Best Laid Plans Read Free Page A

to see he looked as good without the tuxedo as he’d looked in it. Finally he grinned and bent over her, tantalizing her with a probing kiss while maintaining a strangers-on-the-dance-floor distance between their naked bodies.
    “Are you trying to make me beg?” she managed to gasp when the kiss ended.
    His own breathing was ragged. “I didn’t expect this to happen, and I’m not exactly… prepared.”
    “Prepared?” She felt like her head was full of champagne bubbles. What was he talking about?
    “Do you have protection?”
    “Oh!” She dragged herself to the head of the bed and slid open the drawer to her nightstand. Shoved way in the back, there was a strip of condoms.
    “Thank God,” he said, accepting them like a prize and ripping one open. “Otherwise I might have been tempted to do something foolish.”
    Tell me about it . Then she — either spontaneously or foolishly, she wasn’t sure which — opened her arms, her legs, and her heart to a man she’d just met.
    • • •
    Violet woke up with a mouth full of cotton in a head that felt like it belonged to someone else. She sat up gingerly and reached for the glass of tepid water on her nightstand, knocking Jake’s watch to the floor in the process. Jake . She smiled through her pain at the memory of last night. The first time they’d made love had been frantic and fast, but the second — and the third — had surpassed any expectation of sexual bliss she’d ever had, as orgasm after orgasm rippled through her.
    She heard the water running and realized Jake was in the shower. Would it, she wondered, be too forward of her to join him? The thought made her smile. After last night, nothing seemed off limits. But the shower came to a stop before she could act on her impulse.
    After retrieving the watch and gulping down the glass of water, she slipped out of bed and pulled on the robe she’d left draped over her bedroom chair. She removed one or two hairpins still clinging to her disheveled hair, and brushed it out in front of the bureau.
    “In that kimono, with your dark hair down, you look like a princess. It’s a good thing I didn’t walk in before you belted the sash.” He’d come out of the bathroom with his curly hair still damp from the shower, and was rolling up the sleeves on last night’s white dress shirt.
    “That’s a good thing?” She opened her arms to him, but his embrace lasted only seconds. Sighing, he kissed her forehead and let her go.
    She handed him the watch, which he slid onto his wrist. Had she misunderstood something last night? It had been the beginning of something special, she was sure of it. Now he was acting like he couldn’t wait to leave. Her heart lurched in her chest. What if he was married ? Why hadn’t she asked more questions?
    “I have to get back to my brother’s place in Boston. My flight isn’t until midnight, but I still have packing to do.”
    Had he said something to her about a trip? Maybe he was going away on a book promotion. Or was he in a hurry to get out of there because last night hadn’t meant anything to him?
    “Jake, I just want to say I don’t sleep with men I’ve just met … ”
    He put his arms around her, and this time he held on. “I know. But of course we only had the one night, and we had to grab the opportunity. It’s making this difficult, though. I’ve never minded before.”
    “Minded what?”
    “Leaving the States. I feel like a soldier, going off to war and leaving the world’s prettiest girl at home.”
    She pulled away. Barefoot, it was even more difficult to meet his eyes. “Jake, where exactly are you going?”
    “Russia for six months, then straight to Tibet for six more.” He frowned. “But you knew that, right? Richard knew what I do and I thought you did too … ”
    She rubbed her aching temples and sank down onto the rumpled bed. “I’m sorry, I probably should know what you wrote, but I’ve been preoccupied with the job change.”
    He got down