But it was nothing more than an oasis.
Someday, she’d come back to me.
Someday, she would be ready.
Someday, I would never have to let her go again.
Today was not that day.
“Fuck,” I whispered as that rusty dagger of reality twisted inside me.
My head popped up when a knock at my door dragged me out of my thoughts. There was a flicker of hope as I considered that it might be her, but I was still in the midst of a ruthless hangover from the last time I’d dared to dream. So I shoved a sock in the mouth of the voice taunting me in my head.
It was likely room service in damn-near-world-record speed with the club sandwich I’d ordered. Though Oscar outside my door to continue the stale banana nut muffin saga was not out of the question, either. With my luck, it was someone there to tell me the hotel was on fire.
Once I’d grabbed my T-shirt off the bed, I shrugged it on, walked to the door, and then put my eye to the peephole. One glance and I jumped away as if on the other side were a hitman there to collect my head in a bag. That surely was more likely.
Holy shit.
Holy fucking shit. It was her.
I did a double take just to be sure.
Definitely my Remi—and sweet Jesus, from what I could see, she was wearing a silk bathrobe with one shoulder exposed.
It probably meant nothing, and she was likely there to steal all my pillows after the hotel had failed to deliver. A request I would have canceled myself had I known it would lead her to my door.
But on the off chance she was there for me instead, I stripped my shirt off as fast as I’d put it on to level the clothing playing field.
Fire with fire.
I wasn’t vain, but I’d seen how she looked at me.
I wasn’t in the mood to play fair.
“Hey,” I said, pulling open the door. “What’s up?”
Her heated gaze traced down my chest before she smiled and tried to shake it off. “I’m just not ready yet.”
For fuck’s sake, tell me something I don’t know. “I understand.”
“The woman before I was abducted was ready though. So was Sally when you proposed. And the Remi who didn’t remember you but dumped bubble tea all over your office was more than ready. However, I still have a lot of work to do on myself to get back to a place where I can be any of those women again.”
I drew in a breath that felt like it scorched my throat. None of it was new information. I fucking hated it, but there was no way to argue. My whole body deflated. “I know.”
A slow, life-altering smirk crept up her face. “But I’m kinda thinking the version of me—the me I am right now—who happens to run into a gorgeous nerd who sweeps her off her feet at an accounting symposium? Well, she may be ready for a brief yet passionate whirlwind fling. She’s on a whole seize-the-moment kick. And you said it yourself. We have four days, and I don’t want to waste a single one of them rehashing the past.”
My.
Lungs.
Seized.
I stared at her. I didn’t want a fucking fling. I wanted a whole Goddamn forever with that woman. But whether it be a second, a minute, or four days, I would never turn down a chance to be with her.
“You can be whoever the hell you want and I will still want you in every single way that matters.”
She subtly swayed side to side and then glanced behind me, indicating without a shadow of a doubt she wanted to be invited in.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m into this whole new bold, daring Remi. I am. But I can’t pretend this doesn’t mean as much to me as it does. I just can’t hold back. I won’t ever not be one hundred and fifty percent honest with you. Even if you don’t want to hear the truth.”
Sweetly, she replied, “I’m not asking you to.” Her timid step toward me brought my body within her reach. Her fingers met my chest, and her eyes fluttered as she looked up at me once again. “But what I want from you right now is to just be with me. In this unsure moment. In the chaos. In the unknown. I don’t need answers, and I don’t need promises…” Up on her toes, she tipped her chin up until our mouths almost paired. She added, “I just need to feel good. The way I do when I’m with you.”
My eyes shut and her words sank somewhere deep inside me. A locked safe, I’d never let them escape. “Remi, there are fourteen hundred and forty minutes in a day, and baby, I want you fourteen hundred and forty-one of them.”
