All Night Woman: A Contemporary Romance (10 page)

“Shot in the dark?  He was staking claim, letting me know you’re his territory.”

Liz snorted and wiped her lips discreetly.  “Gee, I’ve never been pissed on before.  Am I supposed to feel special or something?” 

Miles chuckled.  “Prettiest fire hydrant I’ve ever seen.  Come on.  I guess we’ve got to make this look good.  He’s still watching.”

Feeling pleasantly stunned by the unexpected compliment (Miles just said she was pretty!) Liz followed him to his vehicle.  It was a Jeep, like last time, but a different color and model.  “Rental?” she guessed.

“Yeah.  It doesn’t make sense for me to have a vehicle if it’s going to be parked all the time.  Although I do still have my first car.  It’s parked in my parent’s barn.  I drive it whenever I get up there.”

Miles opened the passenger door, then offered his hand to help her get in.  Once again, she noted what a gentleman he was.  Troy hadn’t opened the car door for her, coming or going.  If he had, she probably wouldn’t have fallen on her ass. 

“What kind of car is it?

Miles beamed.  “A 1977 fire-engine red Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am.  She’s got a four hundred cubic inch V8 four-barrel under the hood, T-roof, hood and side scoops...” he paused, grinning sheepishly.  “Sorry.  TMI.”

“No problem,” she said.  “My brother Nick was the same way when it came to muscle cars.  His baby was a ’66 Shelby.”

“Nice,” Miles nodded in appreciation.  “Does he still have it?”

“I doubt he’s thought about it in years.  It’s been in storage since he left Covendale.”

Miles waited for an opening, then pulled smoothly into the stream of Friday night traffic.  The Jeep was warm, the interior lightly scented with Obsession and the standard rental car air freshener. 

“You’re not close, I take it?” he asked.

“Not anymore, no.”  As it always did, her chest ached when she thought of her brother, Nick.  He’d never been the same after his fiance’s tragic death, moving out west and sending word less and less with each passing year.  As if by distancing himself, he could somehow ease the pain.  She hadn’t even received a birthday card from him this year, which worried her.  Nick had never forgotten her birthday before.

Thankfully, Miles didn’t pry for more information.  Liz mentally added another plus in his “pros” column, right below sex-god and gentleman. 

“So why are you really here, Miles?  I just talked to Holly earlier today, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t planning an impromptu elopement.”

Miles didn’t answer right away.  The soft glow of the dashboard lights played over his features.  A sideways glimpse revealed something she hadn’t seen on Miles’ face before:  uncertainty.

“I wanted to see you,” he said finally.

A surge of something – hope, maybe – surged in her chest.  She trampled it down with brutal force.  “Why?”

“Honestly?  I don’t know.”

“Oh.” 

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Liz.”  He briefly flicked a glance her way, now looking genuinely bemused.  “Why is that?”

Maybe it was because their introduction had been in a police station, after she’d gotten drunk, danced with a couple of Chippendale-types, then threw up on a guy’s shoes.  Most of the women he met probably didn’t do that, which made her stand out from the crowd a little.

Or maybe it was because she invited him in to her place and then had sex with him.  While that had been a first for her, it was probably fairly commonplace for him, so it didn’t help explain anything.

Wisely, she said nothing.  It seemed like it was more of a hypothetical question anyway, and she doubted he expected a response.

They drove in contemplative silence for a while as Miles navigated his way toward the center of town.  “Coffee?  Or something stronger?”

His deep voice sidled into her musings, commanding her instant attention.  Damn it!  Why did his voice have to be as sinfully sexy as the rest of him?  Was there nothing about this man she found distasteful, nothing that she could grab onto with both hands before she let herself slide into harlot mode again?

“I’m sorry.  What?”

He smiled patiently.  “Would you like to go for coffee or a drink?”

“You don’t have to –“.

“It’s the least I can do, since I ruined your plans.”

She sighed.  “No, you didn’t.  You saved me from doing something stupid, actually.  Coffee, I guess.  Given what happened the last time, I don’t think I should drink alcohol around you.”

