Instead, we found ticklish spots on one another and new screams filled the room. There was only laughter and the rich rumble of his teasing voice as he covered my entire body with stubble burn.
It was so worth it. And when we came together a second time, it was soft and dreamy, the exact opposite of the wild storm we’d made between us the first time.
If I’d been a more fanciful woman, I would have called it something more.
Wished it could be.
When he turned me so he could curl around my back, the firelight shimmered with more than just the gasps of my pleasure.
I felt more cherished by a stranger than anyone in my life since I’d lost my parents. When he slipped inside of me, stretching me so perfectly, I laced my fingers with his across my middle. We moved together in a rhythm of heartbeats and the snap of fire while the wind howled outside.
I reached back with my other hand to grasp the back of his neck as he buried his face in my neck. His low, throaty groan was the loveliest end to our evening.
We slept in a tangle of legs and arms. No fighting for pillows or deciding which side of the bed we’d sleep on. There was no side. Just us in the center with no space in between.
I woke with the dawn as was my habit, no matter how many hours of sleep I’d gotten—or not gotten.
There definitely hadn’t been many with Asher.
I laid there for a few moments, appreciating the weight of a man behind me for the first time in my life.
It had all been so brief.
My chest ached as I slipped out of his arms and tucked a pillow beside him when he reached for me.
I moved to the window and saw the streets were already plowed. A snowstorm was no match for the cleanup crews in central New York. I dressed in silence then crouched beside the bed for a moment to watch him sleep. His hair was mussed and the harsher lines around his eyes had eased in slumber.
So beautiful. And he’d made me feel exactly the same. Beautiful and whole and strong.
I just had to be strong enough not to make it more than it was.
My bestie Gabriela had a phrase for this.
Fuck and run. Split before reality intervened.
Because really, what could we have in common outside of bed? He’d been all about work before he stopped by my table, and I wasn’t ridiculous enough to think I could compete with his likely high-powered job.
Nor did I want to try.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He went from sound asleep to wakefulness in a blink. Sadness filled his gaze before his expression became steady and blank.
“Were you going to say goodbye?”
I brushed the back of my hand along his bearded cheek before he jerked away from my touch. Sighing, I stood. “You knew what this was. We knew what this was. Would it be better to do this after breakfast?”
His jaw tightened. “Guess we won’t find out.” He rolled to the opposite side of the bed before he swung his feet to the floor. I got one more flash of his spectacular butt before he firmly shut the bathroom door.
Part of me wanted to go to the door and knock. To talk to him and tell him just how amazing last night had been. Maybe even find out more about him. A last name and a number.
But that wasn’t how this ended.
I might be a virgin—scratch that, not anymore—but even I knew that the morning afters were never easy. What were we supposed to do? Shake hands or kiss? Go for one more condomless round? Yeah, that was smart.
I heard the shower turn on and closed my eyes for a moment.
No.
A quick and clean break was best.