Page 76 of Diego

I want the mattress to swallow me.

My entire adult life has been leading to the moment when I finally destroy my career because a handsome Italian man could untangle my bra.

Wonderful.

And then the bedroom.

That comes back even more clearly. In high def.

His hands. His mouth. His voice in my ear. The windows behind the bed, reflecting the two of us while the city glittered beyond them. Every filthy thing he said. Every humiliatingly filthy thing he coaxed me into saying.

I swallow.

My body provides several additional reminders all on its own.

There is soreness between my thighs, an ache in muscles I apparently used enthusiastically, and the faint tenderness of skin that remembers far more than I would prefer. Even my lips feel swollen still.

I stare at the ceiling.

I slept with Diego Conti.

I slept with my client.

I slept with one of the owners of Meridian.

In a property I was showing him.

I may be the first real estate broker in history to turn shelter-in-place instructions into a career-ending catastrophe.

The memory of the end of the night arrives next, and somehow that is what finishes me.

We had been on the bed. I remember that much. I remember pleasure wringing me dry over and over until I could barely keep my eyes open. Diego above me, his breathing uneven and harsh, his face buried against the back of my neck.

Then—

Oh, God.

I just passed out.

With him still inside me.

My hand flies to my face.

I press my palm over my eyes and silently beg the universe to strike me dead on the spot.

Behind me, Diego breathes deeply and shifts closer, apparently unaware that the woman trapped beneath his arm is currently experiencing a complete and total collapse.

It’s only fragments of memory after that.

Being half awake when he slid out of me, murmuring words in my ear. Though I cannot remember what he said.

His hand on my hip as he carefully turned me onto my side.

The warm weight of the blanket being pulled over us.

An arm settling around my waist.

His body fitting perfectly against mine.