Chapter 5: The Morning After

Nicole drifted slowly toward consciousness, wrapped in silk and warmth and the lingering scent of last night's passion. For a blissful moment, she floated in that space between sleep and waking where nothing existed but sensation—the whisper of expensive sheets against bare skin, the steady rhythm of breathing that wasn't quite her own, the unfamiliar weight of an arm draped across her waist.

Then memory crashed over her like a cold wave.

Oh God.

Her eyes flew open to find herself nestled between two sleeping forms in the massive bed. Eva lay on her left, dark curls spilled across the pillow like ink, her face peaceful in sleep but still holding traces of that knowing smile. On her right, Bryce's powerful form dominated his side of the bed, one muscled arm thrown possessively across Nicole's middle even in unconsciousness.

The events of the previous night flooded back in vivid detail—the storm, the invitation upstairs, Eva's devastating kiss, and everything that followed. Heat flooded Nicole's cheeks as she remembered her own desperate responses, the way she'd begged for more, the sounds she'd made as they'd worshipped her body with a skill and attention she'd never experienced.

What had she done?

Panic began to build in her chest as harsh morning light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the opulent bedroom in stark detail. This wasn't her life. She wasn't the kind of woman who ended up in strangers' beds, who surrendered so completely to people she'd known for mere hours. She was sensible, careful Nicole who went to work every day and paid her bills on time and had never done anything more scandalous than jaywalking.

Yet here she was, naked between two equally naked strangers who had shown her pleasures she'd never even imagined. The memory of their hands on her skin, their whispered encouragements, the way they'd looked at her like she was something precious and powerful—it made her body respond even as her mind recoiled in horror.

She needed to leave. Now. Before they woke up and she had to face the reality of what she'd done, what she'd become in the space of a single evening.

Moving as carefully as possible, Nicole began to extract herself from the tangle of limbs and silk. Bryce's arm tightened reflexively around her waist, and she froze, heart hammering. But his breathing remained deep and even, and after a moment she managed to slip free.

Her dress lay crumpled on the floor beside the bed like a navy blue accusation. She grabbed it along with her underwear, pulling the garments on with shaking fingers. The fabric felt foreign against skin that was still sensitive from last night's attention, marked with small bruises and the lingering memory of touch.

She was halfway to the bedroom door when Eva's voice stopped her cold.

"Running away already?"

Nicole spun around to find Eva watching her with those knowing hazel eyes, propped up on one elbow with the sheet draped artfully across her curves. Even fresh from sleep, she was devastatingly beautiful—the kind of woman who belonged in silk sheets and luxury penthouses, not someone ordinary like Nicole.

"I... I should go," Nicole whispered, acutely aware of Bryce's still form on the other side of the bed. "Last night was... I mean, it was incredible, but this isn't..."

"Isn't what?" Eva asked gently, sitting up with fluid grace. "Isn't you?"

The question hit too close to home. "Exactly. I don't do things like this. I have a job, responsibilities. People will wonder where I am."

"What people?" Eva's voice carried a note of challenge. "The date who stood you up? The coworkers who don't really know you? The mother who calls to check that you're still living your safe little life?"

Each word was a knife to Nicole's carefully constructed identity. How could Eva see through her so easily? How could she strip away twenty-five years of careful respectability with just a few observations?

"That's not fair," Nicole protested, but her voice lacked conviction.

"Isn't it?" Eva rose from the bed, completely unselfconscious in her nudity, and moved toward Nicole with predatory grace. "Tell me, when was the last time you felt truly alive? Before last night, I mean."

Nicole opened her mouth to respond and found she had no answer. When had she last felt the kind of electric intensity that had coursed through her in this very room? When had she last felt desired, cherished, completely and utterly consumed by sensation?

"That's what I thought," Eva said softly, reaching out to cup Nicole's cheek. "You've been sleepwalking through your life, haven't you? Going through the motions, following the script everyone else wrote for you."

"At least it's my life," Nicole said desperately, even as she leaned into Eva's touch. "At least I know who I am."

