The Billionaire Next Door(27)

“So I guess it’s my turn again, Lizzie.” His hand slipped under her shirt and found her breast. “I’m wicked tired, though. Guess I’ll have to go real slow.”



He shifted down her body, tunneling under the sheets, rolling her onto her stomach. His mouth found her spine and followed it all the way to her—



The phone rang with an ear-splitting peal.



Sean paused, but didn’t stop.



Unfortunately, neither did the phone. And what if it was her mother having burned the house down or given the car away or done any one of a thousand things that spelled disaster?



As Lizzie stretched up to the bedside table and popped the phone off the cradle, Sean’s response was to start in on the backs of her thighs.



Man, if this was a telemarketer, she was going rip his or her head off. “Hello?”



“Lizzie, it’s perfect!”



“Mom?” Thankfully, Sean eased up and she caught her breath. “Mom…now’s not a good t—”



“The kiln is working beautifully!”



“It’s working…what?” Lizzie looked at the alarm clock with panic. Eleven. Eleven o’clock…oh God, she and Sean had overslept and the kiln had been delivered and her mother was now using the thing so the chances of getting the art store to take it back were next to nil. “Mom—”#p#分页标题#e#



“I’m positively inspired…. The wings of creation are fanning me….” As her mother started in on one of her soliloquies about artistic vision, Lizzie just let her go on.



All she could think about right now was that two thousand dollars they’d lost.



The call didn’t so much end as flame out, with her mother getting more and more caught up in her own excitement until she had to go express herself.



As Lizzie hung up, Sean appeared from under the sheets, his dark hair tousled. “Trouble with mom?”



“Nothing unusual. Unfortunately.”



He eased onto his side and propped his head up with his hand, the gold cross around his neck lying flat on the mattress.



He ran his finger down her cheek. “You know something, Lizzie, I have an idea.”



“What?”



“Let’s play hooky today.”



“Hooky?”



“Yeah, let’s grab some eats and a blanket and drive over to Esplanade. We can sit by the river and just forget about everything.” When she hesitated, he murmured, “Unless you have other plans?”



While she thought about the day, he idly lifted her hand to his mouth and sucked her forefinger between his lips. As he swirled his tongue around, the circling movement was liquid and warm and oh so smooth. His eyes flipped to her face and he stared at her from under heavy lids.



Other plans? As if her job search couldn’t wait until tomorrow?



“No…” she said. “I don’t have anything I have to do.”



He released her finger and slowly rolled on top of her, his body flowing over hers, a heavy weight full of strength. As his thigh fell between her knees, she yielded to him.



He suspended his torso on muscular arms and looked down into her face, hovering above her like some great bird of prey, all latent power. With the way he looked at her now, he made her feel marked and she knew then without a doubt they were going to be together.



Even though he would leave and never look back and she would miss him for a long, long time, she was going to have him.



He dropped down and kissed her lightly. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”



When she nodded, he leaped out of bed and disappeared through the door.



Before she got up, she made two quick phone calls. One was to the art store’s manager, who confirmed there was no returning the kiln now that her mother had used it. The other was to the bank, which informed her that her only option to keep the check from bouncing was to do a credit-card transfer.



Two thousand dollars at nineteen-percent interest. Terrific.



She hung up the phone and told herself that at least the kiln could be sold when her mother moved on to her next big inspiration.



So everything was going to be okay. Eventually.





***





Chapter Seven




Lounging beneath a blue sky dotted with cotton-ball clouds, Sean stretched his legs straight out in front of him and crossed his ankles. Lizzie was next to him on the plaid blanket, curled on her side, eyes closed, a little smile on her mouth.



Life was just about perfect right now, he thought.



After they’d staked out a stretch of grass on the Esplanade, they’d had turkey subs for lunch and backed up the foot-longs with oatmeal cookies the size of hubcaps. Now, in spite of the shouts from some guys playing Frisbee and the barking of dogs and the occasional horn on Storrow Drive, Lizzie was fading like a sunset.