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“I’m very good at foraging.”
Ivan chuckled. “Thank you. How’d you know I like milk with my cake?”
“Just a calculated guess.” She took a bite of the fruit torte, and then closed her eyes to savor the taste.
“Good call,” he told her after sampling his dessert.
“You, too. This cake is delicious.”
When they were done, Tiffany stretched out against him. It felt good to have his arm draped around her shoulders. It reminded her that she missed having this connection with a man. It wasn’t long before she fell asleep.
“Hey,” Ivan whispered into her ear some time later. “Wake up, sleepyhead. Movie’s over.”
“It is?” she said groggily. “Darn, I was looking forward to the end.”
“Don’t worry, I recorded it for you.”
Ivan got up and helped her to her feet. Without any shoes on, Tiffany came to his chest. She tilted her head back.
“This has been such a great evening, Ivan. It’s hard to believe that this time tomorrow, you’ll be gone.”
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
Tiffany wrapped her arms around the wide expanse of his chest and rested her face against him. She could feel his heart beating against her temple. “You’ll be gone…I’ll definitely know it.”
Tiffany thought about the brief time they had known each other. It had been over a month now, but it felt much longer. “Ivan, I don’t want this night to end.”
His touched the side of her face. “It doesn’t have to. Stay with me.”
She gazed up at him. He was so appealing to her.
“Hey,” he said when she didn’t answer. “You can sleep in the guest room if you’d prefer not to sleep in my bed. There’s no pressure, Tiff. I’m fine with whatever you decide. I just want you here with me.”
“I know you’d never pressure me. I want to spend as much time as I can with you before you go.”
He picked her up so that she was eye level with him. “Yeah?”
“Yes. And I’m not sleeping in the guest room,” she clarified. “Unless that’s where you’ll be.”
He set her on her feet. Ivan reached up and tilted her head to the side to kiss the pulse at her neck. Tiffany leaned into the embrace. “Are you ready to go up?”
Tiffany knew there was a lot more entwined in that question than mere sleeping arrangements. He was asking her to make love to him. “Yes,” she told him. “I’m definitely ready.”
He turned the television off and left the dishes right where they were.
When they reached the base of the stairs, he picked her up. She let out a gasp. Ivan ran up the stairs with her like he did it every day. When he got to his room, he went in and kicked the door shut with his foot, then set her down.
“You’re so beautiful.”
She beamed at his compliment. “I’ve got a confession to make.”
His eyebrows rose higher. “Do tell.”
“When I first saw you, I had to remind myself to breathe.”
With a steady hand, Ivan touched the silky outline of her hip and then moved around to follow the shape of her rear end. His fingers inched higher to trace the cutout at the back of her dress before slipping around the front to sketch her right breast. His eyes never left her face. “I know the feeling.”
Tiffany quivered from the emotions his touch evoked. She felt like her body jolted awake under his ministrations. It felt as if she had been asleep all her adult life, and only now, with Ivan, had she begun to blossom. It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating.
