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I swallowed hard. If I were honest, what had just happened was more than nice. Hell, it was more than incredible. But it was also over.
Just like my break from reality.
The ache and pain of what had happened today was getting stronger. The effects of both the alcohol and Leo’s body cooling let the icy thoughts and reality sink in and chill my bones.
I looked up to meet his stare.
“Maybe next time, Red, we can aim for something beyond nice.”
I smiled, then cleared my throat. “I don’t know, that sounds like a tall order.”
“Challenge accepted.”
I laughed and he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. For just having sex in a bathroom, he was being affectionate and sweet. Behavior I hadn’t expected.
But the way he looked at me—blue eyes blazing and mouth a little swollen from raking all over my body—made me a little giddy.
“Do you mind if I have a moment?”
“Of course,” he said and walked to the door, unlocking it. Before he walked through, he glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll see you out there.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
With a smile, he shut the door behind him. I launched myself at the sink and splashed water on my face, trying anything to bring down the heat scouring my entire body. I looked in the mirror and my reflection was dizzying. All of the big red curls I tried hard to tame on a regular basis were wild and my skin was flushed and—
“Oh my God . . .” I tugged at the collar of my shirt and saw a big bite mark where my neck met my shoulder.
A violent shiver rushed through me as I remembered his mouth on me. His hands. His teeth. I felt empty and achy and wanted that fullness back.
But that was stupid. I didn’t know Leo. Shouldn’t care. I had a life that needed fixing and problems far beyond a one-night stand. Because that’s what this was. A one-night stand with the wrong kind of man.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my purse and ran my palms down my skirt, attempting to smooth it. Which was useless because it was wrinkled to hell.
Stepping out of the ladies’ room, I looked right. Down the hallway there was a glow of light and laughter and the smell of beer and fried food coming from the bar. It was where Leo waited. To the left was darkness and a draft that led to the back door.
Closing my eyes and wanting nothing more than to be warm, to be someone else, to be the woman I was only a moment ago inside Leo’s arms, I made my decision.
Real life didn’t give a shit about my fantasies.
I pushed aside the growing emptiness rising in my gut and turned left, heading toward the back door away from yet another thing that held no future or promise of hope.
Chapter Three
Columbia?” I repeated, watching Hazel jump up and down in our living room holding a letter in her hand. The pounding in my temples was either my hangover from last night—which I was not thinking about, especially the fact that I had sex with a hot delivery guy then snuck out—or it was the fact that Hazel was moving faster than I’d ever seen her. Either way, my brain was spinning, trying to keep up. “That’s great—it was your first pick.”
“Yeah! And because I was one of the top PhD candidates, I got in on the work-study program, meaning it comes with a dorm room on campus! I leave next week.”
“Wow!” I hugged Hazel and she hugged me back, but was still bouncing. “I’m so proud of you.” And I was. She had been working so hard to get into this program.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and hugged me harder, her shoulders going from buzzing to tense. “It’s only two hours away.”
That’s when the details really sank in. She was leaving. Moving. And suddenly, my eyes hurt a little.
My best friend, Amy, had moved in with her fiancé and my now former boss Governor Reese a few months ago, and it was just Hazel and me in our small apartment. Now Haz was leaving too.
“Two hours is nothing. We’ll see each other all the time,” I said.
She pulled back from the hug and something sad washed over her
