My ongoing deception tugged at my conscience. “You mean since you so rudely disconnected my call.”

“Yes, but I didn’t hear you complain. Oh, I heard you,” he smirked. “But it didn’t sound like complaints.”

“Back to your question.” I couldn’t think about what we’d done. If I did, I’d want more. “I did talk to her, why?”

“I hope she doesn’t mind my stealing you for the rest of your vacation.”

I shrugged. “We live together for now. So I think we’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad I heard your answer to her question.”

I leaned back and narrowed my eyes. “What question?”

Nox rolled me over until my head was upon the pillow and he was over my chest. Raising his brows, he said, “I may have seen a few texts when I plugged in your phone.”

“You looked at my texts?”

“No, I plugged in your phone and they were there. And…”

My irritation floated away with the sound of the surf and the kiss of his lips. “And,” I replied, “I told her your balls aren’t blue.”

Nox laughed, his chest vibrating against mine. “Not anymore.”

DREAMS, LIKE FAIRYTALES, all come to an end. We wake or turn that final page. There’s no escaping it. It may take days, years, or an entire lifetime, but forever doesn’t truly exist. No matter how hard we wish or try, the end always comes.

Nox’s and my final day, the last day of my vacation, arrived. Though we’d both awakened early, we’d been granted a short reprieve when Nox successfully lulled me back to sleep. With the sun barely up, I’d drifted away in a sweet cloud of musk, wrapped in the arms of the man I barely knew.

I didn’t know his last name, where he lived, or what he did, but I knew that in the six days and five nights we’d been together, I’d lost my heart to him. I didn’t know if he’d stolen it or if I’d given it. I even tried to convince myself that it wasn’t the entire thing… that it was only a piece of my heart that he now possessed. If that were true, it meant that I would survive. If it were only a piece and even if what I still had within me was broken, I stood a chance of repair. One day I might find the magic we shared. Someday when Alex was ready, when she wasn’t about to concentrate on law school, she could discover what I would soon be leaving.

It was a good tale, a story of fabrication, and one I knew was a lie. The pain within me from the moment we woke was too intense. The evidence pointed to one conclusion: Nox hadn’t taken a piece of my heart. He had the entire thing. Repair would never come. It wasn’t possible to repair what no longer existed.

With each breath, the void of my missing heart ached in my chest.

Though I needed to pack my things and Chelsea and I needed to get to the airport, I wasn’t rushing. Instead, I was sitting across the small table on the balcony of the presidential suite, sipping coffee and moving eggs and fruit around my plate. Our time together was ticking away. The figurative clock would soon strike midnight. If this were Cinderella, I’d be running down the steps and leaving my glass slipper.

For the first time since we’d met, our sentences felt forced—polite and proper. There were so many things we hadn’t said, so many things we wanted to say, but now it was too late. When we were showering, Nox joked about my missing my flight, but other than that, we’d avoided the subject.

“Nox,” I said, debating with myself if I could be at least partially honest. “I know our agreement, and I still believe we should honor it. But there’s something I want you to know.”

His pale eyes looked up from his barely-eaten breakfast. Apparently neither of us had an appetite. “What?”

“I guess I want you to know that this week wasn’t me.”

Putting his fork down, he asked, “What do you mean? You’re not Charli?”

I didn’t want to go there. “I mean that I’ve never before done what we’ve done. I want you to know that I don’t go around meeting men and doing what we did.”

His grin quirked. “You want me to know you don’t sleep around.”

I nodded. Why would he believe me? I let him fuck me in a public bathroom. I asked for it—for his cock. That didn’t sound like someone with standards. “It’s just that… well, I’m sure you have met… other women… had more opportunity…”

“Charli,” he reached across the table and laid his hand down, palm up.

A tear escaped my eye as I placed my hand in his.

His surrounded mine with a squeeze. “I believe you.”

I forced a smile.

“No matter how experienced you think I am or how many women there have been, I’m not what you think. I don’t do this either. I’ve told you—I have unique tastes, and honestly, they don’t bode well for most relationships. I have sources that keep me satisfied, but that’s not the same thing. I haven’t even tried to be in a relationship for quite awhile.”

I looked at him through my lashes. On his face I saw the sincerity mirrored in his words.

“There was something about you,” he went on, “about us, that was different—different than anything I’ve ever experienced. I was drawn to you that morning at the pool. There was—no, is—electricity that surrounds us like I’ve never known.”

The void in my chest gaped open. It was so painful I feared looking down. If I did, I was sure I’d see bloody shreds of vessels and flesh where my heart had been. Nox felt what I felt. It wasn’t just me. We had a connection and soon it would be over.

“I-I wish,” I said through ragged breaths, “I wish this were another time and place. I wish this were longer than a week. I wish I could, but I can’t.”

He squeezed my hand again. “I’m not asking—not because I don’t want that. I do. I’m not asking because we both went into this with the same expectations. Believe me, I’ve been racking my brain for ways to make you stay, for me to stay.” He looked around, taking in the balcony and the ocean beyond. His cheeks rose as he said, “I don’t really live here. I also have a life to return to.”

My eyes darted to his when he said life.

“Life, Charli, not wife. I didn’t lie. Both of us have lives. Maybe one day, if it’s meant to be, they’ll intersect. In the meantime, we’ll always have Del Mar and 101.” He added the last part with the menacing grin that made my tummy do somersaults.

Nox stood and lifted my hand. When I rose, he pulled me into his arms and our lips met. I wanted to stay in his embrace forever. His kiss was tender and giving. The urgency we’d had over the past week had been replaced by a need to share what little of ourselves we could. His lips and tongue tasted like coffee. I knew that every time I drank a cup, I’d remember Nox. I’d also remember the way we fit together. Whenever I was chilled, I’d recall the warmth of his solid body against mine. That memory would become my blanket as I resumed my life, my real one.

I longed to give him something, too. As his fingers raked the waves of my long hair, I wanted him to remember me, to remember us. I would have gladly given him anything he desired, but the pain in my chest meant I had nothing left to give. Nox already owned me—heart, body, and soul.

I was no longer my own to bestow.

“I’ll take you and Chelsea to the airport.”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t. I can’t do this again. This has to be our goodbye.” The word was a knife gutting the void.

The vein and tendons in his neck told me that he wanted to argue, perhaps demand. After all, he hadn’t asked. The navy swirling in his light blue eyes also let me know that his emotions were on overload. He was debating his next words.

“Please, Nox, please don’t make this more difficult than it already is.”

His lips captured mine. One last kiss—no longer gentle. This was rough and devouring.