they maneuvered onto the bed. Again an exercise in elegance rather than the convoluted tangle of limbs she’d always experienced in the past. Sally had never known such synchronicity before. Exploring his body, listening to and watching his reactions as she did so, became the most natural thing in the world. Despite the sense of urgency that had gripped her at the bar, right now she wanted to take all the time in the world. Kirk, too, seemed content to go along for the ride, to allow her the time to find out exactly what wrung the greatest reactions from him, how to take him to the edge of madness and how to bring him slowly down again.
And then it was his turn. His hands were firm and sure as they stroked her, his fingers nimble and sweet as they tweaked and tugged and probed until she was shaking from head to foot. Wanting to demand he give her the release her body trembled for, yet wanting him to prolong this torturous pleasure at the same time. And all the while he murmured how beautiful she was. How perfect. It was the most empowering experience of her life.
When he finally sheathed himself and entered her body, it was sheer perfection. Her hips rose to greet him, and as he filled her she knew she’d never known anything quite this exquisite and might never know anything to match it again. Tonight was a gift. Something to be cherished. All of it—especially the way he made her feel so incredibly wanted when he groaned and gripped her hips as he sank fully within her.
“Don’t. Move,” he implored her as she tightened her inner muscles around him.
“What? Like this?” She tightened again and tilted her hips so he nestled just that little bit deeper.
“Exactly not like that.”
She did it again, savoring the power his words had given her. Savoring, too, each and every sensation that rippled through her body at how deliciously he filled her. He growled, a deep, guttural resignation to her demands and began to withdraw. Then he surged against her. This time it was Sally who groaned in surrender. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, her short, practical nails embedded in his skin. She met him thrust for thrust, her tension coiling tighter and tighter, until she lost all sense of what was happening and felt her entire being let go in a maelstrom of pleasure so mind-blowing, so breathtaking she knew nothing in her life would ever be the same again.
As she lay there, heart still hammering a frantic beat, her nerve endings still tingling with the climax that had wrung her body out, she thought it such a shame that this was to be only a one-night stand. A woman could get used to this kind of lovemaking. But not a woman like her, she reminded herself sternly. She had a career path to follow. A life to build and a point to prove, to herself if to no one else. Throwing herself into another doomed attempt at building a satisfying relationship would only distract her from her goals. She had to take this rendezvous for what it was—a beautiful anomaly—and then thank the nice man for the lovely ending to the night before getting dressed and going home.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. To pull away and leave the welcoming warmth of his embrace, to end the age-old connection of their bodies. Kirk murmured something in her ear and rolled to one side, bringing her with him until she was half sprawled over his body. Oh, but he was magnificent, she though as she studied his upper torso. How lucky was she to have met him tonight? She lowered her head on his chest and listened to his heart rate as it changed from racing fast to a slower, more even beat. His breathing, too, changed, and his fingers stopped playing with her hair.
He was asleep. Five more minutes and it was time to go. Gently she extracted herself from his arms and tiptoed around the bedroom gathering up her things. A quick trip to the bathroom to tidy up and get dressed and she was out of here. No sticking around for embarrassment in the cold light of morning. No recriminations or awkwardness over breakfast.
She let herself out of the apartment and slipped her phone from her bag. She’d just opened an app to order a cab when her phone—put on silent when she’d gone out to meet her friends—lit up with an incoming call. She recognized the name on the screen immediately. Marilyn had been her father’s PA since before she was born and had become a mother figure to Sally after her own mother’s death. But it was late, after midnight. What on earth was Marilyn doing calling her now?
“Hello?” Sally answered as the elevator doors opened onto the lobby.
“Where are you?” Marilyn asked sharply. “I’ve been trying to call you for the past two hours.”
There was a note to the older woman’s voice that Sally had never heard her use before. She identified it immediately as fear and felt her stomach drop.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
“It’s your father. He came back into his office tonight, and security found him while they were on their rounds. He’s had a heart attack and he’s at the hospital now. It’s bad, Sally, really bad.”
A whimper escaped her as she took a mental note of the details of which hospital he was at.
“Where are you?” Marilyn asked. “I’ll send Benton with the car.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m not far from the hospital. I’ve got a cab coming already. Are you there now?”
“Of course,” the PA answered. A note of vulnerability crept into her voice. “But they won’t tell me anything because I’m not next of kin.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. I promise.”
Waiting for the cab was the longest five minutes of her life, and as it pulled away from the curb, Sally wondered how life could turn on the dime like that. How, in one moment, everything could be perfect and exciting and new, and in the next all could be torn away.
She should never have left her father after dinner tonight, especially on the eve of something as big as tomorrow’s merger announcement. But how was she to know he’d go back into the office and, of all things, have a heart attack? And why had the security guards called Marilyn instead of her? Surely she, as his daughter, should have been listed on the company register as his immediate next of kin? But then, he’d always sheltered and protected her, hadn’t he?
She remembered how drawn he’d looked tonight. How she’d dismissed it so easily as nothing out of the ordinary. She hadn’t even asked if he was feeling ill. Guilt assailed her. He hadn’t wanted to worry her about the merger, so why would he worry her about not feeling well? Suddenly her decision to be bold and chase after her own pleasure without thinking of the consequences tonight seemed horribly pathetic and selfish. If she’d simply gone home after her friends had left the bar, she’d have gotten the call and been at the hospital hours ago. What if she arrived too late? She didn’t know what she’d do if she lost her dad. He was her rock, her mainstay, her shelter.
“Hold on, Daddy,” she whispered. “Please, hold on.”
* * *
Always an early riser, Kirk woke as sunlight began to filter through the blinds, his body satiated like it had never been before. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling and decided he could definitely go for another round of that. He reached across his sheets for Sally’s warm, recumbent form beside him and came up with empty space. When had she pulled away from him? It wasn’t like him to sleep so deeply that he couldn’t remember his bed partner leaving, but then again he’d all but lost consciousness after the force of passion they’d shared.
Maybe she was in the bathroom. He looked across the bed to where light should have gleamed around the bathroom door frame, but there was only darkness. He sat up and cast his gaze around the room looking
