Page 7

FOUR

AUDREY

I blink awake, disoriented for by the unfamiliar room. Then, I feel it. The heat of a body pressed against my back.

Reign.

Memories flood back in a rush of sensation. His mouth on mine, his hands everywhere, the way he made me feel things I’ve never felt before. For one perfect moment, I let myself sink into the feeling, into the warmth of his body cradled around mine.

Then, reality crashes in like a bucket of ice water.

I’m leaving today.

I turn my head slightly, careful not to wake him, and check the clock on the nightstand.

7:47 AM.

I need to be at the airport by ten, which means I need to leave here in the next hour if I want to go back to Violet and Iris’s place to get my stuff.

Reign shifts behind me, and his arm tightens around my waist in his sleep.

His face is relaxed and peaceful, younger-looking without the intensity that marked his features last night. Dark stubble shadows his jaw, and his hair is messed up from my fingers running through it.

My chest tightens with something I don’t want to name.

I should wake him up. I should say goodbye and thank him for the most incredible night of my life.

But looking at him now, I can’t bring myself to do it.

What would I say?

Thanks for the amazing sex, but I’m going home to get engaged to another man.

The thought makes my stomach churn.

Carefully, slowly, I start to ease out from under his arm. He makes a soft sound in his sleep, and I freeze, holding my breath. But he just shifts again and settles back into deeper sleep.

I slip from the bed like a ghost and gather my scattered clothes from around the room.

My dress is wrinkled beyond salvation, and my panties are nowhere to be found.

I remember now that Reign tore them off me somewhere between round one and two.

Or was it three and four? The night is a blur of sensation and pleasure and Reign’s hands and mouth on every inch of my skin.

I pull on my dress without underwear, cringing at how obvious it is that I’ve spent the entire night getting fucked. My hair is a disaster and my makeup long gone. I look exactly like what I am. A woman sneaking out after a one-night stand.

I find my purse and shoes by the door where I’d dropped them in our desperate rush to get to the bed. My phone shows three missed calls from Violet and a string of texts asking if I’m okay, if I’m coming back tonight, if they should send a search party.

The last text, sent twenty minutes ago, just says: “Get it, girl. See you at the airport.”

Despite everything, I smile. My friends know me too well.

I take one last look at Reign, memorizing the sight of him sprawled across the king-size bed, the sheets tangled around his waist, one arm flung over the space where I’d been sleeping. He looks like a fallen god, all golden skin and muscle and raw masculine beauty.

My throat closes up.

I slip out the door as quietly as possible, pulling it shut behind me with the softest click.

The hallway is empty, silent except for the hum of air conditioning.

I feel like I’m walking through a dream as I make my way to the elevator, like I’m leaving some alternate reality where I’m brave enough to take what I want.

The elevator ride down feels endless. When the doors finally open in the lobby, there’s the usual morning bustle of a busy hotel with business travelers checking out and families heading to breakfast. The quiet efficiency of staff preparing for another day.

I order a rideshare from the app, grateful when it shows a three-minute wait time. I can’t stand the thought of lingering here, of risking Reign waking up and finding me gone. Better to rip the bandage off quickly.

The car ride to Violet and Iris’s apartment passes in a blur of San Diego morning traffic. I stare out the window at the palm trees and perfect blue sky, trying not to think about mountain views and pine trees and wraparound porches.

Trying not to think about the way Reign looked at me like I was the answer to a question he had been asking his whole life.

By the time I’m standing outside my friends’ door, my hands are shaking. I use my key to let myself in, hoping they’re somehow asleep so I can collect myself before facing their questions.

No such luck.

“There she is!” Iris calls from the kitchen, where she’s making coffee in an oversized t-shirt and pajama shorts. “The walk of shame queen herself.”

Violet looks up from her laptop at the kitchen table, taking in my appearance with one sweeping glance. Her expression immediately shifts from amusement to concern.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

That’s all it takes. The careful composure I’ve been holding onto since I woke up crumbles like a house of cards. I sink onto their couch and burst into tears.

“Oh, shit,” Iris mutters, abandoning her coffee to rush over. “What happened? Did that asshole hurt you? Because I will literally hunt him down and cut off his?—”

“No,” I manage between sobs. “He was perfect. He was so fucking perfect, and that’s the problem.”

Violet settles beside me, rubbing my back in slow circles. “Tell us what happened.”

So I do. Through tears and hiccups and probably way too much detail, I tell them everything.

About Reign’s intensity, his gentleness, the way he made me feel like the only woman in the world.

