Chapter 376

• Cassia woke with the first tentative light of dawn streaming into the room. She was on her side, facing Calix. Just a hair’s breadth away from touching, they were so close that if she sucked in a deep breath, her breasts would touch his chest. She looked at his face, which looked so much younger and vulnerable in repose. None of the phenomenally successful businessmen were in evidence, and it reminded her so much of the young man she’d known that a lump formed in her throat. A completely unbidden, monumental wave of tenderness and something else washed over her, and she went stiff with instant panic. No, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow it to rise. She knew if she did that, she would be admitting something that would have the potential to devastate her life even beyond what she already knew to be possible.
• She reasoned with herself that it was completely understandable that all these feelings would be emerging. How many people got to realize their dreams and long-held fantasies? And what a dream... She closed her eyes briefly as the memory of what had happened last night washed over her. He had been everything she could have ever fantasized about and then some. A lover without comparison, a master of the art, more in tune with her body than she had ever been.eliciting a response that made her dizzy with desire all over again. He'd taken her to the edge and back again and again.She had been as insatiable as him.
• She opened her eyes again and studiously avoided looking down that tempting body stretched alongside her. Thea’s words came back into her head like poison. Insidious and spreading throughout her body, tainting what had happened. Things were so much worse than she could have ever imagined. What would his reaction be when he woke up? Perhaps a mocking, triumphant smile? She didn’t want to wait and find out, as myriad scenarios flooded her brain, all of them leaving her feeling exposed and far too vulnerable.