Page 14 of You, Me, and Forever

She groaned. “My first fling has a moral compass? This is a total bust. Isn’t this your thing? Do you normally turn down sex with a one-night stand?”

She was funny and cute as hell, and I was dying to bury myself deep inside her. But my instinct told me not to go there. For her sake—which was outrageous, considering I barely knew the woman.

“I’ll tell you what, Dominique Venezuela,” I said, my lips turning up in the corners because we both knew that wasn’t her name. “It’s late. Let’s get some sleep. If you wake up in the morning and want to have sex, you just climb right on.”

Her eyes widened. “You want me to spend the night? Isn’t that sort of against the rules for a one-night stand?”

“It’s after three in the morning, so the sun will be coming up soon. There’s no reason to leave in the middle of the night. And there are norules with hookups. You make them up as you go.” I slipped into bed and pulled her down against me, her back against my chest. I liked the feel of her soft skin, and the way her hair smelled like strawberries and honey.

“Do you normally cuddle with people you hook up with?”

No. I normally go to their home, and I get the fuck out of there after everyone’s gotten off.

But I wasn’t ready for her to leave yet.

“It depends. And morning will be here soon enough.”

“If I forget to tell you in the morning, thanks for a great night, Myles,” she said, her voice sleepy, as her hand came over mine. “I hope you have a great life.”

“Go to sleep. Chatting is not part of one-night stands.” I kissed the top of her head.

Her breathing slowed as she nuzzled against me.

And sleep took us both.

It was probably the deepest I’d slept in a while.

The sun forced my eyes open, and I groaned at the fact that this fucking place had very little time without the sun shining. I stretched my arms over my head and reached for my phone to see that it was later than I’d expected—it was almost seven o’clock in the morning. The sun had been up for a while, but I’d been dead to the world.

Flashbacks of the night before flooded my thoughts as I sat forward and glanced around. The spot beside me was empty, and I glanced at the floor around the bed to see that all her clothes were gone.

I pushed to my feet and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth before padding out to the spacious family room and kitchen. There was no sign of her.

A piece of paper on the counter caught my eye.

Miles,

Thank you for everything. I had to leave early, as the diamond business never sleeps. I hope you have a great life.

XO, Dominique Venezuela

I’d never had a woman I’d hooked up with wish me a good life so many times.Yeah, I get it. It’s a one and done. I know the drill.

I’d wondered if she’d take me up on the offer to have sex today, but I was glad that I’d refused her last night, because my gut had been right.

I had a feeling she’d regret it, and that wouldn’t sit well with me.

I ran a hand through my hair as I flipped the paper over, a small part of me wishing she’d left a phone number. But she was leaving town today, and I had no idea where she really lived, or what her real name was, since I was fairly certain that everything she’d told me was fabricated.

Lying was always a big turnoff for me, but somehow her telling me the wrong name hadn’t offended me. It felt more like a game she and her friends were playing than a form of manipulation.

I shook it off as my phone rang, and I saw that it was Jackson.

Duty calls.

“Hey, did you look over my ideas?”

“Yep. I’m on it,” he said. “I think you can get even more rooms on the property and go bigger than we’d originally planned without losing too much green space, because there’s just so much to work with. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we’ll be landing soon.”

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