Someone Like You(21)

'Did it hurt just then, when we were … ?' God, what to call it? 'Fucking'  didn't seem right but 'making love' was too loaded. 'Shagging?' Too  Austin Powers.

'Just now? I had way more important things on my mind.' He squeezed her  closer. 'And on my body. And in my hands.' Then he kissed her tenderly,  sweetly. 'You're a hell of a distraction, Elizabeth Blake.'

His words thrilled her. Who was this man? The guy holding her now,  kissing her so gently, was not the Dan from the bar. And neither was he  Dan the door slammer. Crikey. How many sides to this bloke could there  be?

'Thanks, big guy.'

'Oh yeah,' he moaned. 'Call me big guy again.' Lizzie laughed, walked  her fingers down his chest, over his flat belly, to his cock and  underneath. Gently she cupped his balls, loved the softness and the  tender weight of them in her hand.

'Maybe that can be your new nickname,' she teased. 'People will just  think I'm referring to how tall you are. And how tall is that exactly?'

'Six foot four last time I checked.'

Lizzie took him in her hand. 'I've always had a thing for big men.'

'I bet big men have always had a thing for you.'

She hesitated. 'Not so much.'

'You are shitting me.'

'It's been a dry season in Lizzie land, so thanks. Or maybe we should thank Ry and Julia.'

He sniggered. 'For fuck's sake. Don't talk about them when you're doing what you're doing. It could get kinda weird.'         

     



 

Lizzie laughed so hard her chest ached. When she finally got it under  control, happiness bubbling away inside her instead, she slapped her  hand on his stomach. 'You gonna cook me that steak now or are we gonna  skip right to dessert?'

'Let's have a shower and then I'll give you whatever you want.'

Lizzie decided it was the best post-sex steak she'd ever had. She ate it  hungrily, not caring that there wasn't a salad leaf to be seen.

Of course, it didn't hurt that Dan was sitting right across from her,  shirtless. She was content to sit and watch him eat, observe the way the  muscles in his arms and shoulders bunched and moved as he cut his  steak. She gazed at his face as he chewed and smiled at her at the same  time. There was a shine in his eyes that she had seen once before, in  the middle of last winter, across the bar at the pub.

Lizzie forked the last piece into her mouth and chewed voraciously.

Dan raised his eyebrows. 'Hungry?'

'Yeah. Pity you burnt the potatoes.'

'Sometimes I find a good piece of meat is enough.' Dan pushed his plate  into the middle of the table, crossed his arms in front of him. 'By the  way. You look good in my shirt.'

Lizzie glanced down at his black shirt, loose on her shoulders and  bunched in her lap. Only a couple of buttons were done up and the rest  draped open. 'This old thing?'

Dan stood abruptly, came to her. He reached down and yanked the shirt  open. Two black buttons popped off and hit the floor with tiny pings. He  found a nipple, already hard. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her  to the bedroom.

'Time for dessert.'

Dan opened his eyes. The summer day poured through the window, streaking  through the wooden blinds and creating lines of light and shadow on the  rumpled sheets and tangled limbs on the bed.

In the sleepy, drunken haze of the second full night's sleep he'd had in  four months, it took him half a minute to remember exactly where he  was. And that he wasn't alone.

He turned on his side, shifted the pillow under his head, and watched  Lizzie while she slept. She looked dead to the world. Her blonde hair  was flattened on one side and sticking up on the other, and one arm was  thrown up on her pillow, framing her head. When he looked a little  closer, at her silken skin, he could see the tiniest of freckles  scattered on her nose and cheeks. Her plump lips, pale pink, had fallen  slightly open in her sleep. There were worse things to wake up to, he  decided. Far worse.

She was still in his bed. Naked, if he remembered correctly. Dan  couldn't remember if they'd had a discussion about her staying the night  but here she was and it didn't feel weird. Normally he'd been the  number one signed-up member of the middle of the night, post-fuck dash,  made all the easier by his usual policy of never inviting women back to  his place.

But that was then. The minute he'd invited Lizzie over for dinner he'd  smashed that tradition into a million pieces. Dinner? Jesus, when did he  start cooking for women? When the only place in town to eat was the  place she worked, that's when. And cooking her a meal at his place meant  anonymity and no questions, which was exactly how he wanted to keep it,  still.

