All Night Woman: A Contemporary Romance (6 page)

“More comfortable, yes.  Less mortified, no.”

Another quirk, the slight lift of a perfect brow.  “I take it tonight was not a regular occurrence?”

“God, no,” Liz confirmed. 

He gifted her with a half grin and amusement in his eyes.  “Male strippers aren’t your thing?”

Not anymore
.  Liz winced inwardly as she recalled the dancer’s stinging comments.  In the course of a few poorly-spoken words, they had managed to shatter every fantasy-based perception she’d ever had.  In the back of her mind, she had known that’s all it was – an image – but it was kind of like finding out that the money left under your pillow wasn’t from the Tooth Fairy after all.  She had enough reality in her life, thank you very much.  The loss of yet another fantasy was disappointing. 

“I can appreciate a beautiful body as well as the next woman,” Liz said carefully.  “But I’m not one to get caught up in the fantasy.” 
Liar
. 

“A realist, huh?”

There it was again, that little twitch at the right corner of those nice, masculine lips.  Lips that looked soft and full-enough to kiss
really
well.  She sipped her coffee, opting not to respond to that.  She’d already written him off as an impossibility, so there was no use in torturing herself – or him – with any of that flirtatious nonsense.

“So, you’re Brandon’s father.  He is a great kid.  You must be very proud.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, before his expression evened out. 
Hmmm.  Somebody didn’t like being brushed off.
  Well, tough.  She was too tired, too embarrassed, and too damn low in self-esteem at the moment to stroke his manly ego.  Or anything else, for that matter.  (Her lower core twinged in protest at that thought, but she tightened her ab muscles and did a quick Kegel to silence it).

“I am.”

“He looks just like you.  Adam says it’s a curse.”

When Miles’ eyebrows shot up, Liz laughed.  “Not like that.  I think he meant that Brandon is hounded constantly because of his looks.”  She paused, looking at him over the rim of her coffee mug.  “I imagine you have the same problem.”

He shrugged, a casual and elegant lift of those broad shoulders.  “Some women seem to be completely unaffected.”  His eyes, a clear, perfect shade of blue, locked onto hers as he spoke the words.

Liz shifted slightly.  They weren’t flirting, right?  So why was it getting warmer in here?  No, that surge of heat was coming from inside her body, not from the baseboard.  A horrible thought struck her:  thirty-five was too young to start having hot flashes, wasn’t it?

“That’s probably a good thing,” she said carefully, keeping her inner monologue to herself.

“How do you figure?”

Without missing a beat, she said, “Keeps you humble.”

He laughed then, and she couldn’t help but smile along with him.  For such a good-looking man, he was very easy to be around.  Maybe that’s because she was viewing him as a person instead of a potential
something more.

“That’s me.  Humble to a fault.”

She stared at him for several long moments.  Maybe she had misjudged him.  He seemed like a nice-enough guy, and any man who could laugh at himself couldn’t be too conceited.  His brother and his son were decent guys, so logic suggested that maybe he was, too. 

“Humility is a virtue, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so.” He lifted up his hand and ticked them off, one by one.  “Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, and charity.  Nope, no humility.”

It was her turn to raise her eyebrow at him.  “Catholic school?”

“Till seventh grade,” he confirmed with a twinkle in his eye.

“What happened in seventh grade?”

“I hit puberty,” he said almost apologetically.  “The plaid skirts became just a little too distracting, I’m afraid.”

Dear Lord.  The man really had no idea how charming he was.  Good thing she had already decided he was off-limits, or she might be tempted to pull her own high-school Catholic girl uniform out of the closet.  It was a little tight, but it still fit, which was a tremendous source of pride.

“Do you like cupcakes?” she asked on a sudden impulse. 

“Is there anyone who
doesn’t
like cupcakes?” he countered.

Instead of answering, she got up and went to the other side of the kitchen, opening up the cupboard on the far left.  She returned a moment later with a two-pack of iced chocolate cupcakes, a candle, and two small plates.

“Are they the kind with the cream on the inside?”

