We all went to our separate hotel rooms when we got back and ordered a ton of food to be delivered. I quickly shower and start icing my ankle, which is even more swollen than it was earlier today. I’m sure me running on it didn’t help matters.

A knock on the door has my stomach growling, knowing it will be the food I ordered. I can smell the pizza and wings before I even open the door. The delivery man’s hands are full with two boxes of pizza, three boxes of chicken wings and a two-liter bottle of Coke. I hand him cash and close the door.

Placing the food on the counter, I grab a paper plate and load it up. Another knock interrupts me after my first bite, but I refuse to stop eating now that I have started. Still eating, I walk over to the door and open it. Aedon is standing outside in a pair of cutoff shorts and a pink t-shirt. She obviously showered because her hair is still damp. I open the door wider for her to come inside.

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m starved.” She walks by me but doesn’t fix a plate.

“You okay?” I shut the door, taking three strides toward her.

She turns in my direction, her hands nervously fidgeting with each other. Her blue eyes finally meet mine. “I’m starved,” she says again, but her voice sounds raspy.

Licking my lips from the wings, I place my plate on the countertop. I lean my long frame against the counter and loosely cross my arms. “I take it not for food.”

She closes the distance between us. My arms automatically go around her waist when her hands go around my neck. She rubs her lips together, “I’m hungry for you.”

My green eyes lock with her blues. “Are you sure about this?”

“Not at all, but right now I need you. After the last couple of days that we’ve had, I don’t want to be alone. Can you handle that?” Her eyes search mine.

“Is that all you’re offering is one night?”

She draws back, taking my hand in hers. “Yes.”

“I’ll take it.” I follow her as she leads me to bed. She lifts her hands in the air, making her flat belly show. I rub my hands over her skin before I slowly remove her shirt. I inhale sharply when I see that she has no bra on. Her perky breasts are just as beautiful as I remember. Not too big, just the right size. I reach out and place them in my hands. “I’ve missed these.”

“I don’t want your gentle side tonight. I want the man that would devour me for hours,” she says softly.

I take a step back from her and take off my clothes. My cock is hard and standing at attention. I reach down and rip off her shorts, pushing her on the bed. She catches herself with her hands. Her lip is drawn into her mouth, buried under her teeth. I crawl over her and she lays down as I consume her mouth. Her kiss alone could kill a man. Her tongue meets my eagerness for her. My bottom lip ends up between her teeth and she tugs lightly, causing my cock to throb.

“Please tell me you are still on the fucking pill.” I rasp out.

“Yes,” she hisses and I feel her legs part underneath me.

I take her right hand, placing it on the headboard slat. “You’re going to need to hold on to this.” Taking her left leg, bending it at the knee and pushing it further out, I settle between her legs with my tongue. I suck and lick, tasting her. Her left hand pulls at my hair, but I don’t let it stop me from taking what I want. I insert two fingers and she starts throbbing around me, screaming my name. Before she’s even come down, I move up and thrust inside her hard, making her orgasm start all over again.

I’ve always loved the fact that she keeps her eyes open and on me when I’m fucking her. It’s erotic as hell to me. I shift my hips, thrusting in and out. Her head bangs on the headboard. She places her hand on my chest and her nails run down to my abs, leaving a mark. I take her hand off and flip her over, raising her hips and entering her from behind. Leaning over her, I bite at the back of her neck. She lets out a hiss. I thrust harder, tipping her over the edge again.

She rocks backward, pushing me out of her. She’s on her knees facing me. “My turn.” She shoves me backward and I lay down with my head at the bottom of the bed. She straddles me and walks up on her knees until she’s at my knees. Leaning down, she places her mouth on my cock and I nearly buck her off the bed when she draws upward, sucking hard. I grab at her shoulders trying to push her off, but she sucks harder.

“God damn, Aedon, I don’t want to come in your mouth!” I grit out.

She takes me out of her mouth and licks her lips. “Where do you want to be?”

I direct her hips over my cock and pull her down on top of me until she is fully seated. I let out a deep moan when she starts riding me. I let her find her rhythm. When her hands go to her breast and she squeezes her nipples, I can take no more. I grab her hips and thrust deeper, roaring as I let go and take her with me.

She collapses down on top of me. My heart is beating wildly inside my chest and I can see her head moving to its rhythm on my chest. Her damp hair cools my body down. She lifts her head so her chin is on my chest and her eyes are on mine. “I don’t want to sleep with your ghost anymore.”

I drag her up my body so she’s lying beside me, facing me. “You don’t have to. I’m right here. I’m not that man anymore.” I make love to her for hours until we are both completely spent.