Miles deftly maneuvered the Jeep into Ground Zero, a nice looking coffee shop along the main strip.  It was about half-full with people coming out of the early show at the nearby Cineplex.  Before getting out of the car, he turned and looked at her, his expression unreadable.

“Are you saying that what happened between us was only because you had been drinking?”

“No,” she exhaled.  “By that point I was stone-cold sober.  But I can tell you that if I’d had a few drinks in me, it would have been a lot worse.  I doubt you would have made it two steps into my place before I got you naked and had myself wrapped around you like bacon around a cheese puff.”

Mortified, Liz clamped her mouth shut.

* * *

H
e laughed at the analogy, but his dick was suddenly hard enough to pound nails into concrete as the visual formed in his mind.  “Good to know.”

“Trust me, Miles.  You don’t need to get me drunk to sleep with you again.”

It took him a minute to realize she had gotten out of the car and was already halfway to the entrance. So much for being a gentleman.  “Yeah.  Why is that?”

She rolled her eyes as she looked at the colorful blackboard advertising the specials.  “Like you don’t know how good you are.”

Did he?  Yeah.  But he didn’t have to come off sounding like an arrogant douche.  For some reason, Liz’s opinion mattered.  “Maybe I don’t.”

“Chrysanthemum tea, please.  You’re buying, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll take a sugar-free blueberry muffin, too.”

She was so adorable.  “Hungry?”

“Not really.  But it will give me something to do with my hands.”

“Guess I’d better get two, then.”

She blinked those long eyelashes his way and his heart stuttered.  He ordered her tea, two muffins, and grabbed a black coffee for himself.  He followed her toward a small table for two, his eyes locked on the hypnotic sway of her hips beneath a sheath of dark blue silk.  As dresses went it was conservative, but it looked damn good on her.  He wanted to run his hands over that silk, feel her toned behind beneath it...

“So,” she said, breaking into his musings.  He made a point of looking into her eyes, though the swell of her breasts just beneath the subtle V-shaped neckline called to him.

“So.”

“You couldn’t stop thinking about me, huh?”

He looked directly into her eyes, that lovely smoky gray with occasional bursts of blue, like breaks in a stormy sky.  Not trusting himself to speak, he simply nodded and waited for whatever came next.  He watched as she chewed on that, her delicate features thoughtful.  The silence that stretched across the small table between them should have been more awkward than it was.

“This is where Adam and Holly had their first date.  Did you know that?”

He shook his head, his lips quirking.  “No.  Is that what this is, Liz?  A date?”

She shrugged those elegant shoulders, currently wrapped in some kind of soft-looking, light-colored sweater.  “Why not?  We’re here, you’re buying.”  She grinned.  “I admit, it seems kind of backward.  Usually the great sex and bail calls come later, but I’ve never been one for conventionality.”

“Well, then, since we’re going to call this a date, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

She waved her hand dismissively.  “Not much to tell.  I’m not very interesting.”

“I know for a fact that is not true.”

“Oh?  And how do you know that?”

“I’m already interested.”

She flushed, a pretty pink hue appearing on that smooth skin he wanted to touch.  “I’m a software design analyst.  I’ve worked at the same company for thirteen years.  Fascinating stuff, huh?”

“Absolutely.”  It told him that she was conscientious, loyal, and a valued employee – all desirable qualities.  “What about family?”

“I have one younger brother, which I mentioned earlier.  My parents migrated south a few years ago to an adult community in Florida.”

“Ever been married?”

“No.”

It seemed unconscionable that such an attractive, obviously intelligent woman was still available.  There had to be a catch.  “Why not?”

“Never found the right one, I guess,” she said, squirming a little.  It was the first time she seemed slightly uncomfortable.  He could understand that.  Talk of marriage – especially with a woman he had had sex with – usually had him seeking out the nearest exit.  So what the hell had possessed him to bring it up?  And why wasn’t he the least bit interested in going anywhere?

“What about you?” she asked, turning the question back on him as she flicked her eyes toward his left hand.  “I’m guessing you were married to Brandon’s mother?”

“For twelve years, yeah.  Divorced for ten.”

“What, were you in preschool when you got married?”

He chuckled.  “No, but thanks for saying that.  We were eighteen.”

