calm her down. The half pound of truffles that she’d gobbled down at 4 a.m. hadn’t helped matters at all. The moment the sun had risen, Darcy had conceded defeat and crawled into the shower.
She’d done the right thing, come and run, making her exit shortly after she’d pushed her skirt back down around her hips. Indulging in an entire night of pleasure wouldn’t alter the facts. Even though the sex had been quick, it was still the best she’d had in five years.
With other men, Darcy had always been so careful, holding back, avoiding a complete surrender. She’d never really trusted Neil to completely possess her and that turned out to be a good thing. So why did she trust a stranger like Kel Martin? It didn’t make sense.
With just a simple caress, he’d stripped away every fear and inhibition she’d ever had with men. Her brain had shut off and he’d set her body free to enjoy every wonderful sensation. Maybe that freedom came because she knew he was just passing through her life. He’d make love to her and then leave her. What was she really risking after all?
Darcy took a sip of her coffee. She felt as if she’d hit the sexual lottery. A million-dollar orgasm with just one try. Now all she wanted to do was buy another ticket, and another and another, damn the odds and the risks.
She could still taste him in her mouth and feel him on her skin. If she closed her eyes she could recall the miracle of him moving inside of her. A tiny thrill raced through her and Darcy knew it wasn’t the caffeine kicking in but adrenaline leftover from the previous night. It was over now, this little detour into passion. Her curiosity had been appeased and it was time to move on.
“You look like you’ve been dragged behind a bus.” Amanda plopped into the chair across from Darcy. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“A little,” Darcy admitted sheepishly.
“I checked the register and I see that Mr. Baseball is still with us. Did you talk to him?” Amanda looked at Darcy again, taking in her sleepy gaze. “Wait…don’t even go there. Oh, no, you didn’t.”
Darcy snatched up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth, hoping to hide the smile that wouldn’t seem to go away. She winced, her lips tender and bruised. Was it that evident? Maybe she should have just scrawled a big red “O” on her forehead and been done with it. “I didn’t mean to but I couldn’t seem to help myself. At least I can finally stop counting. The dry spell is officially over.”
“And now the typhoon season begins? You slept with a guest!” Amanda said. “Didn’t we have a seminar on this?”
“We never really made it to the bed. We got as far as the wall. And technically, he’s not a guest. He’s an old friend who happens to be staying at The Delaford.”
“Ah, you’re friends now. I think you could come up with a much better activity to do with a friend. What about a nice walk or maybe a game of tennis?”
“All right, we’re not friends, but we’re very…closely acquainted.” Darcy groaned, then buried her face in her hands. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to sit here until you tell me every detail,” Amanda said, her arms crossed beneath her breasts.
“I expected it to be bad,” Darcy began. “In truth, I wanted it to be bad so I’d finally forget about him. That’s why I went along with the whole seduction, just to prove to myself that it couldn’t possibly live up to the memory.”
“And?”
“And once I realized it was going to be even better, I couldn’t seem to make myself leave. We were… consumed. And now I’m going to spend the next five years thinking about last night, the same way I spent the past five years thinking about the first night we spent together. I feel like I’ve been sucked into a giant black hole of sexual frustration.”
A thoughtful expression on her face, Amanda picked up the basket of pastries and chose a croissant. “Well, there is a way to pull yourself out. You could spend another night or two with Kel. Maybe the whole week.” She bit the end off the croissant and chewed it slowly.
“How would that help?”
“Sooner or later, he’ll fall off that sex god pedestal you’ve put him on and do something typically male.”
“Like what?”
Amanda snatched up Darcy’s glass of cranberry juice. “Do I need to be specific? Sweetie, in the end, they’re all the same. They all walk around with your underwear on their head and think it’s hilariously funny, they all leave their toenail clippings on the bathroom sink and expect you to pick them up, and they all ask you to have a threesome with the bimbo down the hall, hoping you’ll be temporarily insane and agree. It’s hard-wired into their hormones. If you’re just patient, you’ll see.”
Darcy shook her head, wryly. “I thought when I found a man I wanted as much as I want Kel, I’d be in love. I’d have a grand romance and be swept off my feet by some sexually adventurous Prince Charming.”
“We all want that, Darcy. But Prince Charming is usually dreadfully dull in bed. His naughty brother, the Duke of Debauchery, is the guy that’s meant to make your toes curl. Some men are marriage material and others are just for fun. I think Kel Martin falls into the same category as carnival rides and bungee jumping. Fun, a little scary, but not meant for daily consumption.”
“And that’s exactly the way they think about us!” Darcy cried. “There are the girls you marry and the girls you just mess around with.”
“At least you know where you stand with the Duke, right? It’s just about the sex.” Amanda sighed, gulped down Darcy’s cranberry juice, then quickly stood up. “I’ll just be going now. His highness is on his way over here.”
Darcy twisted in her chair only to see Kel approaching. He was dressed casually in a soft blue Oxford shirt, khaki trousers and well-worn loafers. His hair was still damp from his morning shower and he hadn’t bothered to shave, the stubble of his beard making him look slightly dangerous.
As Amanda hurried past him, she turned and looked at Darcy, fanning her face with her hand and mouthing the word “hot.”
When Kel reached Darcy’s table, he sat down in Amanda’s chair, flipped over a coffee cup and filled it from the carafe. “Morning,” he said cheerfully.
“Good morning,” Darcy replied.
He stared at her as he sipped his coffee, studying her intently, the silence between them growing uncomfortable. Was he deliberately trying to make her uneasy or was he searching for something to say? She prayed he wouldn’t want to discuss the previous night’s activities. “You look beautiful this morning, Darcy,” he finally said.
“Stop it,” she said. He couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. When she’d returned to her room, she’d tossed and turned for most of the night, then rushed through a shower before meeting with the staff at eight. Dark circles smudged the skin beneath her eyes and her hair had been haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail. Amanda was right, she looked like she’d been dragged behind a bus. “There’s no need to turn on the charm this early in the morning.”
“When I woke up, you weren’t there,” he said.
Darcy frowned. “You saw me leave.”
“I didn’t really like that part of the evening,” he said.
“I thought that was our deal,” she said.
He frowned. “We had a deal?”
“Like last time. It was just about sex, nothing else.”
Kel stared at her for another long moment, then shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about?”
A sudden sick feeling settled into Darcy’s stomach. Oh, God, had she been wrong? She’d just assumed he remembered their night together in San Francisco. Assumed they’d both silently acknowledged that this had all happened once before and it was about to happen again. That was what had given them permission to indulge. But maybe she’d been mistaken.
Darcy squirmed in her chair. “You know what I’m talking about.”
He covered her hand with his. “Are you angry with me? I sure hope not, because I was thinking we might want to spend a little more time together.”
Darcy gasped. This was exactly like a man! No matter how incredible the sex had been, it hadn’t been enough
