Love a Little Sideways

by Shannon Stacey

  She stroked a little faster, her hand sliding up and down his shaft, until he braced his hands against her shoulders and pushed her gently against the shower wall.

  “It’s my turn now,” he said, and his hot gaze raked over her body.

  Following her example, he started by washing her hair. Hers was long and thick, and it took him a while. She lost herself in the sensation of his fingertips massaging her scalp and then his hands working through the long strands, rinsing the shampoo out.

  Then his lathered hands mimicked the path hers had taken. He ran them over her shoulders and her breasts. The soap made his skin glide over hers, and she whimpered when his thumb flicked over her nipple. She sucked in her stomach when his hand slid downward, her knees practically trembling in anticipation.

  Liz had to grab on to his shoulders when he finally slid his hand between her legs. He caressed her there, working her into a state of desperate need, until the only thing keeping her from falling was being trapped between the shower wall and his body.

  “The water’s turning cold,” he murmured against her ear.

  “Don’t care.”

  “Because it’s hitting my back, not yours.” He pulled away from her so he could reach back for the faucet handle.

  “Wait, I’m still soapy.”

  Her rinsing wasn’t as leisurely and sensual as his. She ducked under the water, which was turning cold even faster than she’d anticipated, even as he turned it to full hot to get the last few drops. The second she was clean, he killed the water, amusement all over his face.

  “You’re covered in goose bumps,” he said.

  “You should stop laughing at me and warm me up.”

  He grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her, trapping her to him again. “I can do both.”

  After patting them both down with the towel, he took her hand and led her into her bedroom. A fleeting thought went through her mind that the room looked so much like her bedroom at the lodge, it was almost as if they were making love in that spot again. Except this time they were alone, there was no rush and they weren’t hiding anything from anybody.

  But when he stretched her out on the mattress and covered her body with his, she stopped thinking about anything but the feel of his skin against hers. His mouth closed over her nipple and she arched her back at the sensation.

  After the way he’d touched her in the shower, Liz was close and she wrapped her legs around Drew’s hips. “I want you inside of me.”

  He kissed the hollow at the base of her throat, chuckling, and the sound tickled her skin. “Patience.”

  “No.” She reached between their bodies to stroke him again. He was so hard and he groaned when her hand closed over him. With her other hand she reached for her nightstand and pulled out the condom she always kept on hand, just in case.

  He took it from her and she sighed when she had to release him so he could put it on. She loved the feel of him in her hand.

  Then he nudged her knees farther apart, and she remembered she loved the feel of him inside of her even more. He rocked his hips, pushing deeper with each stroke and she skimmed her nails up his hips to his back.

  “You feel so good,” he murmured, pushing her wet hair back from her face so he could see her eyes.

  She lost herself in his gaze and in the feeling of him, raising her hips to meet Drew stroke for stroke. He quickened his pace, driving harder and faster, and when he hooked his arm under her knee, she gasped and clutched at his shoulders.

  Her orgasm came hard and fast, taking her breath away. As it rocked her, she was barely aware of Drew saying her name in a low growl, his muscles tightening as he found his own climax.

  He collapsed on top of her, his breath blowing hot across the sheen of sweat on her collarbone. She rubbed her hand up and down his spine, and he shuddered under her light touch.

  “That was a great shower,” he said after a few minutes. “It doesn’t feel like that when Katie washes my hair.”

  She slapped his shoulder. “I should hope not.”

  “What?” He lifted his head, looking down at her with heavy-lidded eyes. “It’s the same thing. She’s washing my hair or you’re washing my hair. Why doesn’t it feel like that when she does it?”

  “Because she’s not naked?”

  “Mmm. Maybe that’s it.” He slid off of her. “Be right back.”

  She was already sliding into sleep. There was nothing like a shower, an orgasm and your own mattress to knock you out after a week of sleeping on the ground. When the bed dipped under his weight, she woke up enough to snuggle against him and feel him kiss her hair, but then she was out.

  The next morning, Liz stretched, not really wanting to get out of bed. She’d managed to ignore the alarm on Drew’s phone pretty well, but she was aware the volume of the cursing and banging in her kitchen was increasing. After a quick detour to the bathroom, she went to see what the fuss was about.

  It was about the coffee, which had been her first guess. Drew held up the jar of instant. “Is this really all you have?”

  “It really is. Throw a mug of water in the microwave and voilà.”

  Because all of his stuff was still in his SUV, he’d put on the clothes he’d worn home yesterday, and he needed to shave. But he still looked delicious in her kitchen first thing in the morning.

  “A man can’t live on a cup of microwaved instant coffee,” he grumbled. “I’m not sure a man can even call that coffee.”

  “Poor baby.” She followed his gaze to the pile of mail spread out over her counter. Most of it consisted of brochures and info packets for various online classes. Very various. She couldn’t figure out what appealed to her, so she was looking into everything and hoping something would stand out.

  “Going back to school?” he asked, once he’d glanced over and knew she was aware he’d been scoping out her mail.

