Marina made her way back to the hotel after the show. She knew Donnie would have to get showered and change for the after party. L.A. was too crazy to not have an after party. Their pattern had been that, if she wanted to go to an after party, she would let security know and they’d tell her where to meet up with the group. She was exhausted after shopping, dinner with Donnie, and the concert. She really didn’t expect to see Donnie until after all the chaos was over. Her mistake. She got in the shower when she got back to her room. She heard her phone ringing when she was drying off from the shower. Someone was also knocking on the door to her room. She ran for the phone and finally picked up. “Hello,” she said, not even looking to see who it was.
“Where are you? I’ve been knocking on your door for ten minutes. No one heard from you after the show, so I figured you came back to the hotel. But then you didn’t answer the door and I got worried that something happened to you. And . . .”
“Donnie!” she interrupted. “Calm down. I’m fine. Take a breath, Donnie.” She walked toward the door.
“I am breathing. Where are you?”
“I’m in my room.”
“I’ve been knocking on your door for ten minutes.” He pauses. “Shit. This is your room, right? 1026?”
She laughed. “Yes, that’s my room.”
“Is something wrong? Did I upset you earlier when I kissed you?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. Aside from you freaking out over me not hearing you knock…”
“How could you not hear me? And if you are in there, why won’t you open the door?”
She sighed. “Fine. I’ll open the door.” She hung up the phone and dropped it on the desk. She took a deep breath and turned the locks for the door. She made sure her towel was completely covering her and opened the door. The look on Donnie’s face went from sheer worry to complete lust. She turned and walked away, letting him come in the room. “I didn’t hear my phone or anyone knocking at my door because I was in the shower. I am tired. We’ve had a really busy day. I figured you had to go to the after party so I thought I might get a shower and try to nap or at least rest until you came back by tonight.”
Donnie was staring. “Shit, am I not covered up?” she said trying to check the towel to make sure nothing was showing. Nothing that she could find.
“It’s just that you are so beautiful Marina.” He stepped closer. “You don’t have on any make-up and your skin is perfect. You just got out of the shower and there are little drops of water still on your shoulders.” He reached and touched a drop on her right shoulder. “I’m not sure if I want to lick the drops off of you or just tell myself that it’s sweat that built up while we were making love . . .”
Marina smiled at him. “As much as I’d enjoy you seducing me with your words, Mr. Wahlberg…” she turns and grabs her brush off the desk. “Some of us want to try to get a little rest. With you being off tomorrow, except for those interviews, I’m sure you have some ideas about what we can do with another day in L. A.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Like sight seeing and such, you pervert!” she teased and picked up the hair dryer.

Donnie followed her and cornered her in front of the chair by the desk. He looked down and put his fingers at the top of her towel where it was tucked in holding it up. “I know some sights I’d enjoy seeing. You might even enjoy me seeing them, if you gave me a chance.”
“You are incorrigible! Now stop it. Let me dry my hair and then I’ll get dressed and we can talk. If I let it dry on it’s own, it looks terrible.”
He backs off and sits down on her bed and watches as she brushes her hair and then dries it. She pulls some clothes out of her bag and steps into the bathroom to change. He walks over to her suitcase and peeks inside. It’s ridiculously neat. He checks the closet, everything is neat. Outfits are hung up together and obviously ironed. He was curious if her purse was organized too, but she came out of the bathroom before he could check. She was wearing pajamas. The bottoms were shorts. Pale blue with white dots. She still had on no make-up. He didn’t hesitate. “I think I have to kiss you again now.” He walked to her and pulled her to him for a passionate kiss. He put his hands on her ass and pulled her hips against his. His lips found their way to her cheek and she moaned his name. When his lips found her neck, she held him there. “Marina,” he said between kisses, “ I really want to make love to you right now.” Another kiss on her neck. “Can I do that?” More kisses. She didn’t answer. “Marina?”

