AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Finally, I took a deep breath, pulled the panties and bra out of my right back pocket, and held them in my left hand as I knocked. My plan was to say three words when she opened that door. “You forgot these.” I’d use that as an excuse for showing up here, then ask if I could come in.
But what I didn’t plan for were the red cheeks and swollen, puffy eyelids that greeted me on the other side of that door. She was crying. Was she crying over me?
My mouth fell open, and I struggled for words. What had I done? Had I caused this? How did I fix it?
“Sorry,” I said, finally forcing out the only word that came to mind. Then I found another. “Why?”
What was happening here? None of it made any sense. Had it been the pool table? Maybe I’d been too rough. She seemed like she was enjoying it, and I’d done everything I could to make it the most memorable experience of her life. She’d said we could only have sex one time, though.
That didn’t explain why she’d be crying.
“You’re crying,” I said, stating the obvious. But I wasn’t sure what else to say. “Was it something I did?”
Zoey shook her head, then sighed as she stepped back, pulling the door open. “Come in.”
As I breezed past her, I remembered the underwear, still clutched in my left hand. I walked straight to the dresser and set them on the corner before turning to face her. She’d closed the door and was looking around, arms crossed over her chest in a way that seemed almost like she was embracing herself.
“It was supposed to be just one time. It seemed so easy in my head.” She looked everywhere but at me. “I came here to find a guy willing to have sex with any woman he saw. I’d leave in the morning with an item checked off my list.”
“You found the wrong man for that,” I said. “From the second I saw you, I knew this would be much more than sex.”
Now she looked at me, her eyes wide open. Tears had pooled there again, but they didn’t fall. They froze, just as the rest of her had done.
“I can’t explain it.” I shook my head. “I just knew when I saw you that you were the woman I’ve been looking for all my life.”
“You can’t…” She shook her head, then looked around the room like she was searching for the rest of the words. “I’m not perfect. I don’t look like a supermodel.”
“I don’t want a supermodel, and youareperfect. You’re beautiful and smart and you make me smile. I never believed in love at first sight until I saw you.”
I’d become a big wuss all of a sudden. I was never this guy. My time in the military had put me through a lot.
“I thought I was a broken man,” I said. “But once I saw you, I realized everything in my life had prepared me to be the man who can take care of you. The man you deserve.”
She was staring at me then, and I knew what I was saying was a lot. I didn’t expect her to tell me she loved me now. We’d known each other less than twenty-four hours. All I was asking was that she give me a chance to prove I was the man for her. To show her day after day what a healthy, loving relationship could really be.
“I feel it too,” she said. “There’s a connection I can’t explain. That’s why it upset me so much. I can’t even make a one-night stand happen without getting my heart involved.”
“This isn’t just any one-night stand,” I said. “There’s something here. Something we can’t walk away from. You feel that too.”
She nodded. “I feel that too. But I have to go back to Roanoke. That’s where my job is. I have an apartment full of belongings…”
“We’ll work it out.” I shook my head. “We’ll find a way.” I closed the distance between us and put a hand on each shoulder, looking down into her eyes. “Trust me.”
She nodded, smiling up at me. The tears fell from her eyes, and she wiped them away.
“Now, what do you say we make the most of this hotel room?” I asked.
She answered with her body, grabbing me and moving toward the bed. Our clothes were off and I was inside her before I even knew what had happened. And this time, I watched her come.
Yes, this was definitely the woman I’d waited my whole life to meet.
EPILOGUE
ZOEY
“Seven ball, corner pocket.” Jared slammed the cue into the mentioned ball and straightened as he watched it sail exactly where he predicted.
He always beat me, but tonight I didn’t mind. Tonight, I was hoping to talk him into revisiting our first time on the pool table.
