As the aftershocks rolled through our bodies, William stayed inside me. He brushed my sex hair away from my face and kissed me gently. When he finally pulled out, I could feel emptiness creeping back into my body. Fortunately, he didn’t go far. He laid next to me and pulled me against his body. As I tucked my head against his chest, I listened to his strong heartbeat as it slowed down to a more normal pace. After what was possibly the best sex of my life, I was exhausted and William seemed to feel the same way.
“Stay with me tonight?” he murmured pleadingly.
I pressed my lips to his chest, just over his heart, and then settled in more comfortably against him. “I don’t think I could stand right now even if I wanted to.”
William laughed and stroked my hair. “Good night, Livy.”
“Good night, William. Sweet dreams.”
CHAPTER THREE
I lay with my eyes closed for several minutes after I woke up. Only when I was certain that William wasn’t lying next to me did I finally open them. The awkward thing about one-night stands isn’t so much about the night. It’s about the morning after. It’s much harder to face your impulsive choices in the stark light of day.
The sheets next to me were rumpled but empty. I could hear William moving around in the other room, and his voice carried through the half-opened bedroom door. He was on the phone again, likely closing important deals. At some point I should’ve probably asked him exactly what he did for a living. I wrapped the sheet around my body and began searching for my clothes. I found them neatly folded on the dresser, with a note on top of them.
“Breakfast and coffee in the next room. Please join me.”
It was such a typical William thing to do. Then again, I didn’t really know William so I wasn’t sure if it was typical or if William was just playing some idealized version of himself. I slipped on my underwear but thought better of putting on my wrinkled dress. William’s dress shirt hung on the back of the door, so I slipped it on and buttoned a couple of buttons. It was long enough that it came to mid-thigh on me. I rolled up the sleeves and took a quick look in the mirror. What I saw was less than impressive.
I wiped away the raccoon eyes caused by sleeping in my wedding makeup and used my fingers to comb out my hair. The result was less than perfect, but it was good enough to get me through morning-after breakfast and coffee.
William was still on the phone, standing in front of the windows and wearing nothing but his boxer briefs. The sun was still rising and it cast a warm glow on his body that made him look even better than I remembered. It didn’t seem fair that he could look so amazing this morning while I looked like I had been hit by a truck. A very weird part of me wanted to sneak up behind William and wrap my arms around him. I was positive that if I actually did that, William would call security and have me taken away. I reached for the coffee instead.
I either hadn’t made enough noise to draw his attention, or William was pretending I wasn’t there. Either way, I enjoyed the freedom to watch him while I munched on a bagel. I could tell from the tense set of his shoulders that it was a serious conversation.
“That’s not going to work for me. What about the next week?” William started to pace and his profile revealed that his jaw was clenched. He had a very nice profile, I decided. I poured another cup of coffee. “This is ridiculous. Why would you think I would agree to that?”
William whirled on his heel and began pacing in the other direction. This time, his eyes found me and he stopped in mid-stride. “Hang on,” he said into the phone. He put the phone on mute and came over to me.
“I’m sorry about this. It will just be a few more minutes.”
“Don’t mind me,” I said with a gracious smile as I looked at the plentiful spread of food before us. “I’m good here.”
William smiled tightly and he dropped a kiss onto my forehead. “I’ll make it quick,” he promised. He headed to the bedroom and didn’t begin talking again until the door was shut.
After eating a couple of strawberries, I grew restless and decided to nose around the room a bit. William’s wallet lay on the coffee table and I couldn’t resist. I checked to make sure the bedroom door was still shut, and then I opened the wallet. His Illinois license confirmed that his name was William J. Connor. He was 6’2”, and 180lbs of pure muscle. His address was in the swanky part of Chicago, not surprisingly.
“Hm. An organ donor.” It figured. Everything else about him was so perfect, it made sense he would be equally perfect in death.
A couple of credit cards, a gym membership, and about five hundred dollars in cash completed everything William carried around with him on a daily basis. I was not exactly surprised by what I found, but I was glad I hadn’t found pictures of a wife and kids. I tossed the wallet down and resumed my snooping. I found a bag on the floor next to the couch and peeked inside.