Distracted from my leering, I recognize a thread of worry in Lizzie’s voice. I frown. There’s something in her manner, or maybe her tone, but—for some reason—I know she’s talking to a man. An agitated one.
“I’m listening. Yes, I am! I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m just asking—Oh, don’t be a stubborn ass! Do I seem like the kind of person who’s going to mock you for wanting to do something unconventional with your life? Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
A tension that’s tightening her shoulders seems to leave her a little.
“Okay… I do, yes. I just want you to make sure you’ve thought everything through. Yeah.”
I can see the corner of her mouth turning up as she suddenly smiles, the argument now seemingly over. I feel a tightening in my chest. Just when am I going to get used to how pretty Lizzie Lucas is? Was it ever going to happen?
“Yeah, I know. I trust you. Okay, Love you.”
Those last two words feel like I’ve just taken a gut punch. They twist at my insides and make my throat close. I try to swallow.
I’m not jealous of the words, I tell myself.
Nor envious of the person who received them.
That isn’t what this sick feeling is about. I’m sure of it. No, what bothers me is the familiarity with which Lizzie said those words to a caller I’m sure is a man. We’d been very careful not to make promises to each other last night, but there had also been no talk of promises made elsewhere. Lizzie had never mentioned a man in her life but what if a relationship with someone else is why she only wants sex from me? Is that the common state of play now in New York? Have commitment and trust gone entirely out the window?
A soft sigh brings me back to the moment, giving me enough time to clear my head and expression, before Lizzie turns around, and nearly jumps out of her skin.
“Oh my—!” She flattens a hand to her chest and I’m reminded of the day I shocked her in the kitchen. She’d had the same reaction, throwing sudsy water down her chest and turning her sports bra damp.
Lizzie’s eyes fly wider as she takes me in from head to toe.
“You know you could be arrested for standing around like that?”
Despite my worries, something very male in me flexes when she seems unable to pull her stare back up to my face.
“In my own home?”
“The curtains are open.”
“I’ve got no neighbors. No one to see or hear.”
“Well that’s lucky.”
Realizing what she’s said, Lizzie flushes a pretty pink and barely looks me in the eye. I can’t help but grin. Had the closest house not been five miles away, we’d have definitely made enough noise last night to cause a public disturbance. After our initial voyage into ecstasy in the hallway, I’d taken Lizzie to bed and kept her there with several repeat performances. One particular favorite was the moment I had actually gotten her to scream.
“Er…” Lizzie swallows and brushes a lock of hair behind her ear.
Despite the confident siren that she became in bed, Lizzie now seems nervous to be around me in my nakedness. She’s keeping her distance, standing with one foot balanced on top of the other. Each time she looks at me, color floods her cheeks. Which is as surprising as it is completely adorable.
“Sorry I ran out this morning. I got a call and I had to take it.”
Away from me. Where I wouldn’t hear you.
While you’re wearing my shirt and your body is still warm from my touch.
“Sure,” I grunt. Then cough. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” she says, looking down at her phone. “Just a bit of family drama. My brother is going through some stuff and needed to vent.”
I exhale. Brother. Right.
A single comment and it’s like the sun just came out again.
Way to be emotionally disengaged, Walker.