Lucia’s POV

I smiled in my sleep, stirring awake. For some strange reason the bed smells like roses. I don't remember the hotel bedsheets smelling this way but I love it regardless. They probably decided to try something new.

I turned on my side but my arms landed on something hard and rigid.

What's this? I allowed my hands to move around, my eyes still closed until I felt something hard and long in my grasp. Someone grunted beside me and I froze, slowly tearing my eyes open to see my hands wrapped around a man's dick.

I gasped, covering my mouth to stop myself from yelping. I slowly took my hands away, careful not to wake the obnoxiously hot naked man beside me.

How the hell did this happen?

I sat up, gawking at the familiar face beside me as memories came flooding in with a finishing touch of migraine.

I whimpered in pain, holding my head. “This is why I should never give in to Sage’s idea.”

Looking at him up close, I'm awed. He's the kind of man Ma always warned me about. The dangerously cute men. Ma would always say the devil will bring a gift you can never say no to your way and he'll come in the form of a man with a perfectly chiseled face, jaw dropping abs and a satisfying dick to die for. My eyes traitorously trailed down to the lower parts of his body and I gulped, immediately tearing my eyes away.

“Get a grip on yourself, Lucia,” I shook my head, trying to block images of his dick out of my head.

“He is just a regular guy I had a one stand with,” I muttered under my breath, trying to convince myself. He suddenly grumbled in his sleep, coveting the duvet.

How the hell can I convince myself that he is a regular guy when he looks so handsome even in his sleep? Aurora would know how to handle a situation like this.

What would Aurora do?

My phone suddenly vibrated, startling me. I pick the phone up, frustrated. “Where the hell are you Luciana Vega!” Alice yelled from the other end of the call and I cringed, pulling the phone away from my ears.

“Now is not a good time, Alice,” I replied, grouchy.

“Do you know what today is, Luciana?” She asked, tapping her feet noisily and I frowned. The only time she does that is when she is minutes away from blowing up in anger or frustration but it's never with me. Only Sage gets her this upset and maybe I also do a few times.

“What's got your pants so twisted this morning, Alice? Is Sage pissing you off again?”

“I wish,” she snorted.

“If that's not it then what's the issue?” I asked, frowning.

“Check your calendar, Lucia,” she demanded. I pulled the phone away from my ears and checked the calendar like she demanded,1 my eyes flying open in horror the next second.

“The book fare!” I immediately sprang up from the bed, gathering my things from the floor in a rush.

“Exactly Lucia! You have a book fare in less than 30 minutes. How can you choose yesterday of all days to go clubbing? What happened to resting after dinner?” She cried out in frustration and I bit my lips, feeling really guilty.

She's right, I chose the wrong day to go clubbing. I should never have given in to Sage’s offer to go clubbing.

“I'm sure this was all Sage’s idea,” she cussed bitterly while I looked around for my panties but couldn't find it. She definitely isn't wrong about this being Sage’s idea but I know better than anyone else that she is only throwing blames at Sage because they hate each other.

“I'll be hanging up now, Alice. I need to get dressed,” I told her.

“Wait!” She yelled, stopping me from ending the call.

“Tell me where you are so I can come pick you up.” I fell silent, closing my eyes as I tried to recall the name of the hotel.

“The King's Hotel,” I said, finally recalling it.

“Yes, that's it. The King's hotel,” I nodded, certain of the name.

“I'll be there in 5 minutes with a change of dress. You better be ready and waiting for me Luciana!” I ended the call not waiting to hear what else she had to say.

My eyes finally found my panties. It was in one of Nico's hands, hanging freely. I carefully moved close to him, trying to pry my panties out of his grip but he held on to it tightly even in his sleep, refusing to let go.

“Fuck!” I glared at him, giving up. There's no way I was going to get it away from him without waking him up and the last thing I want to do right now is wake him up. I'm not ready to have a walk of shame.

I got dressed without the panties and gathered my things. I spared one last look at him, my heart constricting at the thoughts of working away from this new fantasy of mine.

“It's just a one night stand,” I whispered to myself, tearing my eyes away from him.

“Goodbye Nico.” Without a backward glance, I walked out of the room, hurrying out of the hotel to meet Alice already in front of the hotel with a glare on her face.

I got into the car, smiling sheepishly. “Good morning to you too, Alice.”

“If we're not at the venue in less than 15minutes nothing will be good about the morning, not when you start facing serious backlash on social media,” she scowled, driving off.

“Which is why I have you to handle situations like that,” I replied, changing into the new dress she brought for me and drowning myself in perfume to hide the smell of alcohol on me.

She glanced at me occasionally, her eyes having questions. “Just ask already, Alice,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.

“Did you use protection?” She asked.

“Jesus Christ, Alice!” I yelled, mortified.

“Don't act like a saint now. There's no way you slept out in a different hotel after clubbing without a man in the picture,” she snorted and my cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

“Can we not talk about this? It's embarrassing.”

“We wouldn't have to talk about it if you didn't allow Sage to influence you into clubbing. You might not see it but that evil witch is trying to taint your pure soul with darkness, and you're letting her!”

“Darkness,” I smiled, my thoughts drifting to the strange yet interesting man I didn't know but yet spent the night with. The word darkness reminded me of him.

“Are you even listening to me, Luciana?” Alice asked, glaring at me.

“I've got it,” I suddenly said, turning to face her as we came to a stop in front of the building where I'll be having my book signing fare.

“Got what?” My manager arched her eyebrows at me, looking at me as though I'm crazy.

“A title for my new book,” I replied, smiling. As I looked out of the tinted window, everything outside darkened by the tinted window.

“A little darkness…….”