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He was quietfor a long time. So long she assumed she’d lost him. But then he finally said,his eyes focused out on the river, “You just accept it.”

And that hurther. Unexpectedly. Sharply. In the middle of a fresh, delightful day. She knewexactly what he meant. She’d always assumed he had to hide his real selfsomewhere deep inside him in order to use his body the way he did.

But what he’dsaid implied a lot more than that. He’dacceptedit. That this was whohe was. This was his whole worth. Just an object to be used.

And, sittingthere on a bench in front of the St. Lawrence River, Lori hated Ander’s fatherwith a passion that was both fiery and irrational. Whoever the man was,whatever the man had done, he’d convinced his son that he had no intrinsicvalue.

She wasconscious of a tiny flicker of awareness that hinted at the hypocrisy of herhatred. After all, Lori had spent the last six months paying Ander for hisbody. But it didn’t feel that way to her—not really—and she couldn’t letherself think too deeply about it anyway.

She knew Anderwas an adult and had the power to make his own decisions about his life. Butshe still hated his father. Wished she knew who the man was.

She crunched onthe last of her ice cream cone and tried to summon back her giddy happinesswith the day.

“The banquetshould only last a couple of hours,” Ander said. “Right?”

Lori perked upa little. “Right. They said it should be over by eight or eight-thirty. And wehave all day tomorrow before we fly back.” She still had most of the weekendbefore her, and all she had to do was sit through one boring banquet.

“We can go outafter the banquet tonight if you want,” Ander suggested. “I’m sure we can findsomething interesting to do. What did you want to do this afternoon?”

“I’m not sure,”she admitted. “I’m going to need lunch in a little while.”

Ander’s mouthtwitched a little and she knew he was thinking about the ice cream cone she’djust eaten. He was still finishing off his cone, and she watched as he put thelast bite in his mouth and then licked the remnants of melted ice cream fromhis lips.

Impulsively,she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She licked his lips too,absurdly thrilled when she could still taste a little ice cream.

Gently pullingher closer to him, Ander wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. Histongue met hers and teased it a little before he slipped it further into hermouth.

She moanedsoftly as she stroked the back of his head, loving the smooth texture of hisscalp beneath her fingertips.

The kiss waslovely, but she didn’t feel particularly urgent. She’d been exhausted lastnight after the flight and the lecture, so, when they’d had sex before bed, it hadbeen gentle, unhurried, and under the covers. She’d thought, if she spent aweekend with Ander, she’d want to rip his clothes off constantly. But she feltmore relaxed than anything else. While she was sure they’d have sex at leastonce today, she wasn’t desperate to run back to the hotel room.

She wasn’texactly sure why. She didn’t think it was because she was finally getting satedwith Ander’s services, but she wasn’t sure how to explain it.

Ander had movedone hand up to curve around the back of her head, and his other hand cupped hercheek. It was warm against her skin. Sometimes, the warmth of his hands, hiswhole body, still surprised her—for a man who always looked so cool.

“Did you haveany ideas for lunch?” Ander mumbled against her mouth.

It seemedperfectly natural to continue their conversation in the midst of the kiss, so Lorididn’t try to pull away. “I don’t know. Maybe we can go somewhere around here,since our hotel is close by.”

They werestaying at the Château Frontenac, of course. Lori wasn’t about to visit Québecand stay anywhere else.

“And thisafternoon? We still have several sites on our list we haven’t gotten to yet.” Ander’shand was tangled in her hair as he pressed little kisses on her lips.

She smiledagainst his mouth. “Yeah. Maybe we can do those tomorrow.”

“Did you havesomething else in mind for the afternoon?” The timbre of Ander’s voice hintedthat he knew what she was thinking.

Lori laughed,feeling herjoie de vivrereturn. “I did.” She dropped her hands andpulled back from the embrace. “I think I’m going to need a nap.”

* * *

Lori actually took a nap.

She was tiredfrom the trip the previous day, the lecture, and a morning of walking aroundQuébec, and she needed to be “on” that evening so she wanted to have enough energyto go through the requisite schmoozing and smiling. So, after she and Ander hada leisurely lunch on the terrace of a quaint restaurant, they went back to thehotel and she took a nap.

Ander picked upa book and looked perfectly content to read while she snoozed. But, when shewoke up about an hour later and glanced over to his side of the bed, she sawhe’d fallen asleep too.

She watched himfor a minute. The book lay on the bed beside him, and one of his hands wasresting on his belly. He still wore the black t-shirt and gray trousers he’dbeen wearing all day, although he’d taken off his shoes and socks. She’d neverseen him sleeping. She assumed he slept the night before, but he’d been awakewhen she fell asleep and when she woke up. For some reason, it felt weird towatch him sleep now.

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