My One Night: An On My Own Novel by Carrie Ryan (life books to read .txt) 📕

My lips were swollen, and I had a little bit of beard burn on my chin.

I looked sated, pleasured, and scared out of my mind.

I let out a deep breath and whispered, “You’re fine. Just get home.”

And as Cinderella had to deal with a pumpkin and losing her glass slipper, I needed to get my business done, get dressed, and leave.

When I came out of the bathroom, Dillon stood near his loveseat where we’d had sex the first time, and I blushed. He seemed to know exactly where my mind had gone, and a smile crept over his face. A knowing grin. One that made me want to press my thighs together until I told myself I needed to stop thinking about things like that.

“Anyway, thank you,” I said, and closed my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Dillon shook his head as I lifted my lids again and stepped forward. He brushed my hair away from my face before handing me a hair tie. “It belonged to one of my sisters-in-law. It’s new, but she left it here when they were unpacking and helping me move in. You look gorgeous, but…just in case.”

I blushed and took it from him.

“Thank you. Having sex-head hair probably isn’t a great thing.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “I think you look fucking sexy, but what do I know? I’m just a guy.”

I blushed again. “You’re making it hard for me to walk out of this room, Dillon Connolly.”

“I think I want you to feel that way.”

I met his gaze and shook my head. “I should go.”

“I think you should give me your number first,” he said slowly.

I froze. “Wouldn’t that negate the whole purpose of what we did last night?” I asked, oddly terrified.

He tilted his head. “I don’t know. We don’t have to have sex again if you don’t want to, but I like you, Elise. And you’re welcome to take a rideshare home so we don’t have another awkward conversation, but I’d really like your phone number. Even if it’s only so you can text me when you get home, and I know you got there safely. But I’d still like a way to reach you.”

I relaxed marginally, knowing this was probably a bad idea, even if it sounded good in context. “Okay, so that you know I’m safe.”

“Okay,” he said, though I had a feeling that wasn’t exactly what he had been thinking. But I would ignore that for now. It was safer for my sanity and anxiety if I did.

I pulled out my phone and noticed I had another message from Corinne after I’d checked in when I was washing my face. She told me that I would be answering a few thousand questions when I got home. I ignored that text and looked up at Dillon.

“Okay, I can text you now. How’s that?”

He rattled off a number, and I texted a simple emoji, just a smiley face, not knowing what else to do. His phone dinged, and he looked down at it and smiled, then looked at me before cocking his head as he studied me. He didn’t lean forward, didn’t kiss me again.

And for that, I was grateful. I honestly didn’t know what I would do if he had.

Instead, I awkwardly waved, winced, and then turned towards the door. Dillon let out a rough chuckle and reached over to open the door. Thankfully, his roommates weren’t in the hallway, and I crept down the corridor and then the stairs. No one was in the house that I could tell, though the smell of coffee wafted from the kitchen. I inhaled and let out a sigh, and Dillon laughed again. “I can get you a to-go cup.”

“No, my ride’s here.” I nodded towards the sedan in front of the house. “Well, have a good day, I guess,” I said quickly.

Dillon just shook his head, his gaze still on mine. “You, too. Text me when you get home.”

“I can do that,” I said, knowing that I needed to leave. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t, and then it would be a thing. A terrible, horrible, awkwardly overdone scene.

I gave another self-conscious little wave and finally noticed Pacey standing in the kitchen behind Dillon, wearing only flannel pajama bottoms, his very built and naked torso gleaming under the lights.

The blond man winked, and I turned on my heel and fled.

I heard Dillon grumbling something at his roommate, but I ignored it.

I nearly ran to the sedan, knowing that I was making that scene I didn’t want to create, and opened the back door. “Josh?” I asked, looking down at my screen to make sure the picture on the app matched the face.

“Elise?” he asked, doing the same.

“Okay, good,” I said and slid into the back seat, putting on my seatbelt and closing the door as quickly as I could.

“Have a good night last night?” the driver asked, leering a bit. I ignored him, pulling out my phone and pretending to text Corinne. I checked social media, looking at photos from last night, but I didn’t see myself or anyone that I knew in them. Not until I got to Corinne’s photo, one where she leaned into Pacey, another girl on his other side, the three of them smiling broadly and laughing.

Maybe something would happen between Pacey and Corinne. They would make a cute couple. I’d have to see how she felt about that. Or I could not think about that at all, because if my best friend and practically sister got into a relationship with Dillon’s roommate, it would make things even more awkward.

Josh seemed to get the idea that I didn’t want to chat and remained silent after that until he pulled up to my house.

“Thank you,” I said, making sure I left him a tip as I got out.

“No problem. Sorry about the comment. I think I need more coffee.”

I froze as I slid out of the car and looked at him. “What?”

“I made a jerky comment. I just wanted to