Page 18 of Cloud Nine Love

This situation, this night, this whole thing, was crazy. If this were Kenna, I’d be telling her to run. Or at least take a photo of Kyle’s driver’s license and send me a copy so I would have something to tell the cops if things went south.

I didn’t know the man on the other side of the door at all. I didn’t know his name. I didn’t know how old he was. I didn’t know what he did for a living. In fairness to him, I’d made a rule not to learn those details… but still. I didn’t “know” him, but I felt like I knew him. Maybe not his resume, but who he was as a person.

I’d always been good at reading people. It was a gift that had served me well throughout my life. I trusted my intuition. I trusted my gut. I trusted myself. And all of those things inside of me trusted Kyle. Or whatever his name was.

As I leaned against the door, my back ached, and I felt all of my thirty-five years.

Thirty-five.

In some respects, I’d lived a lot. I’d traveled extensively with the Navy. I’d finished medical school and my residency. I had a daughter who was nearly five.

But in other respects, I hadn’t lived at all. I’d only ever been in three serious relationships, not including my friendship with Kane, which was wholly platonic aside from the one night we spent together. The first was in high school. I dated Andy from sophomore year to senior year. The second was when I was pre-med. I dated Jamal for two years as an undergrad. The third was a resident when I was in medical school. That relationship lasted four years and ended six years ago.

I’d never had a casual hookup.

I’d never used a dating app.

I’d never had a one-night stand with a stranger.

The reason none of those things had ever appealed to me was because of my sensory issues. But that also meant that I hadn’t had sex in a very long time. That was most likely why I’d been ready to jump Kyle’s bones a few seconds ago. It was years of pent-up sexual frustration.

I pushed off the door and stared at myself in the mirror. The reflection staring back at me was a woman I didn’t see often. It was a woman who was seriously considering doing something wild. Something reckless. Something spontaneous.

“Taylor needs to think,” I whispered under my breath, and I did not miss that this was the second time I’d spoken in the third person in five minutes.

If I ever did want to experience the true definition of a one-night stand, the circumstances I currently found myself in were ideal. I couldn’t have planned this any better if I’d made a list for it myself.

Anonymous. Check.

Random city. Check.

Ridiculously hot stranger. Check.

Attraction. Triple check.

Trust. Check.

That last one didn’t make any sense, considering the facts, but I did. I trusted Kyle completely. Which was something I could only say about a handful of people, all of whom I’d known for several years before they earned that distinction.

I turned the shower on and told myself I didn’t have to make any decisions now. Then, I grabbed my toiletry bag and pulled out my razor. I might not know exactly where the night would lead, but I was definitely going to be shaving, and not just my legs.

7

REMI

“Twenty-five to thirty-five percent of one-night stands end in a long-term relationship.” ~ Tim Rhodes

How the fuck did I get here? I wondered as I lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Rain pelted against the glass window as thunder rumbled in the distance, creating an even more cocoon-like, surreal atmosphere. It truly felt like we were the only two people on earth.

The most beautiful, most intriguing, most charming, most intoxicating woman I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting, was beside me in bed, and I was spending the night with her. Awareness crackled like the lightning bolts outside. Blood that should have been pumping to my head had traveled south as I thought about all the dirty things I wanted to say, to do this woman beside me.

I wanted to strip her naked and take my time exploring every inch of her body, memorizing every curve, every freckle, every dip, every line. I wanted to discover each and every sensitive spot that made her melt with ecstasy. I wanted to make her come so hard that she saw stars. I wanted to feel her writhing beneath me as I thrust inside of her so deep I didn’t know where I ended and she began. I wanted to claim her, to own all of her.

“Kyle?”

Her soft voice spread through me, warming me from the inside out—not that I needed any help in that department. I was burning up. From the moment she’d come out of the bathroom in sweats and a t-shirt, I’d been on fire. She made cute and wholesome the hottest look in the world.

“Yes, Ava?”

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