AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One of thefirst things the marines beat out of you as a new recruit is your need to sleep. Your first oh-four-hundred wake-up call may come as a shock to the system, but you adjust. I’ve learned since then that my drill instructor had nothing on my daughter. When Brynlee was an infant, she refused to sleep for longer than two hours at a time. It’s a little better now, but she’s still a prickly sleeper. So when my phone dings at four-thirty, alerting me to an incoming text, it doesn’t surprise me to see a picture of Brynlee and Jillian making pancakes.
Cade:Thanks Ry. Give Brynn a kiss for me.
Cade:I’ll be home tonight.
Rylie:Have fun, little brother. She’s been a perfect angel.
Rylie:See you soon.
Once my phone is back on the nightstand, I reach for Scarlet and pull her naked body back against mine. Our bodies fit together perfectly, as if we were made for each other, and I relax back into the mattress with her spicy vanilla scent surrounding me. We may have used both condoms last night, but there are other ways I can make her come. I gave her a preview of a few of those ways last night.
She’s soft and pliant in my arms as she sleeps. That is, until my lips skim along her shoulder blade, and she groans and pulls away. I guess Scarlet isn’t a fan of being woken up. But of course, we never got to do the waking up together thing when we dated back in high school.
“What time is it?” she groans as she rolls over to face me. One eye squints open. The other is covered by her dark hair.
“It’s a little after 4:00 a.m.,” I whisper softly as I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.
I’m waiting for her to melt back into me.
I have enough time to make her come at least twice more before doing the walk of shame back down to the peasant-level rooms a few floors below. But when she sits up, bringing the sheet with her, the soft and pliant body from a moment ago is gone.
In its place is something that looks a lot harsher.
Colder.
She stands slowly from the bed, wrapped in her sheet, and looks down at me like I’m a stick of gum stuck on the bottom of her very expensive shoes. “I think it’s time for you to go, Cade.”
What the fuck? “Scarlet.” I let her name linger in the stale hotel air that still carries the scent of sex. “What are you talking about? We’ve got plenty of time.”
“I’m sorry, Cade.” She bends down and starts to gather my clothes. “Last night was fun. You were great. But strangers come morning, remember?”
“Last night was fun? You can’t be serious? I’m not some dick you picked up at a club.” I stand and pull on my boxers, waiting for an explanation that seems less likely to come with every passing second.
The lights of the Las Vegas strip filter in, catching the glints of red in her hair. I itch to run my fingers through it again... until she speaks.
“That’s exactly what you were, Cade. It was fun. We both got what we wanted. Don’t try to turn it into something it wasn’t. I had fun. You had fun. And now we go back to being strangers. We’ve done a good job of that for a long time. It shouldn’t be too hard.” She glides over to the door and opens it, looking like a damn sexy Grecian goddess, wrapped in her white sheet.
As if taking a side kick to the chest, I stand in place, staring at this woman I let back in for a few hours and realize that she’s still the same person who cut me out of her life with ease once before. Why am I surprised she’d dismiss me now? “Wow, Scar. I guess some things never change. You really are the ice queen everyone says you are.”
“You would know, Cade.”
The door shuts quietly behind me, and I’m left in the bright light of the empty hall, wondering what the hell happened between last night and now. I look around to make sure I’m not giving anyone a show as I slip my shirt back on and carry my shoes toward the elevator.
During the entire walk back to my room, I’m wondering what happened.
How exactly did we go from lovers to enemies in the two hours since we fell asleep?
And why am I surprised?
