The Accidental Call Girl (35 page)

‘Hell, that’s what makes me feel so selfish.’ He snagged his lower lip in his teeth for a moment, not playfully now, just perplexed. ‘And yet I can’t not want you, and not want to be with you. It’s just impossible.’

He looked away from her for a moment, and when he met her gaze again there were shadows in his eyes. Anguish. The ghosts of those secrets it would be so painful to divulge . . .

Lizzie reached up and touched his lip, where he’d worried it, compelling him to relax, and to smile.

Could she take him on? It wouldn’t be easy; their lives were so different, in so many ways, and he wasn’t the straightforward man she’d always expected to end up with. But the more cowardly thing would be to walk away, and be a wimp, and she was done with backing down, giving up, living a half-life.

Besides all that, she loved him. She loved him with all her heart, regardless of his secrets. And regardless of whether he loved her, or was even capable of the kind of love she felt. He’d be a challenge, but nothing worthwhile in life was ever easy.

She smiled at him, and retrieved that slow, confident-looking, seductive smile she’d favoured him with in the Lawns bar.

‘Look, Mr John Smith, I’m OK with all that. I’m not so needy I can’t respect boundaries . . . but, by the same token,
you’ve
got to respect that I’m me, and sometimes I might knock up against those boundaries, and even bounce quite hard against them. You know what I mean?’

He nodded, and then drew her fingers to his lips again, shaping the mouth that she’d touched into a kiss, a pledge.

‘Do we have a deal?’ Lizzie fixed her eyes on his, compelling the words to confirm the action.

‘We do. It’s a deal.’ The sunshine smile returned.

Before he could react further, Lizzie reached up, dug her fingers into his thick golden curls and drew him to her, assertively claiming his lips. She felt him still smiling against her mouth, but she subdued him, pressing with her tongue for entrance . . . and receiving it.

He hugged her hard, and she hugged him as they kissed like devils, devouring each other with all the hunger banked up in a month apart. Lizzie was vaguely aware that they were being watched, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t until they broke apart, both gasping that she caught sight of a woman who’d paused in the act of putting shopping into her car boot and was simply staring at them. Lizzie grinned at her, then tucked her hand beneath John’s arm.

‘Where to, boss?’ she enquired. He was staring at her almost with almost as much astonishment as the shopping woman, but his fond smile was a wonder to behold.

‘You’re priceless, Lizzie. I haven’t a clue what I’ve done to deserve you . . . but I’m glad you’ll have me,’ he said with a soft, husky laugh. ‘I’m staying at the Waverley, and I need to get you back there as soon as possible. For lunch . . . or something.’ He winked and, putting his hand over hers, he started walking, with Lizzie falling naturally into step beside him. ‘And when we’ve eaten . . . and whatever . . . we can make some plans.’

Ah, the plans. The negotiations. Not as escort and client this time, but as whatever they were going to be from now on. Almost wanting to skip along at his side, she didn’t fear the prospect.

Whatever their new journey was, it wouldn’t be a simple path, and she had a shrewd idea that it would have more than its share of bumps. But whatever they were, and however big, she’d deal with them.
They’d
deal with them.

And all the time she’d be beside the man she loved.

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First published in 2013 by Black Lace, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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Copyright © Portia Da Costa 2013

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