Page 14 of Stronger Than Fate

The door opened slowly, and I, completely bewildered, sat up in bed.

“Do you ever do what you’re told?”

“It’s just that I need to talk to you,” he said, entering and closing the door behind him. He was wearing a white t-shirt and dark-colored pajama pants.

“I asked you to leave me alone, to not come near me again. Don’t you even have the decency to consider that? Why are you so determined to disrupt my life?”

Henry moved forward and sat on the bed, completely ignoring what I had said. He sat at a prudent distance.

“I disrupt your life?” he asked incredulously, with that husky, sensual voice that made me shiver.

“What do you think? The last few times we’ve seen each other, we’ve, we’ve...”

“Kissed,” he finished for me, seeing me hesitate.

“Exactly.”

“And that disrupts you? Because it has me completely confused,” he said, running his hand through his hair, a gesture I had seen him make several times that showed his uneasiness.

“Just tell me what you came to say.”

“At least you’re using the informal ‘you’ with me now.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. Say what you have to say and leave. I don’t want my friends to see you here.”

He moved a little closer and I backed away as much as I could.

“What’s happening between us?” he asked.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, champ. We just kissed.”

“You know perfectly well they weren’t just kisses, they were incendiary kisses,” he said, looking into my eyes. Even though we were in the dark, I could see him perfectly because my eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

“I’d rather not talk about it. It’s better if we forget it.”

“I can’t forget it,” he stated.

“I’m going to forget it, I assure you, just like I’ll forget how badly you’ve treated me. I’ll forget everything related to you.”

“And what if I don’t want you to forget? I mean the kisses,” he clarified.

I exhaled with resignation; this man gave me no respite.

“That’s your problem, not mine. You should go,” I said, pointing to the door.

“Dalina,” he said, and tried to take my hand, but I pulled it away, “can we start over? Like the day we met at your hotel.”

“You mean the day you also called me a liar because I was talking with the bartender? Who, by the way, is my friend.”

“With you I’ve continuously put my foot in my mouth, and from what I see, I’ve done it up to my waist,” he assured, shaking his head. “Let’s do something, let’s forget about that day and just start now.”

I looked at him seriously. Start over? I wasn’t clear what that meant, but I was sure that starting anything with this man wasn’t good for me and that I needed to do something to make him leave as soon as possible because my body was alreadyreacting to his magnetism and his attractive scent. It was the first time a man had generated all these sensations in me and, not only was I confused, I was scared.

“Very well. My name is Dalina Dukart, along with my brothers I own the HAY hotel, my parents passed away and my brothers are my entire family. I have a degree in Marketing and I’m 24 years old.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No.”