"Do you?" The question came from Bryce, his voice rough with sleep. Nicole turned to find him watching them both, those piercing blue eyes alert despite his relaxed posture. "Because the woman I held last night didn't seem confused about who she was. She seemed like someone finally coming home to herself."

The words sent a shock through Nicole's system. Coming home. That was exactly what it had felt like—not just the physical pleasure, though that had been transcendent, but the sense of rightness. Of being exactly where she belonged, with exactly the right people.

But that was impossible. She'd known them for less than twelve hours. You didn't build a life, didn't make life-changing decisions, based on one night of incredible sex with beautiful strangers.

Did you?

"I can see you thinking," Bryce continued, sitting up and making no effort to cover his impressive torso. "Cataloguing all the reasons this is crazy, why you should run back to your safe little apartment and pretend last night never happened."

"Shouldn't I?" Nicole asked, hating how small her voice sounded.

"That depends," Eva said, her thumb tracing Nicole's bottom lip with the same reverence she'd shown the night before. "Are you satisfied with the life you're running back to? Are you fulfilled by your job, your relationships, your carefully planned future?"

Nicole wanted to say yes, wanted to defend the life she'd built. But the words wouldn't come. Because the truth was, she hadn't been truly satisfied with anything in years. She'd been going through the motions, checking boxes, living the life she thought she was supposed to want rather than the one she actually did.

"Stay," Bryce said simply, the word carrying the weight of command and plea combined. "Have breakfast with us. Let us show you what you could have."

"What we could have," Eva corrected, her eyes never leaving Nicole's face. "This isn't just about one night, is it? You feel it too—this connection, this rightness."

Nicole did feel it, that was the terrifying part. Despite the rational voice in her head screaming about strangers and poor decisions and the inevitable consequences, her body and soul recognized these two people in a way that defied logic.

"I don't understand what's happening to me," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You're waking up," Eva said gently. "Finally allowing yourself to want what you actually want instead of what you think you should want."

"And what we want," Bryce added, rising from the bed with fluid grace, "is you. Not just for one night, but for as long as you'll have us."

The declaration should have sent her running. Instead, it sent a thrill through her that she couldn't deny. The way he looked at her—possessive yet protective, hungry yet reverent—made her feel like the most desirable woman in the world.

"This is insane," she said, but there was less conviction in her voice than before.

"The best things usually are," Eva replied with that wicked smile that had first drawn Nicole upstairs. "The question is, are you brave enough to embrace the insanity?"

Nicole looked between them—Eva with her wild beauty and magnetic confidence, Bryce with his dangerous charm and intense devotion—and felt something fundamental shift inside her chest. They were offering her a choice between safety and passion, between the life she'd always lived and the one she'd never dared to dream of.

Her phone buzzed in her purse where she'd dropped it by the bedroom door, a sharp reminder of the world waiting outside this silk-draped sanctuary. Probably work, wondering why she hadn't shown up yet. Or David, finally remembering their failed date. Or any number of people who knew the old Nicole, the safe Nicole, the Nicole who would never in a million years find herself in this situation.

But as she looked into Eva's hazel eyes and felt Bryce's intense gaze on her skin, Nicole realized she didn't want to be that woman anymore. Didn't want to go back to her beige apartment and her predictable job and her string of disappointing relationships.

She wanted this—the intensity, the passion, the feeling of being truly seen and desired. She wanted to discover who she could be when she stopped hiding behind fear and respectability.

"Breakfast sounds nice," she heard herself say, the words carrying the weight of decision.

Eva's smile was radiant. "Perfect. Bryce makes incredible coffee."

"Among other things," Bryce added with a look that made heat pool low in Nicole's belly despite everything she'd experienced the night before.

As Eva moved toward what Nicole assumed was an en-suite bathroom, she paused to press a soft kiss to Nicole's temple. "Welcome to your real life, beautiful. I promise you won't regret it."

Standing there in the morning light, still wearing her wrinkled dress from the night before, Nicole felt like she was balanced on the edge of a cliff. Behind her lay everything familiar and safe. Ahead lay uncertainty, intensity, and these two magnetic people who saw something in her that she was only beginning to recognize in herself.

For the first time in her life, she chose to jump.