The Apartment (Apartment #1) by Amanda Black Read Free Book Online Page A

something, I’ve been known to crash in the studio. I didn’t want you to expect me to be here each night or anything like that.”
    “Whatever you need to do, sweetheart. You’re a grown man, you don’t need to check in. I’m just happy that you found something that might help you feel more productive.”
    On that note, Ethan nodded curtly and turned around again, finally making his way upstairs to his old bedroom. Sometime in the last few years, Barbara had turned it into a guest room, most likely assuming that he’d never even set foot in it again.
    Lying down in the oversized bed, Ethan prayed for sleep to find him again. That small bit he had earlier in the apartment with his mystery woman had been the most peaceful sleep he’d had in a long time, not just in the past week. As he lay there in the dark, he let his mind travel again to soft lips and delicious kisses, to delicate fingers stroking his hair. He wanted to hold her again. He wanted to bottle her up and keep her for nights just like that one.
    And with that thought, he finally fell asleep.
    * * *
    Frantic kisses… bodies entwined in a heap on the floor… soft moans turning into pleasured cries… beautiful hazel eyes… fading… fading… fading…
    Searching… looking everywhere… looking for someone… looking for anything…
    Empty…
    Empty room… empty drawers… empty bank account… empty…
    Nothing but a hastily scribbled note:
    “Dear Ethan…”
    * * *
    “NO!” Ethan screamed, sitting straight up in the foreign bed. He was pouring sweat and his heart was pounding in his ears.
    Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was just after 3 a.m. It was the longest stretch of sleep he’d had yet.
    He lay back down into the soaked sheets and cringed. When he tried to close his eyes, the images came back again. Rolling over to his side, he tried to distract himself and calm down.
    After another hour passed with no luck, he punched the mattress in frustration.
    Fuck you, Rachel. You fucking liar
.

Chapter 5
    The next morning found Lily sitting at the small desk in her upstairs bedroom. It was still dark outside, just after 6 a.m., and she was wrapped in an old, ratty blue robe with a towel around her head. Two large, orange-striped tabby cats twined their way around her ankles, but she hardly noticed them; she was too busy staring off into space.
    Her jacket.
    She still couldn’t believe that in her haste to leave that place, she’d left her jacket behind. Just thinking about it made a fresh wave of panic roll over her.
    What the hell have I done? We didn’t even use anything! There is no excuse for this. Thank God I get the shot, but who knows what the hell he has?
    She put her head in her hands, closing her eyes in frustration. Behind her lids, she saw flashes of vibrant jade eyes and luscious pink lips.
    “Dammit!” Lily huffed, slamming her hands down on the desk.
    All night she had been haunted with his image. She had sat there between her father and her fiancé, pretending to watch the game, all the while reliving every single touch in her mind. Every kiss. Every thrust.
    And goddamn, could that boy move.
    Regardless of how sick Lily was with herself over her thoughtless actions, she couldn’t convince herself it hadn’t been worth it. Well, perhaps
worth it
was a bit of a stretch. She wasn’t quite sure the guilt she was feeling was worth it, and if she ended up with some rare strain of herpe-gono-syphil-AIDS, that probably wouldn’t be worth it, either.
    Amazing
. That would probably be more fitting.
Mind-blowing
. That was certainly the truth. Lily had never felt any amount of pleasure remotely close to that before, and it had happened so fast that her head was still spinning.
    She thought back to the uncomfortable moment when Scott had tried to kiss her goodnight before leaving to hang out with his friends from work. He had given her a friendly hug and leaned down for a quick peck on the lips, and Lily needed to stop herself