Chapter 20
“What do you want to do about dinner?” asked Liz as we stepped from the elevator into her foyer. “It’s Mrs. Hill’s night off to go play bingo with her friends at St. Stephens, so I usually fend for myself.”
“Do you want to go out?”
She scrunched up her nose. “Maybe after the holiday season is over. My feet are killing me.”
I took the two large slices of cake she’d brought home from her hands. “Then let’s settle somewhere comfortable and order pizza. What kind do you like?”
“I’m not usually picky, but pepperoni and mushroom sounds so good right now.”
I followed her into the living room and set down the cake. A few touches to my phone screen and I’d ordered a large pizza that’d be delivered soon.
Liz plopped down into the corner of the sofa, her head lolling back. “I hope the new location helps a little with how busy we are this time of year. One woman told Mia she’d come from Queens to pick up a gluten-free cake. One of the perks of having an online order form I suppose.”
I sat closer to the opposite end of the couch and pulled up her feet. After unbuckling her Dr. Martens’ Mary Janes, I pulled them off her feet and dropped them onto the floor. At the first dig of my thumbs into the sole of her foot, she moaned. “The reputation of the bakery has spread. It might not be a bad idea for you to consider another location in Brooklyn.”
“I need to get the one I’ve planned up and running and earning a profit before I can even consider another. Using what I have as collateral to expand quickly isn’t my favorite idea, especially in the food industry. I don’t mind expanding when I have the funds, and if the right buildings come available.”
Restaurants were one of the riskier business ventures, but with the current bakery’s reputation, I didn’t see her failing. I could understand her point of view, though.
“How about no more business talk?” she said, her eyes drooping.
“What do you want to do?”
She hissed as I found a knot and rubbed. “We could watch a movie or play a game, but only when you’re finished there. I wouldn’t want to deprive you.”
I chuckled. “If you had some lotion, this would be better. I’ll go get it. You don’t even have to get up.”
“There should be some in the half-bath just down that hall.”
“I found a tube of lemon and white verbena hand crème,” I said as I returned.
“That’ll work. What do you want to watch?” She turned on the television with the remote and started scrolling through options.
A familiar title popped up, and I rolled my eyes. “My sister is always trying to get me to watch that one. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal.”
Liz propped herself on her elbows. “You’ve never seen The Princess Bride ? It’s a classic.”
I dipped my chin with a chuckle. “You sound just like Gi.”
“That’s it, then. We’re watching it.”
With a groan, I popped the lid on the lotion. “How about a good action film?”
“Nope! I insist. You can’t refuse because you don’t know what you’re missing.”
As the first of the movie started, I applied the lotion over her soles. While I rubbed both of her feet thoroughly, she giggled a little at the first parts of the movie with the grandfather and grandson.
About a half-hour into the story, a buzz from the foyer startled me.
“That’s going to be the pizza.” Liz jumped up and ran into the foyer.
I let out an exhale. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I’d been enjoying the movie, laughing at the antics of the characters on the screen, in particular, Vizzini the Sicilian criminal and mastermind who couldn’t stop saying, “inconceivable.”
When Liz returned with the pizza, she waved me to follow her to the kitchen. I paused the movie and ambled in after her. She placed the box on the island. “I was thinking about a glass of red. What do you want to drink? I think Mrs. Hill keeps beer in here for guests.” She leaned down and looked into the wine fridge. “She has several craft varieties.”
“I’d rather have wine with you.”
She poured us both a glass, grabbed us plates, then we returned to the living room and ate while we finished the movie.
After the end of the film, she turned off the TV. “So what did you think?”
“It wasn’t what I expected.”
She huffed. “You won’t admit that you like it? Seriously?”
I chuckled at her exasperated tone. “Okay, fine. It was good—funny as hell.”
She gave a definitive nod. “That’s more of what I expected. It’s still too early to go to bed so what’s your favorite game?”
“Scrabble.” Of course, I answered without hesitation. I’d always loved the challenge, and I rarely got to play anymore. Richard and Gigi refused since I beat them each and every time.
Liz’s lips curved in a way that made me want to spread her out on the coffee table and make her cry my name. “I’m the world’s best at Scrabble.”