  “Maybe. Not sure what I want a degree in, so I haven’t signed up for anything yet.”

  “Not much of a job market in Whitford.”

  She shrugged, sticking two mugs of water into the microwave. It was a tight fit. “I pay Lauren rent month to month and my car will get fixed or replaced eventually.”

  He didn’t say anything after that, which was fine with her. For starters, she hadn’t had her meager allotment of caffeine for the day yet. And she didn’t like talking about what she planned to do with her life because she didn’t know and that was starting to worry her. She needed goals, dammit, and that was not something to worry about before coffee.

  But after the microwave beeped and she’d handed him his mug, he nodded toward the brochures again. “If you don’t even know what you want a degree in, why are you thinking about spending that kind of money?”

  She shrugged. “Why not? A lot of people do it.”

  “Is this about your brothers? It’s not a competition, and everybody just wants you to be happy.”

  “Maybe going back to school is what I want to do.” It was way too early for this kind of conversation. “Since I don’t have any groceries yet, I’ll probably go to the diner for breakfast. Do you want to go?”

  He looked at the clock on the stove and shook his head. “You know what? I still have to get home and shower and shave. And I hope to hell I don’t have to iron a uniform before I go in. I’ll just make something quick when I get home.”

  “Oh.” She bet he wouldn’t be running off if she’d said she was going to toss the school brochures and start having babies. “Okay.”

  He kissed her cheek and snagged his keys off the counter. “I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay.”

  He paused in the kitchen doorway, maybe given pause by her lackluster response. “I really do have to go, Liz. But I’ll call you later because I’ll spend the whole day missing you.”

 
That was what a girl liked to wake up to. “I’ll be thinking about you.”

  He grinned and gave her a wink. “Good. That’s the idea.”

  * * *

  Drew felt as if he spent the entire morning playing catch-up. He’d been late to his first day back at work since he had to drive home first and empty his truck of camping debris, shower and put on his uniform.

  When he’d arrived, the piles of paper awaiting his attention on his desk resembled a science fair mountain range project. He had dozens of calls to return and his email inbox had literally made him shudder. His paper inbox was spilling out of its plastic confines and he couldn’t find the stress ball Barbara had bought him as a joke one year under the piles.

  Between work and Liz, he could knead the hell out of that ball.

  Spending the night and waking up in her bed had messed with his head in a big way. He’d liked it a lot and he’d already been thinking about stashing a real coffeemaker at her place so he could do it a lot more often. Maybe one of the units that brewed one cup at a time like they had at the station to cut down on tossed stale coffee.

  Then he’d seen the brochures for online courses and that had segued into a pretty blatant reminder she wasn’t tied to Whitford, or to him. If she got a better offer somewhere else, she’d be gone.

  Now he didn’t know what the hell to do. Was there any sense in pursuing a relationship with Liz and parking a coffeemaker in her house if she was just going to cut and run if her life’s goal epiphany took her out of Whitford? When she’d implied she’d have no problem leaving town if a good job came along, she hadn’t even hesitated. All he could infer from that was the fact she wasn’t as invested in them as a couple as he was.

  But if he put some distance between them now, what good would it do? He couldn’t imagine trying to meet other women. He didn’t want to date anybody but Liz, so any other relationship he tried would be doomed from the start.

  Right now, he couldn’t imagine not having Liz. But he was afraid he’d end up in the same place—with a woman who didn’t want kids—only this time, it wouldn’t be an unpleasant surprise. He’d have walked into it with his eyes wide open.

  “You busy?”

  He looked up to see Butch Benoit in the doorway and welcomed the distraction. Since the service station had finally upgraded to a pump that took a credit card, he hadn’t seen Butch to talk to since the night he’d towed Liz’s car. “Not too busy for you. What’s up?”

  “Wanted to follow up on an incident late last week, but Barbara said you might not have read the report yet.”

  Drew sifted through the piles until he found the report. Bob Durgin had called Butch in to tow a vehicle that was illegally parked and the night after the owner coughed up the necessary fees to get his truck back, the service station had been broken into and some expensive tools taken.

  “If you can give me a few hours, Butch, I’ll look into this and get back to you this afternoon to see if Officer Durgin’s made any progress. Barbara made sure you have what you need for your insurance, right?”

  “Yeah. It’s more a matter of principle than the money.” Butch stood to go. “Oh, so you and Liz Kowalski, huh?”

  Drew froze, then relaxed when he remembered he had nothing to hide anymore. At least it made sense now why a guy who knew that Drew would call him if he had any information on the case would show up at his office. “Facebook?”

  “Yeah. Fran said it’s all anybody’s talking about at the market this morning. So how’s Mitch taking that? And, before you answer, you should know Fran told me not to come home without some good, on-the-record gossip.”

  That was a warning that went without saying. “It was a surprise, but he’s coming around to the idea.”

  “Huh. So you’re officially a couple, then?”

  Drew wondered if Fran had written out the list of questions for her husband, or just drummed them into his head. “I guess we are.”

