Then Aleck and I say goodbye to Preston and Sondra. Mr. and Mrs. Bell. They are enchanting. She has her face buried in his neck from the exhaustion of the day, and he runs the tips of his fingers up and down her bare arm and shoulder.

Jealousy scorches my insides and ripples through me like the aftershock of an earthquake. She’s being adored by her new husband, deservingly so, while I’m heading upstairs to be pummeled into every surface of my suite by a man who, come tomorrow, wants nothing more to do with me.

“I love you, babe,” I whisper into Sondra’s ear.

“I love you more.” She tightens her arms around my shoulders before releasing me. “We’ll be heading up soon ourselves. I’m so tired.”

“Get some sleep,” I say.

“We’re all having breakfast before checkout, tomorrow.” She smiles, glowing with happiness even through her exhaustion. “Meet us in the lobby at nine? Checkout is at ten.”

Aleck slips his fingers between mine, holding onto my hand. “We’ll be there,” he says. “And I extended our checkout to noon. Take your time.”

“Of course you did.” Sondra smiles. “Thank you, Aleck.”

He nods, shaking Preston’s hand with the one not connected to mine. “Congratulations.”

Preston slaps his hand over Aleck’s shoulder. “See you at breakfast. Love you, brother.”

I still at the sound of Preston telling Aleck he loved him. I’m sure Aleck won’t say it back. Has he ever said it to anyone? Surely to his parents. Aleck smiles warmly, then takes the lead, walking me through Candlelit Hall to the lobby. I didn’t think so.

Our walk to the suite is void of words but charged with crackling energy. It brings back the memory of the time we ascended to our suite before the first time he devoured me on the kitchen island after Fat Billie’s. Only this time, we aren’t strangers.

Or were we?

The tension between us almost chokes me. The second the door to the elevator slides open, I stepped through them to escape the suffocating walls that are closing in.

I only get two steps before Aleck’s strong, authoritative hand wraps around my wrist, stopping me. He pulls me against his body, his eyes are soft, but something dark lays behind them.

Without saying a word, he hooks his arm under my knees, his other arm curling around my back, and he scoops me into his arms.

An abrupt giggle leaves my throat, surprising me with his sudden lightheartedness.

Aleck gracefully juggles me and the door, which sends a pang of irritation through my veins. On my best day, I struggle with that damn keycard. Not surprisingly, Aleck does it effortlessly while holding an entire human being.

He walks me through the threshold of our suite, and I can only stare at him. Downloading all of him to memory in the likely event he and I would never be this close, this intimate again.

I take in all of him. His thick stubble that blankets his strong, square jaw. His perfectly shaped and proportioned earlobe. The way his slightly grown-out hairline curls at the ends over his tanned skin. His broad shoulders. His thick, hard biceps, now bulging because he’s holding me.