She had often chastised herself for not telling Vronsky they had to wait. But every time she thought about nixing the affair she found herself unable to. The flame of their desire wasn’t that easy to extinguish, like a trick candle that couldn’t be blown out.

She believed with all her heart that the reason they were having such incredible sex was because they were so madly in love. It was as if the chemistry between them needed to be mixed and compounded, lest it settle and turn toxic. She had never felt so alive and happy as when she was wrapped in Vronsky’s arms. If there was any downside at all, it was the fact that the more they hooked up, the more they wanted it, as though they were junkies for each other. Every morning when she reached for her phone and checked WWF for messages, she’d see his text: Good morning, gorgeous! I want you, I want you, I want you. Vronsky was careful never to speak of his past with other girls, but he told Anna, in no uncertain terms, that what was happening between them was like nothing he had ever experienced before. These were no lines that Vronsky was feeding her. It was true—his love for Anna was unprecedented.

Since their first time at her house, they’d managed to see each other almost every single day, even if it was only for an hour in the early morning before school. Vronsky had taken to sleeping over at Beatrice’s house, heading back into Manhattan on his bike after seeing her, while Anna was telling her mom she was going to school extra early to catch up on the homework. She’d swing by and pick him up at the end of Beatrice’s long driveway. Since they couldn’t be seen in public they drove around Greenwich looking for a secluded place to park.

The first time, they parked in the back of a church, which Anna wasn’t thrilled with, but she soon forgot where she was when Vronsky’s hand slipped down her jeans. Yesterday Anna picked him up and they ended up pulling into an underground parking lot, driving down to the lowest level where she climbed across the gearshift before the headlights had even turned off. She’d planned better this time by wearing a skirt. Anna confessed she had never in her life walked out of the house without underwear on, explaining she had a clean pair stuffed in her backpack.