Chapter 3

Audrey's POV

For a moment, I genuinely thought I had suddenly developed a hearing problem, because there was no logical explanation for what I had just heard.

I was certain that the stranger I had just left behind in the elevator had called my name.

Not casually, but with the kind of certainty that made it sound like he had known me for years.

My steps slowed as confusion tightened in my chest, and I turned back instinctively, my brows pulling together.

“How did you…”

The question never made it out.

He was gone.

I blinked, my gaze sweeping the hallway as if he might suddenly reappear, but there was nothing there.

Worse still, I didn’t know his name.

Didn’t know his room.

Didn’t know anything about him beyond the way he had completely unraveled me in less than thirty minutes.

“Where could he have gone…” I murmured, more to myself than anything, already turning in the opposite direction without fully thinking it through.

And then I saw him.

Just ahead, near the end of the hallway, he was stepping into a room.

“Wait!” I called out before I could stop myself, my voice echoing slightly as I hurried toward him.

It wasn’t even a long distance, but by the time I reached him, my breathing had already picked up, my chest rising faster than it should, and I let out a quiet, frustrated breath under my nose.

“Oh God… this stupid body…”

He turned at the sound of my voice, a knowing smile spreading across his lips as his eyes settled on me like he had been expecting me to come after him.

“Are you that impatient?” he asked, his tone laced with amusement as his gaze moved over me in a way that made my skin prickle.

“You couldn’t even make it to your room before coming back for another round?”

His gaze swept over me deliberately, like he was already imagining it.

“I don’t mind, though,” he added smoothly. “I like my woman a little… unpredictable.”

“Point of correction,” I said, straightening slightly as I met his eyes, refusing to let him take control of the conversation so easily.

“I’m not your woman. We’re just two consenting adults having fun with our bodies.”

“And secondly… how do you know my name?”

For a brief second, he looked almost surprised, like the question had caught him off guard.

“Your name is Audrey?” he asked, brows lifting slightly. “I didn’t know that.”

I stared at him, completely unimpressed.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” I said, my voice sharpening despite myself. “We didn’t introduce ourselves. I never told you my name. Who the hell are you?”

The air between us shifted, and instead of answering, he simply pushed the door open wider and stepped aside, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Second round,” he said calmly, as though that alone was enough of an answer. “And I’ll tell you.”

I stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

The audacity of this man was genuinely breathtaking.

“You think I’m going to sleep with you again just to find out how you know my name?”

I hesitated, if only for a moment, because something about this was starting to feel strange in a way I couldn’t quite explain.

But then again, nothing about today had been normal from the very beginning, and somehow that thought was enough to push me forward.

I walked past him into the room, my pulse louder in my ears now, and the door closed behind me almost immediately.

Before the words even left my mouth, he swooped me up with one swift motion, slinging me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

“Wha—?!” I squeaked.

A sharp smack landed on my ass, making me gasp.

Did this man just carry me? A whole 170 pounds like I was nothing?!

He walked toward the bed and dropped me on the middle with ease, spread my legs apart, leaning down with his lips where I was soaked, and I screamed out instinctively.

He froze, looking up at me, one brow raised. “What?”

I pulled back and pressed both palms flat against his chest, pushing.

“What is your problem?” I breathed, moving back. “I’m not a damn teenager. You don’t just get to fuck me into forgetting the question.”

“You mean eat you up?” he asked with a smirk.

“Whatever. Just answer the damn question.

He reached out and lifted my wrist gently, turning it so the light caught the thin gold chain sitting there.

“Lovely bracelet,” he said simply.

I snatched my wrist back. “Are you serious?” I stared at him. “That’s it? That’s the big mystery? You read my bracelet?”

“You asked how I knew.”

“I thought—” I cut myself off, pressing two fingers against my forehead

“I didn’t even realize I still had it on. I’ve been wearing it so long I forget it’s there.”

He tilted his head slightly, studying me with that too-careful attention that was starting to get under my skin.

“Gift from the man who made you cry?”

I looked at him sharply. “Do you ever rest?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well, since you’re so annoyingly nosy, no, it wasn’t a gift from my husband,” I said, my voice flattening.

“My husband has never given me a single gift in Sixyears of being together”

“It was from a secret admirer in college. Small gifts here and there. This bracelet was the last one.”

I looked down at it without meaning to.

“I never found out who it was. I’ve worn it every day since because it was the first gift anyone ever gave me that felt like it was actually meant for me.”

I reached down to gather my bag and straightened up.

“I need to go,” I said, clearing my throat. “I need to take a proper shower. It’s been a catastrophic evening.”

“You can shower here.”

I looked up.

“You look like you need a second orgasm,” he said, his voice dropping just enough to do serious damage to my composure.

“And I’ve been told my tongue is very good company.”

My entire body responded before my brain could intervene as I clenched my thighs together.

“Well… don’t you think if we are going to be fuck buddies, we should at least cover the basics? I don’t even know your name.”

He shook his head slowly, like the answer was the funniest thing in the world.

“So you really don’t recognize me, Audrey Hepburn?”