him when he stepped into the doorway. Jayce instinctively knew as she slid a hand easily up his back and shoulder that heâd been with her the night before. Here. In this bed. He couldnât remember a minute of it. Which was a shame. As he looked closer at her vanilla-scented skin, he knew that she must have been very good. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime partner.
âI donât know who you are,â he said suddenly.
A tiny flicker across her lips.
âI donât know why I was here last night with you.â
She blinked, but did not deny his supposition.
âI donât really know anything anymore.â
She nodded, and this time grinned, exposing a smile that could have lit the room. âThatâs good,â she said. Her voice was honey mixed with clovesâsweet but edged in dark peat. She pulled him against her and ran cool fingers up his temples.
âLetâs keep it that way.â
Jayce could feel his body relax, the frustration of the day fading out of him with every stroke of her fingers. She pressed him back to the mattress and he laid his head against the pillow. She coiled around him like a velvet robe, her thighs slinky and warm against his, the tight cinch of her waist hard against the place where he grew hard, and the swell of her chest a cushion that both called him forward and pressed him down. He breathed her in, and the scent of vanilla suddenly filled the room. Vanilla and gardenias, like this afternoon, when he had⦠When what?
He wondered, the press of her lips now whispering something to his ear, and then the light flick of her heat warmed his lips as her tongue teased him.
âWhat about this afternoon?â he asked aloud, and she shushed him, pressing against him with all her body. Her hands ran up and down his ribs and arms, and as she did he felt strange, disoriented. The room seemed to swim in the heady scent ofâ¦ofâ¦
âNo!â Jayce pushed her back and off him, and the woman nearly fell to the floor at his violence.
He shook his head, struggling to clear the cobwebs that had grown across his vision like cotton. âWhat are you doing to me?â he said, and slapped his own face. In a heartbeat she was there, kissing his reddened cheek, but this time he did not succumb. He backed away and put out a hand to keep her at bay. She crouched on legs creamy as vanilla, her chest flushed cherry red, and heaving now. Her lips were wet, and she licked them nervously. âI need to kiss you,â she begged, and crawled forward again, pushing her way around his hand. He tried to fend her off but she was faster, darting through his fumbling hands to sink a wet, pink tongue quickly between his lips.
Jayce felt the world rush away, and everything tastedâ¦hot. His thighs itched and his eyes refused to stay open. He tasted something warm and smoky, something sweet, something vanillaâ¦
Jayce shoved her away again, disengaging violently from her kiss. She surged back instantly, and he yelled again, âNo!â
She took his shoulders between her hands, trying to pin him between the wall and her chest, and he slipped one arm free.
He slapped her, hard, across the face. This time, she did fall back, and off the bed.
Jayce leapt after her, and before she could get up, he cuffed her wrists with his palms and held her to the floor. She twisted and thrashed against him, but he used his weight to hold her down.
âWhat did you do to me?â His voice grated as he struggled to remain on top. âWhy was I here last night? Why canât I remember anything?â
âLet me go,â she hissed back. âI did what you paid me to do.â
âTell me,â he insisted.
âIâll do better than that,â she said. âLet me go and Iâll show you.â
He released her, and pushed back to sit on the floor as she sat up herself, rubbing her wrists. Her face was still dark where heâd slapped her. She