Leaving her like this was always hard and became more difficult by the day. My skin hurt from being parted from hers.
I closed the curtains in the bedroom, then moved into the living room and did the same there, plunging the room into darkness.
Then I settled on the sofa and fell asleep.
A sudden flash of light woke me. Blinking, I scrubbed at my gritty eyes and saw that the curtains had been parted to send sunlight shafting across my face. Eva walked toward me, the light haloing around her naked body.
“Hey,” she whispered, sinking to her knees beside me. “You said I’d wake up with you.”
“What time is it?” I looked at my watch, saw I’d only been asleep an hour and a half. “You were supposed to sleep longer.”
She pressed her lips to my abs. “I don’t sleep well without you.”
Regret pierced me. My wife needed things I couldn’t give her. She woke me with light instead of a touch because she feared my reaction. She was right to be cautious. In the grip of a nightmare, the stroke of a hand might have me waking up with fists flying.
I brushed her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry.” For everything. For all you’re giving up to be with me.
“Shh.” She lifted the elastic waistband of my sweats and pushed it down past my cock. I was hard for her. How could I help it when she came to me naked and sleepy-eyed?
Her mouth wrapped around the head of my dick.
I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned, surrendering.
KNOCKING at the door woke me the next time. Eva stirred in my arms, cuddled against me on the narrow stretch of the sofa.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered, pulling her tighter against me.
“Ignore it.”
The knocking continued.
I leaned my head back and yelled, “Go away.”
“I come bearing coffee and croissants,” Arash shouted back. “Open up, Cross, it’s after noon and I want to meet your lady.”
“Christ.”
Eva blinked up at me. “Your lawyer?”
“He was.” I sat up and shoved my hands through my hair. “We’re going away, you and me. Soon. Far away.”
She kissed the small of my back. “Sounds good.”
I shoved my feet into the legs of my sweats, then stood to pull them up. Eva took the opportunity to smack me on the bare ass.
“I heard that!” Arash yelled. “Cut it out and open up.”
“You’re fired,” I told him, striding toward the door. I glanced back to tell Eva to cover herself, but she was already running into the bedroom.
I found Arash waiting outside my suite with a room service cart. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”
I had to back out of the way before he rolled right through me.
“Quit your bitching.” He grinned, pushing the cart off to the side and raking me with a glance. “Save the marathon sex for your honeymoon.”
“Don’t listen to him!” Eva shouted through the bedroom door.
“I won’t.” I turned away from him. “He doesn’t work for me anymore.”
“You can’t hold it against me,” Arash said, following me into the living room. “Wow. Your back looks like you got into a brawl with a mountain lion. No wonder you’re tired.”
“Shut up.” I snatched my shirt off the floor.
“You didn’t tell me Eva was in San Diego, too.”
“It was none of your business.”
He held up both hands in surrender. “Truce.”
“Don’t say a word about Yimara,” I told him quietly. “I won’t have her worrying about that.”
Arash sobered. “It’s done. I won’t mention it again.”
“Good.” I went to the cart and poured two cups of coffee, preparing Eva’s the way she liked it.
“I’ll take a cup,” he said.
“Serve yourself.”
His lips curved wryly as he joined me. “Is she coming out?”
I shrugged.
“She’s not mad, is she?”
“I doubt it.” I took both mugs to the coffee table, then went to the wall where the controls for the drapes were. “It takes some work to piss her off.”