If Only for a Time Page 5

  Fifteen minutes left.

  He picked her up and carried her naked body to the bed, hurling her onto the cloud of pillows as he climbed on top of her on all fours. His erect penis was pressing against her and she reached over to her handbag on the floor to retrieve a condom she had put there, not knowing whether she would need it or not when she left home.

  Thirteen minutes.

  He slipped on the condom himself before he bent down over her again, picking her up by her ass and pulling her towards him as he thrust himself into her, again and again.

  With her right hand, she held onto his steady shoulders as his sweaty body plunged into her. With her left, she vigorously played over her clit, moving in tune with his fast-paced rhythm.

  Nine minutes.

  He flipped her onto all fours with a strength that surprised her even with his build and she clutched the side of the bed as he entered her from behind. His warm hands cupped her breasts and he held onto her tightly as they rocked together, panting heavily, overcome with desire and lust.

  Seven minutes.

  She bit back a scream and let out a muffled moan as he plunged deep into her one last time before collapsing onto her in satisfied exhaustion.

  He reluctantly rolled away and she turned around to kiss him fervently between panting breaths. He pressed her naked body close to his and for a moment they just laid there; sweaty, content, spent.

  Four minutes.

  They were overly aware of the time and Rebekah couldn’t allow herself the comfort of the satisfied embrace. As much as she wanted to lie like that forever, to have all of him, over and over again without ever having to see anyone else in the world…she couldn’t let go of the harsh reality awaiting outside.

  She rose and grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom to wipe off most of the sweat clinging to her lithe frame before dressing in a rush. There wasn’t enough time to shower. She’d have to come back during the next break, as long as Emile didn’t follow her the next time, too.

  She threw the towel at him playfully and finished buttoning her shirt. She quickly fixed up her make-up in the bathroom mirror and ran a comb through her disheveled hair.

  One minute left.

  They left the room, rushing towards the elevator. They were late, but they were counting on the break running overtime as people sauntered back into the lectures.

  There were other people around now and they quickly composed themselves as the transparent elevator brought them back to the main level.

  It was only when they stopped at the second floor to pick up more people that Rebekah noticed she was wearing the wrong name tag. She quickly took it off and waved it subtly at Emile who took a while to understand what she was trying to say.

  When the doors opened to the lobby, they let the others exit first and quickly swapped lanyards before leaving.

  Rebekah walked to the bathroom first as not to appear at the same time as him.

  For the next session in the day, she checked which breakaway lecture Emile was registered for so she could be sure to sign up for anything else. Akari was already sitting there waiting for her with a puzzled look.

  Rebekah just smiled and took out her notebook, careful to open it on a clean page.

  “Sorry, had to go check some e-mails.”

  It wasn’t like she could concentrate through that session either, but at least she could breathe.

  What had she just done? The rush stayed with her until lunch.

  The perfect ending, she thought, but it was far from over.

  Chapter Eleven

  The breakaway session dragged on, but for different reasons than earlier.

  Rebekah was in desperate need of a shower. She felt sweaty and dirty and she really hoped Akari couldn’t smell the lingering mix of Emile’s cologne and sex hanging around her body like a veil. If Akari noticed anything, she didn’t bring it up and Rebekah was free to wander through her thoughts as the speaker carried on about a topic she was usually quite passionate about. However, now she didn’t even care enough to turn her name tag around to see the name of the session she she was sitting in on. All she knew was that it was one that he wasn’t in.

  She feared that if she closed her eyes she would see a replay of the lust from before, the desperate gropes as they tore at each other’s flesh, only a few floors above the other delegates who were mingling completely oblivious to their seductive game.

  The scenes played in her head over and over again. She could still feel his touch on her skin, the taste of him on her mouth, his sweet scent invading her nostrils.

  The notebook remained blank and when the session finished she hurried towards the door.

  “Where are you going?” Akari shouted after her.

  “There’s a crisis at the office with one of my projects, I promised I’d check back with them. Keep me a seat at lunch,” she said. “Need to pack still anyway.” That part wasn’t a lie.

  The other session was already out and she saw Emile chatting to someone who looked important, completely composed. He caught her eye briefly, smiled knowingly, and returned to his conversation as she rushed past to the elevator.

  Her bed was a mess but other than that, there was no sign of the passion that roared through the room less than two hours ago. She bent over the sheets and inhaled their scent deeply before throwing off her clothes and getting into the shower, finally.

  They had two hours for lunch, to pack, and check out before the afternoon events were to start. Her flight was leaving in the evening but everyone had to be out of the rooms by lunch, all bags checked in at reception. She changed into clean clothes, reapplied her make-up and quickly threw all her belongings into the bag she had placed on the bed.

  She left her bags and room key with reception, officially signing out before heading upstairs to the lunch buffet for one last meal. She was still full from this morning. At least the rampant sex seemed to have cured her hangover. She’d actually forgotten about it since running into Emile at breakfast. Her mind had been completely preoccupied since then.

  “There you are,” Akari said as she sat down, completely exhausted.

  “Sorry, packing was a mission.”

  “You’ve changed.”

  “Yeah, figured I might as well, considering it will be like a full day until I can have a shower again with the long flight and all.” All very believable and she was impressed at how quickly she made up the story to feed her friend with.

  “Want to go sight-seeing again after lunch?”

