by Iona Rose
I did not have an answer really. “Just leave it on the table,” I said.
He gave me a smile. When he was done, he bowed slightly before turning to head back out of the room.
I took in the served platters, a tad bit surprised at the varied options of what seemed like every breakfast food that existed; fruit, croissants, muffins, juice, coffee, eggs, bacon, sausage, bread…
This had most definitely not been ordered for one person.
I was touched by Carter’s consideration, but it all served to confuse me even more.
Where was the indifference to my welfare that he was supposed to have when a one night ended?
“Good morning.”
With the sound of his voice, I jumped.
I spun around.
He stood by the door to the bathroom just as he was wrapping a white towel around his hips.
My eyes caught the glimpse of his groin just before he covered it all, and the sight of his semi-hard cock was a very welcome one for the morning.
“Leah?” He called.
I tore my gaze away from the bulge against the towel to swallow the lump in my throat. “Hey,” I replied. “I was um… just about to leave.”
His gaze met mine and it accused me of being dismissive. My stomach churned at the twinge of remorse, but I had lived long enough to know how to put myself on self-preservation mode, especially when the situation concerned ‘unfamiliar’ men.
He eyed me. “Have breakfast before you go. You can start without me.”
“No need—” I started to say, but he had already closed the door behind him. I sighed.
Wasn’t it always best when things like this ended quickly? Me staying around for breakfast like he had asked… wouldn’t that complicate things?
I groaned under my breath at the discomfort in the pit of my stomach, and ran my gaze around the room to find my sandals. They had been flung away in the midst of our wild night, and I hadn’t laid eyes on them since.
I immediately went in search and found one underneath the massive mahogany bed. The other was by the dresser in the corner, so I retrieved it, and put them on.
He appeared then, dressed in just a pair of dark grey slacks, and a naked torso.
In the light of the day, I could see him more properly than I had the previous night and I was just completely blown away.
His hair looked damp from the shower, uneven and dangling in wavy clumps from his head. His torso was glistening and hairless, carved into slabs of muscles. His arms were muscled as well.
I almost couldn’t believe that I’d slept in those arms. Once again, I began to melt and wanted more than ever to be in them again.
“Do you want to eat outside?” he asked.
I took a moment to think about it. I nodded, and headed over to the table, avoiding his gaze. My heart kept thundering in my chest, on the sole account of the person before me and I could hear it… loud and clear. How could he have such an effect on me?
He joined me and together, we filled our plates with what we wanted. I chose some toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon, while he selected pancakes, drizzled syrup over them and prepared a bowl of berries.
“Excuse me while I go…” I smiled and pointed to the restroom.
Carter nodded.
I went into the heated and still somewhat steamy bathroom. His toiletries were arranged neatly on the marble countertop; a small, transparent bag of travel sized essentials, and a bottle of Creed-spice & wood cologne. I paused to open it and lifted it to my nose. Yes, this was his scent, all right. That hint of cedarwood and lemon. There were probably more spices in there I could definitely not identify but all in all, I absolutely loved it. I capped it and set it back where I’d found it.
I wiped the steam away from the mirror to take a proper look at myself.
I was a hot, crumbling mess. My eyeliner was smeared all over my eyes, my lipstick completely gone, and my lips slightly swollen.
If I hadn’t been hell bent on escaping, I never would have allowed him to see me like this. It was a wonder that he hadn’t immediately kicked me out. I didn’t want to wash my face with basic soap so I just found some wet wipes to revert me back to a blank state.
Curly wisps of hair floated around my face and since they softened my appearance, I left them as they were.
I cleaned up as much as I could, completely aware that my underwear was missing and would most probably stay that way. This thought did make me smile for a few seconds though. I then returned to the balcony to join him.
He was on a call, which ended the moment I sat down.
Soon we were both settled in and I turned to gaze at the view beyond. It was of the Taurus mountains and of the beautiful town of Alanya; its castle, and colorful buildings sprawled before the endless blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Vehicles, incoming boats, and people were moving around, the view picturesque as everyone went about their business for the day.
“This is beautiful,” I said.
Carter nodded in agreement. He passed over the basket of muffins and croissants that he had brought over, and I retrieved a piece of each.
“Thank you.’ I said, and we began eating quietly.
I kept my gaze on the town that looked so alive. In the distance, I could see people kayaking, and it made me want to ask him about his hobbies but I wanted to keep it simple. In a few minutes we would most probably be gone from each other’s lives… permanently.
I completely avoided his eyes, even though I could feel them on me, searing my skin but I didn’t know how to face him.
Then he spoke, “Were you really going to leave?” he asked. “Without a word?” His arresting green eyes, completely unreadable, focused on me.
My hands trembled as they lifted a napkin to my lips, and tried to mask my nerves with a smile as I spat out the first lie that came to mind, “I um… had a thing that my friends and I had planned to do today. Early.” My head and voice lowered as I stabbed a piece of scrambled egg. “I didn’t want to miss it.”
