Page 14 of Let Me Win You

“Well…” I shrugged. With his giant member out of my sight when hidden under the covers, it no longer seemed that intimidating. “We could try to make it work. I mean, just wrench it in somehow?”

He chuckled, hugging me to him. “We’ll trywrenchingit in the morning.”

“What will change in the morning?”

“Everything,” he said softly, sounding oddly dreamy, and I felt the need to clarify.

“Um… Invi? This is just for tonight, right? I’m leaving the city on Monday.”

He leaned back to look me into my eyes. “I don’t want it to end, Nic. I like you too much to give you up already.”

Warm hope rose in me unbidden. I didn’t want this to be the last time I saw him either. I already knew I’d regret it bitterly if I didn’t at least give the attraction between us the chance to grow into something bigger.

So much for all my one-night stand determination. I really sucked at that hit-it-and-quit-it thing, didn’t I?

“I want more,” he insisted.

Invi might look movie-star gorgeous, but his behavior wasn’t what I would expect from a handsome asshole.

He moved a strand of my hair away from my face and kissed my temple. The gesture was not just gentle and caring. It felt almost reverent the way he touched me. I’d known him for barely a few hours, but he made me feel like I never felt with anyone else. I felt…cherished.

No, I definitely didn’t want to give him up yet.

“We can have breakfast together,” he said quickly. “I know where to get some very good blueberry scones. Please tell me you want more with me, too, Nicole.”

I looked deep into his otherworldly emerald eyes.

“Well, what’s the worst that can happen, right?” I smiled. “Breakfast sounds wonderful. We can certainly try for more.”

5

Nicole

Alight breeze stroked my bare leg, filling the air with the sweet scent of jasmine and green tea. Birds chirped close by. Then something soft brushed by my thigh.

I squinted in the daylight, glancing down my leg. A large butterfly sat on my knee, gently moving its white-and-green wings. A gossamer bed curtain moved in the breeze. The butterfly rose in the air and fluttered away.

Rolling to my back, I stared at the bamboo bed canopy with the white curtains.

My hotel bed had no bamboo and no curtains.

No butterflies either.

I sat up with a jolt of alarm.

Where was I?

The four-poster bed stood in an open space with no walls. A huge grass-woven rug covered the wooden floor. Thick pillars supported a roof of long bamboo poles and large dark-green leaves that looked like giant lily pads.

The air moved freely through the open space under the roof, swaying the light bed curtains. Colorful birds flew by outside.Two white butterflies fluttered in a dance around one of the support pillars, which I now realized was a tree trunk of an uncut, still living tree. The whole place was surrounded by trees. Their vivid green canopies swaying just outside of the rug-covered floor.

“This isn’t my hotel,” I muttered, tossing back the bed covers.

I was wearing a short, white camisole that was not mine. And there was a calla lily in my hair just above my ear.

“What the hell?” I screeched, tossing the flower away as if it were a spider.

What had happened to me?

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