She grinned against his chest. “Is that your way of saying you’re going to sleep with me?”
“Hell yes,” he said.
She clung to him, and she felt ridiculously pleased with herself.
“Are you mad at me?”
“Yes, I’m mad at you,” he said. “You really do need to warn a guy.”
“Well, next time someone takes my virginity I’ll make sure to let them know that’s what he’s doing.”
“Very funny. I told you that you were a sweet girl. Not for the likes of me.”
“Yeah. Well. I feel very sullied. So. I guess you were right.”
“I’m only here for two weeks.”
“I know,” she said, feeling unspeakably sad. “You did say that already.”
“I know. But I’m making sure you realize that. And that this doesn’t change anything.”
“I already told you. You were the one with the missing information. Not me. I made my decision.”
“Well, as long as we’re clear.”
“Very clear. Don’t worry. I’m not going to start romanticizing it.” She turned and pressed her face against his bare chest, suddenly feeling...giddy. She had done it. She was lying there naked with a man. A beautiful man. The most beautiful that she had ever seen. And she didn’t feel sullied. Not at all. She felt...happy.
She hadn’t imagined that she would feel this after sex. Well, she hadn’t really imagined what she would feel. She had a lot of strange hang-ups around it, and she knew that. But she also hadn’t stopped to examine any of them at great length. It had never really felt like there was a reason to. And it turned out there wasn’t. Because when it had been right, it had just been right. He was right.
It was only two weeks. Just two weeks.
“I do expect, though, that I will receive a thorough education over the next couple of weeks.”
“Do you?” he asked, tightening his hold on her.
“Yes. Because if two weeks is all we get...”
“Two weeks is all I’ve got.”
“Right. Well, I don’t want to jump straight into a life of promiscuity. But the thing is I’m still desperately curious about all there is to offer.”
“Don’t knock a life of promiscuity until you’ve tried it,” Wolf said. “I myself find it extremely medicinal.”
She stared at him, at the hard cut of his jaw, the sensual set of his mouth. “I don’t think it’s for me.”
“She says, having had sex once.”
“Well, I don’t. I went to Ace’s tonight thinking that I might pick someone up. But I don’t think I would have. Or, if I had, I think I would’ve regretted it.”
“It’s not about the number of partners you have,” he said. “The thing is there’s no point sleeping with one person when you want another.”
She lay flat on her back, looking up at the ceiling. “You were going to sleep with someone else, though. Even though you wanted me.”
“Yeah. I was going to give it a try. But I have a lot of practice wanting what I can’t have.”
She wanted to ask. Because that same deeply sad look crossed his face that she had seen momentarily a few days ago, and she was curious what had put it there. But she didn’t ask. She didn’t say anything. She just lay there with him. Because that felt like the right thing to do. And her instinct hadn’t failed her so far. She was sort of impressed with that. She hadn’t thought she had an instinctual sensuality, but what had just occurred between her and Wolf made her think that she might.
She started to fall asleep, and she worried that maybe she wasn’t supposed to. But he didn’t tell her to leave. And she tried very hard, as she settled into that peaceful sleep, to tell herself that this was just the beginning of two weeks. And nothing more.