He didn’t respond to the blatant lie, and it made the meal all the more excruciating to sit through.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. Never had inhaling and exhaling just to keep myself alive been more of an ordeal. I patted my lips with the napkin and drained my glass of juice. “Thank you,” I said to him,” for breakfast.”
Silent, he watched me as he chewed slowly.
I couldn’t help but notice the change in him. Now, in the light of day, he was contained and fully in control, the flirty, bubbly man I had spent the night with completely replaced. He intimidated me to my very bones. I pushed my chair backwards.
Just before I could rise he said, “Have dinner with me tonight.”
My brain scrambled to a halt. All I could do was stare at him, absolutely nothing coming to mind to say in response.
“Will you have the time?” He asked.
I settled back into the chair and took a deep breath. “Carter… I don’t—this isn’t usually how this goes right?”
He leaned back into his chair and folded his toned arms across his chest. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” I replied, well aware that he wanted me to spell it out. I did. “We had fun last night. Aren’t we meant to part ways today? Take it solely as the delightful experience that it was?”
His response was simple., “I’m not ready to part ways with you just yet. Are you? Ready to part ways with me?”
My lips parted to speak, but then they trembled with indecision and shut closed again. I honestly didn’t know how to respond to that, so I ignored the question. “I’ll have dinner with you.”
He slid his phone on the table over to me. I picked it up and inputted my number.
“I’ll call you,” he said. “Is 7 pm all right?”
“It is,” I replied.
He rose to his feet.
I did the same, and went into the room to search for my purse. I slung it over my shoulder.
H
e walked me to the door to pull it open for me. Before I could leave however, he said, “There’s a car waiting downstairs to drive you back to your hotel.”
“Oh no, that’s all right. I’ll just get a cab.”
“I insist,” he said. “He’s a personal driver assigned to me for the duration of my stay here. See you tonight.”
I thought he would give me a kiss, but he didn’t, so I stepped out of the room and went on my way. I didn’t look back until I heard the door close behind me.
At the entrance to the hotel, I looked around to see if I could spot the driver, and almost immediately, a black town car pulled up.
The driver got out, a heavyset Turkish man with a thick mustache, dressed in a dark suit. “Miss Peters?” he called.
“Yes, I’m Leah Peters.”
He hurried over to the back door to pull it open for me. “I’ve been asked to take you back to your hotel. Where is that?”
“The Sunprime, C-lounge. Thank you.” I got into the sleek vehicle, and was returned safely back.
I walked into our room to meet Anne mid-sprint.
I quickly moved out of her way as she dashed for the bathroom, and was about to ask what was going on when I heard the spew from her guts.
I sucked in my breath. “Yikes,” I said and turned to Tracy.
Sitting upright in bed, she was flipping through a Kristin Hannah novel. “You don’t know the half of it. That’s been going on all morning. And it’s almost noon, where the hell have you been? We missed out on our space on the pier, and we’re meant to go out this afternoon.”
I ignored her and walked into the bathroom to meet Anne, still bent over the toilet bowl.
I bent down, brushing away the tendrils of hair that had escaped from her bun. “Sweetie,” I called.
She lifted her head to stare up at me. She looked like she was in abject misery, her eyes bloodshot, and her gaze hazy from all the pain and discomfort of the hangover. “I’m dying,” she lamented.
I threw my purse aside, and grabbed under her arms to lift her up. “No, you’re not. You’re going to be fine.”
“I haven’t been this hungover since college. Fuck.”
“You’ll be fine,” I consoled, and led her to the sink so she could rinse her mouth. Afterwards, I led her back to our bed, and tucked her in.
“Take some Aspirin,” Tracy called out. “Or better yet, let’s go get some soup. They should have one spicy enough with some vegetables that will be able to soothe you.”
“I’m not going near food,” she growled.
I took my seat on the fluffy bed.
“She’s refusing to take anything at all,” Tracy complained. “No medicine and not even some food to settle her stomach. I don’t know what to do.”
“It’ll pass soon,” I said. “She’ll be fine in a few more hours.”
Anne groaned aloud.
“I really wanted to go to the castle and the Red Tower today,” Tracy whined. “We could even check out the old shipyard too. Can we go, Leah?”
“We can’t leave Anne here alone.”
“She’ll come with us… the fresh air will be good for her. By the time we return, she’ll be back to normal. Right, Anne?” She turned to ask.
“Fuck the fresh air. I need gatorade.”
“It’s settled then.” Tracy jumped up from the bed. “Leah, get dressed. There’s an awesome farmer’s market in town and it’s called the Cuma Bazaar. It’s only held on Friday, so we have to be there today. We’ll get some snacks and Gatorade, then head over to the castle.”
“I’m coming straight back to the hotel,” Anne said.
Tracy lifted her arms in the air, close to losing her mind. “Come the fuck on,” she roared, and turned to me. “Leah!”
I was conflicted once again on both of their sides but at the same time on none of their sides. My dinner date with Carter was heavy on my mind, but I also didn’t want to give Tracy more reasons to be dissatisfied with this vacation. “What time can we be back, Tracy?” I asked.
She immediately perked up. “Maybe 5:30? 6?”