“Kind of hard to be the world’s best when you haven’t played me.” It was true. Who’d she play in the past? Char?
“Challenge accepted,” she said with a grin. “When I thrash you, what will I win?”
“Well, aside from the game, I’ll give you as many orgasms as you want. Throw out a number and I’ll do it.”
Her eyebrows twitched and her nipples were suddenly poking a bit from her t-shirt. She was intrigued—and turned on.
“What about if you win?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “How about I determine the number of orgasms?”
Her brow furrowed. “That sounds like I could win either way.”
“That depends; I could refuse to give you any.” I couldn’t help but let my lips curve.
“Would you really do that?” Her eyes widened.
“You’ll have to play me to find out.”
“I thought I did that this morning in the shower.” Her tongue peeked out at the corner of her lips, and I was instantly hard. I wasn’t going to last through a game of Scrabble if we kept up the suggestive conversations.
As soon as Liz had put away the leftover pizza, she grabbed the game and we set up the board. She picked an ‘e’ and I’d drawn a ‘t,’ so Liz would play first. We selected our tiles, and Liz bit her lip while she stared at the letters in front of her. She would move one here and there until she leaned forward and began putting down her word, one letter at a time.
When she’d placed the last tile with a satisfied smile, I gaped. “No way. How’d you get two letter p’s? There’s only two in the game.”
She gasped. “You watched me pick out of the bag; just like you. Are you saying I cheated?”
Her t-shirt was short-sleeved, and she was right, I’d watched her pull the letters from the red bag. “I wasn’t saying that. But, ‘nipples’?”
“It’s a good word, and I get fifty bonus points for using all my tiles on the first word.” She held up a finger. “And don’t forget the double word score.”
I added up her score for “nipples. ” She’d gotten seventy-two points on her first turn. I wrote down the score, which made her do a little happy dance, then took stock of my own tiles. I managed ‘ankle,’ which earned me a double word score. Not as good a play as Liz’s but respectable at least.
We continued on but as we played, Liz’s words all seemed to fit a theme: nipples, wet, tight, slick, and finally thrust. Was she seducing me by Scrabble?
I leaned in right next to her ear. “I know what you’re doing. If you’re not careful, I’m going to smear cake all over you and lick it off.” Her breathing quickened, and her teeth suddenly grazed my ear lobe. We’d not dug into our dessert yet, and I was beginning to have creative ideas for it.
“Not until I finish kicking your ass, Mr. Darcy. I want those orgasms you wagered. I believe I get any number I specify.”
I couldn’t resist my next word being ‘tease.’ When Liz put down her last letter and grinned with her victory, I couldn’t bring myself to be upset.
“Now, I believe you owe me four orgasms,” she said.
“You could at least make it a challenge.” I actually scoffed before I said it.
“Fine, then I want seven!” She rose to her knees and pushed her finger into my chest. “Is that challenge enough for you?”
“What time does Mrs. Hill get home?”
“Not until ten. They go to a wine bar over by the church after Bingo.”
I shoved the Scrabble board from the table and hoisted her up, placing her right in the middle. Her work shirt was the first thing to be removed followed by her bra. When I started on her leggings, she frowned.
“Hey, why am I the only one getting naked?”
Without hesitation, I stripped off my tie, shirt, belt, and trousers until I was in nothing but my boxer briefs. “Better?”
Her eyes flitted down my body while her tongue peeked out and licked her bottom lip. God, I loved the appreciation and unadulterated lust in her expression. I removed her leggings and panties and reached for the box of cake and opened it. I removed a piece, and she sat up.
“You were serious?” she said in a high-pitched tone.
“If you’d brought one of those bags with the decorative tips up, I wouldn’t have complained.” I took the cake and swirled the rich frosting around her nipple. After feeding her what was left on my fingers, I sucked the buttercream off while Liz gasped.
“I’m going to choke if you keep doing that.”
What followed was a complete mess. I’d never thought to try anything like this, but I smeared cake over her breasts, down her stomach, and lower so I could kiss and eat it off her delectable body. By the time my fingers dipped between her legs, she was so swollen and ready for me, she shattered in seconds.
“That’s one,” I said as soon as she’d returned to earth. “The prosecco cake is phenomenal in case you were wondering; the frosting is even better smeared on your breasts.”
