AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The lady on the other end of the phone screeched with pleasure and immediately began to bombard her with questions in her slight Californian drawl. How was she holding up? Why hadn’t she returned any of her calls? And finally — when those were answered and apologies made — where was she?
‘I’m in England, staying with an old friend.’ Lizzie wondered if her careful reply had sounded casual enough.
‘What sort of friend are we talking, my dear? Friend as in purely platonic, or friend as in you want to jump his bones?’
‘A bit of both?’ she replied on a laugh, appreciating Catherine’s directness as it was so similar to her own.
‘Umm. So you haven’t slept with this friend yet?’
‘We’ve shared one kiss, that’s all.’ Her mind went back to that moment after she’d woken from the nightmare. ‘One breathtaking, hotter than hot, kiss. Apparently I also propositioned him, only I was the worse for alcohol and don’t remember. Needless to say, he turned me down.’
‘Do you want to sleep with him?’
‘Yes.’ The word slipped out quickly, instinctively — bypassing her brain and coming straight from her heart.
‘And what about him? Do you think he feels the same way?’
Her mind replayed conflicting images. Nick’s eyes when they rested on her when he thought she wasn’t looking. Nick pushing her away after their kiss, promising he would keep his hands to himself. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Then, my dear, I know exactly what you need to do. Take him out of England and into the sun for a few days. I’ll email you the details of my villa. Use it. A little holiday will do you good, and if you lie round the pool in one of those tiny bikinis of yours, the man won’t be able to resist.’
It sounded heavenly, but was it really that simple? ‘I’m not sure.’
‘About which part? The holiday or the sex?’
A giggle exploded out of her. ‘Oh, Catherine, it’s so good to talk to you. I’m sure the holiday will do me the power of good, and I’m equally sure the sex would be great, too.’ For a moment she halted, aware of how odd that sounded. ‘Funny, I guess I should be scared off it for life after what I’ve just been through.’
‘Perhaps you would be, if you could remember any of what happened.’
‘It certainly helps that I don’t.’ A small shudder ran through her. ‘I felt violated looking at the photos, I still do, but then Nick came along and . . .’ Snippets of the night before came back to her. The feel of his muscular arm beneath her fingers. The warmth from his body as it had stood so close to hers. The heat in his eyes. ‘Let’s just say it’s no longer the sex I’m unsure about. It’s what will happen after it.’
‘Hopefully, my dear, it will be so good you’ll do it again. And again.’
The image of her and Nick stretched out on a bed, their limbs entwined, was enough to make her toes curl. ‘But then what? Won’t it just make coming back to LA even more difficult?’
‘Elizabeth Donavue, I thought you were a live for the moment kind of gal. Go, have fun. The future will work itself out.’
Lizzie wanted to take that advice so much that she could almost feel the sand between her toes. ‘You know what? I might just take you up on that offer of the villa after all.’
* * *
Back in his London office, Nick finally gave up and saved the document he’d been working on. It was doomed to not get finished today. First he’d had Sally, and their not-quite-as-easy-as-it-should-have-been catch-up lunch. Then the call from Lizzie.
As he closed down his computer he thought back to his talk with Sally. Although he’d been in the office several times since Lizzie had turned up, Sally had been busy visiting clients. Today had been the first time they’d been able to meet up. For a woman who’d reassured him she was fine about Lizzie, her eyes had suggested something different. While he had no doubt her heart wasn’t involved, her ego was another matter.
‘You know if the situation was reversed,’ he’d told her when the stilted conversation had got too much for him, ‘and you were sharing a home with a man you’d been in love with for years, I’d feel put out.’
She’d smiled sadly at him. ‘Okay, you’re right. I’m not finding this as easy as I thought I would. Or as easy as I want it to feel,’ she added with emphasis.
He’d realised then that no relationship involving something as intimate as sex was ever uncomplicated. ‘I think we should call time while we’re still friends,’ he’d told her, very aware of the irony of his statement. It was exactly what he feared with Lizzie, that loss of friendship should either of them act on the sexual chemistry now simmering between them.
Only with Lizzie, his heart would be shattered, too.
Sally had seemed surprised, and a little . . . annoyed, perhaps even upset, at his statement. As they’d stood to leave she’d given him a lingering kiss on the mouth, as if trying to prove something to him. He’d spent the next few hours wondering if her heart had been more involved in their relationship than he’d thought.
Then Lizzie had called, and Sally had immediately slipped from his mind.
Now he was anxious to leave.
