The Itinerary

Moving On

Soft amber light filtered through the loft's skylights, casting a warm morning glow across the tangled bedsheets and their spent, sweat-sheened forms. Haley blinked sluggishly awake cocooned in the reassuring weight and masculine musk of Nico spooned around her from behind.

Last night's debauchery had blurred into an endless cycle of limbs and satin and explosive releases that left her thoroughly shattered. Yet she felt paradoxically invigorated, every nerve-ending still reverberating with the aftershocks of the seismic passion they'd shared.

Carefully extricating herself from Nico's sleep-heavy embrace, Haley slipped from the bed and padded across the planked floors in a hazy trance. The loft's curved windows overlooked an arresting panorama of Amsterdam's iconic canals and gabled rowhouses basking in the buttery first light of dawn.

Leaning her forearms on the sun-warmed sill, Haley tipped her face up to the caressing rays with a bone-deep sigh. How could one night - a mere handful of delirious hours - have upended her entire sense of equilibrium so profoundly?

She was no starry-eyed ingénue blindly tumbling headlong into romantic fantasies. In her few significant relationships, Haley had been the one to cut and run before growing too invested or, heaven forbid, broaching discussions of commitment and domesticity. The near-catastrophic implosion of her parents' marriage had instilled an innate terror of those entangling, forever-bound depths.

Yet with Nico, even her stalwart emotional forges trembled in the wake of the consuming firestorm they'd unleashed together.

Striding to the corner where her scattered garments lay strewn in an insouciant trail, Haley stooped to retrieve her drawstring knapsack. Unbridled yearning twisted in her chest at the prospect of gathering the meager contents of her life and simply walking out of his flat, his city...his life. But she knew with bone-deep certainty that tarrying would only tighten the tangle of wants and desires she could never allow herself to indulge.

Resolve stiffening her spine, Haley slung the knapsack's strap over one shoulder and turned to leave. Only to find Nico leaning in the open arch of his lofted bedroom with a pair of low-slung sleep trousers riding those sinful indentations of his hipbones. His tousled hair stuck up in an appealingly debauched splay, and the tip of his tongue toyed idly at the corner of that full, wicked mouth...as if he'd just finished devouring her for a languorous breakfast.

Haley's breath hitched at the visceral image that simple gesture inspired. How utterly unfair that he could unravel all her painstakingly constructed defenses with nothing more than a heavy-lidded bedroom stare.

"Off to conquer your next great cultural expedition so soon?" His voice still bore the graveled rasp of sleep entwined with sensual satisfaction.

Haley inclined her chin, willing her features into a bland mask of nonchalance. But her fingertips tingled with phantom recalls of gliding across every breathtaking masculine groove of his body in endless repetition just hours ago.

"You know how it is for an intrepid anthropologist on the wandering path. My expedition only grows richer the more unknown vistas and indigenous delicacies I sample."

One of those absurdly aesthetic brows arched heavenward at her veiled innuendo. "Delicacies you'll remember long after departing the hidden stalls offering their rare specialties, I hope?"

Damn him, that sinful rasp had her insides liquefying with renewed hunger while her thighs clenched in unconscious response.

Forcing her expression to remain impassive, Haley countered, "I pride myself on a discerning palate able to appreciate every exotic flavor profile long after the first intoxicating sample."

Nico chuckled, deep and low and enveloping her in the vibrations. Only too late did she realize he'd prowled closer until the masculine, cedar-spice essence of his sheer presence flooded her senses.

"Such an...educated connoisseur," he husked against the sensitive whorls of her ear, stirring the silken tresses along her nape. "Though I admit, your refined tastes surprise me given your particular pedigree. One might expect a Kentucky native to require rather...robust flavors."

Haley reeled back slightly, suddenly aware that despite his playful inflections, Nico had unveiled a blatant assessment of her plebeian roots from a single comment. How thoroughly and meticulously this man must catalogue every nuance and mannerism of those around him...including her own idiosyncrasies and rough-hewn background.

She lifted her chin another defiant notch. "Oh, I like to think my palate has...expanded significantly since departing the backwoods. I seek out only the most rare and scintillating epicurean experiences these days."

A dimple carved into one tanned cheek as his gaze stroked over her with a lover's familiarity that squeezed her lungs. "Indeed you do, Haley Brown. In every flavor and indulgence and intensity I can offer."

Nico's proximity blazed against Haley's skin with an undeniable lure...a sensual promise of unimagined intimacies still waiting to sample if only she'd linger in this blissful sanctum. But her instincts for self-preservation shrilled a panicked warning at surrendering herself to this irresistible siren's call. No matter how sublime last night's sensory immersion had felt, entanglements of the heart spelled nothing but anguish and dissolution.

And so Haley did the only thing she knew to do when life's inevitable tides began crashing too close: she retreated to calmer shores.

With a perfunctory nod that utterly belied the harrowing undertow ripping through her soul, Haley pivoted with feigned nonchalance toward the flat's arched exit. "Thanks for expanding my palate with one of Amsterdam's finer delicacies. You'll have to send along recommendations for other stop-offs to properly cultivate my...discerning tastes."

The unspoken finality in her tone seemed to strike Nico like a dousing wave. He said nothing as she strode from his loft and down the exterior stairwell to the quiet lane bordering the canal far below.

It wasn't until Haley reached the street corner that she risked a glance back at the wrought iron awnings shading his windows. And there stood Nico, bare-chested and brooding in the arched doorway, raking one hand through his disheveled hair in a gesture of naked frustration. A strange, gnawing pang reverberated beneath Haley's ribs at the sight of his solitary silhouette etched in the rising sun's incandescent rays.

With monumental effort, she forced herself to turn away from the stricken demigod lashed to his rooftop aerie and retreated down the narrow lane without faltering. Away from temptations and entanglements and perilous free-falls that would obliterate every carefully constructed barrier protecting her heart.

Far better to savor the ephemeral flavors and walk away from life's banquet sated than surrender to an endless feast that would consume her soul in rapturous starvation.