It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries)

by Beth Prentice

  “What’s wrong with me?” I yelled, hurt.

  “Well, look at you now for instance. You are the most frustrating woman I have ever met, Elizabeth. You are quite pretty but you refuse to make the most of yourself. Firstly, you could actually go to the gym. Secondly, your brother, the gay freak that he is, is a goddamn hairdresser. There is no excuse for the way you look.”

  Holding my chin high, I said, “Any man here would be happy to have me.” Looking around I could see several heads nodding in agreement.

  “Just say the word,” yelled one man. I smiled at Scott.

  “See?”

  “That’s because he doesn’t know you,” said Scott, getting right up in my face.

  Wow that hurt. Not that I was going to let him see that. “So I wasted two years of my life on you!” I yelled.

  “No. I wasted two years of my life on you.” Scott stopped, took a deep breath and looked at Brenda. She’d been pretty quiet throughout this whole thing.

  “You’re just not enough, Elizabeth. You’re not smart enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re definitely not sexy enough. The sex was ordinary and I’m sorry, I can’t pretend anymore.”

  I felt my cheeks burning as I looked around at our audience, everyone within earshot had gone quiet, listening to the drama unfolding in front of them. Suddenly the footpath didn’t feel like the best place to be having this conversation.

  “You had the chance to be with me and you weren’t interested in trying to be what I wanted. Brenda does try. She is everything I ever want in a woman.” Scott stopped for a breath, “You’re just not in the same class.”

  I could feel the tension in the air build around me the more Scott spoke and I felt, more than saw, Danny move towards him. He was pretty angry, but before he had time to do anything, Riley stepped up, placing his hand on Danny’s shoulder, holding him back.

  I’d been so consumed with what Scott was saying I hadn’t even notice him join us. I watched as Riley moved past Danny and stepped up in front of Scott. Scott flinched as Riley stood over him by a good six inches. I saw the look of satisfaction on Riley’s face as he swung his arm and punched Scott on the nose.

  Scott fell to the floor, blood gushing everywhere. Riley turned his back on him and walked towards me. Shocked, I looked up into his eyes as he gently took my face in his hands. The only thing I could see was his face as he gently pulled me towards him.

  “He’s right. You’re not in the same class. You are way above anyone else,” Riley said, his lips so close I could almost taste his breath. He just needed to move a little bit closer and he’d be kissing me. And that’s exactly what he did.

  I had so many emotions running through me, I didn’t know what to feel, but the roughness of his jaw and the softness of his lips were pulling desire to the top of the list.

  Dropping his hands to my waist, he pulled me hard against him, holding me up. His kiss was soft and lingering, a taste of what was to come. I heard someone give a deep blissful sigh and realized it was me. Pulling back, Riley looked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes and smiled.

  “I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time,” he said.

  “Hit Scott or kiss me?” I asked.

  He gave a small chuckle. “Both,” he said, dipping his head to kiss me again as I heard the crowd erupt in a loud cheer.

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