There was no way I could go with her, and still make it back in time to get ready for dinner with Carter. So I scrunched up my face and turned an apologetic gaze to her. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t come with you today. Maybe next week. We’ll still be here, and I promise I’ll come along with you to wherever you want for the rest of the trip.”
“I don’t get it, why can't you come with me today? Are you hungover too?”
Anne turned on the bed to face us, “That’s true,” she said. “Where did you go off to last night?”
I glanced over at her narrowed gaze.
With a sigh, Tracy collapsed back to the bed, momentarily suspending her annoyance so she could listen to what I had to say. ”What happened last night, Leah? I tried to reach you all morning.”
“My battery died,” I replied.
Her response was a frown. She soon shook it away. “So, what happened? Where did he take you?” Her eyes narrowed at me. “And what did he do to you?”
“She met someone last night?” Anne asked.
Tracy nodded so hard that I prayed her head would fall off.
“Oh, wow,” Anne said. “At the bar?”
“Yeah, and he is fucking hot. They left the dance floor, and he took her to a private room on the second floor. That was the last I saw of her.”
“What happened after that?” Anne asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement while momentarily forgetting her hangover.
“I thought you were hung over?” I eyed her.
She swatted the comment away. “Don’t try to change the subject, tell us what happened.”
In desperate need of a shower, I turned and walked towards the closet, where my clothes hung. “Nothing much,” I said, and began to sort through it to find what I could wear to the market with Tracy if I did decide to go, and later on to dinner with Carter. “We went back to his hotel room and I spent the night with him.”
“Oh, my God!” Anne exclaimed.
I turned to her in surprise.
Tracy couldn’t stop snickering.
I had never been so confused. “I don’t understand why is this such a big deal? Anne, you were with that bartender too, weren't you?”
“Yes, but that’s me. I don’t hold sex as sacredly as you do.”
“I do not!”
“You’ve only slept with two guys in your entire life, and they were both long term boyfriends. You won’t even kiss random strangers when we go out, back home.”
“No one should kiss random strangers.”
“But yet, you fucked one last night,” Anne pointed out. “You see why this is a big deal? What the hell happened to you? Tracy, was he that hot?”
Tracy nodded. “I haven’t seen a guy so fine in years.”
“Fuck,” Anne cursed. “Why didn’t I get to meet him?”
Tracy had her snipe ready, “Because you jumped on the first dick you saw and didn’t hold out for something better?”
Anne snorted in response. “What dick? My whole night yesterday was just a fucking disaster. And I fell twice on that disgusting floor. Look at my elbows.” She lifted them to our view, and they were reddened and bruised.
“Ugh,” Tracy said.
“That looks bad,” I said. “Does it still hurt a lot?”
“I wished this was the only pain, my fucking head is about split into two from this darn headache.”
Tracy shook her head. “Don’t change the subject. Leah, tell us what you two did, in detail. It must be something to hear about if you’re just coming home now.”
“Let’s finish with Anne first,” I said. “Anne, what happened with the bartender guy?”
Her sigh was heavy. “Well, we went to the bathroom to fuck, and then he went down on me. But when it was time for me to return the favor, he pulled down his pants and I found that he was fucking uncircumcised.”
Both Tracy and I immediately burst out laughing, well
aware of Anne’s very dark past with uncircumcised men.
“The last time I went down that road was with Chris… you guys remember right? That poker player we met in Vegas. I threw up. Literally spilled my guts out. I am never going down that road again.”
“You threw up because his was… um unkempt,” I reminded her. “Not because he was uncircumcised.”
“Well from experience, uncircumcised cocks tend to have all that crap hidden in them that sometimes even a shower can’t get to. I’ll never have that in my mouth again.”
“It's called smegma,” Tracy supplied, thoroughly amused.
“Ugh.” Anne shuddered. “I hate that word.”
“So you walked out on him?” I asked.
“He walked out on me!” she screeched. “I was even ready to fuck him. We’ve been flirting for a few days and I needed a fucking release but then he got angry! He called me a bitch and walked out. Can you imagine? We’re never going back to that bar again.”
"Thank god,” Tracy said.
I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Anyway, back to you, Leah. What the fuck happened with you and this guy?” She groaned. “And I still can’t believe you had a one night stand!”
Now I was ready to speak. My guard was down and I felt safe again. “Well, we slept together, and it was the best sex I've ever had.”
“We need details.” Tracy groaned and threw a pillow at me.
I dodged it, amused. “What details do you need? We did it on the bed, in the kitchen, he fucked me against the wall…”
“Oh. My. God,” Tracy said.
Anne’s mouth hung open. “How big is his dick?” Anne asked.
I cocked my head at her. “Why are you asking that?”
“Why the fuck wouldn’t she ask you that?” Tracy asked, her eyes nearly popping out of her sockets. “I want to know too.”
“Oh, so now you guys are getting along?”
“Answer the damn question!” Anne threw another pillow at me.
This time around, I was smacked right on the head. “Stop!” I yelled.
“Answer us!”
“It was fucking big okay? Smooth and pink and thick. What else do you want to know?”