet. He's waiting for me to tell him what I want. He's not being pushy. He's being himself.

"No romance. No flowers. No... No--" I pause to look at him.

He nods with his lips sucked in but he's grinning a little bit. He's agreeing to all of this. When he arches his brows, I can no longer hold back.

"Then I'm in." I let out a deep sigh.

Jace was right, it was so dangerous what I was doing. So far I have only met douchebags who most likely would not have been good in bed. Jace seems like a pretty good option now.

"Really?" He cocks a brow again, not completely buying this.

He's probably waiting for me to burst out in laughter point at him and say "joke's on you." But I want this.

"Yes, really."

"Well, alright then." He's smiling again.

"But this is just sex." I stand to my feet to make myself sound and look much more serious. He stands too. "No mushy gushy shit. Just sex. I mean, we don't even have to talk."

He laughs. "Fine by me, pretty girl." He runs his hand through his thick black hair, eyeing me with a devilish grin. "So should we shake on it? Or just fuck right here right now."

And there it is. That's the Jace I imagined in my head.

"You can come over tonight," Jace says, getting serious again. "Kaden is going to be gone all night and we will have the whole place to ourselves."

I think about his request. It's gotta be now or never. Like ripping off a bandaid. I need sex. It's been so long that I think I closed up down there.

I nod. "Okay. Tonight."