The room was a mess. We’d sunk two bottles of champagne, but my head wasn’t woolly at all.
Pushing to my feet, I found my bra and slid it into my pocket. My panties were shredded on the floor, but I scooped those up, thinking it was better to take the evidence with me.
After collecting my shit, I went into the bathroom and closed the door.
Splashing water on my face and washing my mouth out, I perused myself in the mirror, feeling like a piece of shit. But what could I do?
Don’t go through with it. Leave Jasper, the girl in the reflection yelled back at me.
I banged my hand on the edge of the sink, pain vibrating up my arm. I couldn’t think straight, and I knew the sooner I got out of there, the better it would be for both our sakes.
After peeing and pulling the flush, I took a deep breath, suddenly scared to face him again. I could smell Reed’s musky scent on my skin.
There was a soft knock on the door.
“Are you OK in there?” Reed said, his voice slightly muffled.
Without replying, I opened the door and looked up into his perfect features. He’d pulled on jeans, but they were unbuttoned, and he was shirtless. Reed was smoking hot, always had been, first thing in the morning. I loved how he looked with his dishevelled bedhead hair.
Dipping under his bulging arm, which was resting on the top of the doorframe, I scooted into the center of the room.
“What’s the rush?” he said, dropping his arm and turning to face me.
“You know what? I shouldn’t have stayed over last night.” The words were out before I could stop them. Shitty of me, I know.
“So, you regret what happened?” Reed huffed, folding his arms over his chest, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
I waved my arms. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. Last night was amazing. You know that.”
As I glanced past him, I spied my jacket hanging over the back of the chair by the bed. As I made a move to fetch it, Reed stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Wait,” he said in a low voice. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Like what?” I said with a swallow as his grip tightened slightly.
“Like you’re already married, and this is some type of seedy affair.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I’m as good as, Reed. You know that,” I rasped.
His expression turned incredulous as he got in my face, taking hold of my other arm. “So that’s it then. You fuck me, and then you’re just going to go back to him? Like nothing happened?”
I felt tears burn at the back of my eyes, but I valiantly held them back. “One night, Reed and you said you’d let me go,” I pointed out, trying to twist from his hold.
“Yeah, well, what if I’ve changed my mind?” he said, releasing me and taking a step back. His cool façade couldn’t mask the hurt he carried, pain that I had put there.
Shaking my head, I started to pace. “You can’t do that, Reed.”
With a head tilt, he snapped out. “Oh, I think I can. Do you feel guilty about what we did? Do you think that what happened between us was wrong, cheap?”
“I’m not saying that,” I hissed, feeling like shit as I stopped to stare up at him. My eyes were drawn to the slight scratch marks on his chest in the shape of my nails.
“You don’t need to. Your face says it all for you,” he replied, narrowing his eyes. “I must say, I never expected being used to feel quite like this.”
I didn’t like that. “We agreed this was a one-night thing.”
“Don’t you mean a one-night stand?” he snapped.
“Whatever makes you feel better, Reed,” I blurted with exasperation.
