Take Me (Fifth Avenue) Read Free Page A

why she was thinking of sex.
    Because Sarah’s life had ended tonight. Unexpectedly. Shockingly.
    And at the moment, Sydney was more conscious than she’d ever been of the fact that time wasn’t infinite.
    That you couldn’t save everything for later. Couldn’t wait to have everything until after the next midterm. Until after graduation.
    Good sex. Great sex. The kind that curled your toes. A chance to act on the attraction that had simmered, deep inside of her, for years, for the man holding the door open for her.
    The only guarantee was tonight.
    What was wrong with living it like it might be the last? Sex was different than needing someone. Lust was different than dependency.
    She walked into the room and looked around. The wallpaper was black satin, velvet fleur-de-lis raised over the surface. There was only one bed, with deep, rich purple pillows and bedding.
    It wasn’t a room that was designed for easy conversation. Not one designed for holding a friend while they grieved.
    It was a room designed for one thing. The one thing that had never passed between them.
    The one bond in their relationship they’d never tried to forge. Because it had always felt too risky. It still did. And she had no idea what they were doing.
    Which fit, because she had no idea what life had just done to them.
    She sat on the edge of the bed and suddenly became aware of the fact that her lips were cold.
    She started to shiver and Travis sat down on the bed next to her, his posture stiff. He didn’t touch her. He sat with a strip of purple duvet between them, the space filling with all of the cold that seemed to be spilling out of her soul.
    And if he closed that distance, she might be warm. But only then.
    “Just...” she said. “Just do what you want.”

Chapter Three
    For a moment, Travis nearly lost his nerve. He almost moved away from her, almost got up and left. Left the bed, left the room.
    Because everything about that request was wrong. Everything about the moment was wrong.
    Do what you want...
    There was one thing he wanted. One thing he’d always wanted. And taking it now would be...it would be the worst kind of betrayal.
    But he didn’t get up. He didn’t leave. Instead, he pulled her hard against him, wrapped his arms tightly around her body.
    She buried her face in his neck, her tears falling onto his neck. He’d never seen Sydney cry. She was too tough. Too guarded. But she was crying now, weeping like she was trying to cleanse herself of everything that had happened tonight.
    He wished he could do it, too. But there were no tears for him. There was nothing but deep, yawning pain, and a need that he didn’t think could ever be entirely satisfied.
    She shifted against him, turned her face to the side, her lips brushing against his jaw. The soft, sweet contact shocked him, burned him. His heart sped up, blood pumping hard and fast through him, heating up the cold places inside of him. Reminding him that he was alive.
    She put her hand on his face, traced the line of his jaw with her finger. His breathing became labored, his heart raging so hard he thought he was having an attack.
    “Not a good idea, Syd,” he said, giving her a chance. One last chance, because if she took it any further he didn’t know what he might do.
    “No,” she said, “maybe not.”
    He gritted his teeth, his blood pumping hot through his veins, his shaft aching, getting hard. This was not the time for that. Not the place for that, and dammit, he’d made the decision years ago, she was not the woman for this. But he couldn’t stop himself from responding. “Definitely not.”
    “What if there was nothing else, Travis?” she whispered, a temptation he couldn’t ignore. “What if this was all there was? Tonight? This room? You and me. What if it started and ended here?”
    He closed his eyes, swallowed hard, his whole body on fire. “Then I know exactly what I would want to do. But the thing is, there’s more than this night, more