‘It would never jeopardise your job,’ Leo said. ‘But I can’t do a thing about my track record. It’s there for a reason—I don’t do for ever.’ He thought how best to proceed. ‘Lizzie …’ He had to make things clear. He had to do the ‘I’m a bastard nothing will ever come of it’ talk, right here right now, but she halted him.
‘Leo, I’m thirty-two, I don’t need to hear the warnings.’
‘They’re not warnings, Lizzie. They’re certainties.’
‘Heeded. This,’ she said, ‘is going nowhere except bed.’
‘You’re sure?’
Till now, sex had been pleasant at times, at others a chore.
With Leo she knew she was heading towards bliss.
She felt bold, she felt wanton, she felt sexy. Francesca was right—it wasn’t just a dress and make-up, tonight she was in costume. Tonight, Lizzie realised, she could be anyone she wanted to be. And she wanted to be a woman who could do the no-strings thing, who could give in to want because … she could.
And so she answered him.
‘There’s nothing stopping us.’
She felt the warmth of his body as he pulled her in closer and closed her eyes in decadent bliss as they both stopped fighting their attraction.
‘I know what colour your dress is.’ His mouth was close to her ear and she wanted his tongue, her eyes closing as Leo stopped holding back and it was sublime. ‘It’s the colour of your skin when you get out of the bath.’ His fingers were still working her back. ‘Were you in the bath that night I called?’
‘You know that I was.’
‘I did know and I was right about Rapunzel,’ Leo said, ‘because all I want to do is let down your hair.’
She felt almost dizzy, her body a hand grenade, and as his hand moved to her hair, if he pulled even one pin Lizzie thought she might just explode.
As might Leo.
‘We’ve got to go.’
‘It’s too soon,’ Lizzie said.
‘I don’t care.’
For the first time in forever his focus wasn’t on the Hunter Clinic; for the first time in forever there was a woman who came before it.
Even if just for tonight.
They didn’t care about the driver and they were too far gone for seat belts. They were a tangle of arms and tongues, both desperate to get to Leo’s home. And to tomorrow’s shame for Lizzie, she had no idea if there was anyone in the lift when they entered because, quite simply, their lips could not be parted.
Keys were very inconvenient things.
Condoms too.
They were at his door, Lizzie patting him down as if she was about to arrest him, Leo honestly wondering if they were going to make it inside and would it matter if they didn’t, and then sense drifted in and he pulled out the key.
‘Here …’ He put the key in upside down, for his next attempt he used the Harley Street one, until finally he located the correct key and they were in.
Then a triumphant Lizzie located the second essential item, if Leo wanted in!
Still they kissed. She held his face in her hands and for a moment she moved him back just a fraction from her and met his eyes.
Leo thought she was about to halt things, to say too fast, too soon, but he smiled at her stern warning.
‘If you tear my dress …’
It was her favourite thing in the world, apart from this. She shrugged off her coat and then as his hands roamed her body Lizzie’s were equally as direct. Unzipping him, freeing him, she held him in her hands for a brief slice of time, and as she slid the condom down his delicious length it was as if the word shy had never been invented. Lizzie actually felt as if she knew who she was as he lifted her dress and hauled down her panties.
‘I’ll fall …’ Lizzie said, not exactly used to being taken up against a wall.
‘I won’t let you.’
He lifted her onto him and she wrapped her legs around him. It had to be fast, they were both on the edge of orgasm and there could be no other way, but as he filled her, as she wrapped her legs tightly around him and he pressed her down, Lizzie knew it had had to be this way for another reason—there was no changing their minds now, whatever the future, they had a past. There was no turning back.
‘Lizzie.’ His teeth were gritted in an effort to hold on but holding her buttocks in his hands, hearing the squeal escape her throat as she started to come, Leo gave in. She felt him swell further inside and Leo heard the tiny scream that had his seed race to fill her.
