“I won’t miss it.” His tongue traced her lower lip. “I want to stay, but I’ve done what I had to do.” He got to his feet. “I have to go shower. Stay here. I want to see you like this when I come back.” He vanished into the bathroom.
She didn’t know if she could have moved if she’d wanted to. Every muscle felt limp, and she was lying there in a warm haze. He’d said he was going. There was no reason to stir right now. She didn’t have to think or worry. Everything was the same as it had been that afternoon. This had just been a wild, unexpected epilogue.
She heard the shower. He would be gone soon. The wrenching pain she was feeling was all part of the confusion their togetherness had begun to foster lately. She would be fine. It would go away when he went away.
He came out of the shower ten minutes later. “Good.” He smiled. “You stayed there. I wasn’t sure if you’d do anything I told you to do. Resistance should be kicking in about now.”
“I didn’t want to move.” She met his gaze. “And you’re leaving. Maybe I wanted to please you.”
“You did.” He dropped to his knees in front of the couch. “And I pleased you, didn’t I?” He put his palm on her belly. “It’s a wonder. I was so hot I could only think about myself and how fast I could have you.” He traced the outline of her navel. “I’m lucky you didn’t kick me out.”
“You knew that wouldn’t happen. And you said you’d been wanting it to be here. So I don’t think it was as mindless as you say.”
He was silent. “Oh, I was mindless. The other was just instinct.” He bent and kissed her nipple. “I’ve got to get out of here, or I’ll have to have you again. I can’t miss another plane.” His teeth tugged gently at her earlobe. “I’ve got to do what I promised my uncle I’d do. I won’t mess up my chance.”
“No, that would be a mistake.”
“So that may mean I won’t be able to get back here for a while. And you won’t come to me.”
“No.”
“But I
“You’d be hard to forget.”
“That’s not good enough.” He lifted his head, and his eyes were glittering, burning, as they held her own. “Tell me. You’ll remember everything we did, everything we are together. No matter how long. You won’t forget me.”
She couldn’t pull her gaze away. His intensity was overpowering and hypnotic, enveloping her, binding her.
“Tell me,” he said softly. “You know it’s the truth. You’re part of me. You’ll always be with me. You’ll remember.”
How could she help it? No matter how their paths parted or intertwined, he’d been the first in so many ways, and the power of his personality had stunned and beguiled her. Even at that moment, she couldn’t imagine the days or years to come without him.
“I’ll remember you,” she whispered.
“That didn’t hurt, did it?” He smiled brilliantly. His arms closed tighter, and he kissed her. “The only thing that will hurt will be the waiting.” Then he put her back on the couch and got to his feet. “And I’ll cut that down to as little as possible.”
“I’m not going to wait for you. That’s a trap, too. And you won’t want to wait for me after you’ve been gone for a while.”
“I didn’t think I would, either. But things are changing. I’ll have to see.” He moved toward the door. “But one thing I do know. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before you. I’m not sure that I’ll ever feel like this again. I want to reach out and grab and hold on.” He opened the door. “But that’s my nature. Good-bye, Eve.”
“Good-bye, John.”
He was standing framed in the doorway as he had been framed by the elevator doors that first night. He was the same, yet not the same. Muscular thighs outlined in denim jeans, same face that was hard yet beautiful in its sensuality. But now she knew that body, that face, in a thousand different positions and expressions. She knew his toughness, his bluntness, his seductiveness, the bitterness that he seldom spoke about, the driving passion that could be as explosive as a lightning flash.
He wanted her to remember him?
This was how she’d remember John Gallo.
CHAPTER 6
