"Like a baby," she replied as she slathered her waffle with butter. "I was afraid I'd have nightmares, but if I dreamed at all I don't remember. What about you? How did you sleep?" She drowned the waffle in the syrup.
There was no way he'd admit to her that he'd slept poorly, haunted by his own desire, tortured by visions of her in his bed. "I slept okay."
For the next few minutes they focused on the meal, although the sight of Lizzy's lips shiny with syrup was a particular form of torture for him. As her tongue slid across her lower lip to catch an errant dollop of the sweet liquid, Daniel felt his grip on control coming close to snapping.
He ducked his head and focused solely on the meal. The easiest thing for him to do was to pretend she wasn't there. He ate three waffles but still felt a restless hunger inside him that he knew food would never satisfy.
When they'd finished eating he helped with the cleanup, stacking the dishes in the dishwasher after she'd rinsed them. As they worked she chattered about the people who were regulars in the café, about how much she'd enjoyed her time in Grady Gulch and that she thought her next stop would be some mountaintop where she would sit and stargaze.
Each and every word of her conversation was a reminder to him that this was a temporary stop for her, that he would always be nothing more than a temporary man. And wasn't that exactly what he wanted? No ties, no commitments, nobody for him to disappoint.
"I need to get upstairs and take a shower," she said when the dishes were all put away.
"Yeah, I need to do the same," he replied.
"We could always shower together and save water."
She had to be joking, he thought. But as he turned and looked at her, there was no teasing light in her eyes. Rather, he saw a mirrored image of his desire there. It stole his breath away and made his lungs ache in his chest.
She took a step closer to him, her whiskey eyes inviting him to imbibe, to become intoxicated with her. "I didn't tell you about one of the things on my bucket list."
"And what's that?" he asked, aware that his voice sounded half-strangled with his need of her.
"To make love to a man I'll never forget. I believe that you're that man, Daniel. I want to make love to you, and when I leave here I'll have the warmth of that memory of us together to carry with me for the rest of my life."
A memory. That's what he'd be to her and that's definitely what she would be to him and that's all they'd be to each other. Was that so bad? Was it so bad to have a memory of passion to carry with him through the rest of his lonely life?
Her hand slid into his, and at that moment he knew he was lost and he didn't want to be found. They left the kitchen and Daniel felt as if he'd stepped into a dream, a wonderful dream from which he didn't want to awaken.
With each step they took up the stairs he expected her to pull her hand from his and tell him it had all been a silly joke. But, instead as they walked closer to his master bedroom, her hand squeezed more tightly with his.
Daniel had always felt as if the master bathroom was huge, but it shrank to intimate proportions with her so close to him. She took the lead, opening the glass shower door and turning on the faucets. Within moments steam began to rise out of the shower enclosure and fill the room.
She then went to the linen closet and pulled out two large, fluffy towels. She set them on the counter and then turned to gaze at him, her expression suddenly one of hesitation. "If I'm being presumptuous here, then please stop me before I make a total fool of myself."
In reply to her he pulled his T-shirt off and dropped it on the floor behind him. Her eyes widened and then narrowed as her gaze slid across his bare chest. "Covering that chest should be a sin," she said huskily.
Her comment only stoked the flames of desire higher inside him. He watched as she took off the robe and hung it on the hook on the back of the bathroom door. As she began to unfasten the pearllike buttons that ran down the top of her thin, cotton pajamas, the blood in Daniel's veins threatened to boil over.
She shrugged out of the top, leaving her bare-breasted, and suddenly Daniel couldn't get into the shower with her fast enough.
He wanted to take a bar of soap and slowly run it across her breasts, down her back, across her slender shoulders. He wanted to wrap her in soapsuds and then slide his body against hers.
He nearly stumbled to the floor in his eagerness to get out of his jeans, quickly followed by his socks and boxers. By that time she was gloriously naked, and together they stepped into the shower.
The first thing he did was pull her into his arms, and the feel of her naked body against his own was magic. It was as if nothing had come before her and nothing would ever come after her. There was just this moment in time and she belonged completely to him.
As the warm water cascaded over their bodies, their lips met in a kiss that made him feel as if he'd never truly been kissed before. He tasted eagerness and heat and the faint sweetness from the maple syrup of the waffles she'd eaten earlier.
He was already fully aroused, and he hadn't even picked up a bar of soap yet. He realized he'd wanted this since the moment she'd slid across from him in the booth and eaten the pie he'd ordered for Janice. He'd known at that moment that somehow Lizzy was going to change his life.
It wasn't long before the bar of soap glided across her bare skin. As he caressed it across her slender shoulders and down her breasts, he couldn't think anymore. He could only experience the wonder of Lizzy.
* * *
When they had soaped and stroked and kissed every inch of each other, they finally rinsed off and Lizzy stepped out of the glass enclosure. She wrapped herself in one of the large towels and then handed him one as well. But, he didn't take it from her. Instead he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the bathroom and to his king-size bed.
He placed her gently in the center of the navy sheets that held his scent, as if she were the most precious bundle he'd ever carried.
She thrilled, knowing that the best was yet to come. And she was ready for him … soft and yielding and hungry with need. The shower had been an intense form of foreplay, but now she wanted him to possess her completely.
He joined her on the bed and peeled the towel back as if opening a gift to expose her to his hungry gaze. She shivered with emotion as his mouth captured hers again, his kiss holding what words could never say.
As he kissed her, one of his hands explored first one of her breasts and then the other, his work-roughened palms erotic and causing her nipples to rise up to meet him.
There was no question in her mind that this was the lover she would never forget. Daniel. His name sang through her head as his hands began to explore her naked body.
When his mouth captured the tip of one of her breasts, she moaned with the sensation. He teased with his tongue, nibbled with his lips until she was half-mad with her desire.
Each touch was fire, and she welcomed the heat that burned away any thoughts of attacks or murders or bucket lists. There was no place in her mind for any thoughts other than of him.
She not only accepted his touch, but was an active participant, thrilling at the feel of his chest beneath her fingers, the sensual pleasure of his bare legs tangled with hers.
It didn't take long before she wanted him not just touching her, not just kissing her, but inside her. She'd been ready for him since they'd gotten out of the shower, and she didn't want to wait another minute.
"Daniel, I want you now," she whispered softly. "I want you making love to me. I want you inside me."
She didn't have to ask twice. His smoky eyes devoured her as he moved on top of her. She parted her legs to allow him between them.
"This is crazy," he murmured.
She smiled up at him and grabbed his buttocks. "Yeah, crazy good."
His neck muscles were taut as he hovered over her, and there was no humor in the depths of his eyes as he slowly eased into her. A small gasp of pleasure escaped her lips, and he caught it with his, kissing her as he slid deeper into her.
When they were fully interlocked, neither of them moved as his mouth trailed down the side of her throat, and she simply took in the sweet sensations shivering through her.
She realized he would be the lover she never forgot because at some point in the past week he'd stolen a little piece of her heart, and when she left there she would feel the absence of that small piece for a long time to come.