Lizzie had never felt anything like it—had never been taken with such force and passion. As she came she was less than a lady and when he lowered one of her legs, as her lovely shoe hit the floor, he was able to thrust more deeply. So deeply he demanded an encore, her orgasm dashing back from the wings to take centre stage. So deep and long was the second time Leo was able to open his eyes to watch, before kissing her back to the world.
By the time she walked, on shaky legs, into his lounge, they were already lovers.
CHAPTER TWELVE
LEO HAD BEEN right—it was Goldilocks.
After a blissful night of lovemaking Lizzie woke to a silver-grey morning and lay warmed by Leo’s body spooned into hers. As she felt him stir and wake up she then felt him become still as he perhaps realised just who was sleeping in his bed.
And was still there.
Lizzie stared at her dress. Her beautiful dress, which lay like a puddle on the floor, and she remembered him taking it off. She thought of her coat still on the floor in his hallway and she hoped its magic would last, that the costume she had worn last night, where she had been so bold and brave, could see her through this morning.
They had to face each other at work on Monday, which meant things had to play out well today—it was that or run screaming into the woods, never to be seen again.
She could do this, Lizzie decided. In the painful times when her mum had first been diagnosed Lizzie had learnt how to act. How to not notice her mum’s errors in conversations, how to say nothing except thank you when her third birthday card appeared in the post, because her mother had forgotten that she’d already sent one.
Yes, Lizzie could act.
‘Morning.’ She didn’t turn, just stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. ‘I won’t ask how you slept, given you’ve had as little as me.’
‘Coffee?’ Leo asked, and Lizzie nodded.
‘Two sugars, please.’
It was an unusual request from a bedfellow! Normally, Leo thought, yawning as he spooned sugar into her cup, it was black coffee and a sweetener, or green tea. He thought of Lizzie’s curves and last night and, really, there was no regret.
Now came the awkward part.
He walked into his bedroom and she was still gazing out of the window and the view from behind was stunning. Her hair fell in thick, still-lacquered curls and as he put her coffee down he was treated to the sight of Lizzie with panda eyes and a mark low on her neck and a slow smile on a mouth that now knew him intimately. Recalling last night’s surprising lack of inhibition, the furthest thing from Leo’s mind now was feeling awkward.
‘Your view is so amazing,’ Lizzie said. ‘I feel like I’m on the London Eye.’
‘If at any time you require assistance …’ Leo made her laugh as he put on an automated woman’s voice ‘… press the button at either end of the capsule …’
‘What happens then?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Leo climbed back into bed and took a very welcome drink of coffee. ‘How much champagne did we have?’
‘Well, I had three glasses so there goes my excuse …’ She rolled over and he watched as the sheet slipped and one breast beckoned him but he took another sip of his drink instead. ‘And you had about two sips …’ His cup hesitated as he realised she’d rumbled his game. ‘You just keep taking a fresh glass …’
‘I like to stay sharp.’
‘So I noticed.’
A smile spread his lips and Lizzie found she was biting down on hers. God
, he looked sexy in the morning, unshaven, rumpled and, despite his attempts to halt it, one hand was playing with her breast, which had slipped out from under the sheet.
‘Do you want to go out for breakfast?’ Leo asked, because maybe it would be easier to clear the air for Monday somewhere public. He wasn’t concentrating very well in bed. ‘We could go to Drakes,’ he suggested, then gave a brief shake of his head. ‘Actually, that’s not such a good idea. Half of the Hunter Clinic will be there, nursing their hangovers and trying to work out who got off with who last night.’
‘And we don’t want to fan the flames …’ Lizzie said.
‘No,’ Leo agreed.
‘Where shall we go, then?’ Lizzie asked.
‘How about here?’ He put down his coffee and suggested that she do the same. ‘Beside mine,’ Leo said, and he slid down on the bed as she leant over him, caught the breast with his mouth and Lizzie, one hand beside his head the other on the bedside, knelt and revelled in the sensation, tried to remember to breathe as he pulled her hips so she was over him.
