AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twelve
I quietly kicked off my shoes and closed the kitchen door behind me. Muffin scampered across the floor, falling on his ass twice as his hips wavered. I scooped him up, scratching my fingers beneath the shimmering collar Lizzie gave him. This one was new, and silver. Muffster hated it, and I didn’t tell Lizzie I agreed with him.
We walked through the house, the floors creaking their echo into the quiet rooms, bound for my bedroom as the front doorknob rattled. I turned from the bottom step and watched the knob bounce up and down with the blurred silhouette of Lizzie’s blonde hair moving on the porch. Her whispered profanities were muffled by the door, but I heard them and buried my face in Muffin’s fur to prevent myself from laughing too hard.
“Stupid…ass…door…it’s a good…thing…I like sleeping…with him…and…crap,” she huffed, and I suffocated on my attempt to restrain laughter.
Her key finally released the latch, and Lizzie tiptoed inside. I guess she was trying to tiptoe, but she looked more like a wobbly ballerina. “Honey,” she called while dropping her keys and purse before slamming the door shut, “I’m home!”
“We’re he—”
“Oh my god!” she screamed, clutching her chest when she noticed Muffin and me standing at the bottom of the stairs, grinning at her. Muffin grunted and wiggled out of my hold, landing on the stairs while Lizzie tried to breathe. I crept toward her, placing my hands on her shoulders and rubbing up and down along her arms.
“You were saying?” I pestered, biting my bottom lip. “You like sleeping with him and…”
“I love you,” she cooed, leaning into my chest where she nuzzled against me. Her thin arms tightened around my waist, her limp weight turning heavy as she pressed.
“Lizzie,” I muttered to no reply. “Babe. Wake up.” She whimpered and moved just enough to press further into me, so I scooped her up, holding her bent knees over one arm while the other balanced her shoulders.
“Did you clean out a winery?” I quietly taunted, kissing her forehead. “Ella is trouble. I need to talk to Jesse if you’re going to come home like this.”
“It wasn’t just Ella. It was Declan too, and I had to have so much wine because it was a work event,” she grumbled, knotting her hands around my neck. Her fingertips pressed into my sore muscles while she spoke, and it felt so damn wonderful.
I carried Lizzie up the stairs like the queen she was, stopping in the doorway of my bedroom. “Do you want to jump on the bed, Elizabeth?” I whispered above her ear, her head still pressed against my chest. “Or should I tuck you in?”
She peered at me through wild curls, a sparkle in her blue eyes. “Jump.”
I gladly tossed Lizzie onto the mattress while she erupted in laughter, and we frantically tore off each other’s clothes. Her hands were in my hair, pulling my mouth to hers so she could bite my bottom lip. Her teeth pierced my skin, but I couldn’t pull away. Lizzie’s body was boiling beneath mine, demanding from me with every gasp and buck of her hips. It lasted two hours, and I was drained in the best way imaginable.
I woke to Lizzie’s fingernails mindlessly trailing along my mermaid, tracing every scale and curve of my other beauty. I wasn’t sure if she was awake, and I didn’t want to do anything to move her warm naked body from mine because it felt so damn good.
“Noah,” she breathed against my abs, her warm breath tickling the black roses tattooed against my skin, “I think we need to talk.”
“We do,” I replied quietly, caressing her bare back. My touch was rewarded with a blissful sigh escaping Lizzie’s lips. She rolled onto her back, the sheets twisted around her legs, her naked breasts and stomach taunting me as she settled at my right side. I leaned my weight onto my elbow, gazing down at her.
I tugged on a curl with my left hand, twisting it around my index finger as I studied her face. Her mascara was smudged, her cheeks flushed, and her lips swollen. She was breathtaking. “I have to tell you something,” I began, licking my lips to buy time. “I have to go away for a while.”
“When?” Her cheeks drained of the soft, dewy pink from moments before.
“Two weeks.” Dammit. If looks could kill, my reflection in her teary eyes would have ended us both. Lizzie’s fingers tightened around my forearm, her nails piercing the mermaid’s tail.
“For how long, Noah?” I could hear unease in her voice, but she was also…with me. She was listening, talking to me, holding me.
“A month.”
“Who will watch Muffin?”
“Silas.” I twisted her curl again, rubbing my thumb over the strands stretched over my knuckle.
“No,” she objected. “I will. Who will take care of your house?”
“Landlord.”
“No,” she repeated. “You’ll just move in with me. Let’s pack this place up right now.” She moved from my side, sitting up to face me. “Come on, mermaid. We don’t have much time.”
“You work in a few hours, babe. I’m not packing right now.” I can’t even think of what you just suggested I do. Balls, heart, are you with me here?
“Then I can think of only one way to pass the time, and I sure as hell won’t miss out on a second of you by sleeping,” she huffed, scooting back down onto the mattress, this time pressing her body over my abs. She tickled the calla lily tattoo near my hip beneath our twisted sheets as she kissed my stomach.
