The awkwardness elevator rides provided was absent. Conversation was plentiful. The eldest, a woman in a bedazzled blazer with a sickening cut that was fully gray, led the chatter.
“So not only do the people of The Madison look good, but they smell good, too. My nostrils have never been so pleased in all of my time… and I’ve had a long goddamn time,” she chuckled.
Sniggers erupted. With a straight face, I sipped from the glass of champagne I’d been given. She was on to something. Everyone smelled pleasant.
“Just go ahead and call out your fragrance choices for the night and I’ll just write them in my little notebook here.”
She removed a pen and paper from her bag as one designer fragrance after the other was revealed. I’d flipped the switch by the time the second name was written on her list. Silence filled the space, now, although there was chatter all around me.
Ping!
Like the Red Sea, the hotel guests divided, creating a pathway for my exit. I stepped forward and then out into the hallway. Just as I turned, the now familiar voice yelled in my direction.
“I didn’t catch your fragrance, sweetie!”
Click.
Clack.
My stride didn’t halt. Neither did my thoughts. They were racing as I headed toward the hotel room I’d been invited to.
“Huffington–” I called over my shoulder. “Huffington Fragrance House.”
There was no need to give specifics. She was behind a season and fragrances rarely had repeat appearances.
Room2402
Forty-two floors.
Four rooms per floor.
The last four floors only had one suite per floor. The penthouse suite. Two were leased to year-round residents and the other two were booked years in advance. The view of Clarke was stunning from the forty-second floor.
I stood in front of the door with both hands at my side. My purse in one hand, my champagne in the other. Kason’s energy and efforts had increased tremendously, but I couldn’t help but feel like it was a little too late.
He’d shown me that I had to assert myself to become a priority in his life.
He’d shown me that he needed to be reminded to insert me in his daily schedule.
He’d shown me that he was incapable of being who I needed him to be without direction.
He’d shown me that he always had the time I wanted to spend with him. He just didn’t have it to give to me. Not until now.
I lifted the glass in my right hand and poured the contents down my throat. I didn’t straighten my spine until it was empty. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes.
I miss you, too.
My teeth sank into my bottom lip. The breath I’d tried taking got caught in my throat. The darkness began to spin. My heart rate increased, pounding against my chest.
“Please,” I begged in a whisper. “Please, Josiah.”
He was consuming.
All-consuming.
I felt his hand against my leg.
Against my thighs.