About waking up in his arms and wanting to stay there forever.

About sneaking out like a coward because I couldn’t face saying goodbye.

“Wow,” Iris breathes when I finally finish. “You really fell for him.”

“I can’t have fallen for him,” I protest, even as more tears spill down my cheeks. “I knew him for six hours.”

“Honey,” Violet says gently, “sometimes that’s all it takes.”

I think about her parents, who met at a coffee shop and were engaged three months later. They’ve been married for thirty years and still look at each other like teenagers in love.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I say, wiping my nose with the tissue Iris hands me. “I’m getting on a plane in two hours. By tonight, I’ll be back home and officially engaged to Gio.”

The words sicken me as they come out of my mouth.

“You don’t have to be,” Violet says quietly. “You could stay. Fight for what you want.”

“And destroy my father’s business? Ruin everything he’s worked for?” I shake my head. “I can’t be that selfish.”

“It’s not selfish to want to be happy,” Iris argues. “Your dad wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your entire life for his company.”

But they don’t understand the pressure I’m under. The weight of being Arthur Worthington’s only child, his heir, his legacy.

“I need to pack,” I say, standing up on unsteady legs. “My flight?—”

“Is in two hours,” Violet finishes. “You have time. Sit. Drink coffee. Process what happened.”

“There’s nothing to process. It was a one-night stand. That’s all.”

Even as I say it, I know it’s a lie. What happened with Reign was so much more than just sex. It was connection, understanding, the feeling of being truly seen for the first time in my life.

It was everything I’ve been looking for and everything I can never have.

Iris presses a mug of coffee into my hands, extra cream and sugar the way I like it. The normalcy of the gesture makes me want to cry again.

“You know what I think?” she says, settling cross-legged on the floor in front of me. “I think you’re scared.”

“Of course, I’m scared. I’m about to commit my life to a man I don’t love.”

“No, not of that. You’re scared of Reign. Of how he made you feel.”

I start to protest, but she holds up a hand.

“You’ve spent your whole life doing what’s expected, never rocking the boat. And then this mountain man shows up and makes you feel wild and free and like you could be anyone you wanted to be. That’s terrifying when you’ve never been allowed to want things for yourself.”

Her words hit too close to home. I take a shaky sip of coffee, trying to find my equilibrium.

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” I say finally. “Some of us don’t get fairy tale endings.”

“Bullshit,” Iris says flatly. “You’re choosing not to fight for yours.”

The coffee turns to acid in my stomach.

“I need to pack,” I say again, standing abruptly. “I can’t miss this flight.”

Violet and Iris exchange a look, but they don’t argue. They help me gather my things and pack my suitcase. Through it all, I feel like I’m moving underwater, going through the motions of leaving while part of me is still upstairs in that hotel room, wrapped in Reign’s arms.

The ride to the airport is quiet. My friends flank me in the backseat, offering silent support. It’s not until we’re standing at the security checkpoint that the reality of leaving hits me fully.

“This is it,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

“No,” Violet says firmly. “This is just goodbye for now. You always have a place here if you need it. Always.”

Iris hugs me so tight I can barely breathe.

“Call us the second you land. And if that caveman fiancé of yours gives you any trouble, we’re one phone call away.”

“I will.”

After one more round of hugs and promises to stay in touch, I walk through security on shaking legs.

The gate area is crowded with other passengers heading to various destinations. I find a seat near the window and stare out at the planes on the tarmac, trying not to think about Reign waking up to an empty bed. Trying not to wonder if he’s looking for me, if he’s hurt or angry or relieved.

Trying not to wish I’d been brave enough to wake him up and tell him the truth.

When they call for boarding, I stand in line with everyone else, my boarding pass clutched in my trembling hand. Each step toward the plane feels like I’m walking away from the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

As the plane taxis down the runway and lifts into the clear San Diego sky, I press my face to the small window and watch the city shrink below me.

Somewhere down there, Reign is probably having breakfast, maybe wondering why I left.

Maybe already forgetting about the girl who shared his bed for one perfect night.

The thought makes my chest ache with a pain so sharp I have to bite my lip to keep from crying again.

As we climb higher, heading toward the mountains and the life waiting for me in Cooper Heights, I close my eyes and let myself remember. The weight of his hands on my skin. The way he said my name. The feeling of being completely, utterly myself for the first time in my life.

Whatever happens next, I’ll always have that. One perfect night when I was brave enough to take what I wanted, even if I wasn’t brave enough to keep it.