CHAPTER 12
Scarlet
I woke, the sound of a light snore jerking me right out of my sleep. The second my eyes opened, they landed on Tobias’s face. A smile spread over my lips.
For the second time in a row, my night had been incredible. I felt a warm and tingly sensation thinking about the way he had made me feel. Yet, I also felt a hallow feeling that accompanied facing the realization that our fling had undoubtedly come to an end since he would leaving soon. The past two days with him had been like something out of a fairytale, but now it was almost time to face reality again, whether I was ready to or not.
Beneath all of that, I couldn’t deny feeling quite a bit of guilt as well. Something about the fact that I had firmly believed him to be Preston and had failed to be upfront with him about it made me feel dumb. After all, Tobias had been truthful with me; it wasn’t his fault that I hadn’t believed him.
I stared at his sleeping face, his long eyelashes, and thick dark hair. I watched the way his bare chest rose and fell with each breath he took. He was so breathtakingly handsome, I couldn’t resist reaching touching him. Gently, I placed my hand on the side of his face, letting my thumb caress his cheek, feeling the stubble that had started to grow in there.
He stirred slightly and his eyes cracked open. That sexy smile of his slid into place. “Morning,” he said.
“Morning.”
Rolling onto his side, he placed a hand on my hip. “Did you sleep well?”
I nodded. “Yes. Did you?”
“Best two nights of sleep I’ve had in a long time,” he said with a chuckle.
“Is that all that was good?” I said, raising my eyebrows. “The sleep?”
His laughter filled the room. “No. Believe it or not, some other things were even better than the sleep.”
“Okay, good to know,” I said, joining in on the laughter. I rolled onto my back, feeling so content that I wanted to stay there forever.
Tobias began to trail his fingers along my stomach, his touch so light that it tickled. “Scarlet?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“What is it?”
I looked sideways at him. “Huh?”
“I get a feeling something’s bothering you,” he said. “I mean, unless it’s just that I’m leaving? But I’m not so vain as to think you’d be bothered by that. I already told you that I was only in town for a few days. We both knew this was just a…”
“Fling,” I finished for him. “Two-night stand.”
He nodded. “Yeah a fucking great one at that.”
I swallowed, because that was indeed one of the things that was bothering me, but just slightly. I had been careful not to apply more meaning to our fling than what it was worth.
The real thing that was bothering me though…
I knew I shouldn’t let our time together end without admitting to it.
I sighed. “That’s not what’s bothering me.”
“Then what is it? You’re not still upset about the bill you’re leaving me with, are you?” he asked, although some humor had returned to his voice.
I smiled. “No.”
“Then elaborate. Please.”
“Tobias…” I said, and took a deep breath, “I really did think you were Preston.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why you came over to me at the bar in the first place.”
I shook my head. “No…I mean, I still thought you were him even after that. I…” I paused a second before resuming. “I still thought you were him when I left with you. That’s why I left with you.”
He stared at me for a moment, his eyes narrowing.
I averted my eyes. I wanted to make a full confession, but I suddenly felt like I couldn’t do it looking into his pretty gray eyes. “You see, I thought you were playing with me. So I had decided to play along and let you be…this other character you had invented. Except, now I know you weren’t just inventing another character. Now I know that you were telling the truth. I didn’t realize it until room service came and the server called you Mr. Gentry.”
Tobias sat up and looked back at me. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” I said, finally looking at him again. “I honestly thought you were Preston Walker, pretending to be someone else.”
Tobias shook his head. “Hold on a second. Let me get this straight. Even after I told you that I wasn’t Preston, you still thought I was him, and that I was just trying to fool you?”
“I didn’t think you were trying to fool me…I just thought you were, you know, role playing or something. Pretending to be a sexy stranger. Trying to…to make our night more interesting…”
“Was Preston into that kind of thing?”
“Well, he could be goofy at times. I wouldn’t have put it past him.”
There was a long pause before Tobias suddenly started laughing. He laughed so hard that he tipped over onto his back again. I stared at him, not quite sure how I felt about him laughing so hard at my expense. It had taken a lot for me to confess to him, and now he was laughing at me…
I folded my arms across my chest, offended. Yet, as I continued listening to his laughter, snickers started rising from my own throat. I tried to hold them in, but not before long, I was laughing right along with him, the humor of the situation finally dawning on me.
“I guess I owe Preston a thank you,” Tobias said, once his laughter finally died down. He looked at me and smiled, running a hand down the side of my face. “Looks like I’m forever indebted to him because he gave me two of the most amazing nights I’ve had in a long time. So next time you actually see him, give him my regards.” He winked.
I laughed again. “Yeah. Sure,” I said, shaking my head.
Tobias’s gray eyes began to smolder. He leaned over, leaving a soft lingering kiss on my lips that nearly set me on fire. I wrapped an arm around his neck, hoping that we’d share one last passionate moment together before it was time for us to go our separate ways.
But then his cell phone rang, interrupting. I sighed as he pulled back from me to answer it.
“Hello?” he said, and then paused, listening intently. His brows furrow in concentration. “Right now?” he asked. He swore, running a hand through his hair. He then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right. I’m on my way. I’ll head out now. Bye.” He ended the call and sighed looking down at his phone. “Shit.” He looked back at me, “I’m sorry, there’s an emergency at the office that needs my immediate attention,” he said. “Looks like I need to leave a little sooner than expected.”
I nodded and swallowed against the lump forming in my throat, reminding myself that I knew this moment was coming all along. There was no need to be surprised by it.
I watched Tobias slid out of bed. My eyes trailed over him, admiring his body for what would likely be the last time as he headed to the bathroom. I then got out of bed myself, gathering what little belongings I had with me so that I could be ready to leave when he did.
“Do you have a ride?” he asked an hour later, when we were both packed and ready to go.
“Yeah. Uber.” I shook my phone with the app pulled up.
He nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Well, it’s been fun.” He gave small smile as he pulled his suitcase out the door of the hotel suite.
I followed him out into the hall. “Yeah, it has,” I agreed.
“So, I guess this is goodbye then.” He stretched out his hand to me, and I looked at it hand for a moment, somewhat taken aback that he wanted to end things between us with a formal handshake, as if we had been doing nothing more than business or something.
Oh well, I thought, and took his hand.
Suddenly, his smile widened and he pulled me in toward him, releasing my hand to wrap his arm around me in a hug instead. He leaned down, kissing the top of my head. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Scarlet. Thank you for spending some time with me.”
The lump formed in my throat again, making it difficult to speak. “Same here. Thank you for everything,” I managed to choke out.
Several long seconds later, he released me and stepped back, picking up his suitcase. “Take care of yourself, all right?”
“You too,” I said.
And then we went parted ways, knowing it would likely be the last time we ever saw each other.