Page 48 of The Billionaire's Kiss
This was going to be it. The last time we’d make love. I didn’t know if I even wanted to get any sleep. I just wanted to feel her body against mine all night long.
Orla was all smiles as if she wasn’t feeling any of the bittersweetness I was. She danced along the sidewalk to the music we could still hear coming from the Riverwalk. “This has been the best last night, Warner. I cannot thank you enough.”
“I aim to please.” I had to find a way to pull myself back at least a little. My mind flooded with thoughts about how I could get her to stay. I even found myself wishing she wasn’t on any type of birth control, that I could get her pregnant and have her stay with me always. And then I felt very selfish for even having that thought.
She had family back home, and they loved and missed her, not to mention they depended on her to help them out. I, of all people, should respect that, not having parents of my own.
As we got to the room, I put the leftover food in the mini-fridge. Her hands moved up my sides, and then she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me from behind. “Oh, my prince, this is not going to be an easy night for us.”
She’d obviously been holding back the emotions I’d been feeling, not wanting the general public to see her sorrow. “You’re exceptionally good at keeping up appearances. I had no idea you were feeling as sad as I am.”
“Of course I’m sad, Warner. This is it for us. The last hurrah. Tomorrow morning, we’re off back to Austin so I can leave with my group. I’m just practiced at not showing emotion, is all.”
I turned to face her, picking her up in my arms. Her feet left the floor as I held her tight. “I’m just not gonna let you go. How about that?”
“How about I stow you away in one of my suitcases?” she asked with laughter in her voice. “We’ve got to be real here. We knew this day was coming.”
“And I think I may have lied to myself about how this would be. I really thought it would be easy to let you go. I honestly never thought I could feel this connected to anyone in only a week’s time. Hell, I honestly never thought I could even connect this well with anyone—ever.”
“I do think that lots of people have holiday romances. It’s common enough. And they leave each other a little richer in experience than they found them.” I put her back on her feet, and she ran her hands over my bearded cheeks. “Don’t shave this until after I leave.”
I moved my hand over hers as she caressed my cheek. “You like it?”
“I love it.” She moved her hand back and forth. “It makes you look so rugged and even more handsome. But please shave it off once I’m gone. I don’t want to think about you being with any other woman. Let that be my fantasy—that you’ve stayed single because there was just no other woman who took your fancy the way I did.”
“That’s what will most likely happen.” It wasn’t a lie. I was sure I would compare every woman to Orla, and they would all fall short. I felt sure I couldn’t make love to her without tears being involved, so I came up with an idea so that neither of us had to see them. “Let’s take a shower together.”
Blinking, she nodded as she began taking off her clothes. “That sounds lovely.”
I went to turn on the water to get it just right and then took my clothes off. She met me in the shower with a sexy smile on her lips. Putting her arms around my neck, I lifted her up, and our mouths came together.
Sparks shot inside of me in all directions as my emotions went on overload. I felt her body shaking as we kissed and knew she was done holding back her emotions. This was hard, grueling, and horrible—anything but easy.
As hard as I tried to push out of my head the fact that she would be gone in less than twenty-four hours, it wouldn’t retreat. It stayed right there at the forefront of my mind as we made love.
The water ran over us, washing our tears down the drain, the same way our love was being washed away. Pushing her back against the wall, I thrust into her with such anger that it almost scared me.
Iwasangry. I was angry that life wasn’t fair. I was angry that this was the only woman who had ever gotten through the barriers I had put up so long ago—this woman who I couldn’t keep.
God had a mean way of bringing people into my life then quickly jerking them away from me. I had no idea what I’d done wrong in my life to become the victim of such cruelty. But whatever it was, I was going to do all I could to change, so I could finally win God’s favor and get off this destructive path I’d been placed on.
Gasping with each hard move I made, Orla whispered, “You’ll be alright without me. You’ll see.”
Looking at her, tears moving down my face with the water, I asked, “How do you know that?”
“Because we have to be alright, Warner. Wehaveto be.”
I wasn’t sure that was possible anymore.