She rolls back, raising one arm above her head. When she catches her breath, she begins to speak softly. “You ripped my world apart. I wanted you so badly and I hated you at the same time. I know they say time heals all pain, but God, right now I’d give anything not to remember everything that happened between us.” She rolls back over, placing her hand on my chest. “This was the good part, the part that I will never forget. No man has ever made love to me like you do. I’ve felt cheated every time I even tried.” She reaches down and covers herself with the sheet like she’s trying to hide what she’s feeling.

I don’t like hearing that she’s been with other men, but I haven’t exactly been celibate either. Funny thing is, I feel the same way, except I cheated them because they weren’t Aedon. “I wish I could take all those bad memories away and leave only the shine in your mind.” I scoot to the head of the bed, sitting up. “At some point, you have to decide whether or not to let it go and see the man I am now. The man who has never quit loving you or wanting you.”

Joining me sitting, she says, “There is a dark cloud that hangs over us. Maybe not us, but me. I should have moved on a long time ago, but I never could get far away from you. I just really miss you, but I’m not able to take us on again.” She gets out of my bed and dresses.

I don’t try to stop her. I want her so fucking badly, but I want it to be on her terms. We tried my terms before and it was an epic failure. “Why do I feel like we take ten steps forward and then a hundred steps back?”

She runs her hand through her hair. “Maybe one of these days, we’ll meet in the middle.” She walks over to the bed and runs her hand through my hair. “Thanks for tonight.” She turns and walks out.

I get up and don’t bother dressing, heading back for my plate of food. My appetite is back with a vengeance, but unfortunately not for food. I force myself to eat. I know the next few days ahead of us will be crazy busy and I need the energy.

Sleep doesn’t come with her scent covering my bed and body. I take a long, hot shower, washing every place her hand touched me. I stop on the red stripes from her nails that run from my chest to my lower stomach. I deserve every ounce of pain she wants to cause me. But this doesn’t hurt. It’s a reminder that I had her, even if it was for only one night.

I throw on a pair of scrubs and head out early. The patient load is steady today. Our teams were able to rescue more people now that the rain has stopped and the winds have died down. I’ve been working several hours before Wren and Aedon walk into the tent together. Jealousy tightens my gut. I know she’s told me they’re only friends, but he gets to spend time with her, laugh with her, and just be himself with her.

I put in the last stitch and call Ander. “Do we have anything in the field I can go do?”

“Nothing has come across my board yet this morning.”

“Find me something, I need to get out of here.”

“There is a rescue going on a couple of blocks from you, but I don’t think they’re going to need you there.”

“Send me the address.”

“Are you okay, Dr. Manning?”

“I’m fine, I just need a change of venue right now.”

“Okay, I’m sending it to you now. Be careful out there, I couldn’t stand another day like yesterday.”

“Will do.” I throw my surgical hat in the laundry and change out of my dirty scrubs. Slipping out the back, I follow the address he sent me.

I spend my day helping dig in the rubble of an apartment building. Three more people were rescued.

As I’m taking a water break, I hear a voice calling for help. The sound leads me down a hole. I lift the concrete out of the way until I can see an elderly lady sitting in a chair. There is a beam over her that protected her from the floor above from falling in.

I get the attention of one of the rescue teams. I tie a rope around my waist and they lower me down to her. Miraculously, the woman survived the collapsing building completely unscathed. Her hand is tightly gripped around something – a picture.

“Who is this?” I ask her.

“This was my husband, the only man that I’ve loved.” She has tears in her eyes. “He died two years ago in this apartment. Now, this is all I have left of him.”

“He must’ve been a really good man.”

She laughs. “We spent too many years apart. He had hurt me when we were kids. I took too many years to forgive him, too many wasted years.”

I feel like Aedon should’ve found her, but it gives me hope. She ended up with him. “Let’s get you out of here. I’ll hold this for you.” I take the picture from her and put it in my pocket. Helping her up, I secure the rope around her waist and motion for them to pull her up.

By the end of the day, I’m exhausted. I head straight back to the hotel room and find Wren sitting on the floor in the hallway in front of my door. He stands when he sees me coming down the hallway.

“You okay, man? We’ve been worried sick about you. Ander said you left for a rescue hours ago.”

“I’m fine. I needed to do some physical work to let off some tension.” I unlock the door. I open it but stand in front so that he can’t come inside. “I don’t feel like talking, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure, whatever you need. Get a good night sleep and we’ll meet for breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I lay the key on the dresser and plop down on the bed, immediately falling sound asleep.