Pain flashed in his eyes, but before I could ask about it, he was kissing me again. Soft and sweet and almost desperate, like he was trying to memorize the taste of me.
When we broke apart, I settled back against his chest, the Santa hat finally sliding off his head and onto the pillow beside us. I should have felt silly about the whole thing. I definitely should be worried about how quickly I was falling for this man and just how reckless I was being.
Instead, I felt more alive than I had in years.
“Kent?” I said softly.
“Yeah?”
“Whatever happens tomorrow, with the offer and everything, I don’t want this to end.”
His arms tightened around me. “Sylvie.”
“I know it’s complicated. But maybe we could figure it out? Maybe there’s a way to make this work?”
He was quiet for so long I thought he might have fallen asleep. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“Maybe,” he said, but something in his voice made my chest ache.
I told myself it was just nerves. Tomorrow would bring good news. The offer would save my family, and somehow, Kent and I would find a way to be together.
Everything was going to work out perfectly.
It had to.
CHAPTER 40
KENT
Iwoke up in Sylvie’s suite again, and for a moment I let myself enjoy the peaceful quiet of the morning. Her apartment was cozy in a way that my Manhattan penthouse had never been. There were no sirens in the distance. No airplanes or honking horns.
But I did hear what sounded like a rooster in the distance. I hadn’t seen any chickens on the property but maybe a neighboring farm. It sounded pretty far away. I didn’t think I had actually ever heard a rooster. Not in real life anyway.
I lay there taking it all in.
I should be freaking out and jumping out of bed. Usually, I hated the morning after stuff. I hated the bullshit promises to call or suggestions we do it again sometime. The idea of being in bed with a woman while not fucking was like choosing to lay on a bed of hot coals.
Usually.
But not with her.
I didn’t move a muscle. I didn’t want to wake her up.
Because I knew what the day held in store.
I would probably never get the chance to be with her again. She would throw me out of her bed and her life. I would never get to hold her naked body against mine.
I’d never had a girlfriend. Not a real one, anyway. There had been women, plenty of them, but nothing that lasted longer than a few weeks. Nothing that involved waking up next to someone and actually wanting to stay.
The longest relationship I’d ever had was probably three months with some socialite whose name I couldn’t even remember now. She’d wanted more than I was willing to give, and I’d cut things off the second she started talking about meeting my family or spending holidays together. The idea of that kind of intimacy had always made my skin crawl.
But lying here with Sylvie curled against my chest, her breathing soft and even, I was starting to understand what I had been missing. This wasn’t the desperate hunger of last night or the thrill of conquest I was used to. This was something else entirely. Peaceful, comfortable, right in a way that scared the hell out of me.
What would it be like to have this every morning? To wake up next to someone who actually knew me, who I didn’t have to perform for or impress? To have that familiarity where you could be completely yourself, flaws and all?
I’d watched my married brothers and always pitied them. All that compromise and the expectations and all that work just to keep someone else happy. It had seemed like a prison to me. But now, with Sylvie’s warm body pressed against mine and her hair tickling my chest, I wondered if maybe I’d been the one who was trapped. Trapped in a cycle of meaningless encounters that left me feeling emptier each time.
She stirred slightly, making a soft sound in her sleep, and my arms instinctively tightened around her. The gesture was sonatural and protective that it caught me off guard. When had I ever felt protective of anyone besides myself?
