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has.”
    She shook her head. “No, it hasn’t. Everyone
needs intimacy when someone dies. It’s like being so close to death
makes one crave life. And sex is a natural urge.”
    Tomas looked at her like he had never seen her
before. “What is wrong with you?”
    She started getting dressed again. “Nothing. We
had a good time, Tomas. Okay?” Susanna looked away from him. “Can
you just leave it at that?”
    Tomas glared at her. “Fucking hell.”
    She zipped up her skirt and tucked in her
blouse. He watched her lean down to get her shoes from under the
table, unable to think of what to say. Or how to stop the dream
from becoming a nightmare.
    Tomas stepped closer to her. “I don’t know what
your game is, but I don’t like it. You can’t tell me what we just
experienced meant nothing to you.”
    Susanna’s eyes glistened, but no tears came. She
bit her lower lip. “I didn’t say that. But these things never work
out.”
    He raised his hands in the air. “Give it a
chance.”
    She shook her head. With her purse strap over
her shoulder, she hesitated. “Trust me, Tomas. It’s better this
way.”
    Tomas stood rooted to the floor, watching her
leave and unable to do anything about it. He had no hold on her. A
brief interlude in his hotel room didn’t qualify as a long-term
commitment. It was a bitch, but she was free to go.
    The door closed behind her, and when Tomas could
again move, he rummaged for another whiskey, coming up empty. Out
of the corner of his eye, he spotted the shreds of lace on the
floor and picked up the ripped panties. Burying his face in the
material, he breathed in. The faint scent of Susanna aroused him,
and he closed his eyes.
    Then he remembered he had to be somewhere. He
stuffed the panties under his pillow and glanced over at the
window. It was already dark out. Hustling to the shower, he got
ready quickly. In the closet, Tomas chose a fresh shirt and dark
slacks. Usually, he didn’t dress formally, but for a death in the
family he had to make an exception.
    The sick feeling that roiled inside was a
deterrent to socializing. But he had no choice. Tomas finished
dressing and left, even though it felt like his skin had been
ripped from his body and his heart sawed in half with a rusty
knife. The electrifying events of the day had occurred within such
a short time, he couldn’t get his head around any of it.
    *****
    The bistro was packed when he arrived, and Tomas
was escorted through the busy tables to a room in the back. The
lighting was dim, and the walls were an earthy color. Red sconces
and colorful paintings accented the room. Stepping farther inside,
he looked around at the family sitting at a long table. His aunts,
uncles, cousins, and grandmother were back, along with his parents
and his sister.
    Tomas felt like hell, and he needed a drink. The
whiskeys he had downed earlier had long since worn away, likely
burned off during the heated sex of the afternoon. It was hard to
believe it had actually happened, all the intimate and blazingly
hot things Susanna had done with him. But the feeling in his loins
confirmed that it had.
    Why Susanna fled like a scared rabbit, he had no
idea. But it didn’t make it any better. His insides were torn up
over a woman he had known less than a day. If there had been any
way to bow out of dinner with the relatives, he would have.
    But considering it was the last get-together
before everyone one returned to their normal life, or flew home, he
couldn’t think of a way out. It was the day of the funeral, and to
snub the family at that particularly sensitive time would be pretty
bad. Even for him.
    There was only one solution. To drink until he
couldn’t feel anymore. Taking the seat next to Alaina, he flagged
the server. “Whiskey, please.”
    The rest of the party had their drinks and were
already working on salad. Tomas was more than fashionably late. His
mother sat to the other side of him, and she leaned over to whisper
into his ear in a