32

I rolled onto my side and looked at her. Kira was on the verge of tears. My post-coital bliss vanished, replaced with icy fear. Had I done something wrong? All I’d wanted was to make her feel what I felt. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her.

When she looked at me, I could see that wasn’t it. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped as though frozen with indecision. A tear slipped down her cheek, and without thinking, I reached out and wiped it away. Kira closed her mouth and stared at me.

My heart twisted as I watched her throw up the barriers and walls that had always stood between us. She sat up, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. Without a single hint of what she’d been about to say, she got up and started searching for her clothes that lay strewn across the room.

“Let’s forget this happened.” She didn’t even look at me as she spoke.

“Wait, what?” I said, pulling the sheets over my nakedness, suddenly ashamed.

With an overly dramatic sigh, Kira turned, he