AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When she was gone, Nick collapsed back onto the bed and covered his head with his hands. What had he done? How was he going to go on from here? Making love to her had been so . . . words failed him. It had been more than even he’d dreamed, and his dreams had been pretty damn amazing. In them he’d managed to imagine his own pleasure fairly accurately, but he hadn’t factored in how phenomenal it was to feel Lizzie’s uninhibited response to him, too. It had blown his mind, not to mention his ego.
But what now? How could he possibly go back to simply being friends?
‘Nick?’ He flung his hands from his face and sat up quickly, though clearly not quickly enough. ‘Regretting it already?’ Her words were sharp, but he read the hurt lying at the heart of them.
‘No, of course not.’ He tried a reassuring smile.
Setting down the drinks, she perched on the bed, as far away from him as she could. Then, pulling her knees up to her chin, she wrapped her arms tightly around her legs. ‘I wouldn’t blame you if you were regretting it,’ she said flatly, staring straight ahead, all joy completely removed from her face. ‘You’re probably already wondering how you could have made love to the same woman who let Charles and that other man . . .’ Her words faltered as they caught in her throat.
Love for her tore through him. In a flash he was beside her, ignoring her body language and enfolding her in his arms. ‘Of course I’m not. How can you even think that?’
‘What then?’
She was so stiff in his arms, he ached for her. ‘I’m terrified we’re going to lose what we have,’ he admitted finally. ‘We both know an affair between us can only be short lived. Soon you’ll be back in America, getting on with your life. Will you still count me as a friend, even now we’ve slept together?’
He felt her sag against him. ‘Oh, Nick, I’ll always want you in my life. After the experience with Charles . . .’ She shuddered. ‘I didn’t think I’d want to get involved with another man ever again. I mean, what if I picked another loser? Someone who only wanted to make love to me so he could use me?’ She turned and nestled back against him. ‘With you, I don’t have any worries. I trust you implicitly.’
‘I see.’ His voice sounded so tight, she couldn’t fail to pick up on it.
‘What’s wrong? What have I said?’
It was his chance to tell her the truth; that they both yearned for different things. She wanted a holiday fling, a way to get back into the swing of dating men again. He wanted forever. But if he told her that, she’d scuttle back to America in the blink of an eye. Probably before the case was even over, definitely before he was ready to let her go. So he settled for humour, though laced with more than a grain of truth. ‘A man likes to think a woman wants him for his body, not just because she trusts him,’ he replied lightly, kissing her on the shoulder.
The worry banished from her eyes. ‘I presumed you’d take that for granted.’
‘Sure, why wouldn’t I?’ The list of her ex boyfriends flashed through his mind and he cringed.
‘You might not think it, but you’ve got a very sexy body.’ As if to prove what she thought, Lizzie pushed him down onto the bed and traced her fingers delicately across his chest. ‘Look at those pecs, and your hard, flat stomach.’ She gazed up at him beneath a curtain of blonde hair and smiled. ‘Of course you could do with a bit of a tan, but we can work on that over the next few days.’
‘And that’s where we’re ending this conversation.’ He caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. ‘Are you ready for act three?’
Laughing, she crawled up the bed so her mouth was aligned with his. ‘I’ve always been in favour of short intervals.’
Chapter Eighteen
Nick woke early, doing a quick double take when he caught sight of Lizzie sprawled out next to him. He had to smile. In sleep, she looked nothing like the ultra glamorous, elegant model. Sexy, certainly, with her usually smooth hair tumbling in a mass of confusion around her face and across the pillow. Elegant, no, not at that moment. He leant over to kiss her on the nape of her neck, but pulled back at the last minute, flipping onto his back and staring at the ceiling.
In the cold light of day, would she regret what they’d done? He cast an eye over her sleeping form, remembering her wholehearted response to him last night. No, he didn’t think she was the type to regret. But it still begged the question. Would she have leapt so easily into bed with him if she hadn’t had a court case hanging over her head, or the horrors of her experience with Charles still fresh in her mind?
‘Good morning, lover.’ He turned to find Lizzie on her side, smiling up at him with sleepy blue eyes. ‘Hey, why are you looking so pensive?’
He rolled so he could face her. ‘How can you possibly look more beautiful now, without make-up, and with tangled bed hair?’ Slowly he trailed a finger down the side of her face, tracing its soft lines. He ached to kiss her again, but was unsure of his moves, frightened to assume anything.
‘Nick?’ Her eyes grew troubled. ‘What is it?’
Letting out a sigh, he flipped onto his back again. ‘Honestly? I’m hoping to God I haven’t taken advantage of you. If Charles hadn’t blackmailed you, we would never have ended up in bed together.’
Lizzie sat up and glared at him. ‘What a stupid thing to say. How do you know that? Maybe this was always destined to happen.’
‘And what exactly is this, Lizzie? One night of unforgettable but never to be repeated bliss, or something more?’
‘What do you want it to be?’
He smiled wryly at the clever way she turned the conversation. ‘I want to make love to you this morning, this afternoon, tonight, and every other chance I get before you go back to America.’ And for the rest of my life, he added in his head.
Chuckling softly, she moved to lie across him, her breasts teasing his chest. ‘That’s good, because that’s exactly what I want, too.’ She bent her head to capture his mouth. ‘Here’s to a few more days of the four s’s.’
* * *
