Chapter 2 #6
“Nothing, nothing,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “We’ll talk tomorrow because you have a lot of explaining to do. Since when do you keep things from me? You never mentioned this to me,” she pointed out, looking at me reproachfully.
“There was nothing important to tell, I assure you,” I stated, though I knew I wasn’t being entirely honest.
“Fine, we’ll talk tomorrow,” she said, and went into her room, closing the door.
I walked to the room I had been assigned and as soon as I entered, I went straight to bed.
I removed the bedspread from around me and put it back in place.
When I lay down, I felt uneasy; just knowing I was sleeping in the room that had been his made me feel strange.
At that moment, I realized the room was very masculine, something I hadn’t noticed at first. For a while, I left the light on because I still felt nervous, but when I realized I wouldn’t be able to sleep with it on, I turned it off and tried to fall asleep, but it was still impossible.
We had kissed again. And what a kiss! I couldn’t stop thinking about that expert and passionate kiss.
My body shuddered and my stomach flipped every time I recalled what I’d experienced with Henry.
Minutes passed and all I did was toss and turn in bed trying to get his image out of my mind. An impossible task.
Why did that man keep crossing my path at every turn?
Destiny was playing with us and stacking the deck.
The light coming through the window slightly illuminated the room, and I could see the ceiling and the large lamp hanging from it. My eyes were fixed on it, but my thoughts were racing.
I heard soft knocks on the door.
“Who is it?” I asked, though at that moment I was convinced it was Sol because I had the feeling she needed to ask me many questions, and I knew my friend wasn’t the type to wait for answers.
My intuition failed me.
“Henry. May I come in?” he asked in a whisper.
Wasn’t he going to leave me in peace? What had I done to deserve this punishment?
“No,” I replied, without moving from the bed.
“Please,” he whispered again.
“No.”
The door opened slowly, and I, completely bewildered, sat up in bed.
“Do you ever do what you’re told?”
“It’s just that I need to talk to you,” he said, entering and closing the door behind him. He was wearing a white t-shirt and dark-colored pajama pants.
“I asked you to leave me alone, to not come near me again. Don’t you even have the decency to consider that? Why are you so determined to disrupt my life?”
Henry moved forward and sat on the bed, completely ignoring what I had said. He sat at a prudent distance.
“I disrupt your life?” he asked incredulously, with that husky, sensual voice that made me shiver.
“What do you think? The last few times we’ve seen each other, we’ve, we’ve...”
“Kissed,” he finished for me, seeing me hesitate.
“Exactly.”
“And that disrupts you? Because it has me completely confused,” he said, running his hand through his hair, a gesture I had seen him make several times that showed his uneasiness.
“Just tell me what you came to say.”
“At least you’re using the informal ‘you’ with me now.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes. Say what you have to say and leave. I don’t want my friends to see you here.”
He moved a little closer and I backed away as much as I could.
“What’s happening between us?” he asked.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, champ. We just kissed.”
“You know perfectly well they weren’t just kisses, they were incendiary kisses,” he said, looking into my eyes. Even though we were in the dark, I could see him perfectly because my eyes had adjusted to the darkness.
“I’d rather not talk about it. It’s better if we forget it.”
“I can’t forget it,” he stated.
“I’m going to forget it, I assure you, just like I’ll forget how badly you’ve treated me. I’ll forget everything related to you.”
“And what if I don’t want you to forget? I mean the kisses,” he clarified.
I exhaled with resignation; this man gave me no respite.
“That’s your problem, not mine. You should go,” I said, pointing to the door.
“Dalina,” he said, and tried to take my hand, but I pulled it away, “can we start over? Like the day we met at your hotel.”
“You mean the day you also called me a liar because I was talking with the bartender? Who, by the way, is my friend.”
“With you I’ve continuously put my foot in my mouth, and from what I see, I’ve done it up to my waist,” he assured, shaking his head. “Let’s do something, let’s forget about that day and just start now.”
I looked at him seriously. Start over? I wasn’t clear what that meant, but I was sure that starting anything with this man wasn’t good for me and that I needed to do something to make him leave as soon as possible because my body was already reacting to his magnetism and his attractive scent.
It was the first time a man had generated all these sensations in me and, not only was I confused, I was scared.
“Very well. My name is Dalina Dukart, along with my brothers I own the HAY hotel, my parents passed away and my brothers are my entire family. I have a degree in Marketing and I’m 24 years old.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
I noticed he smiled with satisfaction and moved again to get a little closer.
