Prologue

Two Months Ago

IRIS' P.O.V

What have I done?

I waited to feel regret, but none came. Still, I couldn't help the trembling in my bones and the ache between my legs as I tiptoed around the hotel room, picking my clothes from the floor and pulling them on.

My phone buzzed once, calling my attention, and I picked it from the bedside drawer. When I flipped it open, I saw a message from my best friend, Hilda.

Hilda: Are you done?

Hilda: You’re running out of time!

My entire body rang with alarm as I checked my wristwatch. If I am not back home in an hour, I am as good as dead!

Me: Be right down!

Cursing softly, I scrambled about, more frantically this time, looking for other misplaced items of mine. I didn't care if the man taking a shower in the bathroom heard me. I found all my belongings except one, and I could have left without it, if it wasn’t my favourite piece.

The sound of the shower turned off, and immediately, I froze in panic. I was supposed to be gone before he came out. In a split second, I glanced between the main door and the one leading to the bathroom and calculated if what I was looking for was worth the embarrassment of being seen by him again.

I decided it was not.

With that, I grabbed my bag and dashed for the door. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up my stomach, making the ache between my legs throb. I bent over and gasped in pain as I held my stomach with one hand and a nearby stool with the other.

“Are you okay?”

His voice was like fine red wine, aged to perfection, with each word becoming a sip that intoxicated my mind with its depth and richness. This same voice had whispered wicked things into my ears while my body was slowly ravished by him in the most delicious manner.

I closed my eyes, locking my spine, as I slowly rose to my full height, determined not to see his face again.

If I do, I am doomed.

“I’m fine.” I said, clearing my throat. “I’ll be on my way now.”

I slowly began to move towards the door, and I was almost there when he spoke again. “Forgetting something?”

I stopped in my tracks, slowly turned around, and the first thing I saw was his hand holding what I was looking for.

My panties.

Then my eyes cross to him and all of a sudden, I’m weak in the knees.

Tall, dark haired and handsome are not enough adjectives to describe this man.

Where men were tall, this man was a Viking god, dressed in nothing but a white towel, tattoos and scars that only seemed to add more to the dangerous air around him. His large biceps flexed as he dried his neck with a towel, and my heart rate quickened as I remembered how they wrapped around me in bed just a few hours ago. Where men were handsome, this man was heartbreakingly beautiful, and as I stared into his piercing blue eyes, my core heated up with molten desire.

Dragging my eyes back to my panties, I swallowed and found my throat dry, “Can I please have my underwear back?”

He looked at the piece of orange fabric bunched up in his hand. “You mean this?” and then he did the most surprising thing.

He brought my underwear to his nose and took a long whiff. Maybe it was the way he closed his eyes in blissful satisfaction or the way he half groaned and half moaned, but I was reminded of how he had shed my clothes earlier on and fucked my senses to oblivion. “I’m sorry, but you can’t have it back.”

I licked my lips and his gaze immediately fastened, to the action. “Why?” I whispered.

He crossed the room in large, languid strides and stood before me. Before I could blink, his hand came up and brushed a strand of hair behind my ears while holding me captive with his gaze. “Because I need this as proof that I just had the sweetest fuck of my life, and it wasn’t all in my head.”

I could only blink as his words settled over me like air to fiery flames, making me hot from the inside out. His finger traced invisible lines down my face, causing delicious shivers to wrack my body. His finger travelled to my neck and then along the ridge of my right breast.

My breathing picked up, making me acutely aware of my nipples tightening and my sex, moistening. I just had a one-night stand with a complete stranger and despite the throbbing between my legs, I knew they would treacherously open wide again for this man.

A continuous buzz permeated the surrounding air, and it took a moment for me to realize it’s my phone.

Snapping out of my reverie, I rushed through my Prada bag to fish it out. When I flicked it open, and saw the caller ID, my panic came with full force.

“I have to go!” I said, turning around and heading for the door.

Something stopped me, or rather, someone. I half-turned to see his hand wrapped around my wrist and as I looked back up at him, I saw a hunger that goes way beyond raging lust, it was a hunger that looked like hope. “Tell me your name.”

And I wish I could. “I can’t!” I said, trying to twist my arm out of his grip, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Why?”

“Because I can’t!”

Maybe it’s the panic in my voice or the fact that I am close to tears, but he let me go. His eyes carried an emotion that resembled confusion and pain before they went icy cold. “You’re not an escort, are you?”

I shook my head in response. He nods to himself and runs a large hand over his face and through his hair. “How will I find you again...Sweetness?”

“You don’t need to.”

“But I want to.”

“If we were meant to be, you’ll see me again.”

He scoffed and laughed to himself. “You believe in fate and all that crap?”

“You don’t?”

He shook his head.

“Well, I don’t know what to say,” I shrugged, “I believe in it and if you really want to see me, you have to start believing in it too.”

“I hear ya.”

A small smile forms on my lips and I look at him one last time before heading for the door.

“Wait!”

‘Blessed mother of God.’ I whispered before turning around in exasperation. “I really have to g-”

I stopped in my tracks when I saw him hold two bundles of cash and without hesitation, shoved it inside my bag. “Here, that’s five times as much as I pay an escort…which you are not, of course, but I hope it compensates for the way I…handled you in bed. I had no idea it was your first time.”

Before I could reply, my phone buzzed again, and I opened my mouth to tell him I really have to go, “I know, I know. You can go.” He said, reluctantly.

I gave him a nod before rushing out of the room and down the hallway to the elevator.

Once I was inside, I pressed the button for the ground floor and looked up to see him standing in the hallway four rooms down. “For your sake, I’ll believe in fate,” he said before the elevator doors close.