Page 160 of Tempting All The Way

“Well, according to you, he gives out the world’s best orgasms. That in itself is worth holding on to. He’s successful, hot as hell, and… I don’t know what else but that should be enough,” she counters.

“He’s also cynical about relationships. He doesn’t commit to anyone because he thinks every relationship ends up in a battle.”

“He’s a divorce attorney. What’d you expect?” Daisy asks.

“I don’t know? Someone who’s not such a commitment-phobe.”

“Has he said that he won’t commit to you?” Claire asks.

“No,” I answer truthfully.

“Well, what are you worried about?” Daisy continues to press me.

“That’ I’m getting in too deep, and when it blows up in my face, it’s going to hurt worse than the Hunter episode,” I admit.

“Now who’s the cynic?” Eloise asks. “Look, just have fun. See what plays out. Honestly, I haven’t seen you this… satisfied in… well, ever. Man, Hunter really must have been a dud root,” she adds.

“Argh, why do you all have to make sense all the time?” I groan.

“Because you don’t have stupid friends.” Daisy grins.

“Right.” I nod my head in agreement.

“Well, I hate to love and leave you all, but I do have to adult tomorrow so I’m out,” Claire says.

“Me too.” Eloise gets up off the sofa.

“Me three,” Daisy adds before pushing to her feet and joining them.

“Me four.” I stand and follow them. After closing and locking my door behind the girls, I tidy up the left over pizza, put the wine away, and load the dishwasher.

Once I fix the sofa cushions and wipe down the coffee table, I head into the shower. There is nothing like a nice, relaxing, hot shower to wash away stress. I don’t even know why I’m stressed. Really, I should be the most relaxed woman on the planet with the amount my body climaxed this weekend.

Turning on the faucet, I wait for the bathroom to steam up before I strip off and stand under the hot stream. Then I tilt my head back and let the water fall down my face. I squirt a handful of shampoo in my palm and rub the soap through my hair. The scent of lavender fills the room. After rinsing the shampoo out, I repeat the process with conditioner. Letting that set in my hair, I sit on the floor and pick up my razor. I shave my legs, all the other important parts, and then stand back up and wash out the conditioner. The water is starting to chill, so I quickly clean up with bodywash and shut off the tap. Stepping out of the shower, I wrap a towel around me before wiping my hand over the mirror to defog it.

As I stare at my reflection, I try to pinpoint what’s different about me. What’s changed?

I’m not too sure what it is, but something has. My eyes are more vibrant, even though I’m tired as hell. My skin, almost glowing. Opening the cabinet, I pull out my face scrub. I rub it all over, wash it off, and then apply a mud mask. This is what I needed. A night with my girls and then this. Some TLC time.

I head out to the kitchen to grab another glass of wine. I plan on sitting in bed with my wine and my Kindle. I’m sure I’ll be asleep before I get through a chapter of my current read. Pulling the wine out of the fridge, I fill a glass to the brim and sip at it before I pick it up and make my way back to my bedroom. I placethe cup on the bedside table and jump when there’s a pounding on my front door.

That can’t be any of the girls because: one, they wouldn’t pound on my door like that ever, and two, they all have keys. Whoever is banging on my door, desperate to get inside, obviously does not have a key.

I pick up the baseball bat I sleep next to and tiptoe towards the sound. Peering through the peephole, I relax when I see Alistair on the other side. I pull the door open, and his fist stops midair.

“What the hell are you doing here? Trying to break down my damn door or something?” I seethe at him.

Chapter Twelve

She did it again. She fucking left while I was asleep, in the middle of the afternoon. I’m about to put a damn bell around her neck. I have no idea how she manages to escape without waking me. She must have been a fucking ninja in a past life. Either that, or I’m so warn out from fucking her that once I’m asleep not even an earthquake will rouse me.

I really don’t think it’s too much to ask that she’s still there when I wake up. I wonder if this is how all of the women in the past have felt when I’ve left their beds? I’ve never actually wanted to wake up next to a woman before Dani. And the first one I want to see when I wake up doesn’t fucking want to see me. I’m sitting in my car out front of her apartment building debating if I should go up there or turn around and go home.

Perhaps her leaving is doing us both a favour. I can feel myself getting far too used to her. Too attached. Attachment to a woman, any woman, is not something I want. Ever. Even with this knowledge, I find myself jumping out of my car and jogging across the street.

There’s no lock, no keypad entrance to her building. Pushing the door open, I walk up the three flights of stairs. I may have hacked into the firms HR records to find her address tonight. It’s not my finest moment… I’ll admit. But desperate times and all.

My fist bangs against her door. I really couldn’t care less if I wake the whole building up at this point. She doesn’t answer so I bang again. Still nothing, so I raise my fist, stopping it midair when the door swings open and a very pissed-off Dani stands before me.

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