“It’s impolite to mention romantic intel gathered from pheromone detection,Justus!”
“Well when you say it like that, it sounds much more scientific than erotic.” I shrugged. “So, what? I’m just supposed to pretend I can’ttell?”
“Yes! Justus, I’m not going to sleep withyou.”
“That’s because you’re afraid to admit you likeme.”
“No. Idolike you. It’s because I’m afraid to be married toyou.”
“Why?” I pushed the other plates back. “I swear on my life that I didn’t marry you for themoney.”
“I believeyou.”
“Then what am I doingwrong?”
“Nothing.” She leaned forward and kissed me, and she tasted like chocolate, and raspberry, and other sweet things that had nothing to do with room service. “You’re not doing anything wrong. But that doesn’t mean this has to end withsex.”
“Sex wouldnotbe an ending. This doesn’t have to end at all. That’s the whole point of forever.” I kissed her again, and my hand slid into her hair. Her tongue met mine, and then she put her hands on my chest. She explored me while we kissed, as if she’d never done that before, and with a sudden, heartbreaking epiphany, I realized that she hadn’t, really, because she didn’t remember touching me like thisbefore.
And for her, that meant it hadn’thappened.
For Kaci,noneof what I remembered of the night before had happened. That must have been very scary for her. Very…confusing.
“How can this be real?” she murmured as I kissed my way down her neck. She clutched at me, as if she wanted more than she was willing to let herself have, anddamn, I wanted to give her whatever she wanted. “How can anything that feels this good be happening to me,after—?”
“After what?” I sat up to look at her, and her eyes filled withtears.
“Justus, they’re not wrong. What they say about me is true. Iama monster. I found that dead woman in the woods, and I was so hungry,and—”
“No. Kaci, they couldnotbe more wrong about you. You did what you had to do to survive. They’re the monsters, holding something like that against a little girl. You…are perfect.” I leaned in to kiss her neck. “The universe owes us this,” I whispered, pushing her hair back. Sliding the collar of her shirt over her shoulder, so I could taste the point where her collarbone ended. “After everything life has put us through, we deserve this, Kaci. You deserve better than I could ever giveyou.”
She laid back on the pillow, and I lay next to her, propped on my elbow. Her hand found mine on the comforter, and she clung to it, staring up at me. “You’re wrong. But I really want to believeyou.”
I leaned down to kiss her, and her free hand slid behind my neck. Then down my back. Her mouth opened, and she pulled me closer, lower, until I lay stretched out over her, supporting my weight on one elbow, her hand still clutchingmine.
We kissed like that forever, in the closest approximation of what she clearly wanted, but would not take, and I didn’t notice until much later that we’d kicked all the desserts onto thefloor.
Later, she rolled toward me on the bed, still fully clothed, and laid her hand on my chest. Her head on my shoulder. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and even. She was nearly asleep. Or maybe she was barelyawake.
“It’s because you’ll leave,” shemurmured.
“What?” I scooted closer, bunching the comforter up between us, trying to get close enough to hear sounds she was hardly evenmaking.
“If I sleep with you, this marriage will be real. You’ll get your money and you’ll leave. And I can’t go withyou.”
Nine
Kaci
“So, I’ve been thinking,”I said as Justus opened the hotel room door. “Maybe I went about things the wrong way yesterday. With EdTaylor.”
“Just a sec.” He turned to the waiter standing in the hall with a full tray. “Come on in, man. You can just set it on thetable.”
The waiter set the tray down, and my stomach rumbled. I hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the night before, except a few bites of dessert, because I drew the line at eating cake off thefloor.
Justus took the padded black folder, and while he signed the breakfast bill, the waiter’s gaze dropped to the carpet at the foot of the bed. Where twin chocolate and raspberry smears stained the carpet. Then he picked up last night’s tray, where the misshapen remainders of our dessert had been scooped back onto their original plates. He glanced up at me with an archedbrow.
I could feel my cheeks burn. “We had a littleaccident.”
