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CHAPTER ONE
(Charlotte)
Matt loves me.
I combed my fingers through his dark hair,lifting the strands idly and letting them fall. He’d slept for thepast hour like this, his head nuzzled against my breasts, one handcupped between my legs.
Of course, he would sleep like that.
Chuckling softly to myself, I glanced at theclock on the nightstand. I should not have woken up at six in themorning, but my sleep schedule had been messed up ever since I hadarrived at Ascend Red. Late nights of relentless sex followed bywaking in the midafternoon had confused my body to the point that Iwas jet-lagged without changing time zones. But now, it was sixforty, and there was no way to ignore my bladder anymore. I gentlyeased Matt’s arm off me, not wanting to wake him. With a sleepygroan, he rolled away and took most of the duvet with him.
Yeah, if he wanted to be my boyfriend, hewould have to work on the covers-hogging.
I tiptoed through the weak bars of earlydaylight the morning cast through the shutters and left the lightsoff in the bathroom. I’d done a lot of crying the night before,trying to break things off with him. My eyes throbbed. My mouthfelt sticky and disgusting. I decided to brush my teeth beforegoing back to bed.
Emotional catharsis might be healthy for thesoul, but it’s hell on a person’s body.
I padded back out to the bedroom and foundMatt sitting up, rubbing his eyes.
“Sorry if I woke you,” I apologized.
He yawned, stretching out his ridiculouslymuscled arms. A dark curl flopped over his forehead, and he pushedit back with a smaller, follow-up yawn before answering hoarsely,“No, it’s fine. I needed to get up and consult Miranda about ourtravel itinerary before it gets any later. I don’t want to end upflying coach on some shitty discount airline, if we can avoidthat.”
“So, there are limits to the humblebillionaire thing.” Though it had been my idea to leave—I’dinsisted the night before that it was what I wanted—a pang ofdisappointment struck the pit of my stomach. “We can always leavetomorrow. Or the next day.”
His eyes narrowed. “You seemed very sure ofyour decision to leave last night. You’re not saying this becauseyou want to accommodate what I want, are you?”
“First of all, fuck you for knowing me sowell.” I slipped under the sheets beside him. “Second, no. Ipromise. I do want to leave, but I’m not in as big a rush to do soin the light of day.”
“And in light of the fact that you don’thave to run away from me anymore?” He arched a brow.
“There’s that too.” I was profoundlyuncomfortable with, and deeply doubtful of, the idea that anyonecould love me. Running away had been my first instinct. “Sorryabout that.”
He caught my chin in his hand and tipped myface up to his. “Don’t apologize because you had feelings thatweren’t the same as mine.”
“They are the same,” I hurried to assurehim. “I love you—”
He cut me off with a kiss. The bastard hadthe audacity to look as hot as he didandnot have horriblemorning breath. I couldn’t even get mad at the clichéd way he’dinterrupted me.
Life was not fair.
I leaned into him. My soft moan caughtbetween our mouths, and he echoed it, his tongue sweeping againstmine as he held my face like I was a priceless, delicate thing. Myhands found their way to his chest. I let myself get lost in him,in the sheer pleasure of what was such simple contact when comparedto all of the other, hornier things we’d already done.
When he came up for air, he covered my handwith his, holding my palm flat over his heart. “Sorry. I can’t getenough of hearing you say that.”
Dazed, I ran my tongue over my lower lip.“Say what?”
“Wow, I’m a better kisser than I thought Iwas.” He gave a short laugh. “I can’t get enough of hearing you saythat you love me.”
“It’s the novelty of it. You’ll get sick ofme, soon.” I leaned up for another kiss, but he evaded me.
“Seriously, if we’re going to leave today, Ineed to call Miranda.” He reached for the phone.
I leaned over him and laid a hand on hisforearm. “Wait. I meant what I said about spending a few moredays.”
I’d originally planned to stay for twoweeks. And while I wasn’t thrilled that Matt had been hiding out athis sex resort to avoid reality, I didn’t want to leave a place heloved after the constructive, but painful, conversation we’d hadlast night.
“Even though I’m surrounded by phonies,apparently?”