“Oooooh, naked.I can do naked. Watch!” Hannah kicked off her flats so that they crashed against the far wall. In seconds her pants slithered down her legs and pooled at her feet. A heartbeat later her panties joined them. She did a little shimmy movement as she rucked her top up over her head, and I had to close my eyes against the sight of Hannah’s beautiful body. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Again. Christ. I groanedas I reminded myself that we weren’t having sex. No sex. She was tipsy. Technically she couldn’t give consent. I’d be an ass if I took advantage of her now.
“Uh, Luc? A little help here? I think I’m stuck.”
I opened my eyes and found Hannah still standing naked from below the waist, but her top was caught on a bracelet or her hair or something because she couldn’t seem to get it over her head.She wiggled a little and her exposed breasts bounced. I stood there transfixed at the sight.
“Luc? Help!”
“Right.” For the second time in our short relationship, I closed the distance between us and helped her untangle her top from her jewelry and hair. She gave a huge sigh as she was finally freed.
“Thank God. I was afraid I was going to have to go through the rest of my life with that toptangled in my hair. That would make a great impression on the medical staff at the hospital.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured as I stared down at her gentle curves. She smiled up at me, and one of my hands lifted of its own volition and cupped one of her breasts. My thumb rubbed over the peak and Hannah’s eyelids grew heavy. She arched into my hand as she wound her arms around my neck.
“Oh, Luc.”
Thesound of her husky voice snapped me out of my lustful haze. I dropped my hand and took a step back. “No, we can’t do this.”
“What? Why?”
“You’ve had the better part of a bottle of wine. You’re very fragile and tipsy. We can’t.”
Hannah’s eyes grew shiny as she lifted her arms to cover her body. “I can’t believe this. I practically throw myself at you and you still don’t want me.”
“What? No.No, Hannah, that’s not it at all. It’s—”
“That’s exactly what it is.” Hannah ducked down and grabbed her clothes. She balled up her panties in one hand while she stepped into her pants. “You’re just as bad as everyone else. Worse, really. You try to pretend my illness isn’t an issue, but it is. You don’t want to be with me, and yet you don’t want to look bad for dumping me, either.”
“Hannah—”
“No, I mean, it’s okay. Aside from the whole part where I got naked and threw myself at you. You could’ve stopped me before I got to that point. It’s my fault, really. Why would anyone—let alone a freakingprince—want to be with a woman with no future? Why sign up for all the pain and worry and tears? It’s stupid. I’m stupid for thinking it was real.”
“Hannah, stop. Stop it.” I grabbed her shirtas she was preparing to put it on and wrestled it from her hands. “This has nothing to do with your illness. I just didn’t want to take advantage of your inebriated state. I didn’t want to be the jerk who slept with you when there was a good chance you wouldn’t remember, okay? I was trying to be the good guy for once.”
“Well, maybe I don’t want the good guy! Maybe I want to feel alive! MaybeI want to forget the horror show that my life will become after the surgery this week. Maybe just hold me!”
My arms came around Hannah as I pulled her to me. “It’s going to be okay,mon chou. I promise.”
“No. You can’t. You can’t promise me that. There’s a very good chance that nothing will ever be okay again.” Hannah buried her face in my chest and I held her as a huge, shuddering sigh lefther. “Can you help me forget? Just for a little while?”
Tears prickled the back of my eyes, and for the first time since I locked my emotions away after my brother’s death, I was in real danger of sobbing like a child. She was so brave, and so much better than I deserved. “As long as you remember that I tried to do the right thing for once.”
“Deal.” Hannah smiled up at me, then took a step back.Holding my hands, she walked backward as she led me toward the bed. When we reached the edge, she paused and shimmied out of her pants, and suddenly she was naked once more.
I quickly shed my clothes and hopped onto the bed and proceeded to help Hannah forget. Repeatedly.
