‘Yeah, we were. She was my best friend, right to the end. I know some twins struggle with jealousy when they’re kids, but we were never like that. I just always felt like I was never completely alone, if that makes sense? We were inseparable. Right till the end.’
‘Oh, Zach. The whole thing must’ve been devastating.’
He nods then inhales deeply. ‘Yeah. It was.Anyway,’ he says, as if the conversation is going to move on to something else. But, for a few silent seconds, it doesn’t go anywhere. We just walk.
Every so often, his sleeve brushes against mine and, even through the layers of fabric, it feels like an electric currentthrough my whole body. I find myself thinking that I don’t want to go to bed now. What I really want is for this pavement to turn into one big treadmill so I can keep walking alongside him for hours, watching the movement of his Adam’s apple and the sparkle of his eyes every time he laughs.
I get a strange kick out of passers-by catching glimpses of us and concluding . . . actually, I don’t know what. That we’re old lovers? New friends? Or something else, mysterious and unknowable. Two people with an invisible force field that seems to be drawing us closer together.
We reach the hotel far too soon. The concierge greets us and opens the door. We step inside the foyer. Slowly. But, eventually, there’s nowhere else to walk.
‘Can I tempt you to a nightcap?’ he asks.
I look beyond the foyer into a dark, cosy bar area. It’s an intimate space, the kind that evokes old leather, whisky tumblers and Cuban cigars. Aside from a lone bartender discreetly polishing glasses under the amber glow of the ambient lights, there is nobody else there.
I look back at Zach and exhale.
‘It’s kind of late,’ I hear myself say.
He nods slowly, then leans into me and says, in a low voice: ‘You looked sensational tonight. Just thought you needed to know.’
‘The part?’ I reply, with a smile, remembering what he whispered to me on the way in.
‘Exactly. A leading lady. Pure Hollywood.’ He lowers his eyelashes to take in the full length of my dress and my heart performs a somersault. ‘Stunning.’
I’m about to say yes to the drink . . . that, fuck it, I’ve changed my mind. But he beats me to it—
‘Come on. Let’s head up.’
We walk to the lift and he presses the button. We stand in silence. When it arrives, he gestures to allow me to step in first, before following suit. We stand side by side. He presses the button. The doors close.
I become acutely aware of the rise and fall of my chest. Something that feels like my heartbeat is thumping at the base of my throat. The luscious smell of him is fogging my brain.
An erotic charge is firing through my skin as I turn to look at him.
He jerks his head to me.
And that’s all it takes.
Our lips collide in an involuntary blur. He pulls me in around the waist. I slide my hands on the sides of his face. My need for his mouth is as intense as his for mine and heat floods my body in one breathless, fluid rush.
So much so that, at one point my teeth clash gently against his lip, but it only seems to make him hungrier. The shoulders of my coat are halfway down my arms now and he has me pulled in hard, the soft warmth of my breasts pushing against his body. My nipples pinch. There is a building effervescence between my legs.
I am vaguely aware that we’re nearly at our floor, that we need to stop, but my senses are so heightened that I don’t know how to. I don’t need air, I think. I just need his mouth, his lips, his tongue.
Give me more, more, more.
The doors begin to open.
We pull away. Only our eyes are still connected and he’s holding my hand. We are both breathless.
‘This way,’ he says and leads me in the direction of his room.
Chapter 33
Zach has been put in a suite. The difference between where I’m staying is not merely a matter of square footage, though it is definitely bigger. There’s also an overall feeling of luxury that unquestionably surpasses mine.
‘How did you end up in such a swanky room?’ I say with mock chagrin, running my finger along the dressing table.
