I can end this later.
She wants more of me. I want more of her. We still have a few hours before the deadline becomes critical. We agreed. We talked about it. This would be it for us. But I don’t know how I’m going to say goodbye to her. I don’t know if I can, and it’s making me angry.
Olivia comes closer, her skin finding mine cold. Oh, damn, she’s so hot, it’s as if she came out of the oven.
“I need a shower,” she says, then kisses me deeply.
I’m a fool for thinking this is going to end well. “I could join you.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” Olivia purrs like a kitten as I guide her into the shower cabin and turn the hot water on. Suddenly, we’re lost under a simmering rain, the droplets pouring down our naked bodies as we kiss and start the whole madness over. “Will, I can’t get enough of you…”
And these words are killing me because I can’t get enough of her, either. “Olivia…”
It’s all I can say as her hands travel down my torso. She touches every muscle, tracing every line as she makes her way down to my hips. Once she finds me ready, she looks deep into my eyes and licks her lips with fiery anticipation. Something happened to her last night. She’s transformed. Uninhibited. Yearning for me in ways I’d never imagined were possible.
I take my sweet time kissing her and washing her from head to toe, making good use of the orange blossom shampoo provided by the resort. I cover her in foamy lather, my hands making sure that every inch of her perfect skin is taken care of. She moans in my hold, and I’m already closer to the edge of the world, barely keeping it together.
“Just like that,” she whispers, crumbling as my hand vanishes between her legs, exploring and teasing until she pushes me against the tiled shower wall and kisses me—this time, she’s ruthless and ravenous, and I welcome her devastation. Before long, we transform into mindless beasts and devour each other.
We find our way back to that highest peak of existence soon enough, our muscles stretched as we hold on to each other for dear life, as I disappear inside her once more. Yeah, we still have a couple of hours of this before I end it. A few more kisses from her sweet lips, a few more ragged breaths as I help her come undone… A few more moments of happiness.
CHAPTER17
OLIVIA
We fall asleep again. This time, it’s a deep and heavy slumber.
I dream of us, of me walking through some orphanage out of a movie and calling out to him. I can hear the little boy in him responding, shouting my name from somewhere, but I can never find him. In this lucid state of dreaming, I understand what my own mind is trying to tell me. And it hurts. This will be over, and unless I can reach out to Will’s innermost core, I won’t be able to stop it. Yes, we talked about this. We agreed to leave the regrets for morning.
He hasn’t told me why it has to end, and I didn’t challenge him on it, either.
Maybe I should.
I call out to the little boy again. He’s telling me to go away, and I’m crying rivers, feeling the pain deep inside my chest as I beg him not to push me, not to go on living alone in that wretched darkness. I want to hold him, I want to give him all that is good and fair in this world because he deserves it. He’s been walking this road on his own for so long… I wish I could just get him to stop and smell the roses for once.
My eyes peel open as a chill travels down my spine. I wake up alone in his bed, still reeling from my dream, still hearing that little boy’s voice echoing in the back of my head. The ache in my heart lingers as I realize the morning is dissolving into a lazy noon. A phone keeps buzzing on the nightstand. It’s Will’s. The day awaits him.
“Will?” I call out, and he comes out of the bathroom wearing slacks and a shirt.
The cold look in his blue eyes resembles the sensation still gripping my spine. The disassociation. The rupture. He’s pulling away from me, and there isn’t anything that I can do to stop him.
“What happened last night can’t happen again,” he says, almost mechanically. “Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful, but it stops there.”
“Wow, okay. Good morning to you, too,” I reply, sitting up as if the mattress is suddenly made from nails. “Way to make a girl feel nice in the morning.”
Will shakes his head. “I just wanted to be clear.”
“Oh, you were crystal clear about this ending here,” I say, my indignation apparent. “Though you never told me why, actually. Are you ashamed of being seen with me or something?”
“No. You’re still my employee. It’s unethical.”
I shake my head. “I’m not buying it. If ethics were really your concern, last night wouldn’t have happened. Will, what’s going on here? You’ve gone from hot to cold as ice in the span of a few hours and I can’t keep up.”
“Olivia… it’s not even worth discussing. Please, just… respect my decision.” He walks over to the window, unable to look me in the eyes. I see the fury ticking in his jaw. I get the feeling that my very presence annoys him, somehow.
Dammit, I didn’t think we’d end up like this. Had I known he would transform… had I known he’d be so good at breaking me so quickly after last night, I never would’ve… Oh, who am I kidding? I brought this upon myself.
He checks his phone. I notice the frown pulling his brows closer. “You need to go. Zara is expecting me downstairs.”