At least, he hoped he wouldn’t.

Honestly, it was a miracle from the gods that she’d passed out. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop himself, and that would make him an even bigger ass**le than he already was. Besides, she would easily explain their f**king as an error in judgment made while intoxicated. When he took her for real—which he would eventually; he had no doubt of that after he’d had a taste of her—he wanted her to have full control of her actions. There was no way he’d let her dismiss their time together as a drunken mistake.

As for now, he could only blame himself for his painful erection. For half a second he considered pulling out his dick and whacking off while he could still drink in the view of her lovely na**d body. Thankfully a moment of clarity hit him and he realized he was a creep for even thinking it. He didn’t need another reason to be disgusted with himself.

Instead, he swept one more gaze down her splendid form, putting it to memory so he could take care of himself later, alone. He had a feeling this memory might take him days of beating off before he even scratched the surface of his lust.

He rolled off the bed and let out a frustrated sigh, her scent still on his breath causing him to let out another. Then, in attempt to be a gentleman, he tugged the covers out from underneath her and pulled them up over her na**d body. Wrapped in warmth, she curled up on her side, a content smile pasted on her sleeping face.

At least she’d been satiated. Maybe it would earn him points with her in the future. Though, now that he thought about it, their paths weren’t likely to cross again. That wasn’t something Seth could live with.

He looked down at her, scrutinizing. Sure, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. But his attraction to her was more than that. And seeing her like this, asleep and peaceful, he remembered what it was—her hidden layer of vulnerability that he yearned to expose, itched to impose on. If she opened up to him like he thought she could, he would wrap himself around her fragile side and make her forget all those things he suspected she’d buried deep inside.

At least, he’d like to give it a try.

He rearranged his stiff bulge in his jeans in an unsuccessful attempt to ease his discomfort, and opened the drawer of the nightstand in search of hotel stationary and a pen. When he found what he needed, he scrawled a quick message to Heather and left it next to her phone. He’d give her a chance to take the next step.

If she didn’t, he’d take the next step himself.

A repeated buzzing drew Heather out of a deep sleep. Not yet ready to open her eyes, she became aware of two things—she had no clothes on and her head was pounding.

Oh, and there was a buzzing. Somewhere nearby. A familiar buzzing.

Her phone.

Still not opening her eyes, she reached her hand out to the nightstand and felt around for the cell she suspected was there. When she found it, she opened one eye just long enough to read the name of the caller. Lexie. Why was Lexie calling her so early? Though, it might not even be early. Heather had yet to determine what time it was, but it felt early.

She pushed the talk button. “What?”

“Heather?”

“I said what?” Goddammit, her head hurt. She vaguely remembered drinking a bit too much. And eating practically nothing. That explained the gurgling in her stomach.

Relief filled Lexie’s voice. “Thank God I got hold of you. I was worried. The spa called and said you didn’t make it to your appointment and you didn’t answer my calls.”

“Oh, f**k.” Heather sat up and opened her eyes, noting the vicious sway of the room as she did. “Hold on a sec.” She pressed the phone to her chest while she gathered her thoughts, remembered where she was. Oh yeah, the hotel. She was supposed to spend the day in the spa.

She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 11:42. Her appointment had been at eleven. Raising the phone back to her face, she said, “I didn’t ask for a wakeup call or anything. Can I get in later?”

“Yeah, you prepaid for all day so whenever you want to show up is fine.”

“Awesome.” Because as soon as she got over her raging headache, a full body massage would be exquisite. Heather lowered the phone again and grabbed for one of two bottles of water on the nightstand, noticing a packet of pain relievers there as well. She tore into them, hoping they’d work quickly.

When she put the phone back to her ear, she realized Lexie had been talking. “…glad you got to sleep in, at least. You needed it.”

“Yeah, I did need it.” She couldn’t even recall what time it was when she’d made it back to her room. Or how.

Then in a series of embarrassing flashes she remembered—Seth, her throwing herself at him, her naked. And one glorious orgasm. “Oh…fuck…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m hung over.” She shifted and realized her upper thighs were sticky. “And I think I had sex last night.”

“Oh my God! With the carpenter?” Lexie’s excitement was evident.

It aggravated Heather’s head. She lowered the volume on her phone several notches before answering. “Um, yeah.”

“Well? How was it?”

Truth was, she had no idea. She remembered getting naked, remembered Seth doing amazing things to her body. She looked down at her br**sts and noticed they were dotted with hickeys. Yeah, she remembered that. She’d practically released from that alone.

But past that, she recalled little. “I don’t know. I think I passed out.”

“That’s all sorts of wrong.”

It was all sorts of wrong. She’d had sex with an amazingly attractive man and she couldn’t remember any of it. God, how was it that Seth, who reminded her too much of her past as it was, could—in an instant—turn her into the slutty girl her father always thought she’d be?

That was why she had known she shouldn’t get involved with him. Yet here she’d gone and ignored her own advice.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Lexie’s voice pulled her back from her self-reprimanding. “You used a condom at least, right? Because you missed a couple days on your birth control, remember.”

A condom? “Fuck! I didn’t even think about that.” Had they? She closed her eyes and fought against her pain to try to remember details. “I’m sure we did.” They had to have. Right? “Hold on.” She got up and began searching the room, looking in the empty trash cans and on every surface she could find. She even looked under the bed and through the bed clothes. Nothing.