Chapter 48

"Get dressed, come on. You're going to catch a cold," he told her, crouching down to pick up her pajama shirt.

"I've already told you that..." she began to say.

"I'm not going to do it, especially not while drunk," he cut her off sternly. "Now... get dressed."

He handed her the shirt, and she looked at him with annoyance before reluctantly taking it.

After getting dressed, she grabbed her crutch and left the office.

Stefan sighed. It had been difficult for him to resist his urges, but he didn't want to go to bed in his current state.

He ran his hands through his hair until it was tousled. Once again, the image of his ex-girlfriend with that man, whom they had hated since childhood, infuriated him.

Wasn't she supposed to want nothing to do with him anymore?

He couldn't understand her, but his mind still wondered why she had reacted that way when that idiot Jürgen Hoffman had said those words to him.

Did she still feel something for Gretchen?

The sound of the house phone pulled him out of his thoughts, and he walked to the desk to answer the call.

"Hello?" he said with his eyes closed.

"I'll be waiting for you at the Hilton in half an hour. We need to talk," the voice on the other end said.

"Well, of course we need to talk! Aren't you supposed to want nothing to do with...?"

"Stefan, I can't do it right now. Go to the Hilton, Presidential Suite. Please, Stefan," the voice pleaded.

"No, I won't go. I'm sorry, Gretchen, but you missed your chance when I saw you walk in with your husband... I mean, ten years ago," he hung up abruptly.

He placed his hands on the desk and closed his eyes as he sighed.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the wooden surface of the table, but his gaze was distant. Realizing he was contemplating going to the meeting, he shook his head and regained his composure.

He checked the time.

"If I leave now, I might make it..." he thought, and without further hesitation, he left the office, locking the door behind him.

Meanwhile, Katia lay on her back in bed, unable to sleep.

The way he had looked at her had made her body tremble, but she no longer knew if it was out of fear or excitement.

She rolled onto her side, placed a hand under the pillow, and tried to sleep. After about fifteen minutes, she fell asleep thinking about... Stefan.

...

The next morning, as the sun's rays streamed in through the window, a large windowpane to the left of the bed, Stefan squeezed his eyes shut and moved his head from side to side, eventually placing his arm over his eyes.

After about ten minutes, he decided to get up. He turned his head toward the window, and the morning sunlight blinded him.

He ran the back of his left hand over his eyelids and, once accustomed to the morning light, sat up on the mattress with the sheets around his waist, exposing his well-defined and naked torso.

He let out a rather loud yawn, ran his hand through his hair with squinted eyes, and let out a groan of pain.

His head was pounding.

He gazed around the room, unable to remember how he had ended up there. Instinctively, he looked to his side and opened his eyes in surprise when he saw a woman next to him.

As if that woman had read his thoughts, she turned toward him, and Stefan's face paled. No, it couldn't be her.

Gradually, as he shook his head, he vaguely remembered the previous night. After a long time, he stared at Gretchen's sleeping face.

"No, no... it can't be," he muttered as he got up.

He searched for his boxers around the room, put them on, and paced back and forth, muttering that they couldn't have had sex.

When he heard her starting to wake up, he stopped. The woman looked at the man in front of her, her breasts covered with the sheets, as she sat up on the mattress.

Both of them knew they had to talk, but Stefan wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what she had to say. She got on her knees on the mattress, still keeping the sheets over her chest, and said to him:

"What happened last night, Gretchen?"

"We slept together," she replied calmly.

"I can see that. But how? How did I agree to sleep with you?" She lowered her gaze, looking sad. "Gretchen... Both you and I know this isn't right. Because you're married... and so am I."

"What!?" she exclaimed in surprise. "You're married? Since when?"

"For three months now... But that's not the point. You used to..."

"I miss you, Stefan!" she interrupted, surprising the German.

..

Katia was feeling bored in her room when she decided to take a swim in the pool. Since her arrival, she hadn't gone for a swim, and with nothing else to do, she headed to her suitcase to find a swimsuit, but she didn't have one.

She sighed.

She began rummaging through the drawers to tidy them up since her plan to go swimming had been thwarted, and she wanted to keep herself busy. In the third drawer, she found several swimsuits.

She looked at them in surprise and picked a black one with white stripes. She went to the bathroom to put it on, and after a while, she emerged. She stood there, looking at how it fit.

It was a black bikini top with white stripes, with a crossed front, wide straps at the back, beaded ties at the neck, and side boning for support, paired with black bikini bottoms, also with white stripes, fully lined with decorative cutouts on the sides and a low rise.

She approached the dresser to close the drawer when something caught her attention. It was a white envelope with her name on the front.