“Hmm. Okay.”
“How’d I score on number one?” he asked her.
She chuckled softly in spite of herself. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s a mistake to praise a man’s performance in bed.”
“You were wonderful,” he said. “Phenomenal. Like a furnace, a blast furnace. Hot and strong. God. I thought I was going to faint,” he said.
She laughed. “You weren’t too bad.”
“Thanks. Just out of curiosity, why is it number one?”
She shrugged. “I guess I couldn’t think of a compromise. This is an awful important part of being a couple.”
“It is,” he agreed. He kissed her cheek and said, “Excuse me for just a minute.” He withdrew to the bathroom. When he came back, he was wearing a frown and a towel around his hips. He sat on the bed beside her. “Brandy, I have to tell you something. The condom—it broke.”
“Jesus,” she said in a weak breath.
“It’s okay—I’ll tell you exactly what to do. I’m a doctor. There’s emergency birth control for exactly this kind of problem. If you’ll see your doctor on Monday, he or she can prescribe something to prevent a pregnancy. If you can’t get an appointment, you can come to my office Monday and I’ll write you a scrip.”
“I’m on the pill,” she said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” he said. “Damn, I’m sorry, honey. We should sue the hotel.”
“It’ll be all right, won’t it?”
“You should be fine. I take real cautious care of myself—you haven’t been exposed to anything.” He brushed the hair back from her brow. “I’m so sorry. The last thing I wanted was for you to be worried about anything. Especially now that I know everything you’ve been through.”
She smiled at him. “Aren’t you worried that you’ve been exposed to something? You don’t know me.”
“I can take care of my concerns.” He smiled. “I get a real good deal on lab tests, if I feel they’re in order.”
“No reason you should believe me, but it was necessary for me to be completely checked over after my… After he moved out. Quite a while ago.”
“Thanks for telling me that, Brandy.” He lowered himself to the bed and gathered her up in his arms. “As long as you’re all right, that’s all that concerns me right now. As far as I’m concerned, you have everything on the list covered. Very nicely.”
“This should never end,” she said.
“It doesn’t have to,” he said, kissing her neck. “God knows, I don’t want it to.”
“But it will,” she said, a hint of sadness in her tone.
“That’s up to you. I’d like to know more of you.”
“I’ll have to think about that,” she said.
“You think,” he said. “I’ll try to offer incentives.” His hands began to move and she moaned, instantly responsive to his touch. He was on the rise again, and it was obvious against her thigh.
She said, “Do you think the next condom will hold?”
“I don’t think it much matters. Now.”
It was a very long time before they slept. He made love to her again and again, each time sweeter, more satisfying than the time before. It shouldn’t have been so effortless, so right, but it was. For someone who had been tense and frightened, she had shed her inhibitions quickly and unfolded at his touch, responding to him with a heat and passion that surprised and thrilled him. The level of physical intimacy was greater than he expected, more profound than he’d imagined. He’d had his share of one-night stands, but he couldn’t remember one that felt like this. He wanted more of this woman, and not just more of her in bed.
In the morning, early, when the sun was barely up, she was awake and touching him. “I have to go now,” she whispered.
“Not yet,” he said, reaching for her. “Not yet.”
She ran a hand along the hair at his temple. “It was a beautiful night, but I have to go.”
“I want to see you again,” he said. “Tell me how to get in touch with you.”
“My life is so messed up right now,” she said. “You have to understand that much, or last night couldn’t have happened…”
“I’m not afraid of a little mess…”
“Let me go and do the things I have to do, straighten things out a little, then get in touch with you. Can you do that?”