“Yes, please don’t stop Donnie.”
Just when he was sure those were the best words he had ever heard in his life, something made him ask again. “Marina, just to be clear, did you just say I can make love to you tonight?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes, I want you to make love to me. Tonight.”
His kisses on her neck got more passionate. He slid one hand under the edge of her pajama top and rested his hand just below her left breast.
“Oh my God, please stop!” she said suddenly, pushing him away. Donnie froze. They both stood there trying to catch their breath, not moving or looking at each other for a few minutes. Finally Marina ducked under his arm and walked to the other side of the room. “I’m so sorry Donnie. Please don’t be too mad at me.”
He turned to look at her. “Is it too soon?” he asked. “I know we haven’t technically known each other for all that long, but we’ve spent so much time together these past few days that it seems much longer to me. I think I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you at the hospital And like I said earlier, I’m not used to knowing what I want and not going after it.”
She sighed. “Donnie,” she said and started pacing. “I like you. I’m wildly attracted to you. It would be so easy to just kiss you and forget who I am. But that wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I’m not going to have sex with someone that needs me to be something I’m not. It’s part of how I was raised. Even if it does make men mad at me.”
“Just so you know, I’m not mad at you. I might be a little mad at myself.” He walked and sat down in the chair by the desk and put his face in his hands. After a minute, Marina walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her. “Damn, you are so beautiful. There have been a fair amount of women in my life.” She smirked at him. “But I’ve never met anyone like you. So why would I think I could just seduce you like you were any other woman I’ve met?”
“Because you don’t know how to seduce me?” she offered.
He laughed. “And I don’t supposed you’d be willing to tell me?”

“Well, not tonight I’m not.”

“I’m such an idiot! I was shocked as hell that you let me kiss you tonight. Why did I think you might let me make love to you.?”
“Um, you probably weren’t thinking.” He looked at her. “What? I know I sure wasn’t. It wasn’t until I felt your hand under my top that I came to my senses.”
“Now this I have to have an explanation for…”
She started pacing. He could tell she was really nervous. “I was brought up to believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong. But let me tell you, it was a whole lot easier to say no back before I was ever married and knew what I was missing.” Donnie laughed. “What are you laughing at?”
“I just think that some part of me already knew that, but like you say, I know what I’m missing and the thought of being able to share something like that with you makes me crazy.”
“Yeah, I can relate to that sentiment. But it‘s been a while since I was interested in any man. Even longer still since a man was interested in me. And when you touched me, it was such a unfamiliar sensation…it just jarred me back to reality.”
“You are the type of person that has to be in love and married to have sex. It‘s not a bad thing. Not at all. It’s just not a popular thing these days.” He reached and took her hand to hold.
“So…that’s not a big deal to you? The fact that I have no plans to ever sleep with you…”
“It’s not a big deal to me that you won’t sleep with me…until we are married or wildly in love.” He smirked at her.
“You are crazy. I’m not marrying you. But I might enjoy kissing you a little more…if you’re up for it?”
“I’m up for anything you want to do. I just want to get to know you better.” He was still sitting and pulled her to him for a kiss. Just a kiss. A passionate kiss…but nothing else. She hadn’t said they wouldn’t be wildly in love. “I’ve gotta work on my ‘seducing Marina techniques’ if I ever hope to get more than a kiss from you.” He stared at her for a few minutes. He thought about the past days and what he had done that worked and what didn’t work. “I think I know a weakness for you Ms. Walker.”

“How could you know what makes me weak? You’ve only known me for a minute.”
“You, my dear, are a romantic. Kissing you on the cheek, holding your hand, touching your face, even opening the door for you…that’s what makes you put your guard down.”
“Shit. You pay attention too well.”
Donnie laughed. “I think it’s cute when you say shit.” He sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand and kissed it. “I can’t wait to hear you say ‘fuck’ especially when you will be saying ‘me harder Donnie’ after it sometime in the future when you’re my wife.” He kept kissing her hand.
“Are you gonna kidnap me and take me to City Hall and force me to marry you?”.
“It won’t be at city hall,” he said seriously. “And you are going to be more than willing to be there.” She stopped laughing.