Chapter 17

Back home in the apartment, Dan was sitting on the couch, staring at moving pictures on TV. After unpacking and taking a quick shower, he’d staggered out, trying to decide whether to eat or sleep. Jet lag wasn’t the only thing addling his mind.

Over and over, memories swept through him. Heartbeat thundering, he glanced at Natalie’s closed door. She’d said little before disappearing inside, and every muffled noise from her room sent his pulse racing. He should knock. Ask her what had happened.

Right as he started to chuckle, it died when his gaze shifted to his bedroom. Home to Daisy’s hidden picture and the discarded wedding band. He should feel ... something. Shame? They were still married. Nope, not after the highway. He glanced at Natalie’s room once more.

“Fuck. Confused,” he muttered. “Again.”

With scene after scene of the night in Berlin sharpening, his pulse stammered. The flaring of her dark eyes and that shaky hiss when he’d pushed into her. Such incredible silken warmth clasping his plunging length.

How her breathing had hitched while her legs swept around his hips to clasp him tight. The way her arms had held him as his cock sank deeper. Her tensing, and loud moaning when his lips had found hers. The first swallowed cry while she shuddered in his grip. More had followed as he pounded her slender frame atop the creaking bed.

At last, she had plucked her lips from his to scream into the night as he’d driven deep. A long, hungry groan had torn from her when his open mouth roamed her neck. With him sucking on her sweat-slick skin, she’d squeezed him so hard—inside and out—before becoming a heaving, twisting, chaotic frenzy of loveliness beneath him.

Which had set him off and that wondrous wave of relief after months without Daisy had flowed through him. Suddenly, he’d jolted; he wore no protection, but when his rod started to withdraw, her eyes had locked onto him. White-rimmed, glossy, and bottomless, they devoured his soul as her limbs clamped tight, holding him in place. Each languid throb of his bucking cock was met with the most amazing soft pulsations, drawing his seed further into her.

The night had ended with her sucking him clean, then hard before draining him once more. The whole time, those eyes had melted ever more of his core.

In the morning, she’d disappeared from his hotel room. Alone on the crumpled sheets, he was left with so many questions. Had they overstepped? They were roommates ... and coworkers. Was she having second thoughts?

With a sigh, he once again looked at her closed bedroom door. Hell, was he? But a grin slid onto his face. No, not a single regret; he wanted her. Damn the consequences. As he recalled the return flight, his heartbeat thumped louder in his chest.

Without a word, she had slipped into the seat beside him. They’d gotten airborne and after she’d curled tight to stare out the window, he’d pulled out the laptop. Time had slowed into a gooey smear as the plane leveled off above the clouds, placing them in bright sunlight. Still, she kept quiet. Not that he could speak, either. Over and over, he tried, but couldn’t form words.

When at last she moved, he’d gulped, and at her lifting the armrest between them, his pulse had zipped. The universe began a weird wobbling when her warm curves snuggled into him. At the soft nip on his ear, he had jumped.

“Mmm, God. I’m still tingly. Way up inside, baby,” she whispered before taking another playful bite and giggling quietly. “Jesus, Dan, I knew you’d be a fucking beast, but wow.”

Although she soon fell asleep on his shoulder, she’d slid a hand under the little plastic table to settle slender fingers on his pulsing crotch. So, no second thoughts—not at that point.

However, since their return to the apartment—nothing.

As he sat staring at the TV once more, the quiet creak of her door opening jolted him, and at soft footfalls, he looked up.

The world simply stopped.

In nothing but a short pink and white silk kimono, she walked towards him. As she moved, shiny black hair bobbed in a high ponytail sweeping her back. Although he opened his mouth to greet her, no words would form. When, keeping her gaze on him, she slipped to her knees before him, he gasped.

“Before you say anything, Dan.” She gulped and lowered both palms to her bare thighs. “I need to explain. So, please, just listen, okay?”

Despite his pulse roaring as that enticing wildflower scent flooded his nostrils, he managed a slow nod.

“That, uh, night. In Berlin.” She smacked her shiny lips and flashed a slight grin. “Not that one, you animal. But before, when I was ... Well, barfing into the shrubs.”

“Yes,” he muttered as every muscle in his body tightened.

“When your hand slid into my hair ... Um, I knew you were there to help, but...” A shaky sigh escaped her. “Right then, I wanted to grab the other one and shove it into my dress.”

“Oh?”

“Yep. It’s, uh, who I am,” she said in a low voice. “Even while I was puking, that grip and you being so close ... Well, it confirmed a lot of things for me.”

“Such as?”

“My type. You are...” She bit into her lower lip and trembled. “Sorry, my mind is a little melty.”