Page 60 of Never Your Valentine

Our sexual give and take felt natural, like we’ve been doing this dance forever. I didn’t feel like I was performing. I felt like… well, like myself. It was like she knew me, and I knew her.

This is going to be complicated.

Annabelle seems to read my thoughts because she stirs in my arms and looks up at me, her chin resting on my chest. “I should go wash my face.”

Translation: you should leave.

But I don’t want to leave. Not yet. I stroke her hair. “You’re beautiful.”

She rolls away from me, but doesn’t get up. “I won’t be beautiful tomorrow if I don’t do my skincare tonight.”

I spoon up behind her. “Do you have one of those ten-step routines?”

“Only five.”

“Only?”

“Winter air is dry, you know. What are you doing?”

“Getting comfortable.” I’ve already slid one arm under her pillow. I pull her toward me. She snuggles up to my body, a wonderful little spoon. One sweet boob falls into my cupped hand like it was made for me. Fuck my life, it’s going to be impossible to leave this bed.

Annabelle hasn’t left it either. She’s making noises about skin care, but it’s more I should than I want to. She’s had an emotionally exhausting night, and she’s in a vulnerable place right now. She needs me to hold her. Not all night. I’m determined to wake up in my own bed. But I can stay a bit longer. I bury my face in her hair and kiss the back of her head.

She rolls toward me, breaking our connection, and now we’re face to face on two pillows. “I have to say, I’m surprised,” she says.

“By what?”

“I thought you’d be out the door the minute the condom came off.”

I sputter a bit before I find my words. “I have manners. I always take care of my partner. I’ll know when it’s time to go. That time hasn’t come yet.”

Annabelle’s eyes are wide in the dim light and she nods slowly, like she’s taking my measure. “You’re a total pro,” she says. “Really. You know how to give just enough of yourself to leave them wanting more. Damn, dude, you’ve probably got women lining up for this.”

“Not as many as you’d think.”

She snorts. “Which is why you were trolling for trolls at The Frostline.”

“I have regrets,” I say.

“About this?”

“Hell no. This was…transcendent.”

“Ohhh, good word.”

I roll onto my back and open my arms. Annabelle finds the bra, tosses it over the side of the bed, then sprawls herself on top of me.

“So what’s your regret?” she asks.

“That we didn’t do this sooner. We wasted so much time.”

Her sigh seems to come from the bottom of a well. “That’s what people do, you know? We waste time.”

“You’re thinking about what’s-his-name. Magnus. How did you…” I lift a hand and then drop it.

“How did I not know? Because everything was fine. It was always fine. That’s what Magnus said every time I tried to talk to him. Fine! Until one day, it wasn’t fine. But it wasn’t just one day. It was all the days. All the days he was living with me but sleeping with Jacqueline.” She stiffens. “No wonder he wouldn’t touch me. He had her.”

She’s dropping into a dark place, somewhere she shouldn’t go. This is why I can’t leave yet. Not until I’m sure she’s okay.