She snort-laughed in the most adorable way. “You’re ridiculous. I believe that leaves six more.”
I laid down on top of her and relished the feel of her under me while I kissed her lips. That night we’d met at the gala, I’d wanted nothing more than to kiss her senseless, and instead, I’d made an idiot of myself. A part of me couldn’t believe we’d reached the point where she’d forgiven me and we were here together like this.
We had all night, so I didn’t want to rush things. By the time I kissed my way down between her legs, her body had reset enough to bring her to her to another high peak instead of being oversensitive and more pain than pleasure.
“That makes two.”
I rolled her to her stomach and massaged and kissed her back before I helped her reach number three. Then I brought her onto my lap to grind herself to number four. She sobbed during five, and by six, she’d begun to shake her head.
“You win. I don’t think I can manage another.”
We were on the floor in front of the gas fireplace, which we’d turned on with the remote when she’d complained she was cold. With ease, I slid home and began to rock over her, gripping the blanket we’d spread so we didn’t get the remnants of frosting everywhere.
More than once since we’d started this sexcapade of sorts, I’d almost failed to hold back my own orgasm, so now, my body was demanding satisfaction, but I had one more debt of honor to fulfill so I gritted my teeth and prayed I could make it.
When the tell-tale signs of Liz’s next climax began to roll over her, I could’ve wept. My pace quickened, and within moments, she cried out and I followed her over the ledge into the depths. The orgasm held me under for so long that I almost blacked out before I collapsed on top of her.
“That was bloody fantastic.”
She gave a weak laugh. “That was one way to describe it. I think I’m going to need at least a week to recover.”
I propped myself on my elbow. “I seriously hope not!” She only chuckled more.
After a few moments, I lifted off and pulled her up into my lap. She wrapped the blanket around us while I grabbed the second slice of cake and fed her a bite.
“We’re in desperate need of a shower,” she said after swallowing.
“One of my favorite activities with you.”
She arched that one eyebrow my way.
“That list isn’t just comprised of you naked or sex you know. Watching you work ranks up there as does this. I know we’re naked, but having you wrapped in my arms is one of the best things ever. Don’t get me wrong, the sex is ahh-maz-ing! But it’s not why I started liking you, or why I’ve started to fall in love with you.”
“Will,” she said softly.
“It’s okay if you can’t say it back yet. When you finally do tell me, I want it to be without you feeling any pressure from me. However long you need, I’ll wait.”
Her eyes were glassy as she leaned in and gave me a soft peck on the lips. “I don’t think you’ll have to wait long.”
Once the cake was eaten, we picked up everything we could find, throwing away the cake box, and making the dash upstairs before Mrs. Hill came home. I had the privilege of lathering up Liz in the shower before she returned the favor. We fell into bed exhausted, and I, for one, slept like the dead.
The next morning, Will slipped on his shirt then rummaged through his clothes on the chair.
“Liz, do you remember picking up my underwear last night?”
“No, I thought you did.” I stepped out of the closet and pulled on my work shirt.
“Screw it!” He slipped on his pants commando, which gave me a great view of his backside before he pulled them all the way on. He had a great ass: firm with not a ton of hair. The man definitely worked out. “I’ll check around the sofa when I go down.”
“Don’t make too much noise. Mrs. Hill has a mother-in-law suite that’s off the living room.”
He gave me a quick but passionate kiss before he rushed downstairs. I pulled back my hair, then followed. I found him next to the coffee table.
“Did you find them?” I whispered as best I could.
“No, and I checked the sofa cushions just in case, and under the coffee table.”
A light clicked on, and we both jumped like teenagers being caught by our parents.
“I thought I heard someone in here,” said Mrs. Hill, her voice still groggy. She looked at me and Will then shook her head. “Those must’ve been your underpants I found peeking out from under the sofa last night. I also found several Scrabble tiles under there as well. After, I disinfected the coffee table for good measure. It looked a little. . .sticky.”
My cheeks heated to a temperature they’d never reached before. “I was going to do that, Mrs. Hill. I’m sorry.”
“No worries, dearie. I was young once too.”
If I could’ve sunken into the floor and died of mortification, I would’ve. I would need to give Mrs. Hill one heck of a Christmas bonus!