  After Butch left, Drew rocked back in his chair and blew out a breath. Regardless of what the future held, being officially a couple with Liz felt good. And it felt right. Something that felt that good and that right would be too hard to walk away from, so all he could do was keep going forward and hope for the best.

  He took out his cell phone and pulled up Liz’s number as he went to close his office door. Maybe he’d overreacted a little to the brochures on her counter, and it wasn’t as if she’d said she was leaving town. She’d just reminded him in a not-so-subtle way that she was still exploring her options. Instead of pushing or, even worse, pulling away, he needed to work on being one of those options.

  She answered on the third ring, a little out of breath. “Hi, Drew. I was just thinking about you.”

  He liked the sound of that. “Sexy thoughts, I hope.”

  “Well, I was wishing you were here to carry my camping stuff and my laundry bag down to the basement and, since I find the way your muscles flex when you carry things sexy, let’s go with yes.”

  “Not exactly what I had in mind.” He chuckled. “But whatever makes you wish I was there.”

  “Are you coming here? Later, I mean?”

  “I want to.” He looked at the mountain of paper that had eaten his desk. “But I need to work late if I’m ever going to catch up. And your alarm going off at four-thirty’s going to be a shock after a week off.”

  He heard her sigh over the phone and the disappointment made him feel wanted. “That’s very grown-up of you. Will I see you at the diner tomorrow?”

  “Absolutely. You should know, by the way, that Facebook struck again.”

  She laughed. “Of course it did. So I should brace myself for being the center of attention tomorrow?”

  “Fran sent Butch in for an official comment under the guise of checking on a police report. It’s out there now.” He shifted some piles around as he talked, trying to sort things by priority. It all seemed high. “Sorry to put you back in the spotlight.”

  “Everybody knowing we’re a thing doesn’t bother me, Drew. It’s kind of a relief to be able to talk about it.”

  “A thing, huh?”

  “Yeah, we’re a thing.” He could practically hear the impish grin in her voice. “Don’t you think the word boyfriend is a little high school?”

  “I like it.” He liked it a lot. But he heard a sharp rap on the door and Barbara stuck her head in, which meant it had to be important. “Crap, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Can’t wait. Good night, Drew.”

  He couldn’t wait, either, and he thought about her more than he should have while dealing with the pile of paper punishment his department was determined to heap on him. High school or not, he liked the word girlfriend. Up until last year, he never would have thought it possible, but Liz Kowalski was his girlfriend.

  Drew spent the rest of the evening whistling while he worked, much to the dismay of everybody else who worked late.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What the heck is arugula?”

  Liz smiled at her customer, ready with an answer since she’d already been asked that question at least a dozen times since writing roasted chicken breast with arugula on the specials board. “It’s a leaf. Like baby lettuce, but with a little spicy flavor.”

  “Can I get the roasted chicken breast without the arugula?”

  “Sure.” The last dozen people who’d asked what it was had.

  When she clipped the order slip into the rack and Gavin gave her a hopeful look, she shook her head. “Sorry, kid. Not an arugula crowd.”

  “It’s a leaf! I can almost understand rejecting the cold melon soup. This is New England. Soup should be hot. But it’s just a little arugula.”

  “I thought it was delicious.” She’d had it on her lunch break. She didn’t really get the whole arugula thi
ng, either, but she liked to support Gavin. “And the roasted chicken breast without the arugula is getting a lot of compliments. They like your seasoning.”

  Slightly mollified, the kid went back to his cooking and Liz glanced at the clock. It was almost time for Drew to show up, barring any police emergencies.

  In the days since they’d gotten back to Whitford, they’d seen each other mostly during his lunch break. He had a lot of administrative stuff to catch up on after being gone for a week, even working through the weekend, and she got up at four-thirty in the morning. There wasn’t a lot of time between when he was leaving his office and when she was going to bed, though they’d managed to sneak a little here and there. Like last night, when he’d stayed over.

  And speak of the devil. The bell over the door rang and he walked in, looking sexy as hell in his uniform. From the neck down, anyway. From his collar up, he looked exhausted and maybe a little ragged around the edges. He’d grumbled more than a little when her alarm went off at four-thirty, even after microwaving his third mug of hot water for instant coffee.

  Before taking a seat, he leaned across the counter and gave her a quick kiss. “Hello, beautiful.”

  “Hi, there. Let me guess. A salad with grilled chicken?”

  “Actually, I’m going to have a cheeseburger today. Medium-well, but I’ll have a side salad instead of fries.”

  “Wow.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Rough day?”

  “Actually a good day. I’m getting a grant for most of the cost of an ATV for the police department, and the power sports shop is going to donate the rest of the cost. So I’m celebrating. As a matter of fact, I’ll have bacon and extra mayo on that cheeseburger.”

  “You must be really happy to have a four-wheeler.”

  “To be honest, I’m the most happy about the paperwork being done,” he said. “But it’ll be nice to be able to patrol the woods a bit. Even if we don’t have the manpower to have somebody out there all the time, knowing there could be a cop on the trails at any given time might deter some of the yahoos.”