She wanted him to pull her down, she loathed how he had to stop a second to put on another condom, she almost told him not to bother, that she was on the Pill, she just wanted him inside her now.
‘Where were we?’ Leo said, and pulled her down onto him, his hands working her breasts and then down to her hips and then back to her breasts because she rode him so perfectly he could just enjoy and watch her enjoyment too.
‘So much for feeling awkward …’ Leo said, loving her breathless laugh, loving looking down and watching, then cursing as he saw the condom wrapped low around his thick base. ‘Lizzie …’ She was coming as he grabbed her hips and lifted her off him; she didn’t want to get off, didn’t really understand what was happening till she looked down to the gorgeous sight of Leo pulsing over her.
‘More …’ She just said the first thing on her mind.
‘Here.’ He stroked more out onto her and then rubbed it in with his fingers and for Lizzie it was shockingly intimate and it was the same for Leo too.
He rubbed in silver, he looked up to eyes that looked golden, and for the first time Leo wanted more too.
More of the same.
Over and over.
He drove them to Lizzie’s apartment but this was no awkward car ride home, they were just going so that she could change into jeans and boots, and brunch had been well earned, it was no wonder they were starving.
This should be ending about now, both knew it, but walking along the Thames a little while later Leo wanted to keep pulling the scarf she had over her face down just so he could see her mouth.
So he did.
And warmed it with his.
‘Shouldn’t we be regretting this about now?’ Leo checked as they walked alongside the river.
‘Probably,’ Lizzie said. ‘How on earth am I going to face you at work tomorrow?’
‘You won’t have to,’ Leo said. ‘I’ll just turn you over your desk …’
She hit him with her hand; he made her laugh, and she hadn’t laughed like this in a very long time.
Ever.
‘Do you want to go to the zoo?’ Leo asked.
‘The zoo?’
‘You’re a cheap date,’ Leo said, ‘given you’ve got a life membership.’
They had lunch there and just walked and talked and she gave a wry smile at the do-not-feed-the-lion sign.
‘Too late for that,’ Leo said.
‘Where to now?’ Lizzie asked.
‘The reptile house?’ Leo suggested.
‘I don’t like snakes.’
‘What are you doing here, then?’ It was the closest they’d come today since broaching the subject.
‘You’re not a snake,’ Lizzie said. ‘You won’t hurt me, Leo. We can just enjoy it while it lasts.’
Enjoy it they did.
They watched as three female gorillas attempted to gain attention from one very impressive silverback male and the irony was lost on neither of them.
‘I’d make a terrible gorilla,’ Lizzie said, and she gave her one warning. ‘I don’t like to share.’
‘You’ll never have to,’ Leo assured her, and he looked at her profile—saw that she was tense for the first time today and he told her how it would be. ‘I’ve told you I don’t stay around for the rows to start, and it’s served me well—it’s the reason I can still be friendly with my exes.’
‘Apart from Flora.’
‘Yes, apart from Flora.’
Who had been foolish enough to read more into them. This was Leo, like it or leave it, take it or not, he made no excuses and Lizzie was grateful for that, she truly didn’t want them. She would far prefer the painful truth than cruel lies.
She watched the huge silverback gorilla assert himself. ‘He’s so arrogant.’
‘I think he’s rather magnificent,’ Leo said.
So too did Lizzie.
It was evening, their magical wonderful night, extended by a day, except they were heading to his apartment and, yes, a drink would be nice.
‘I could call ahead,’ Leo said. ‘Have some dinner delivered.’
‘Sounds great.’
‘Do you want to stop by your place?’ Leo suggested. ‘Let the fish out?’
A small joke and Lizzie laughed but they both knew what they were there for.
Lizzie collected her uniform, her toothbrush and hairbrush …
‘Is that it?’ Leo was incredibly impressed by the paltry size of her overnight bag.
‘I’m hardly moving in.’
