“I’m feeling that.”
Mandy folds up her table and cleans up. She starts heading to the door. “Have a good night,” she says.
“Oh wait.”
I go to my purse to give her a tip, but she waves it away. “Mr. Dylan already took care of everything. Enjoy your stay here in Washington.” She smiles, opens the door and leaves.
I lay on the bed, and curl into a ball. I pray I don’t have to move for the rest of the evening. The door opens and Dylan returns. He comes over, sits on the bed beside me, and gently strokes my hair. “You look comfortable.”
“Do we have to leave? Can we stay here forever?”
“As much as I love the thought of staying here with you, that’s not going to work. But if you want, you can have a short nap before we head out for dinner.”
I close my eyes, wanting to whine that I don’t want to leave. But Dylan has been so generous and kind, I decide I’m not going to ruin anything he’s planned for us. “It’s okay. If I fall asleep now, I doubt I’ll wake up until tomorrow morning.”
“I’m going to go for a shower, so how about you stay in bed until I’m done? We can have dinner whenever you want.”
I look over at the clock. Holy crap. How is it possible that it’s nearly six? “Can we have dinner in about an hour?”
“Whenever you want.”
“Do I have to dress in something nice?”
“You can dress in whatever you feel most comfortable in.”
“Hmm,” I happily hum. “Smell here, I smell like vanilla.” I hold my wrist out to Dylan.
He takes my hand, smelling my wrist, then slowly pushes the sleeve of the robe up, peppering a trail of feather light kisses up my arm, and to my neck. My eyes roll back as I close them, and really let myself go in the moment. Dylan’s lips caress my blazing skin. I give myself over to him. He nuzzles into my neck, and lowers his body onto mine. His frame covers mine completely. I can feel him so close.
Our breathing increases, our mouths collide, and our bodies entwine.
“Shit,” he says, as he pulls away from me. “I’m, um, going for a shower,” he says then clears his throat.
Yeah, right. Well, what?
I hear the shower start, and I look to the door. Did I do something wrong?
I sit up in bed, and get changed into jeans and a t-shirt. I take my light cardigan and hang it on the back of the chair. Now I’m worried, afraid I did something I shouldn’t have done.
I hear the shower stop, and soon, the door opens. Dylan comes out, in nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips.
“Oh, come on,” I grumble.
“What?” Water droplets cover his body. His chest is ripped and he has a damned six-pack.
“Are you kidding me?” I point to his body. “You come out here, soaking wet with just a towel, and what? You think I’m not going to ogle you like some kind of porn star? Seriously, how is this fair? Especially considering you just rejected me too. You can’t do this.” I wave my hand up and down his perfect, lean, and quite muscular body. “And while we’re on the subject, why do you have such a nice body? I haven’t heard you once say you go to the gym. And if you tell me you don’t work out, then I’m going to throw you out the damned window. Because this isn’t fair.”
He’s laughing at me. “There’s a gym up on the tenth floor of my building. And no, I have to work to look like this. And the reason I rejected you was because it was moving way too quick and we haven’t talked about how fast you want that to happen. So…”
“Damn you,” I grumble. “I hate how…” I choke on the words I want to say, “…stupid you are.”
“Stupid?” He laughs.
“I’m going to go out to the balcony and sulk while you get dressed. I can’t deal with this at the moment.” I make a circular motion with my hand indicating his smoking hot body. “Just, get dressed.” I can hear him laughing as I walk out to the balcony, and sit in one of the deck chairs provided.
I hate how perfect he is. Well, not really. I love it.
Looking out, it’s still daylight, but the sun is sinking, and soon we’ll be plunged into darkness lit only by the half-moon that is already rising and the lights of the Capitol.
I fall into a fit of worry for Tina. She’s been on my mind ever since I met that dick, Preston. I’m so scared for her. And now that I know what he’s capable of, I’m even more frightened for her safety.
“There you are,” Dylan says, interrupting me from my heavy thoughts.
“Hey.” I look up at him, smiling. “This is a look I’m okay with.” I let my gaze fall up and down his lean body dressed in sweats and a t-shirt.
“What were you thinking about when I walked out? You looked like you were lost in thought.” He sits on the chair beside me.
“I was. I was thinking about Tina. If I’m being truthful, I was thinking how terrified I am for her safety with Preston. That photo you showed us of the woman he put in hospital…” I shake my head, unable to verbalize what I’m feeling. “If he can hurt a person like that, what else is he capable of?” I let my head fall into my hands, as I try to come to grips with everything. “What can I do to help?”
“You said that your parents are going to his house, and demanding to see Tina to make sure she’s okay, right?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “Every day.”
“The fact she called you to warn you off, well it’s kind of a good thing.”
“How?”
“It means she not in the hospital.”
My stomach churns. I lift my head, and notice the last of the sunlight twinkling on his watch. I need to get my head away from Tina and the dire situation she’s in. “Tell me about your watch,” I say as I grab his wrist, and run my fingers over the black face. “Oh, it’s a Rolex.”
“It’s a Submariner.” He laughs at something he hasn’t told me. “Most guys like fast cars, or motorbikes, boats even. I’ve always admired a nice watch.”
“Okay. Nothing strange about that. Although, I’ve never known anyone to have a watch fetish. My Mom bought Dad a watch for their twenty-year anniversary. An Omega watch. It has a tan leather strap, and a white face. Anyway, Dad flipped over it because Mom spent like five thousand dollars on it. It wasn’t about the money. Dad is happy to spend that kind of money on Mom, or me and Tina. Dad’s just really humble. Doesn’t like too many fancy things.”
“That’s sweet of Paris to do that for Thomas.”
“So tell me what the story is with yours.”
He looks down at his watch, and smiles again. “Through college, I worked some crappy jobs, but I saved everything I could, because I wanted a Rolex. There’s all different types of Rolexs, but I really wanted this one. Anyway, I saved, and saved, and when I landed my first big-paying job, I managed to buy this. I had already saved two thousand dollars from working in college, and then when I got an unexpected bonus , it was enough to buy one of my favorite watches.”
“Your favorite? Does this mean you have others?”
“I do. But now, I’m saving to buy a Submariner Date.”