“I’m going to get changed. If you insist on getting me a cab, it’s easier before rush hour starts.” I pushed off the bed, careful not to let the sheet slip as I padded toward the bathroom.
Silas stood, plucking my clothes from where they were strewn across the carpet. He’d slipped on his boxers to greet room service at the door, but he was naked enough for me to ogle the perfect globes of his ass and watch his back muscles flex as he reached down.
“Here,” he whispered, draping the sheet across my back as he handed me my clothes. Goose bumps trailed down my back from the graze of his fingertips. It was a sweet gesture sexy enough to make me want to drop the damn sheet and fit in one more time before I had to go, but I was out of one-more-times.
The shadows on the wall from the sun were an infuriating stopwatch, reminding me that my time was up.
Our hands brushed as I took my clothes from him, my lips itching to touch his as he gazed down on me with a sweet but sad smile. Maybe this was hard for him too.
He’d said that he didn’t want to hurt anyone else and that he was divorced. I’d bet he had baggage too, and I shouldn’t feel guilty for walking away from something not possible, but the sting in my gut was real and heavy as I trudged to the bathroom, an odd sensation like I was leaving something behind gnawing at me.
When I got dressed and stepped out of the bathroom, I peeked at my phone for any messages from my sister after I’d texted her goodnight. She was probably still slumbering away with her friends, oblivious to where her usually uber-responsible sister was and who she was with.
“Wow, twenty degrees?” I said when I read the temperature on my lock screen. “That dropped fast. March in New York is a funny thing.”
“Always was,” Silas said as he rummaged through his suitcase. He was in a hoodie and a pair of joggers, a backward baseball cap on his head. How was that even hotter than the jacket and pants from last night?
I darted my eyes away, not wanting to ponder exactly how many levels of hot Silas was as I’d lose count and never leave.
“Take this,” he said, holding up a sweatshirt. “That shirt is too light for twenty degrees.”
I froze, staring at the gray hoodie,Washingtonin caps across the front.
“I couldn’t?—”
“I don’t need it. I’m hot-blooded from years of being outside.” His beautiful smile deepened the pang in my gut. “I’d feel better not thinking of you freezing in the cold.”
“Silas, I can’t?—”
He ate up the distance between us, shaking his head as he draped the sweatshirt over me. It hung on me like a minidress, almost hitting my knees, his scent flooding my senses enough to make my head spin.
“You can,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “After everything—” he nodded to the messy bed behind us “—let me be a gentleman this morning.”
I laughed, dropping my eyes to the carpet before I lifted them to his somber gaze.
“You were a gentleman yesterday. At times.”
We shared a laugh.
“Thanks for not getting angry at me for punching you.”
“No problem,” he said, shifting back and forth on his feet before he stuffed his hands into his pockets, as if he wasn’t sure where to put them. “Thanks for…everything. Since that punch to the gut, it’s been really great to know you.”
My nose burned as I nodded. He didn’t know me. Not really. So why did it feel like, for the last few hours, no one knew me better?
I’d shown Silas a side of myself that I kept hidden. The one who wanted things for herself, not just to do the responsible thing. I didn’t mind being Taylor’s guardian, and I loved the chance to give her a good life and shield her from some of the issues that still plagued her big sister.
But it was nice to have a piece of something just for me, just because I’d wanted it, if only for a few hours.
I followed Silas to the elevators, a heavy but not awkward silence washing over us. What more was there to say?
We were the only passengers again when we stepped on, the doors sliding shut before anyone else could join us. Our eyes locked as he leaned against the wall, his glorious arms folded over his fantastic chest as he raked his gaze up and down my body.
We couldn’t do anything now, or anymore, but reliving the heat of last night was both exhilarating and depressing. It was all so good, and now it was over.
Silas was able to flag down a cab in less than a couple of minutes once we got outside. He smiled as he held the door open, his dark brow furrowing as his eyes darted away for a second.
“I know this breaks the unspoken rule, but what name do you write under? Like, I assume you have a pen name, right?”
