Chapter 16
Emily woke up and reached for Hendrix, smiling at the memories from last night. But her hand didn’t find a warm, muscular body next to her. Sitting up, she pushed her hair out of her face and looked around. Hendrix was gone?
For a long moment, she sat still, trying to hear if he was perhaps in the bathroom or maybe in the kitchen, making coffee.
However, she heard only silence. Sitting up, Emily pulled the sheet over her nakedness, trying to ignore the sharp stab of pain in her heart.
“He’s gone?” she whispered to the silence. “I was just a one night stand?”
The pain that hit her at the possibility was too much, so she pushed it away. For a long moment, she just sat there in her bed, thinking about yesterday. And last night. Hendrix had been so…amazing. So sweet and attentive. And demanding. If he’d been here this morning, Emily knew that she would have begged him to do all of those things to her again. Plus, she’d like to try a few things on him that she’d read about. Daring, naughty things that a particularly interesting book assured the reader would blow a man’s mind.
But apparently, that wasn’t in the cards, she thought and pushed her legs over the side of the bed. She didn’t bother to grab her clothes. Instead, Emily rushed across the cold, hardwood floor to her tiny bathroom. There, she flipped on the water, then brushed her teeth while waiting for the hot water to make its way through the old pipes.
Finally, when she stepped under the warm spray, Emily allowed the tears to flow. She felt like a fool! She’d fallen hard for Hendrix two years ago, but if she’d known that he was the kind of man who would leave without a word in the middle of the night, she would have ignored the emotional roller coaster she’d been on for too long!
Scrubbing her body, Emily tried to scour away all of the memories from last night. But every time the soap slid against her skin, she thought about the way Hendrix’s fingers had glided over her, the way his kisses had inflamed her. She felt her cheeks heat up at the intimate kisses from last night, the way she’d clung to his hair, shifting her hips against his mouth as he’d done those wicked, magical things to her body.
“Damn it!” she hissed and rinsed off the soap. Stepping out of the shower, she flipped the towel off of the hook, wrapping it around herself. Looking in the mirror, Emily tried to remind herself that she was a strong, independent woman. “You’re not going to let this bring you down!” she whispered to her reflection.
Turning away from the mirror, she dried off, then got ready for work. She had a big party to plan and lots of details to confirm.
Grabbing one of the six pairs of black slacks hanging in her closet, she pulled them on, then a white dress shirt. She wore the same outfit to work every day, the same outfit as the other staff members. She didn’t try to elevate herself from anyone on the team, preferring to be in the same uniform so that she could step in and help in any department. Her staff knew that she was the club manager. That was all that was important.
After drying her hair, she curled it all into a neat, professional twist, then pinned it to the back of her head. She only applied a light coat of makeup, then silently moved about her house, putting everything back to rights. The dishwasher was full from yesterday’s feast so she turned it on to run while she was gone. The bed was rumpled, but instead of making the bed, she pulled off all of the sheets and tossed them into the washing machine. Yeah, she’d come home tonight and have to put them into the dryer, but the thought of getting into a bed with Hendrix’s scent lingering in the sheets wasn’t going to happen. She needed to banish every memory of last night and move on. Good times had been had and today was a new day.
“Just two lonely people having a nice Christmas,” she whispered as she grabbed her purse and walked out of her house, keys in hand and her leather notebook with the details of the club issues under her arm.