PROLOGUE: MIAMI GETAWAY

JADA'S POV

"Oh God... yes." The words slipped out of me in broken gasps as I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist, pulling him closer even though he was already pressed against every inch of me.

It had been a while since I had felt a man's touch.

After my breakup with my ex-boyfriend months ago, I had completely shut myself off from relationships, sex, and anything emotional. I was tired of disappointment. Tired of feeling like I was giving pieces of myself to people who never stayed long enough to deserve them.

But the second I felt that man's hands on my body-I couldn't resist the burning desire that left me weak and needy in an instant.

The crazy thing was, I wasn't even supposed to sleep with anyone that night.

It was supposed to be our last night in Miami before my friends and I went back home. Back to our normal lives. Back to long work shifts, unpaid bills, and pretending adulthood wasn't exhausting.

For one week we allowed ourselves to forget all of that. We just wanted to let loose, and that was how we ended up at some rooftop bar. And how I met him, and an hour later, found myself in a hotel room getting absolutely destroyed by a huge cock of the person I had just met. A total freaking stranger, but somehow, I didn't care.

We didn't sleep much. In fact, we barely slept at all.

The night became a blur of tangled sheets, breathless kisses, wandering hands, and whispered words in the dark. Every time I thought things would slow down, they only became more intense.

He touched me like he already knew my body.

Like he knew exactly how to make me fall apart.

What surprised me most wasn't the attraction.

It was the softness.

In between all the heated moments, there were quiet touches that felt strangely intimate. Fingers brushing hair away from my face. Lips pressed gently against my shoulder. His hand holding mine for no reason at all.

It confused me.

How could someone feel so distant and so close at the same time?

At some point during the night, we ended up lying together beneath the sheets, both exhausted and half asleep. He wrapped an arm around me, his other hand resting on my stomach like he was holding something in. His breathing was slow and steady, except for the moments he tensed, like he was fighting thoughts even in his dreams.

I just lay there on his chest, awake, wondering who he was. What he did. What secrets he carried. I couldn't believe I still didn't know his name, but I still let him see the vulnerable side of me that nobody else had seen in months.

I thought about my ex-boyfriend and how long it took before I ever trusted him enough to be vulnerable. But with him, everything happened naturally. Scarily naturally.

Maybe it was because I knew I would never see him again.

Sometimes strangers are easier to trust because they cannot stay long enough to hurt you properly.

I couldn't stop wondering why he touched me the way he did. Why he kissed me like that. Why he held me like he didn't want to let go but already knew he would.

Eventually sunlight began slipping through the curtains, warming the room with soft golden light. I felt my eyelids grow heavier while exhaustion finally pulled me under.

The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was his fingers lightly tracing circles against my stomach.

When I woke up, the bed beside me was empty.

I sat up slowly, pulling the blanket against my chest while looking around the room.

He was gone.

A strange feeling settled inside my chest immediately.

Disappointment.

I hated that I felt it.

We were strangers. That was all this was ever supposed to be. Still, I searched the room anyway. There was no note or anything, just the faint scent of him on the pillow beside me. Something clean, woody, and expensive.

The memories of the night rushed back instantly, making heat crawl up my neck.

I leaned back against the headboard and stared at the empty room. A part of me felt embarrassed for expecting anything else. Something about him leaving without a word bothered me more than it should have. Not because I expected romance or anything, but because it felt unfinished.

Like there were things left unsaid between us.

I finally climbed out of bed and grabbed my clothes from the floor. My phone showed several missed calls and messages from my friends asking where I disappeared to.

I ignored them for a moment. Instead, I found myself staring one last time at the empty side of the bed.

I never expected to see him again after that morning.

Honestly, I thought he would become nothing more than a reckless Miami memory I would think about sometimes late at night.

But I had no idea that meeting him was about to change my life completely.

And I definitely never expected what would come next.