To hell with fantasies, he needed her now.
Zipper undone, she shrugged out of the dress and abandoned the black fabric to the floor. Her underwear followed, and she climbed on the bed.
“Like this?” she asked, assuming the all-fours position he’d described in the restaurant.
Without taking his eyes off her, he walked toward her. “Perfect. So damn perfect.”
Moving with a confidence that blew him away, she pressed her hands into the bedding and thrust her ass in the air.
“Are you sure? I think you described something more like this.” She pressed the damaged side of her face against the bed. A teasing question floated in her brown eyes as her left hand drifted south.
“Yes,” he growled.
He watched her hand slide over her bare skin and stripped off his new clothes. Her fingers disappeared inside then withdrew, offering proof she was wet and ready for him. Slowly, she slid her knees across the hotel blanket and opened her body to her touch, fingers moving faster and faster.
“Just like that,” he murmured as he retrieved a condom and turned the foil packet over in his hand.
She lifted her head, and the movement sent her breasts gliding forward against the bedding. Her back arched at a nearly impossible angle. She rocked back and forth, her whole body moving against her hand.
His dick begged to climb up on the bed, rub up against her, and slip inside. He tore open the condom and rolled it over his erection.
“Do you want to watch me come? I’m close,” she gasped, her face upturned. “Tell me what you want.”
He placed one knee on the bed, but his gaze remained fixed on her face. And the truth slammed into him.
He wanted to erase her past. From the beginning, he’d set out to prove her physical scars hadn’t erased her beauty. He looked at her curves and saw a goddess. And her mouth? He couldn’t imagine a day when he wouldn’t want to thrust his dick between her full lips.
But they’d known from the beginning when this would end. The only way to even have a chance at something more meant revealing he’d betrayed her from the start. All the trust she’d given him shattered in an instant.
She’d already been betrayed by the people she trusted most. She had the scars to prove it. He wouldn’t add to those scars. He wouldn’t add to her pain.
Tomorrow, he’d walk away, his lies still intact. He’d send Lucia back to the children who needed her help while he returned to the one constant in his life—his team. By Tuesday morning, he would be nothing more than a memory. And by God, he’d make sure it was a good one.
“You deserve so much more than this,” he said.
Her hand stilled. Lips parted, she stared at him, confusion etched into her expression.
“You should have someone who can give you more than a fantasy,” he said, struggling to translate his feelings into words.
She deserved the type of no-holds-barred love that went hand in hand with commitment. But how the fuck could he say those words to her and tack on the fact that he couldn’t be that man?
She smiled, and her hand returned to her clit.
Walking away from her, from this—there were parts of his body that might never forgive him. The thought of living with this image burned into his memory, knowing he’d turned his back on what came next—
“Cade,” she said. “Tonight, I want to be the girl in your fantasies. We can talk about tomorrow when the sun rises.” She held his gaze in hers. “I’ve never felt this beautiful. This bold. Even without the mask, I feel wild.”
Her hips moved faster and faster, pushing against her fingers. She let out a low moan as she withdrew her hand and drew a wet path over her stomach to her breasts. She paused there and teased her nipples before continuing up to her collarbone. Then she parted her lips and slipped her glistening fingers inside her mouth.
And that was all it took for him to let reason fall by the wayside.
“Fuck me,” he murmured.
“I’m ready,” she said. “And if you think I’m this wet because I want something more than your cock, you’re crazy. Join me. And don’t you dare hold anything back.”
“You want to be the girl in my fantasies?” He took her face in his hands. “You are my fantasy.”
He knew those words would hold true tomorrow and the day after that. Six months from now, deployed halfway around the world, he would wake up dreaming about this woman. And she would be out of his reach forever. Tonight was his only chance to make every moment count.