Even as he finally started his slow descent back to reality, she continued to shudder above him in one long, continual climax. Minutes later, Chase’s breathing returned to a slower, more manageable rhythm. So did his thoughts. He was thirty-seven years old and he’d never had that kind of mind-blowing sex with any woman ever before.
Never. And he needed a minute to absorb the feeling.
But before he could think, she rolled over and started to rise, taking him completely by surprise.
“Wait.” He reached out, but his hand merely skimmed her bare back. “What’s the rush?”
She turned, but he couldn’t see more than her mass of tangled hair and elegant profile. “I thought you’d want me to go.”
She let out a laugh that was so obviously forced, it touched something inside him.
“This way we could avoid the awkward morning after,” she said by way of explanation.
He understood why she’d take the easy way, but he wasn’t finished with her just yet. And he hoped she wasn’t finished wanting him. “I’d rather you stay.” He rose onto his elbow and ran a finger down her spine. “If that’s what you want.”
She pivoted back to him, shock and confusion evident in her eyes and her open expression. He understood since he felt it all too.
“This is crazy,” she said.
“I agree.” He ran a hand through his hair and waited.
“I’ll stay,” she said at last.
“Good.” He excused himself for a quick trip to the bathroom, and when he returned, he pulled her into his arms.
“Sometimes crazy’s good, I guess.” She laughed and her body vibrated, warm and delicious, against him.
He rested his cheek against her long hair, inhaling the fragrant strands. “I needed crazy tonight. Up till now, my life has always been predictable.” He thought about the same routine he’d followed for the last nineteen years. “Expected,” he continued, recalling raising his siblings and providing the perfect example for them. “And mostly lived for others.”
“Sounds pretty much like my life,” she murmured.
He brushed her unruly hair off his face and let her snuggle deeper into him. He didn’t want to think how bizarre it was that he wanted to spend the night holding on to this soft, willing female. For once, he only wanted to do what felt right for him. “I promised myself tonight was the start of a new life. One I’d live only for me.”
She sighed. “That sounds wonderful.”
“So why don’t you live by my example?” he asked. Chase hadn’t a clue what was bothering her or dragging her down, but like him, she’d obviously allowed herself to be free tonight. She shouldn’t go back to a life of confinement, or one lived for others.
“I have people relying on me,” she said drowsily. “Even if my entire life has been a lie, I’ll still be expected to do the right thing.” Her voice grew sleepier as she spoke.
His curiosity was aroused. Not just because he was a reporter and ambiguous statements led to questions, but because she intrigued him. Too much. He was just beginning his search for fulfillment. He didn’t need someone else’s problems or needs weighing on him. He’d had too much of that in his life and he was too prone to doing right by others.
It seemed to be the Chandler way.
So it was a damn good thing they’d be going their separate ways come the morning, he thought, drifting off himself.
The soft sound of crying woke Chase from a deep, sated sleep. It took him a minute to get his bearings, and when he did, he realized he was in a dark hotel room in D.C. with a woman he’d met the night before. A woman who’d blown him away with an incredible sexual encounter. One he’d begged to stay when she’d tried to leave.
An uncomfortable feeling of guilt and unease tore at him. She’d rolled to the far end of the bed and he reached out to touch her shoulder. “Regrets?” he asked her. Because shockingly, he had none.
“About last night? No. About my life and the way I’ve lived it? Oh yes.”
The vise clamping around his heart loosened. Regrets and recriminations were something he didn’t want to deal with. “There’s not much you can do about the past except put it behind you and go forward.”
She exhaled hard. “Wise words.”
“What can I say? I’m a wise guy.”
“Funny, but you struck me as more of a straight shooter.”
He caught her joke and chuckled. “Think you can get back to sleep?”
“If you rub my back, maybe.”
She wiggled toward him and he did as she asked, massaging the tense muscles in her shoulders.
“Mmm.”
He nuzzled the soft, fragrant skin at her neck. She smelled and tasted delicious. “I was about to say the same thing.”
Pulling himself up, he lay over her, his stomach aligned with her back, his groin settled between her bu**ocks. She let out a purr of contentment mingled with satisfaction and he hardened in an instant.
“I know what would really help me sleep,” she said, wriggling her hips beneath him, before clenching her legs, capturing his erection between them.
Her desire was obvious. “You want me to exhaust you, huh?”
“Oh yes.”
Chase didn’t need a second invitation. He reached for the condom he’d left on the nightstand earlier, just in case, and quickly sheathed himself before poising himself to enter her. “Like this, okay?” he asked, his face buried in the nape of her neck as he slowly entered her moist femininity.
“Oooh,” she said on a slow moan. “This is perfect.”
And it was. Chase didn’t understand it, this inherent trust and understanding between them, nor did he question it. He figured it had everything to do with his decision to live life for himself, and her decision to do the same, if only for one night.
After they’d sated their desire once more, she fell asleep beside him, hair sprawled on the pillow, completely relaxed. He’d done that for her. Just as she’d done something for him.
She’d helped him take his first step in setting himself free of responsibility and constraint.
Tomorrow they’d part ways, but not before he ordered them room service, shared breakfast, and feasted with her, and on her, one last time.
But when he awoke, courtesy of the sun streaming through the windows, bathing the room in light, his visitor was gone. Chase rubbed a hand over his eyes, wondering if he’d imagined the entire affair.