She snorted.  “Of course.”  Liz removed the cellophane wrapping and placed one filled cake on each plate.  “I don’t usually eat this stuff,” she told him as she stuck a candle in hers and lit it, “but it is my birthday.”

“Do you want me to sing Happy Birthday?”

“No,” she laughed, then pursed her lips to blow out the candle.

“Wait!  Did you make a wish?”

Liz’s eyes met his, and in that moment, she knew exactly what she was going to wish for.  Without taking her eyes from his, she smiled.

And blew out the candle.

* * *

H
oly shit.  Those eyes
.  He’d originally thought they were blue, but now he realized they were more like a smoky gray with cobalt undertones.  But it wasn’t the unusual color that had him discreetly shifting to alleviate the sudden tightness in his slacks.

It was the look she gave him.  Miles didn’t have to ask what she had wished for.  In that brief, one-second eye contact was an entire night of hot, sweaty, mind-numbing sex. 

He blinked, and it was gone.  Her long, dark blonde lashes fluttered against her healthy-looking pink skin (now flushing a lovely rose) as she broke eye contact and turned her attention to her plate.  She removed the candle and lifted the cake to her lips.  He’d never considered a pre-packaged cupcake a particularly erotic food, but then, he’d never seen Liz eat one before, either.  The way her lips wrapped around the cake.  The way her eyes glistened with pleasure.  The way her tongue peeked out and lapped up the creamy white filling...

“Mmmmmmm,” she moaned, which did absolutely nothing to curb the sudden flare of lust she’d unknowingly incited.  “This is so worth the extra couple of miles I’ll need to run tomorrow.”

“Running is good exercise,” he said, his voice a bit huskier than he would have liked.  He took a bite of his own cupcake, trying to focus on that.  Rich chocolate.  Creamy, sweet frosting.  Decadent light filling.  He chewed and swallowed, deliberately keeping his eyes on the treat in his hand and not the one across the counter.  He, too, used his tongue to extract the filling, but much more slowly than she had, and with much more relish.

“Do you run, then?” she asked.  Miles was pleased to hear that her voice was pitched just a tad lower and was slightly more breathless than it had been earlier.  He licked again – slowly, and with a decided curve of his tongue - before answering.

“I prefer my work outs to be a bit more... comprehensive,” he said.  “Those that involve more than just pumping my arms and legs.”

Her eyes widened just a fraction, her pupils dilated.  “Hmmmm.”

He leaned forward, just a little.  She mimicked the movement.  He reached out with his index finger to capture the dab of frosting at the corner of her lips.  He paused just before making contact, his mind working out several possible what-could-happen-next scenarios.

The age-old wisdom of multiple-choice test-taking resounded in his head:  When in doubt, pick c).

He didn’t miss her swift intake of breath.  Nor did he miss the way her eyes fixed on his finger with absolute, total focus.  He took his time, savoring the sweetness, until eventually her gaze moved from his lips to his eyes. 

“So, Miles,” she said, lowering her eyes even as the lovely, rosy blush stole over her cheeks.  “What brings you to Covendale?  Do you live around here?”

She was nervous, which suggested that she was feeling this unexpected energy arcing between them as well.  That probably shouldn’t have pleased him as much as it did. 

“I don’t live anywhere, really.  I’ve got a small apartment in New York, but it’s just a place to lay my head occasionally.  My job has me travelling too much to make maintaining anything more than that feasible.  And as to the why of it, well, Adam told me he was getting married.”

Her brow furrowed slightly, her eyes rising to scan his face.  He tried to keep his expression neutral, but obviously he didn’t do a good enough job of it.  Suddenly he felt strangely exposed, as if she could see past his carefully controlled mask.

“You think he’s making a mistake.”

He shrugged, but inside, he was impressed by her perceptiveness.  “I don’t think anything, except that it came out of nowhere.”

“It was fast,” she agreed carefully.  “But it seems like the real thing.  And Adam is her five minute man.”

“Her what?”

The pretty blush deepened.  Liz looked down at her plate and dabbed at a crumb with her index finger.  “Her five minute man.  That one person capable of pushing all of her buttons and making her...”