  She laughed. “No, we can’t go again. Besides, we have some time after the session ends. I mean my flight isn’t until much later. And yours?”

  “Yeah, same. But still, I’m over this now. I’m definitely skipping out.”

  “I’ll meet up with you after. I really want to listen to this talk.” She didn’t even know who was speaking. But she had to see Emile one more time.

  Her phone beeped.

  Come to the view. I miss you.

  She put her phone back in her pocket and smiled at Akari.

  “Aren’t you going to reply?” she asked suspiciously.

  “No, it’s just work. I’ll deal with it later.”

  She tried to keep her mind off the text, but the words replayed in her head endlessly. She never did have lunch and Akari left not long after.

  Rebekah couldn’t take it anymore and she rushed to the elevator.

  Chapter Twelve

  “You’re a madman,” she said as he opened his door and pulled her in passionately, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her desperately.

  “You drive me mad,” he said when they finally broke their embrace. He kissed her gently on the forehead.

  “Don’t you need to check out?” she questioned.

  “There’s still lots of time.”

  “What about lunch?”

  “I can eat any other time but I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

  “You’re being silly, we have to get back to the closing session.
”

  “No we don’t,” he said, leading her to the bed. “There’s a conference in São Paulo, Brazil in a couple of weeks. Maybe we can see each other again.”

  “I don’t know. Brazil? Anyway, we’re still here by the way. People will notice were gone,” she protested, but a jolt of excitement raged through her at the thought of exploring more of Emile in Brazil. But would it feel like this? Dangerous?

  “Who are these people? Russian spies? They’ll just assume we had to fly out early. Stop thinking so much, Rebekah. Stop making excuses. You and I both want to be here. Together.”

  She couldn’t argue anymore and fell into his embrace again, this time less hurriedly.

  “It’s not exactly a one-night-stand if we’re here again,” she grinned as he undressed her slowly, taking care to kiss her all over.

  “Well, technically it was only one night,” he pushed her onto the bed. “Besides, this was never a one-night-stand to me.”

  This time he took her slowly, carefully. Making love to her instead of desperately trying to feed the desire. This time it wasn’t just all consuming lust. It was beautiful. He took his time to explore every inch of her body and her of his. They played, they laughed and they held each other closely, whispering secrets to one another.

  The world outside ceased to exist but Rebekah knew it couldn’t last forever. She put the thought out of her mind as she reached up for another tender kiss, gently biting his lip as she pulled away.

  After deciding to skip the closing session, she didn’t have to rush to leave this time. They held each other in a passionate embrace, naked under the air conditioner. They talked about their lives back home, their real lives, an existence outside of this hotel. It all seemed so far away still, foreign almost.

  She told him about her job, her family, her favorite restaurants and other trivial matters of no consequence. In turn, he relayed his world to her, complete with a daughter from his previous marriage.

  “What is your wife like?” she asked earnestly, part of her feeling a pang of jealousy. But she was curious as to the woman who managed to win his heart.

  “Ex-wife,” he reminded her. “We’ve been divorced more than two years now,” he smiled. “Well, she’s lovely. I used to think she was the love of my life. We were together since we were teenagers. She’s a good mother, a great mother. But we’ve grown apart over the years. We want different things, that’s all. And she doesn’t understand my vision. Between the studies and the travelling and all the projects, I must admit I don’t get much time for family life. I try with my daughter. She’s my princess and she’s growing up too fast.

  “My former wife used to complain that I needed to reconsider my priorities and spend more time with my family. But my career is my everything. I have worked so hard to get to this point, I can’t just give it all up now…I don’t know, I don’t know what I will do.”

  He was vulnerable in that moment. She didn’t respond. She just pulled him closer and kissed him tenderly, breathing in his scent, trying to savor as much of it as possible for later.

  A calm was between them; nothing of the hurried angst from the mid-morning quickie in her room.

  “The closing session will end soon,” she eventually said with a sigh. “And you’ll have to check out.”

  “I know,” he got up lazily and pulled her with him as he walked to the shower.

  The hot water streamed over their sweaty bodies as they held each other tight for the last time, gently kissing, hands caressing one another’s naked skin that had become so familiar in such a short time.

  “I don’t want to leave,” she admitted as he finally turned off the tap and wrapped her in a big, fluffy white towel. The same one he was wearing the night before. How could it only have been one day? It felt like their game was dreamt up eternities ago, and now they were fulfilling fate. She walked to the window, still wrapped in layers of towel and Emile, who was standing behind her as she stared out over the city one last time.

  “I know,” he said, kissing her wet neck, arms folded over her waist. “I wish we could stay here forever.”

  “I will miss the view.”

  “Is that all you will miss?” He turned her around for a kiss and she held onto him tight, clinging to the warm body that she was addicted to.

  “Of course not,” she said when they finally separated. “But it’s the only thing I can think of missing right now. I don’t want to think about the rest,” she admitted, finally breaking their embrace as she walked away from the man she feared she enjoyed more than the view.

  She reluctantly put on her clothes, again, throwing the towel at him.

  They paused by the door. The finality of it all was overpowering, shattering almost, and she tried not to think of walking out forever.

  She put a hand on his cheek and kissed him one last time.

  “Goodbye, Mr. Martín.”

  As Rebekah turned around to leave, she made sure she had her empty notebook in her purse, and while walking back into the hallway, she couldn’t stop thinking of the weather in Brazil.