Page 69 of Playing With Love

“Someone should tell him he comes across as an ass.”

“Maybe. I just know it’s not going to be me. I’ve learned to pick my battles and Greg’s not a man I want as an enemy.”

I shot back the rest of my whiskey, not tasting a drop of the sweet oaky flavor of the old No 7 the bartender had poured. I wished it was my preferred Ardbeg—real whisky from Scotland—not that I’d court getting kicked out of the state of Tennessee by suggesting such a thing.

I set my empty glass down and asked, “You have a lot of enemies at work?”

My question seemed to startle Liza before a slow, sly smile played on her lips.

“You know me. I’m not afraid to speak my mind and not a lot of people appreciate honesty.”

That was the God’s honest truth.

That meant I had a rock in my gut when we went up to our room. That boulder weighed heavy, even after Liza drifted off to sleep on her side of the bed, and didn’t subside until she curled into me. A few minutes later she mumbled how hot I was and tore off her pants before she draped herself back over me.

Only then did I fall asleep.

Which brought me to now, lying on my back with Liza curled into me and over me for the second morning in a row. However, this morning it was harder to control my hands from wandering when I’d woken up to find her not only in a pair of panties but topless, too. My efforts to keep my body in check were made harder when she nuzzled closer and hitched her knee higher, grazing my dick, reminding me I was so hard my dick was throbbing. That, too, was for the second morning in a row.

With no relief to be found in a bed with Liza—something my dick was aching for—I gently shifted her off of me while I did my best to keep my eyes from greedily taking in the swells of her perfect tits, an endeavor I failed in as I slid out of bed. I stopped to pull the blankets up, Liza rolled to her side, and I squeezed my eyes closed to block out the gorgeous view of her cleavage.

Christ, the woman was trying to kill me in her sleep.

I contemplated hightailing me and my stiff dick to the bathroom, leaving the blankets down around her waist. However, leaving her uncovered would mean the possibility of her still being exposed when I was out of the shower. And catching a glimpse of Liza’s dusty pink nipples in the early morning light when I couldn’t tease those nipples with my tongue and do other things to her besides, one look—or two as it were—was more than enough. I didn’t need to jerk off in a cold shower only to come back and wake her up sporting wood. Blindly reaching for the sheet wasn’t an option. There was only so much torture I could endure before I’d be begging for a taste, and accidentally touching Liza would have me on my knees pleading.

My dick twitched, reminding me that standing at the side of the bed thinking about all the ways I’d like to start my morning wasn’t helping.

I braced for the sight and opened my eyes. As quickly as I could I reached for the sheet, but stopped dead when I saw the tattoo scrolled up her ribs. It started at her hip, reaching not quite to her armpit.

A stem of bleeding hearts. The linework precise, delicate, colorless.

A lifelike yellow canary perched on the top of the stem, the bird’s beak facing her breast.

My chest burned.

Memories assaulted.

I shifted through the years, trying to pinpoint the timing of the conversation. We were in Florida. She’d moved to Miami, I’d flown there to visit before a case started. We’d met at my hotel even though she lived nearby. That was at my request. She hadn’t questioned me nor had she asked why I didn’t want to see her place. At the time I’d appreciated her giving me what I needed, now I wondered if she hadn’t, if I would’ve had the balls to tell her why I’d needed that barrier. I hadn’t been ready to infiltrate her life, I’d needed to keep separate from her home, her friends outside of work, anything that would draw me closer. We had what we had—a friendship that was deep, a bond that I thought was unbreakable. I just needed more time before I was ready.

Such a dumb fuck.

The memory fully formed.

Liza’s smiling, happy face filled my mind’s eye. Before we’d exchanged hellos, she’d plopped down in the chair next to me, yanked her sunglasses off, and tossed them on the table. Even though the sun was shining bright overhead, the umbrella positioned over the table provided some shade.

“I learned something new today,” she announced.

“Good to see you, Lizzy.”

Her smile turned dazzling as she leaned closer to brush her lips over my bearded jaw.

“Good to see you, Tucker,” she softly whispered.

Right then, I should’ve told her how I felt.

That soft touch of her lips, her whispered hello, the way both of them lit my insides, I should’ve admitted I loved her. I should’ve explained I wasn’t ready to quit my job and settle down, but when I was, I wanted it to be with her.

I kept my thoughts to myself and asked, “What’d you learn, baby?”