Despite managing to slip out of my cheap dress and underwear, I’d fallen asleep with a full face of makeup, if the purple and black smudges on the sheets were any indicator. Worst of all, a killer hangover pounded in my head, making me feel like I’d woken up underwater with a mouth full of desert sand and a brain that had been replaced by white noise.
Oh God… Today was my keynote speech on founding a nonprofit at twenty-four, with a Q&A session afterward. What time was it?
I raised my free arm to rub at my throbbing temple, then froze as I caught sight of something on my left hand.
A ring. A massive, emerald-cut diamond set in platinum bands encrusted with smaller stones. The split shank design wrapped around my finger in a way that was clearly meant to turn heads and show the world just how much the wearer was valued. It was a quarter-million-dollar showstopper.
I knew…
I knew exactly how much the ring cost because I immediately recognized it as the same one I’d handed back to Yom almost six years ago.
No, actually… my heart plummeted as I checked the date on my smartwatch, still strapped to my wrist from last night.Exactlysix years ago. To the day.
The static buzzing in my head suddenly ceased. And that was when I realized…
It wasn’t white noise.
It was the sound of a shower. Someone…
Oh God—I sat up in the bed, grabbing at the sheets to cover myself. Someone was taking a shower in the bathroom of my hotel room. The room I’d booked formyselfalone at the Benton.
“Good morning, Lydia.”
I barely had time to process this realization when Yom Rustanov walked out of the bathroom, as chiseled and powerful as ever.
Also, completely naked.
“Oh my God.” I breathed out, once... twice... but I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. “What did we do last night?”
“So very much,cynpyra,” Yom answered with a feral smile, crawling onto the bed. Then he leaned in kiss-close to ask, “Want to do it again?”
