Kayla

When the first shiver sends goosebumps over my skin, Atlas finally moves. We’ve been wrapped around one another for minutes now, neither of us wanting to move and ruin the way our bodies fit so perfectly together. But as the heat of passion has slowly faded away, leaving us sated and relaxed and half asleep, there’s no ignoring the fact that we’re sitting in a tub of lukewarm water.

He reaches behind me and grabs the bottle of champagne, bringing it to his lips as he leans back to look at me. He takes a long drink, one dark eye holding mine, then sets the bottle down and leans forward to kiss me.

As he parts my lips with his, I shiver again, and he pulls back, his lips twitching, then he slowly spins us around and scoots forward until I’m beneath the stream of hot water. I lean back and put my head under it, letting the hot water coat my hair and warm me up, then his mouth finds my breast and its warm too, and between his mouth and the hot shower, my goosebumps slowly fade away.

His dick twitches, reminding me that he’s still inside me—like I could ignore that thick pressure—and I bring my head back level. He sucks hard on my nipple, then raises his head. He moves his hips slowly, tentatively, and as he moves, his dick grows, hardening inside of me, ready to go again.

I laugh, then lean forward, clenching around his cock so he knows I’m ready again too. “Who even are you?” I whisper against his lips.

Atlas nudges my nose with his. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

###

I’VE BEEN AWAKE FOR a while now, but I don’t want to open my eyes. If I face the day, then I have to face that woman I became last night, and I’m not ready to see her. I’m not ready to be her.

I’m definitely not ready to acknowledge the mistakes she made.

I made.

Atlas trails his hand up and down my side, following the curve of my hip and sending goosebumps out across my skin.

Does he know I’m awake?

The blackout curtains do a fantastic job of keeping the light out, but I have no way of knowing what time it is. How long did we sleep?

He leans forward and brushes a kiss on my shoulder, then climbs out of bed. I do my best impression of someone who’s sound asleep until he closes the bathroom door and turns on the shower.

I sit up quickly as shame floods my chest, suffocating my heart with a thickening ache. I didn’t make him wear a condom. How could I have been so stupid? My stomach twists and I don’t know if it’s from all the champagne I drank or from admitting to the fact that I made a really, really stupid decision.

Twice.

What was I thinking?

I wasn’t.

But I am now. I have to get tested. Immediately. Not that a test will do anything if I already caught something from Atlas, but it still must be done.

“Holy shit.” I run my hands over my face—

The water turns off and I freeze. I have less than a minute or two to get out of here before he comes out of the bathroom and we’re forced to have some weird, uncomfortable goodbye.

I quickly get up from the bed and search for my clothes. Tucking my panties into my purse, I pull on my jeans and sweater, then search for my shoes. One of them is under the bed, and the other is by the door of the bathroom. I don’t even know how that happened.

I pick them up and tiptoe to the door of the suite.

“I hope you at least left the money on the nightstand.”

My eyes close and I freeze, then I take a deep breath, straighten, and slowly turn around. “Hey, good morning, sorry, I—”

He’s naked and still dripping wet.

I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath through my nose to compose myself before looking at him again. “Do you have an aversion to clothing?”

“Do you have an aversion to goodbye?”

My heart pinches a little, and I’m not sure why. This was a one-night stand, nothing more. Right? I mean, does he want this to be something more? Of course not. That’s silly. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

His eyes narrow, but he nods. “All right, well, I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.” I shrug. “I guess so. Thanks for...” My eyes have a mind of their own, and as my gaze travels down his lean frame, I struggle with what to thank him for. A good time?

“Thanks for teaching me new ways to appreciate champagne.”

I look back up at his eyes and he grins.

He’s too damn sexy for his own good.

“You’re welcome,” I say, unable to keep a straight face. “I don’t think I’ll ever look at champagne the same way again.” I do this sort of pathetic half-wave, then turn to go—

“I’m clean, you know.”

My hand freezes at the doorknob. I frown. “What?”

“I know you’re worried about that. But I’m clean.”

I turn back around.

He steps toward me, and I think I better run, because he looks too damn good in nothing butter water droplets from the shower, and I’m trying to leave so this one-night stand doesn’t morph into two.

I think I’ve made enough bad decisions to last me a lifetime.

He stops a foot away from me. “What are you doing tonight?” 

His closeness makes memories of last night flood my brain, and I can’t answer because I can’t think.

“Kayla.”

Goddammit, the way he says my name. So calm and firm, like he’s ready to take command of my body all over again. I look up and meet his gaze.

There’s that frustratingly sexy smirk again. “What are you doing tonight? I have this thing to go to, and I thought... well...” He runs his hand through his hair, pulling his bangs back. “I don’t know, maybe you want to come with me?”

Yes. Of course I do. I’d go anywhere with him, especially naked and dripping wet like that, then I blink and give my head a quick shake because I have a prior commitment. “I can’t. I have a... thing.”

With you.

“Oh.” His shoulders slump and I can’t believe I just turned Atlas Reynolds down for a second night of mind-blowing sex.

Except, did I? He thinks I did, but I know something he doesn’t know. We’ll be back here in this suite tonight, but only after he’s seen my final performance as Kincaid Summers. I take two small steps and close the space between us, then bring my lips to his in a quick kiss. I’m going to rock your world tonight, Atlas. “Thanks for an amazing night, Atlas.”

He nods, holding my gaze until I turn away from him. Part of me waits for him to argue, to chase me, but I know that he won’t. That guy doesn’t chase women.

I mean, except for me. I smile as I step into the elevator, then slowly turn around and meet his gaze as the door closes.

But wait. He pursued me last night and got what he wanted.

Which means... tonight could go either way. He’s already had me, so will he even want to do this again? Dammit. I ride the elevator down to the lobby, gripped with doubt. It weighs heavily on my chest, pushing the euphoria of last night aside and settling in around my heart like thick fog.

I should have just told him we have the same destination tonight.

I blew it, didn’t I?