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    “What’s wrong?” I asked in a raspy voice that didn’t sound like my


    own.


    “We need to talk about a few things before we go further,” Alexander said and cupped my face, gently stroking my skin with his thumb.


    For some reason, I thought he was talking about money. “Well, how much money are we talking about?”


    This made his expression close off and he pulled his warm hand away from my face. “Forget it,” he said in a stiff voice and gently moved me aside so that he could get off the ground. As he stood, he brushed leaves and twigs off his body. “It’ste. We should get back to the hotel.”


    Clumsily, I got to my feet and staggered to the side. As I stumbled after him, confusion washed over me. What had I done wrong? From the way he was walking twenty feet ahead of me and his tense posture, I knew that I had offended him in some way, but I wasn’t sure how.


    Back at the hotel, I followed him onto the elevator, as if I was in a trance. My skin was tingling and my head felt fuzzy as if someone had stuffed it with cotton balls.


    When the elevator doors opened on my floor, Alexander handed me my shopping bag filled with the random items I had bought. Silently, I took the bag without a word, and walked out of the elevator. I had to trail my hand against the wall of the hallway so I wouldn’t fall over as I walked back to my room.


    I struggled to get the keycard into the slot for about ten minutes before


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    I finally got the door opened. As I walked in, the room around me spun, the shopping bag fell out of my hand, and I experienced the strangest out–of–body experience. It was like I was floating above my body and watching myself.


    I managed to stagger over onto the couch and copse onto it. In the back of my mind, I heard footsteps and I recognized them as Ava’s.


    My friend’s face was above me, but I could barely focus on her. She said something that I couldn’t understand and she gently shook my shoulders, but all I could do was stare at the ceiling and try not to let the overwhelming darkness in my head pull me under.


    *Olivia*


    My head roared with a static noise, and I tried to fight it off so that I could focus on what Ava was saying. Finally, I managed to sit up. Ava ran to get me a bottle of water from the mini fridge, and after I took a couple of sips, I felt a little bit better.


    “What happened?” Ava asked, her eyes wide with worry. “Are you alright?”


    In a shaking voice, I told her everything that had happened between Alexander and me tonight. Even how we had made out under an oak tree after we ran through a bamboo forest. As I said it out loud, it sounded like I had made the whole thing up.


    After I was done with my story, Ava’s shoulders slumped, and her face rxed. “Don’t scare me like that!” she scolded and gently swatted my thigh. “I thought that you robbed a bank or something from the way you were acting.”


    “But I kissed and fondled my boss!” I protested and put the empty water bottle on the coffee table. “And…and I want to do a lot more with him than that.” My face flushed. “Honestly, if Alexander hadn’t


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    stopped things, I would have slept with him in a public park!” I shook my head at my own audacity.


    “Of course you want to sleep with him,” my friend said as a smug smile crossed her face. “I’ve known that since the first time I saw you two interact.” She paused, and her expression turned thoughtful. “I wonder why he stopped things, though? From the hungry way he looks at you, anyone would be able to see how much he is dying to get into your pants.”


    Her boldness made augh burst from my lips. Then I remembered what I said that had made Alexander pull away. When I told Ava, her mouth dropped open in shock.