Lizzie shifted and the soft sheet that was barely covering her body  slipped down onto her ribs as one arm stretched up in a yawn. The move  exposed her breasts and, damn it, he was a breast man. Last night he'd  loved the feel of her in his hands, large and full, with nipples the  colour of pale pink roses. And he'd been driven crazy by how she reacted  when he held her, a growl, a moan, her nails digging into his back.

He leaned over, careful not to touch any other part of her body, and  hovered above her breast. He checked to see her eyes were still closed  and then he teased one nipple with his tongue, flicking the nub,  swirling around the areola, finally sucking it into his mouth.

When he heard her moan, he sucked harder, nipping her. She stirred, moved closer to him, nudging a knee into his groin.

'Morning,' he murmured against her skin.

Lizzie's arms were around his neck in a flash and she found his mouth,  played with the hair at his neck. She planted a tantalising kiss, then  bit his bottom lip.

'Hey big guy.'

'Hey.'

How'd you sleep?' she asked.

'Good. You?'

'Good too.' A very satisfied smile played on her lips. 'I really like being woken up like that.'

'Anytime, baby.'

'What's the time?' she asked sleepily, looking around the room for a  clock. Dan reached over her to grab his mobile from the bedside table.

'It's ten.'

Lizzie pushed him off with full force and sat bolt upright. 'Fuck. I'm  late for work.' She kicked the sheet off her legs and dashed for the  hallway. 'Can you find my clothes? I have to get home and change. Shit  shit shit.' Her voice disappeared into the bathroom.         

     



 

He knew she took her job seriously but Dan seriously doubted that Ry  would give her the sack for being late just once. He would make sure Ry  didn't. He sat up, grabbed his phone and found Ry's number.

'Danny Boy.'

'Hey, Ry,' Dan replied.

'You good?' Ry asked.

'As a matter of fact, I am. The phrase "fucking awesome" comes to mind, as a matter of fact.'

'Jesus. What's happened to the grumpy shit I've come to know and love?'

'Still here. Hey,' he lowered his voice. 'I need to tell you something.  Elizabeth's gonna be late for work. Don't give her shit about it, okay?'

'What's happened? Is she all right?' Ry's voice had lost its humour.

'She's … fine.' Fine? God, she was more than fine. Unbelievable. Combustible. Gorgeous. 'She's running a little late.'

'How do you know she's going to be late for work?'

Dan wasn't sure what to do next. He figured he had two choices. He could  either answer Ry's question or deal with a furious-looking Lizzie, who  was now standing in his bedroom doorway, totally naked, hands on her  gorgeous hips, giving him the death stare. God, she was incredible.

'Who are you talking to?' Lizzie whispered through gritted teeth.

'Who's that?' Ry asked down the line at the same time.

Dan thought for half a moment, and realised the longer he left them both  hanging, the longer he could look at Lizzie's body. And he wanted to  check out every damn inch of her, from her bright red painted toenails  to her blazing blue eyes. And, holy hell, everything in between.

'Dan!' Lizzie insisted.

It was then he decided to leap right in, all guns blazing. He was bloody  well stoked that he had Lizzie still naked in his house. He wasn't  going to hide that from anyone. So what the hell.

He put the phone back to his ear. 'Listen up everyone. Ry, Elizabeth is  going to be late for work because she is still naked in my bedroom.' He  watched as Lizzie's face turned white. 'Elizabeth, I'm telling Ry you're  going to be late for work and that he'd better not give you any shit  about it.'

'Okay.' Dan could hear Ry's laughter as he ended the call. Dan tossed  the phone onto the end of the bed, crossed his arms and waited. Lizzie  had stopped her death glare and now wouldn't look at him at all. She'd  dropped to her knees and was scrambling on the floor for her clothes.

He patted the space next to him. 'Baby, come back over here.'

Lizzie sat on the end of the bed, her back to him, and began pulling on  her knickers and jeans. He could see a faint, horizontal tan line on her  back from her bikini and he fought the urge to grab her and run his  tongue across it.

'Elizabeth?'

She stood and jerked her top back on hurriedly. He opened his mouth to  tell her it was inside out. One look at her face and he decided against  it.

'I. Cannot. Believe. You. Just. Did. That.' She spat out every word.

'I've got nothing to hide. C'mon back over here.'

She turned to him, her face furious. 'You've got nothing to hide? Of  course you don't. Have you ever thought that I might?' She stormed to  the door and turned back one last time.