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A foyer divided the suite. On one side was a living room with a bar and on the other was a bedroom. I walked into the living room. It was like every Love Match date we had ever had was here in this space. I turned to look at Beau, who was having a hard time keeping his gaze off the floor.
“You did all of this?”
“I kinda wanted to talk to you before you walked into the suite.”
On the bar was the glazed championship platter and cylinder from Pottery Paints. I had forgotten to pick them up after the first week. I smiled. Resting on the end table was a climbing harness, the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, and two margarita glasses. There was a blue and white pom-pom in the chair with the tickets from our basketball game. I laughed when I recognized the half-burned picnic basket on the couch. There was a postcard picture of Gimghoul Castle next to the CD we recorded. The Bayou Brothers latest album was propped on the coffee table next to a baseball. At the edge of the table was a bottle of Pinot Noir from Mystic Vineyards. There was something from each of the nine dates right here in this room.
I spun around. “I can’t believe you saved all of these things. This is amazing, Beau. More amazing than any single one of the dates we had.” I raced toward him, ready to throw my arms around his neck.
“Whoa. Whoa. London. I thought we could use it for the project.”
I stopped just short of his perfectly pressed suit. “What? The project?”
“Yes, that thing we’ve been working on all semester. It’s due next week and this is the last weekend we have to put together any ideas.”
Was he having fun torturing me? He couldn’t possibly think I could lay eyes on these memories and not feel more than I already did for him. Our entire journey this semester was on display in the suite of the Carolina Inn, and he didn’t seem to care about the effect it was having on me. Maybe I had misjudged who he was all along.
My eyes started stinging, but I fought the tears harder than I ever had. I wasn’t going to break down in front of Beau. Not in my beautiful black dress and killer heels. He wasn’t going to see me come undone because of a class project.
I stepped around him and headed for the door.
“Where are you going? We have a lot to work on.”
I couldn’t turn around. If I looked at him, I would fall apart. I needed to keep it together at least until I got to my car. I tried to calculate how many steps and breaths it was from the suite to the parking lot.
I reached for the handle. “London, wait.” Beau’s warm hands gripped my shoulders. I inhaled deeply, holding the tears at bay for at least another second.
“What’s wrong? Why are you leaving?” He sounded worried. He sounded like the Beau I had grown to— I couldn’t even finish my sentence. I didn’t want to think it was love. If it was love, I was in serious trouble, because my heart was broken in a million tiny rose petal pieces.
Feeling his hands on my skin interrupted my escape plan. I couldn’t turn the handle and I couldn’t form any words without crying. I pivoted slowly to face him.
“London, just say something.” His forehead was furrowed in concern. And there it was—the look. The one Nina was always talking about.
I let one hand slide along his arm and encircle his neck, grazing the sliver of skin above his starched shirt. I tugged him toward me just as I tilted my gaze. He leaned down, taking my mouth with a fury I felt him wanting to unleash. Both his arms wrapped around my waist, pressing me against him. The hurt and devastation wracking my spirit faded
away with each kiss. My body didn’t care that my heart was broken. It only wanted one thing—Beau.
His hands explored below the hemline of my dress, shifting the layers higher up my thighs. My body bowed back as his fingers played along edges of my skin, driving me crazy with anticipation. With my body leaning away from him, his mouth trailed along my collarbone and planted gentle kisses against the skin on the parts of my breasts exposed from the sweetheart neckline of my dress. For the first time in weeks, everything felt right again. I missed him so much, his kisses, the way he played with my hair, and the way he made me wait for what I wanted most.
I sighed as the heat of his breath sent chills along my arms. I wanted his mouth to keep moving downward and take my dress with it, but before I could remove the dress I had so painstakingly chosen, I felt his hands slide up my back until they landed on the zipper. I redirected his lips to mine and playfully slipped my tongue in his mouth. I urged him to unzip the fabric. Slowly, he peeled the dress from my chest and pushed it over the curves of my hips, making sure I felt the pressure of his fingers splayed against my stomach and forcing their way into the inner softness of my thighs. My knees grew weak until the dress was a heap on the floor. Careful not to trip in my heels, I stepped over the black pile and pinned my body, clad in a matching lace black bra and panty set, against Beau. If he didn’t know what I wanted by now, I would write him off as the campus idiot.
I caught my breath as he lifted me against him, tucked his arms under my knees, and carried me into the bedroom. There might have been rose petals arranged in a heart, but everything was blurred once I knew Beau’s intentions. Heart-shaped petals didn’t seem to matter right now. His lustful eyes devoured the little bits of satin fabric I was wearing, although I knew I wouldn’t be wearing them for long. He wanted me. Everything he was doing screamed that he wanted me as badly as I needed him. The weeks that had come between us faded away.
He gently lowered me on the bed, as if I was fragile, but I felt anything but breakable. I sat up, frantically tore at the buttons on his shirt, and loosened his belt buckle until his pants were on the floor. So much for the pressed suit—it was now a wrinkled mess. My hands roamed around his torso and back. The piles of embroidered designer shams flew across the room as Beau swept the pillows out of the way and pulled the covers back. I didn’t have time to think about why we were ripping each other’s clothes off or how we ended up under the sheets when only a few minutes ago I was ready to drive home. It didn’t matter. I wanted to be close to him again.
Under the covers, the kisses grew deeper, and with each one, I thought I would explode if he didn’t give me what I wanted. With talented finesse, he maneuvered me under him until my only view was his broad chest and shoulders. I couldn’t keep my hands from rubbing his chest and sliding over the disciplined tightness of his stomach. I loved how he felt under my touch. Each of my strokes brought him closer to me, and I smiled with each growl I elicited from his lips. If I couldn’t tell him how I felt, I was determined that he would feel it every time I moved, every time I moaned, and every time I came.
Every touch of his fingers was sending me farther away in a spiraling wave of sensations. I couldn’t wait much longer. I arched toward him, rocking my hips against him until he was groaning in my ear.
“London, I missed you,” he whispered before pressing his palms into mine until our hands were locked in unison.
I wanted to tell him how much I missed him too, but my body took over and shook with abandon as he moved against me, throwing me farther and farther into a heated spiral of vibration. I felt the core of my body open to him and hold on to him with everything that I had. I didn’t want to let go. All I wanted was more of him. I gripped his back and ran my fingers through his hair, forcing his mouth back to mine. Just when I thought he had fulfilled every craving burning through my body, I opened my eyes. Looking into his gaze, I knew then that I was so deep in love, there was no way out.
“Again,” I whispered. I didn’t want the night to end or for Beau to be anywhere but right here, fused with every part of me.
He nuzzled into my neck and squeezed my hands, lulling me into total stillness before his rhythmic movements started again. I sank into the bed, closed my eyes, and gave my body over to Beau, hoping this never ended.
Morning came way too early. I shielded my eyes from the sunlight filtering through the curtains. Beau was stretched out across the bed with the pillow securely pinned under his head and chest.
