On a clear spring night, with the moon bright and the stars sparse.

Outside the door of a hotel room washed in dim yellow light.

The girl was clinging to the tall, broad-shouldered, ridiculously handsome man like a little koala.

Both of them looked like they were already at their limit, impatient as hell.

The second the door shut, they crashed straight onto the big bed in the middle of the room.

They tore at each other’s clothes like their lives depended on it, skipping all the fluff and going right in...

After that near-devastating tangle of heat and desire, both of them were completely drained, so wiped out they could barely move, and eventually passed out on their own sides.

The next morning.

The noisy chatter from the breakfast place downstairs drifted into Aria Quincy’s ears.

Out of habit, she stretched lazily, only for her hand to brush against a firm slab of muscle.

That electric, tingling sensation shot through her so fast that her whole body shivered.

Her eyes flew open, and she instinctively pulled back.

Holding her breath, she carefully peeked at the man lying beside her.

He was turned slightly toward her. His thick brows were sharply defined, giving off a hard, steady edge. Beneath his high nose bridge, his thin lips were clean-cut and striking.

Seeing that his breathing was even and that he was still fast asleep, Aria’s gaze got a little bolder and slowly slid down from his neck.

Whoa.

What she saw made the blood in her body start heating up on the spot.

The muscles on him looked almost unreal, like they’d been carved by hand.

You didn’t get a body this insanely good without years of strict, hardcore training.

Aria couldn’t help swallowing hard.

Beep…

Some rude jerk out of nowhere leaned on the horn.

The sharp sound made Aria Quincy jump.

And fully woke her up too.

She didn’t even have time to think. She rolled over, got out of bed, and quickly spotted her clothes on the floor with scary accuracy.

In a few quick moves, she got dressed, grabbed her phone and bag and all her personal stuff.

Ready to make a quiet escape.

When she reached the door, she still couldn’t help stealing one more glance at that handsome guy.

Hot, for sure. No question. But a man like that? Definitely not boyfriend material. Better to treat last night like a dream and call it there.

Aria ran all the way to the elevator.

As if fate was finally doing her one tiny favor, the elevator was already on that floor. The second she hit the button, the doors slid open.

She slipped inside fast and kept jabbing the close button like her life depended on it. Only after the doors fully shut did she let out a breath.

Why was she acting like some thief?

She cursed herself silently.

After leaving the hotel, Aria picked a direction at random and walked down the street, eyes searching for the place she needed.

The moment she spotted the green sign of a pharmacy, her eyes lit up.

She stood at the entrance and peeked inside first. Only after making sure there were no other customers did she go in.

“I need a box of levonorgestrel tablets,” Aria said to the clerk behind the register, trying hard to sound natural. She didn’t say birth control pill. She used the proper medical name instead.

“One-pill pack,” she added after a second.

The clerk had probably seen this kind of thing a million times already. Without even changing expression, she walked briskly to the innermost shelf, skillfully took a box, and set it on the counter.

“Twenty-eight.”

“That expensive?” Aria Quincy glanced at the price tag, brows knitting. “Is there anything cheaper?”

The clerk’s face instantly soured. She turned around with obvious annoyance, then came back with another box.

“Sixteen.”

“I’ll take this one.”

Aria pulled out her phone to scan the code, only to realize it had shut off. Dead battery. Great.

She had no choice but to shove the phone back into her bag, dig out her wallet, count out sixteen in loose cash, hand it over, stuff the medicine into her bag, and leave as fast as she could.

After walking out of the pharmacy, she kept going down the street. When she spotted a supermarket ahead, she slipped inside and bought a bottle of mineral water.

With the bottle in hand, she stood at the entrance for a moment, looking around.