Yes, the view from his apartment was like being on the London Eye as later that night, lying on his couch, she watched the moon drift across London as he stroked her hair with one hand and slid down the zipper of her jeans with the other.
Yes, he had been right, it was Goldilocks.
Too soft the beats of pressure on her clitoris, and he loved it that she was open enough in the bed to tell him that.
Too hard the erection at her entrance to even think of getting off the sofa and finding condoms—after all, he used them all the time and Lizzie was on the Pill.
And as he slipped inside her, she didn’t care about tomorrow and how difficult things might be at some future time.
For now, right now as Leo spilled inside her, it was just right.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘YOU’RE LOOKING VERY pleased with yourself,’ Ethan commented as Leo arrived at the Hunter Clinic.
‘Have you seen some of the donations raised?’ Leo said, and gave a brief nod to Lizzie, who was trying to remember how she usually acted when Leo was around.
Oh, yes—blushing and on edge! Strangest of all, now that she’d slept with him she was neither of those things.
‘How did you enjoy the ball?’ Ethan asked, as Leo headed for his office.
‘It was great,’ Lizzie answered, then excused herself, but she felt a little like she had when her father had asked questions when she’d first gone out with Peter.
‘I’m allowed to be concerned, Lizzie,’ Thomas had said. ‘I know his type and I just don’t see any good coming from it.’
Ethan didn’t need to be concerned, Lizzie told herself.
She knew what she was getting into. If anything, there was less tension between Lizzie and Leo, there was no flirting, it was all very business-like now.
Until home time.
Lizzie was wrapping her scarf around her neck and chatting with Rafael about her parents as Leo walked past.
‘I’ll go and see them at the weekend.’
‘You go each weekend?’ Rafael asked.
‘Not every weekend,’ Lizzie said, but there was guilt, because the build-up to Christmas had been crazy and then between moving and starting her new job, she hadn’t been going so much lately.
Leo headed for his office and tried to ignore what he was thinking because he had been hoping to see her again at the weekend. While, of course, Lizzie had to do what was right for her, it just left no t
ime for them, unless …
‘Night, Leo.’ Lizzie smiled and walked past his office.
‘ Night, Lizzie.’
She wanted him to call her back.
He didn’t.
She got home and peeled off her coat and then ran a bath and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. Exhausted, and seriously so, after the most incredible weekend of her life, it was blissful to slip into bed and finally catch up with her thoughts.
Leo.
She waited for guilt, for self-recrimination, for common sense to make her bolt upright with an anxiety attack. Instead she lay in bed actually smiling, laughing, just on the crest of a wave and riding it, wherever it might take her. Such was her sudden longing for him it came as no surprise when her phone rang and it was Leo.
His apartment was lit by the moon. On coming home Leo had scanned the apartment for a piece of Lizzie, but the cleaners were thorough and very used to tidying up after one of Leo’s weekends.
‘Loser,’ Leo muttered to himself as he found himself picking up her deodorant can and spraying it.
What was the problem again? Leo checked.
That’s right, her weekend was taken.
‘Hi, there …’ He was almost brusque when he called her.
‘Hi, Leo.’
“What are you doing?’
‘I’m in bed.’
‘It’s eight.’
‘I’m tired.’
‘About the weekend …’
‘I’ve got plans.’
‘I know that,’ Leo said. ‘What about Thursday?’
‘I’ve got drinks with friends,’ Lizzie said, which was true—it was her friend Brenda’s birthday. They’d shared a flat when Lizzie had first arrived in London and they got together now and then. Though not one of her friends would mind in the least if she stood them up for such a glorious cause.
‘What are you wearing?’ Leo asked. ‘And if it’s one of those awful all-in-one things you have my permission to lie.’
‘I’m not,’ Lizzie said.
‘Good.’
‘I’m not wearing anything.’ She waited, closed her eyes and almost willed his reply.
‘Well, I’d suggest you amend that,’ Leo said. ‘I don’t want you scaring my driver.’
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