over her mouth.
“Anything you need is in there.” He nodded toward the adjoining bathroom before dropping another kiss on her shoulder. “Just hurry back.”
When Sloane returned, he was seated with his back propped against the padded leather headboard. Her bashful smile slowly gave way to a determined one. Her eyes locked with his as she straddled him. Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she leaned in and kissed him, tentatively at first.
He fought the urge to take over. Instead, he let her dictate the pace and manage the heat building between them. Sloane palmed his face and angled her head, her tongue gliding against his and her slick folds gliding along his heated flesh. She swiveled her hips, the pace and intensity of her movements more frantic.
Benji groaned with pleasure, losing all sense of control as he dug his fingers into the soft skin at her hip that bore a mandala tattoo with a rose at its center. He jerked her hips forward and then back. They were both getting closer to the edge, and he ached with the need to be inside her again. He flipped them over, so he lay atop her, and reached into the nightstand for a foil packet, fumbling to put it on.
He was desperate to get his fill of the woman who’d haunted his dreams since puberty. The only woman he’d ever really wanted.
Sloane wrapped her legs around him as he moved inside her. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders and her breath caught as she flew apart beneath him. His name rolled off her tongue as her muscles tensed, pulling him beneath the river of pleasure that washed over them.
Benji tumbled to the mattress, his skin slick with sweat and his breathing labored. He pulled her to him and kissed her damp forehead. “Come to Japan with me, Sloane.”
The words he’d whispered impulsively into her hair took him by surprise. They’d agreed to one night together, not a six-month-long commitment.
Smooth, Benj.
His brain urged him to revoke the invitation. But everything below his neck desperately wanted her to say yes.
“Sure. It’ll be a blast. We can eat sushi every day, sing karaoke every night and ride the bullet train on the weekends. Besides, seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom is on my bucket list. Just give me a few hours to throw a travel bag together.”
“You’ll come with me?” Abject terror and genuine excitement battled in his chest. The way they did during the seconds when a roller coaster made its painfully slow ascent to the summit before plummeting toward the earth.
“Wait...” Sloane lifted her head from his chest and blinked, her head cocked. “You’re not serious, are you?”
His shoulders tensed. “Dead serious.”
“Benji, I can’t. I thought you understood that this was just...”
“A game?”
“Fun. A release. Two people being a little naughty for the weekend.” Sloane pulled the sheet around her, suddenly self-conscious. She sat up, her back against the headboard. “But us getting serious? That can’t happen. I thought you were clear on that.”
“I am, and that doesn’t have to change. But it was nice to wake up to someone who made me want to spend the day in bed.” He shrugged. “I haven’t had that in a long time.”
“Neither have I, but—”
“Then why not keep doing it? In Japan,” he added.
Sloane dragged her fingers through her messy curls and huffed. “And while you’re working every day, what am I supposed to do? Lounge around, waiting for my sugar daddy to get home? No thanks, Benj. I’m not interested in being anyone’s kept woman. Not even a billionaire’s.” She climbed out of bed, taking the sheet with her as she wrapped it around her body and rummaged on the floor for her bra and panties. “Besides, I have a job and responsibilities, and I don’t have a passport. Never needed one.”
Benji dragged the remaining covers up to his waist. “I wasn’t thinking of the arrangement that way at all. We’d just be two friends hanging out.”
“And screwing. On your dime.” She looked at him pointedly. “Plus, you just called it ‘an arrangement.’ So if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck—”
She had a point.
He had just turned into that guy. The one who thought he could buy anyone and anything. Even the woman he adored.
“Point taken.” He cleared his throat. “Like I said, that wasn’t my intention.”
“I know it wasn’t. And I’m flattered you asked.” Her tone and her gaze softened. She gripped her blue dress to her chest as she approached him and brushed a soft kiss to his lips. “If the situation was different...” Sloane wouldn’t allow herself to finish the thought.
It was just as well. No point in musing about some alternate universe in which she would say yes.
Benji did the only thing there was left to do. He tugged her to him. Her dress tumbled to the floor, quickly joined by the pale pink bra and panties.
Six months later
Benji inhaled the scent of the roses, lilies and snapdragons overflowing his arms as he approached Sloane’s building.
The edge of his mouth curled in a faint smile. Sloane had always loved the scent of the snapdragons his mother grew in their front yard.
He halted in front of the red door and drew in a deep breath.
It’s just friends going out for coffee. No big deal.
At least that was the first step of his grand plan. He’d invite her to coffee where they could have a discussion on neutral ground about the possibility of picking up where they’d left off before he’d departed for Japan.
He’d casually inquired about Sloane during his absence, but his sister had been unusually tight-lipped about her friend, so he didn’t press. It would only raise his sister’s suspicions about why he was so interested.
So he’d simply told Delia that he needed Sloane’s address for his Christmas list. Not a lie, but not the primary reason he was asking.
Benji had considered picking up the phone and calling Sloane while he was in Japan. But she’d been so adamant that walking away was the right thing to do. There was no way he would’ve been able to persuade her with a long-distance phone call.
He’d kept himself busy with work, but when it was time to book his flight home, he realized he’d arrive on Valentine’s Day.
It had seemed like a sign.
So instead of flying directly to Seattle, he’d booked a flight to Nashville. He needed to speak to Sloane in person.
Maybe he was crazy to believe there could be anything more between them. But dealing with Sloane’s rejection would be a lot less painful than suffering a lifetime of regret.