Realization dawned, right along with disbelief.  Miles couldn’t help himself; he laughed.  “
That’s
what this is all about?”

Her frown deepened.  “You don’t believe in true love?”

Great, he had offended her.  But damn, it
was
funny.  “Giving a woman an orgasm in five minutes is hardly a sound foundation for a relationship,” he chuckled.  If it was, he would still be married.  Or would have at least had dozens of “committed relationships” over the last ten years. 

Across the counter, Liz stiffened.  Surely a mature, professional woman didn’t buy into all that Hallmark-inspired tripe.  His eyes widened in disbelief.  “Don’t tell me
you
believe that.”

She said nothing, just dropped her eyes and stared at her plate. 
Holy shit
.  Even make-up free and in her PJs she was a beautiful woman.  She must have had her share of male attention, enough for her to know better.  But given the way she refused to meet his eyes, maybe not.

And that was a damn shame.  

“What did you wish for, Liz?” he asked suddenly.

As she swallowed, her pupils dilated and that pretty smoky blue darkened to stormy.

“If I tell you, it won’t come true,” she whispered.

He almost laughed at that.  Despite his brain telling him that seducing Liz would be wrong on so many levels, his body was moving ahead anyway.  His blood warmed and pooled, turning previous mild interest into rock-hard, un-ignorable lust.  Anything besides a firm “no” from her lips wasn’t going to alter the immediate course of events.

“Do you want your wish to come true, Liz?”  Without conscious effort, his voice had deepened and softened as he spoke the words.

Her eyes, slightly glassy and dazed, searched his.  She licked her lips.  “No.”

“N
o?”  Surely he hadn’t heard her correctly.  That was hunger in her eyes, no doubt about it.  That slight flush to her skin?  That was arousal, pure and simple.  And the way her body was angling toward his?  She wanted him.

“No,” she confirmed, visibly shaking herself free from his gaze.  It might have been a first.

“Why not?” he heard himself asking.

The smile she gave him was sad.  “My self-confidence has already taken a couple of major blows tonight,” she said.  “Honestly, I don’t think it could withstand much more.”

He frowned, confused.  He had inspired many reactions in women over the years, but a lack of confidence wasn’t one of them.  And how could this woman ever feel less than beautiful?  Even wearing animated cartoon characters and sans makeup she had his dick hard enough to pound nails.

Maybe they weren’t on the same page after all.

“Can you elaborate on that, please?”

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” she mumbled, looking more miserable by the moment.  “Okay, fine.  You’re gorgeous,” she blurted out.  “Hot and sexy with a body I could happily spend days exploring.  You’re charming and kind and funny and nice and compassionate and you like cupcakes.”

“And that’s bad?”

“It’s awful,” she groaned, dropping her head into her hands.  “I mean, I dream of meeting someone like you, and then, when I do,
this
happens.  Instead of being charming and sexy and perfectly accessorized, your first glimpse is of me looking like road-kill, held in a police station after hurling Kamikazees on some guy’s Jordans.  And instead of running as fast as you can in the other direction, you still offer to drive twenty miles out of your way to bring me home.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but she wasn’t finished.  “As I said, I’m a realist.  So, I figure you’re just a really nice guy who cares enough for his brother to take one for the team.  I can deal with that.  But then,
then
, you just took it too far.”

His brows furrowed.  “How exactly did I do that?”

She sighed, looking down at her plate.  Her index finger swirled in the crumbs, herding them all into a little circle in the middle.  “On top of everything else, you had to be
nice
.  It wasn’t enough to just see me safely home.  No.  You had to come in and have coffee and make me laugh and share my birthday cupcakes.”

Now he was totally confused.  “You asked me to.”

“I asked you to,” she repeated, shaking her head. 

“And I wanted to,” he added, just so she was clear on that.

She snorted, a wholly feminine, derisive sound that prickled. 

“You don’t believe me.”

“Hell, no.  Why on earth would you want to?  It makes no sense whatsoever.”

Christ, what was with this woman?  He felt the frustration bubbling up inside of him, making his next words come up just a little too loudly.  “Maybe because I like being around you.  Have you considered that?”