Page 160 of Love Among the Ruins
“Well, I do.”
“At least have breakfast.” Catching sight of his swim shorts on the floor he reached for them and put them on, to save his modesty if nothing else. “Have breakfast with me. At least give me that.”
“Dominic ...” And there it was. A hesitation in her voice and in her eyes. The sparkle, the surprise, the wildness of yesterday, was gone.
Did she want to pretend nothing had happened?
“I have some business meetings, but we can spend the rest of the—”
“Dominic ...” Her head lowered. She couldn’t bring herself to face him. “You’re theboss.”
What was this? An outpouring of regret?
“So what? Why are you bringing that up now? I was the boss last night. The one you begged to fuck you.”
Hurt flickered across her eyes.
And then he knew exactly what it was.
Guilt.
A huge landslide of guilt. She’d suddenly remembered her boyfriend. To be fair to her, he’d had to suffer her talking about him last night, but she had begged him to fuck her.
This was ... sex. That’s all it was to her.
“Kostas will drive you to the airport.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, tucked a curl behind her ear. “What day do you get back?”
“Does it matter?” His tone was sharp. Like a rebuke.
“Don’t be like that.”
He was silent. A long pregnant pause hung in the air.
“You could have stayed,” he told her, but she wasn’t even looking at him, and all he wanted to do was never stop looking at her. They could have done so much, or nothing at all. Just had a few days with only the two of them in their own private little paradise.
Last night had meant something, he’d been so sure of it. Having her come hard, shudder under him. There had been a connection between them. It couldn’t only have beenjustsex.
“It’s ... it’s better that I go now.” She moved towards the door and gave him one final sad look.
Whatever intimacy they had shared last night, feasting on and enjoying one another’s bodies, had vanished. They stood like two strangers facing one another across the room.
“Maybe it is.”
* * *
ELENI
Mixed feelings made her stomach roil with unease.
She had woken up this morning and found Dominic fast asleep, his beautiful face, his gorgeous naked body in her bed.
She would never forget last night, the things they had said, the things they had done. The way he’d cherished her. Things she would never forget. But as she gazed at the sleeping man who had worshipped every part of her body so intimately, she wondered if he might come to later have regrets.
She was the one who had begged him last night. He’d been the gentleman, the reluctant one. She’d pushed him to his limits.
Then when he awoke, she’d tried desperately to read him, to work out how he felt and what he was thinking. Their goodbye had been awkward, strained.
