Page 57 of Playing Mr. Perfect

She hums a sweet, satisfied sound.

I roll off her, gathering her against me. Her eyes are at half-mast, her sweet, sated smile tugging at something deep inside me. “Still with me, baby?”

“Mm-hm.” She nestles into the crook of my neck.

I kiss her forehead. “I’m really glad we had this time together.”

“Me too,” she says softly.

I run my fingers through the ends of her hair, wishing she wasn’t leaving in just a few hours. “I know you’ll be busy when you get back home, but I’d like to keep seeing you.”

She’s quiet for a long moment before resting her head on my arm and pressing her hand to my cheek. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, right. Because the sex is too good?”

She rolls her lower lip between her teeth, the apology rising in her eyes, gutting me.

“You’re serious?”

Her brow furrows, and she nods.

“I don’t understand. I thought we had a great time together.”

“We did. You’re an amazing guy, and this has been a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but everything I said in the beginning still holds true. My life is in Charlottesville doing research and working in my lab, and yours is…I don’t even know where. Playing football, traveling, and being famous.” Her eyes are sad, her voice strained. “I really like you. It’s scary how much I like you. But we would never work long term. I’m so busy, I have to be at work every day, and we don’t even live in the same city. I’m not this carefree person. I was being honest when I said I don’t know who I am when I’m with you. I just think it would be better if we part with all our wonderful memories intact instead of ruining them by trying to make it work and ending up unhappy and resenting each other.”

I’m rendered momentarily speechless.

“I’m sorry,” she says pleadingly.

There’s a crushing pain in my chest, but I suck it up, because I can see and hear how hard this decision was for her and I’m not about to make her feel worse. “Don’t be. It’s fine. I get it.”

“You’re not mad?” she asks tentatively.

“How could I be mad? I feel lucky to have had this time with you. Besides, ‘we’ll always have Paris.’”

Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, we will.”

“The sun will be up soon. Think you can give me one last sunrise?”

“I’d like that.”

“Be right back, beautiful.” I kiss her cheek and climb out of bed, heading into the bathroom, trying to wrap my mind around what just happened.

Chapter Fifteen

Pepper

The office phone rings as I click print on an article I want to bring home to read tonight.

“I’m taking off,” Chris Wharton says as he appears in my office doorway. His curly brown hair is as messy as ever, his beard is unkempt, and his clothes are wrinkled, but his disheveled appearance is a small price to pay for his top-tier scientific brilliance.

The phone rings again. “One sec.” I hold up my finger as I answer it. “SynTech.”

“I have to run. I’ll email you the data from the simulation,” Chris says in a rushed voice as the guy on the other end of the phone says, “Is this…Wait…what company did you say this is?”

I give Chris a thumbs-up, and as he leaves, I say, “SynTech Research and Development,” into the phone.

“I’m sorry. I must have the wrong number,” the man says, and the line goes dead.