"You could stay."
"You'd be okay with that?"
"No," I say. "I'd hate myself for making you quit your job."
"I would if you asked."
"I know," I say. "That's why I'm not asking."
He offers my bra but I shake my head.
"No underwear."
"That's just cruel," he says. He watches as I slip my dress over my head, practically licking his lips. "That's all I'm going to think about the entire flight."
"I can't believe you've got anything left in you." I pull him close, enveloping him in a hug. His arms are so safe, so warm, so Goddamn comfortable.
"I love you," he says. "More than anything."
"I love you too."
For a minute, I feel like everything is going to be okay.
But then we're in the hallway. Then the elevator. Then we're on the street, hailing a cab. He's kissing me good-bye, a long, sweet kiss. Then he's in the cab, and it turns a corner, and I'm standing on a street corner all alone.
I'm in New York City all alone.
And soon he'll be three thousand miles away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Luke
The next few days are awful. Work consumes me, and I barely have time to call Alyssa to wish her goodnight. The three-hour time difference isn't doing me any favors.
She calls late one night, late her time anyway. I'm still at work, but I answer without hesitation.
I answer. "Hey."
"Hey yourself."
"How is everything?"
"I'm too tired to talk much right now," she says. "But I can't wait anymore."
"Miss Summers, you're being awfully mysterious."
She laughs. "I got you something. It's in my room, under my bed." She yawns. "And now I'm too damn tired to think. So I'm going to fall asleep picturing you with the present."
So it's a sexy present.
"What if I'm desperate to talk to you after I find it?"
"I guess you'll have to stay desperate."
***
It feels wrong entering Alyssa's room, even though she gave me explicit permission. But there's no way I can resist this kind of promise.