Litany Of Sins

CHAPTER 1 Cinderella on Nikes “Holy shit.” Lila breathed, the words tasting like copper and regret. Her vision was a complete, blurred mess, but as the room came into focus, the panic set in: the chandelier hanging was absolutely wrong, the scent in the air was not her lavender detergent, and the silence was too heavy. She gripped the edge of a crisp, white duvet and dared a peek underneath. Nothing. Just bare skin and the terrifying realization that she was in a stranger’s bed with absolutely no memory of how she had stripped off her clothes. A soft groan escaped her lips as she pushed off the mattress, her feet hitting the unfamiliar floor. She did not bother wondering about the man on the other side of the bed who happened to be naked as well—fear was for people with something to lose. For her, this was just a transaction of pleasure. They were two strangers who had collided for a night, destined to return to their separate orbits by noon. “I warned you to keep your alcohol level in check.” She muttered to herself in a scolding manner. Her internal clock was already ticking, mentally scrolling through her work schedule to see if she was on the day or night shift. Between the hazy memories of the night before, her focus was singular: find her clothes, vanish from this room, and find a meal—she was starving. She snapped her baby-blue laced bra into place and adjusted her matching baby-blue laced undies, her eyes darting around the floor in a desperate search for the top she had discarded in the heat of the moment. “Heading out already?” A man’s voice cut through the silence, making her shoulders stiffen. Lila paused, a silent curse under her breath. She had perfected the art of the ghost-exit, usually leaving her flings snoring while she made her escape. But today, her luck had run out. She turned slowly, realizing for the first time that the hunter had been watching the entire time. He was propped up against the headboard, skin bare and unbothered, the white duvet pooled carelessly around his hips. His buzz cut was slightly mussed from the pillows caught in the morning light as he blinked away the haze of sleep. He let out a long, heavy yawn. When he finally opened his eyes, they were puffy with sleep but undeniably striking—a pair of vivid emeralds that locked onto her with a drowsy, focused intensity. Very handsome and… young?, a traitorous voice whispered in the back of her mind. She shoved the thought aside as quickly as it had appeared, refusing to let him see her stumble. She did not offer a smile, but instead she turned her back to focus on the task at hand. “Yeah,” she said, her voice clipped and professional. “I have a shift starting in an hour.” It was a lie, but it was a necessary one—a clean exit strategy she had practiced a thousand times. She hopped slightly as she worked her way into her tight denim, the fabric clinging to her skin before she finally managed to slide the zipper home and snap the button. Without missing a beat, she stepped toward her discarded top. It lay in a heap on the hardwood, tangled right next to his black boxer briefs—a messy roadmap of exactly how they had ended up there. “Stay for a while,” the stranger suggested. His voice lacked the local lilt, a smooth, neutral cadence that marked him as an outsider. “I will call down for room service. Let me order something for us, anything you are craving.” My only appetite at the moment is for the walk to the elevator, she thought, keeping the words to herself. She let out a soft, breathy laugh, adjusting her top before meeting his gaze. “That was not part of the deal. We both got exactly what we came for, and now, I am leaving. It is as simple as that.” She turned away, making a move toward her bag, but his voice caught her before she could reach it. “Last night was incredible,” he said. Lila let out a slow, controlled breath. “It was,” she agreed, her voice flat but honest. “Maybe if I find myself back in Brisbane, I could reach out?” he suggested. He was fishing for a number, a handle—anything that would ensure this was not the last time he saw those gray eyes and amazing body. She slung her bag over her shoulder and made it to the door in three long strides. Wrapping her hand around the cold brass knob, she paused and looked back at him one last time. “I am not a ‘give you a call’ kind of woman,” she countered, her voice steady and clinical as she shut down every door he tried to open. God, she is a challenge. He thought in the back of his head. He let out a low, melodic chuckle from his plump lips, a handsome grin spreading across his face as he watched her. Most women would have been charmed by the room service offer or the promise of a second date, he thought, but she is not ‘most women’. There was a sharp, magnetic intelligence in her gray eyes that made him want to chase her even more. “I am starting to get that impression,” he replied, his gaze lingering on the way she held the door handle. “Then,” She chimed right away, “Let us keep the memory better than the actual reality, stranger,” she said with a faint, knowing tilt of her head as she looked at his pretty face. “Brisbane is a small city, but not that small. Goodbye.” A dry scoff escaped him the moment the door clicked shut behind her. She had not lingered for a second or hesitated; her exit was as precise as a surgical cut. “God, she is brilliant,” He muttered, a grin tugging at his mouth. He shook his head, leaning back against the pillows, reeling from a brand of dismissal he had never encountered. “She is older, she is obviously sharper, and just closed the book on me before I could even finish the first chapter,” he whispered to the empty room, a sudden, electric jolt of excitement humming through his veins. Lila marched out of the elevator and through the lobby of the lavish hotel, her eyes fixed forward. Looking back was not an option right now; her only priorities were a greasy McDonald’s breakfast and a heavy dose of ibuprofen for her throbbing skull. “Jesus, Lila,” she hissed to herself, “how much did you drink to end up in bed with a kid who looks like he is still on his parents’ health insurance?” Suddenly, she stumbled as one of her sneakers flew off her foot. She spun around to retrieve it, only to freeze in realization. In her desperate rush to escape, she had not put on her own shoes—she had stepped into his white Nikes, which were nearly identical to hers but significantly larger. “f*****g brilliant!” She threw her hands up in a gesture of total defeat. She groaned, throwing her hands up in mock celebration of her own stupidity. “Top of your class and you can not even identify your own freaking footwear?” Rather than risk a return to that room, she gritted her teeth, shoved her foot back into the oversized shoe, and kept moving. Meanwhile, back in the suite, the handsome stranger walked toward the fridge in the nude, letting everything hang out, desperate for a drink to ease his dry throat. He stopped when his gaze landed on a pair of white Nikes that looked suspiciously dainty. He picked one up, a grin spreading across his face. “Well,” he chuckled. “Cinderella took my Nikes.”