Читать книгу Very Truly Sexy - Dawn Atkins - Страница 11

RAFE WOKE AND STRETCHED across the spongy hotel bed, reveling in the open space. Except something was missing. Beth. He usually liked sleeping alone, not having to worry about disturbing a woman when he rolled around or punched the pillows. But this morning he missed Beth.

Sure, he’d been celibate for a while, and hunger made the best sauce, but something about Beth’s wide-eyed pleasure and eager interest had superheated the experience. She’d challenged herself into circulation, evidently—made a bet or accepted a dare from her friend—and he’d been in the right place at the right time to enjoy her win.

The sex had been remarkable. She’d been so focused on every nuance, every movement, as if it were completely new to her. Does this feel good? Do you do this with other women? Why like this and not this? Almost like she was taking notes. She was a technical writer, so of course she’d be detail-oriented. That made him smile.

He wasn’t sure why he’d been ducking sex lately. It was a fine pastime. But the pleasure hadn’t seemed worth the hassle for the last year or so—roughly coinciding with his restlessness at work.

When he had gotten involved, it was never serious. He made certain of that. His parents’ marriage had failed, largely due to his father’s lack of emotional staying power—a lack Rafe believed he shared. So he kept things light with women.

Being a journalist led to a certain dispassion—a neutrality that kept him from really putting his weight down in one place or with one person. Forever was a hell of a long time.

Meeting Beth had been a splash of ice water in the face—fresh and bracing and impossible to ignore—reminding him that not only had he spent too much time alone, but he hadn’t been paying much attention to the little joys of life.

Beth had reacted to sex with the wonder of a child getting her first taste of ice cream, and that was damned erotic. She was sweet and smart and surprisingly innocent. An uncertain sex goddess.

But a hell of a quick learner.

He’d like more, but she was gone. Hell, he didn’t even know her last name. Probably just as well. For all of her one-night-stand enthusiasm, she struck him as a woman who cared a lot about everything. So if last night had been enough for her, that was okay by him.

He was glad he hadn’t told her he’d overheard her phone conversation. The last thing she’d want in her sexual triumph was to think that he’d felt sorry for her in her little-kitty hair thing and shaky heels.

Hungry, he climbed out of bed to locate the room-service menu. He would eat before he headed across the street to the Phoenix Rising office.