“That’s really young.”  He could see her doing the mental math.  “Forgive me if I’m out of line, but I’m guessing that since Brandon is twenty-one, he was the reason you got married.”

“You’re not out of line.  It was the right thing to do.”

“Do you always do the right thing, Miles?”

Was that a trick question?  Or was she, like him, trying to make sense of this – whatever this was - between them?  Given the way she was looking at him with those pretty eyes from beneath hooded lids, his next words were very important.

“No, not always.” 

“Why?” she asked softly.  “Why would you do something you know you shouldn’t?”

“Because sometimes it seems so right.”

He didn’t miss her quick intake of breath, or the way her lips parted slightly.  “What about you, Liz?  Do you ever do something you shouldn’t?”

She gave him a small, shy smile that grabbed him somewhere around his crotch and squeezed.  “I think you already know the answer to that.”

Hell yes, he did.  “Regrets?” he blurted out before he could stop himself.  Damn it, he really didn’t want to know.  But he had to.

“Some.” 

A small knot of disappointment tightened somewhere deep in his gut.  He knew he shouldn’t have asked.

“But apparently not enough to keep me from wanting to do it again.”

Just that quickly, that ache of disappointment vanished, leaving behind a different kind of ache in its place.  “What exactly are you saying, Liz?”

* * *

P
lay with fire, Elizabeth, and you are bound to get burned
.  For the life of her, she didn’t know what compelled her to say what she did.  But sitting there, across from Miles Grayson, breathing in his scent, letting his rich voice wash over her, appreciating his masculine beauty – all she could think about was wanting
more
.

She was fairly certain she wasn’t the first woman to find herself in this position.  She wouldn’t be the last.  But for whatever reason, Miles was here with her, now.  Unlike the last time they’d met, he had no fathomable reason to be.  Was it possible he was telling the truth, and he really had been thinking about her?  Or was she going to be a convenient hook-up when he was in town?

She stole another glance at him.  He was looking at her with this warm, genuine, slightly devilish smile, as if he was privately thinking of something naughty.

That made two of them.

“I am saying, Miles,” she said with deliberate slowness, “that I’ve been thinking about you, too.”   

Heat flared in those lovely blue eyes as he shifted slightly and leaned towards her just a little.  “And what exactly have you been thinking, Liz?”

Crap
!  She was terrible at this game, and she was playing with a master.  She tried in vain to think of a sexy passage from one of the erotic romances she kept on a shelf in her bedroom.  What would a woman wholly onboard with being seduced say or do in this situation?  Not a damn thing came to mind.

“I want a do-over.”  Inwardly, she groaned and cringed and banged her head against a virtual wall.

Perfect, firm male lips quirked.  “Well-spoken, Liz.  My thoughts exactly.” 

L
iz fidgeted nervously in the passenger seat.  He hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts; just being around her for the last hour had ramped his arousal up to dangerously high levels.  A night of DIY was definitely not on the agenda, and he didn’t want to be with anyone else.

That last thought sobered him, reminding him of one of the primary reasons he was here:  to get over this ridiculous preoccupation with Liz Benning.  The fact that she believed their last go-round had been solely based in pity had been weighing upon him.  Had she aroused only his sympathy, things never would have gone as far as they had.  Or been so damn fantastic.

Once he corrected that misconception, his conscience would be clear and he could get on with his life. 

“Pack a few personal essentials,” he told her as he followed her into her place. 

“What?” 

He smiled at the way her eyes widened when she lifted her face to his.  Catching this woman off-guard, doing the unexpected, was quickly becoming one of his new favorite pastimes.  “I’d like to take you someplace, Liz.”

“You would?”

“Yes.”  It had been an impulsive thought, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked it.  Liz’s place was great, but it was a little too homey, a little too
domestic
for what he had in mind.

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise,” he winked. 

“A surprise,” she echoed. 

“A good surprise.  Pack some casual, comfortable clothing and something suitable for a nice dinner.”

“Miles, I don’t know...”

She wanted to, he could see it in her eyes.  Desire struggled with doubt.  “Trust me, Liz.”

* * *