When he finally draws back, I let out a little whine. He chuckles, brushing my hair back from my face. “You should get some rest,” he murmurs. “Busy day for you, huh?”
“You could say that…”
I’m sprawled naked across the bed, and to my surprise, I don’t feel at all vulnerable or on-display in front of him like this. After the way he talked about my body—and the way his actions backed it up—I’m not exactly feeling insecure about the way I look right now. Hell, if I stick around here much longer, I get the feeling that my ego is going to swell so big I’ll have a hard time fitting it through the door.
“As tempting as it is to leave you naked,” he murmurs playfully, reaching for the covers. “Bit too cold for that now.”
He draws the blankets up over me, and I close my eyes, head sinking back onto the plush pillow behind me. I could listen to that accent all day, the lilting, singsong nature of it. But as soon as I let my eyes drift shut, I feel the exhaustion rise up to get the better of me.
Before I know it, I’m fast asleep.
When I wake the next morning, it’s to the unfamiliar sound of birds chirping outside the window. I’m more used to starting my day with the sound of construction workers, drills, and cars honking on the street outside. The birdsong should be relaxing, but instead, my head jerks up in a panic as I remember everything that happened last night.
The rain seems to have cleared, crystalline blue light filtering through the window. The bed is just as comfortable as it was last night, the plush covers draped over my still-naked body,the pillow imprinted with my damp hair from the shower I took before we…
Yeah. Before we didthat.I look over to the man sleeping beside me, his chest rising and falling slowly as he sleeps peacefully, and I bite down hard on my lip.
It’s not that I don’t know what I was thinking. I do. I was thinking that this man seemed to actually give a damn about me in a way nobody else has for so long—that he was willing to care for me and look out for me without expecting anything in return. I was thinking about how free it made me feel, how open. How much I wanted to give him something in return, especially considering that he happens to look likethat.
But…but what if he expects something from me? Something more than I’m willing to give? It’s not that I don’t like him; I do, but I hardly know him.
Shit, I didn’t even ask hisnamelast night before we…
God, I must be crazy. I need to get myself in hand. I can’t just go running around and hooking up with guys when I’m so soon out of a relationship that practically gutted me from the inside out. And who knows what Thom would do to this guy, if he thought for a second that he had laid hands on me?
I need to get out of here. Before he wakes up.
If I’m still around when he comes to, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to explain to him exactly why I need to leave. He might take it badly.
Shit, he might freak out on me. What if he was only kind to me last night because he thought he was going to get what he wanted? I know all too well how much things can change whenmen decide that you’re not giving them everything they feel they are owed, and I don’t want to find out just how much that description might fit him too.
I slip quietly out of bed and gather my stuff, dressing as quickly as I can without looking back at him. He seems to be a heavy sleeper, which is something, at least.
Guilt twists inside me at the thought of him waking up alone, after everything he did for me, but what choice do I have? The longer I stay here, the more paranoid I’ll be that Thom will figure out where I’ve gone, the higher the chances are that he’s going to be able to track me down.
The last thing this sweet stranger needs is to have all my drama dumped on his doorstep, when all he wanted was to do a good deed.
I pause for a second in the doorway to the bedroom, once I’ve finished doing my second sweep to make sure I haven’t left anything behind. I’m going to call my cousin Sofia, ask for a lift back to the city; she’s always been there for me, even if we have drifted apart the last few months since Thom really started closing the walls in around me. If I have to crash on her couch, I will. No matter what explaining I have to do in the process.
I know I will never see this guy again. And that feels unfair, somehow. For him to have been so kind, acted so sweetly, only to get dumped before he even wakes up.
But I can’t risk sticking around and trying to explain it to him. I’m just out of a relationship with a man who ripped my life apart at the seams, and the last thing I need is to be pulled into another one with a man I don’t even know.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Hitching my bag over my shoulder, I hurry to the door before I can change my mind, pulling out my phone so I can call Sofia with the signal I have up here.
All of this, it was nothing more than a one-night stand, a chance for me to feel free again after being locked in the prison of that relationship for so long.
This is where it ends.
At least, that’s what I have to keep telling myself.
4
MARTIN
“Hello?”