“Pleased to meet you, Dalina. My name is Henry Woollardy, I’m 37 years old, I’m a lawyer and my mother and sister are my only family. I’m in charge of the family business and... I don’t have a girlfriend either.”
“Perfect, we’ve introduced ourselves. Now you should go.”
“Dalina, what I said is true. I think you’re a beautiful woman, I like you very much and I can’t suppress the immense desire to kiss you...”
He lunged at me and, once again, assaulted my mouth as if it belonged to him by divine right.
I had no time to react; when I did, Henry was already on top of me, his mouth completely taking possession of mine and his hands slowly caressing my legs.
My body ignited completely as if this man had flipped its switch, my insides trembled and my treacherous mind surrendered.
Every time his lips touched me, I lost the battle.
I tangled my hands in his hair while joining that kiss with all the eagerness I felt.
I wanted him; it was the first time I had considered and desired to sleep with someone.
Gradually the kiss slowed down until we separated our lips and remained staring at each other with accelerated breathing.
We didn’t speak, we just looked at each other with astonishment and the distinctive gleam of passion.
His gaze lowered to my lips and slowly, very slowly, he began to lean gradually toward my lips until once again gently caressing them with his.
It was different, this kiss didn’t have the urgency of the previous ones; it was a soft, sweet kiss, a delicate contact that seemed more like a caress to my lips, but it left me breathless.
We both let out a gasp of pleasure and, at that moment, the kiss became deeper.
Our mouths fit together perfectly. He explored it again, savoring me with delight, and I returned the kiss with the same intensity.
I gently slid my hands over his shoulders, caressing him, and he shuddered and gasped.
We kissed each other more and more deeply, until we were out of breath.
“Dalina, I want you so much that I’m on the edge of desperation,” he said, panting. “But if we continue like this, I won’t be able to stop.”
“We can’t, we have to stop this,” I said, with my breathing about to collapse and panting like he was.
“Why?”
“We can’t,” I repeated, trying to move away to get out from under his body.
“We both want each other. Let me show you how much I want you and how good we can be together,” he asked, and it seemed like a plea.
“No. This isn’t the place or the time, your sister and Sol are in the other rooms. We got carried away, but we can’t continue with this. You need to go,” I said, as I got up from the bed and crossed my arms over my chest.
“All right, you’re right that this isn’t the time or place, but I assure you this isn’t over. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you and I always get what I want.”
“That’s very arrogant of you. This isn’t just about what you want.”
“You want me too,” he stated with certainty.
“It’s not just about desire.”
“And what else is it about?”
“It doesn’t matter, let’s leave it at that.”
I wasn’t about to explain to him what I thought about sex, especially about the first time. Surely if I told him I was a virgin, he would laugh in my face.
“I’m not going to leave things like this. I’ll go now, but as I said, this isn’t over, I assure you.”
“Goodbye, Henry.”
He got up and slowly approached me, took my chin and placed a soft kiss on my lips. Then he looked at me intently.
“You’re going to be mine. Goodnight, Dalina.”
And I had no doubt that if he kept insisting, I would probably end up giving in, because I wanted him too, I wanted to give myself to him, even though my heart knew he wasn’t someone I could have a “normal” relationship with.
The reality was that this man attracted me greatly and made me feel things I had never felt before, besides being the only one who had awakened the urgent need to have him inside me.
I desired him with all my being. The problem was that I was convinced that the women he was used to dating and taking to bed were anything but naive, and I would be an inexperienced girl who would end up disappointing him and, surely, boring him.
When he closed the door, I collapsed on the bed completely bewildered.
That man did whatever he wanted with my body.
I couldn’t go on like this. I looked at the clock.
It was four in the morning. I got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
When I came out, I packed my things and decided to leave.
I knew Sol would be very angry because I had left her and she probably wouldn’t believe my excuse.
Niky, who didn’t know me as well, might believe me, but due to my argument with her brother, she would also have doubts, but I couldn’t find another option.
I sent the same message to both of them:
“I apologize for leaving without waiting for you to wake up.
I got a call from the hotel because an unexpected issue came up and I had to leave in a hurry.
Talk to you soon.
Love you both”
I started my car and left the house knowing I was being a coward, but at that moment I didn’t have the strength necessary to face him, because I was sure he would still be there in the morning.