Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [207]
Suddenly she realized she was naked beneath the covers. And then she felt the sticky mess beside her. Alarmed, she pushed herself up, keeping the bedsheets to her breasts, searching the room through blurred vision for clues.
Why couldn’t she remember Daniel being here? He never stayed over at her house. He said it was too quaint. She noticed her clothes in a tangled mess on the chair across the room. Heaped on the floor next to the chair were what looked like men’s trousers, the tips of shoes peeking out from underneath. A black leather bomber jacket hung from the doorknob. She didn’t recognize it as anything Daniel would wear. That’s when she heard the shower, aware of its sound only as the water stopped. Her pulse quickened as she tried to remember something, anything, from last night.
She checked the bedside stand. It was eight forty-five. Somehow she remembered it was Monday morning. She knew she didn’t have any appointments on Mondays, but Daniel would. Why couldn’t she remember him coming over? Why couldn’t she remember herself coming home?
Think, Tess! She rubbed her temples.
Daniel had left the restaurant and she had taken a cab home, but of course she hadn’t gone straight home. The last thing she did remember was doing tequila shooters at Louie’s. Had she called Daniel to pick her up? Why couldn’t she remember? And would he be furious if she asked him to fill in the blanks? Obviously he hadn’t been angry with her last night, and she shifted away from the damp spot.
She laid her head back on the pillows, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing the throbbing would stop threatening to split her head open.
“Good morning, Tess,” a rich, deep voice came into the room.
Before she could open her eyes, she knew the voice didn’t belong to Daniel. In a panic she sat up again and pushed her back against the headboard. The tall, lean stranger with only a blue towel wrapped around his waist looked startled and concerned.
“Tess?” he said softly. “You okay?”
Then she remembered, as if a dam broke loose in her brain, releasing the memories in a flood. He had been at Louie’s, watching her from the corner table, handsome and quiet, so very unlike anyone who frequented Louie’s. How could she have brought him into her home?
“Tess, you’re starting to scare me.”
His concern seemed genuine. At least she hadn’t brought home a mass murderer. But then, how in the world did she think she’d know the difference? With his hair still wet, he looked harmless, wrapped in only a towel. Immediately she noticed his hard, firm body and realized he would be strong enough to overpower her without much effort. How could she have been so foolish?
“I’m sorry. I…you startled me.” She tried to keep the alarm from her voice.
He grabbed his trousers from the floor but stopped suddenly before putting them on as if something had just occurred to him.
“Oh Christ! You don’t remember, do you?”
Beneath the morning bristles, his boyish face looked embarrassed. He fumbled into his trousers, stumbling once and accidentally dropping the towel before the trousers were all the way up. Tess watched, flustered and annoyed that his muscular body was turning her on, despite her confusion. She should be worried he could hurt her, instead she found herself wondering how young he was. And dear God, why couldn’t she remember his name?
“I should have known you had too much to drink,” he apologized as he frantically searched for his shirt, going through her things and carefully folding them as he put them back on the chair. He stopped at her bra, and his embarrassment only grew. His distraught politeness made her smile. When he glanced over at her, he did a double take, startled by her expression. He sank into the