pang of unease turned dire. Sleeping with Asher hadn’t fixed anything. It had only made it worse. My body was satisfied—temporarily—but my heart was still clamoring for more.
“More,” I said, and fell into him, letting the sensations of him drown the unwanted thoughts.
I’ll just keep having sex with him until an hour before my flight leaves.
A solid plan in the heated dark of the night, but one that I knew would burn away with the first slivers of morning light.
FOUR
A SLANT OF light fell over me and I peeked an eye open at the woman lying next to me. A slow grin spread over my lips which had been everywhere on her body last night.
It wasn’t a fantasy. That happened.
Holy God, being with Faith—touching her, kissing her, being inside her all night… Fucking bliss. Waiting and getting to know her so well over the last few days had made every moment even more incredible. I felt as if she’d turned herself inside out for me, and I knew every inch of her, body and soul. And she knew me better than anyone. I never let anyone—not even my buddies at the station—get close to me.
I can’t give her up.
Quietly, so as not to wake her, I padded in my underwear to the bathroom to brush my teeth and try to get a grip on myself. In the mirror I watched Faith approach, naked but for her barely-there thong. Her breasts pressed against my back as she wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Mmm,” she sighed, her cheek on my back. “So warm. Like sunning myself on a rock.”
I spat the toothpaste out, rinsed, and then turned around to hold her.
“My shift starts at noon and I’m off at midnight.”
“Come over then,” she said.
“What are you going to do all day?”
She peered up to shoot me a dry grin. “You mean, however will I survive without you?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Ha.” She slapped my ass and then went to the bathroom to pee, leaving the door open. “Don’t look so scandalized, Mackey,” she said to my amused look. “I sat on your face last night. You can handle some pee.”
A laugh burst out of me, even as her words instantly conjured the image of her silky thighs on either side of me, my hands on her hips, my mouth latched onto her sweet pussy, sucking her nectar as if I were dying of thirst…
I splashed cold water on my face to quell my hard-on.
“But for real, I’ll be fine,” she said, and nudged me aside with her hip to wash her hands. “I’m going to head to the Hindu temple and maybe make a stab at meditating.” She looped her hands around my waist. “Will you be hungry after your shift?” she purred.
“Starved.” I bit the slope of her neck and then ran my tongue over it.
She moaned and sagged against me. “Then I’ll have dinner waiting for you.” She craned up to kiss me. “I’m going to take care of you for a change.”
I nearly told her not to bother; I’d been on my own for years. My parents were hands-off with my brother Sam and me. No one took care of me. I’d been working since I was fourteen. But the idea that Faith could give me as much as she was taking had caught hold in her.
I should’ve told her she gave me more just by being alive and in my life, but…
She’s leaving.
Faith, still distractingly topless, hopped up to perch on the sink.
“Be safe out there,” she said smoothing the front of my shirt, her smile dimmer than her usual million-watt beam.
I wondered if she was having second thoughts about last night. Or if she was feeling what I was feeling: that spending the night together had finally unleashed the unacknowledged feelings between us.
Because there’re so many.
And she was leaving.
“I’ll be safe,” I said, kissing her forehead. “You be safe. No hiking.”
“Nope. My hiking days are over. I told you, I have a whole bunch of personal growth-enhancing activities planned out.”
“Should I call you before I come over tonight?”
Because we need to talk about…us.
Faith’s expression dimmed again, and thoughts played behind her eyes. Then she shook her head and smiled brightly. “No. Just come over.”
And so that’s how it went for the next few days. We didn’t talk about how her departure date was fast approaching. Instead, we tried to cram as much as we could into the time we had left together, and spent the night in heated frenzies, driving