“You weren’t lying,” she said incredulously as she stood in front of the picturesque windows that overlooked the harbor on one side and the city on the other. Lights flickered softly in the water, and the moon cast an ethereal glow over the now dormant metropolis. She finished the glass of wine he poured her. When she turned around to ask for more she found him staring at her. She cocked her head to the side asked him what he was looking at.

He took the glass from her hand and placed it on the table. Then he gently reached up to caress her cheek. “God, you are so beautiful.” Turning away from his touch, she stared up at him.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“Doing what? Baby, what’s wrong?” He asked her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“This!” she said, pushing his hands away, then gesturing to the suite, “and this! Tom, I think you’re a really great guy, but what we had is gone. It didn’t work out and I was upset about that, but I’ve moved on. I’m at a very critical point in my life, where I just don’t have time to worry about this. I have so much work to do; I haven’t even had time to indulge in myself, let alone in men. I mean,” she said, throwing her hands up, “this is the first time in god knows how long that I’m wearing something other than jeans, scrubs, or sweatpants. But I like my busy schedule. Wake up, go to class, go to clinical, study, go to bed. Structure works for me. I know where I am in my life, and then here you are, out of nowhere, expecting me to change. Why? Why couldn’t you just let things be?”

He took a step towards her.” You want to know why?” She nodded and moved back, the smoldering look in his eyes making her heart race. “The real reason why I couldn’t just let it go? Because for five years you have been following me, taunting me, driving me over the edge.” He kept walking towards her until her back was against the cold window, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted in surprise. “Every day images of you run through my head until I can’t concentrate. When I close my eyes at night, you haunt my dreams, making it impossible to sleep. Every time I make love,” His fingers grazed her cheek lightly as he wound her curls around his hand, “it’s you that I see beneath me. Your hair spread out on the pillow, you calling my name as I make you explode with pleasure. You’re the reason that I’ve worked so hard. These hotels? This empire? I only did it because of you!” He pulled his hand from her hair and shrugged. “But tell me you don’t want me. Tell me you haven’t thought about me every day, wished things could have been different between us. Tell me you don’t feel anything, and I will stop. I’ll bring you home, and you won’t have to hear from me again. Just tell me,” he paused, “that you don’t love me.”

Dropping her gaze, she feebly shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Good,” he said, before taking the last step towards her and hungrily capturing her mouth with his. She surrendered to the warmth of his embrace and leaned in, deepening