19.
DANIEL
Elizabeth looked absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t stop staring at her face, her eyes, her mouth, and her ass when she’d walked in front of me. Everything about this woman called to me. Hell, I’d already flown out to see her twice in as many days. I might need an intervention.
“So, Elizabeth,” I started, hoping she’d let me in on some of her mystery tonight.
“So, Daniel,” she countered before continuing, “are you going to make this sort of thing a habit?”
“What sort of thing?” I asked playfully.
Her head tilted to one side, allowing her long hair to spill down across her shoulder. With her bare neck revealed, I instantly hardened. I wanted to slide next to her and feast on her skin. Fuck dinner. I had everything I needed sitting across from me.
“Flying out here to see me,” her voice said.
I blinked twice to regain focus. “I’m planning on it, yes. Is that going to be a problem?” Please fucking say no.
She sighed, and I reached across the table for her hand.
“I don’t think so, but how can you afford to do that with your job?”
I stifled a laugh. “It’s only an hour flight, so it’s not like I’m losing much of my day when I’m in the air. Also, I can work from Southern California just as effectively as I can from my office up north.” Squeezing her hand for a moment, I added, “Well, almost as effectively. You’ve been a bit of a distraction lately.”
“Me? You’re the distraction, and I haven’t even had to leave my office. You bring the distraction to me.”
She half-smiled, and I wanted to kiss the edges of her mouth.
“Do you want me to stop?”
Her eyes skirted away from mine as she glanced at our hands. “No.”
“Good. I wouldn’t have listened anyway. To be honest, I think we have the perfect situation here.” My thumb lazily circled hers.
“How so?”
“Well, for starters, we don’t live anywhere near each other,” I practically shouted at her like an excited five-year-old.
“I think we’ve established that already. Why is that a good thing?”
“Well, contrary to what you think, I really do work hard and long hours. I get home late all the time, and I’m up early. I know you are, too. Neither of us has time for a demanding relationship, not that I think you’d ever be demanding. You’re too damn independent.” Her lips started to frown, and I quickly recovered. “That’s a good thing. I fucking love that about you.” I watched as her lips tilted up into a slight grin. “As I was saying, I think that us being long distance is the perfect way for you to take baby steps, which I’m assuming you need to do, before we go all in. And trust me, babe, we’re going all in.”
“Are you always this overly confident, bossy, and demanding?”
“Only when I know I’m right.” I smirked before bringing her hand to my lips.
“So, all the time then,” she teased.
“See? You’re the perfect girlfriend already.” The word effortlessly slipped off my tongue. I hadn’t had a real girlfriend in years, but I wanted this. I wanted her.
Heather reappeared at that moment with our bottle of wine and two glasses, and all I wanted her to do was leave again. We placed our order, and I informed her we weren’t in a rush.
“Will you answer me something?” I asked with slight apprehension.
“Sure.”
She looked tentative, but I was determined to convince her that she could trust me.
“Why are you so hesitant when it comes to me?”
“It’s not just you.” She sipped her wine.
“Then, what is it?”
“I don’t really date anymore. I kind of swore off men awhile back.” Her eyes averted mine as she stared past me.
“So, you only date girls now?” I tried to break the tension.
She laughed. “Oh, yeah. I’m sure dating a chick would be far less dramatic.” Her expression shifted.
“Tell me what happened. Please.” I looked into her brown eyes and saw the hurt in them.
She was so reluctant about sharing anything personal with me, and it fucking killed me. I wanted her to trust me.
“Elizabeth, I know that someone hurt you, but that someone wasn’t me.”
And it never will be, I promised myself.
“I know that. It’s so stupid.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, it happened eight years ago.”
“But you’re still holding on to it?” I honestly wondered.
“Not in the way you’re thinking. It just affected the way I chose to live my life.”
“In what way?” Now, we were getting somewhere.
“When it came to work and men.”
Her eyes stared through me. They willed me to challenge her. She wanted to let this out. I could tell. I just had to push her to do it.
“This is like pulling teeth, Elizabeth. Just tell me what happened.”
“Fine.” Her tone was clipped. “My ex cheated on me with my roommate. He told me it was all my fault that he did it, and that’s the gist of it.”
My eyes narrowed in both confusion and anger. That couldn’t possibly be the whole story because it didn’t fucking add up.
What kind of asshole would cheat on her and tell her it was her fault?
A young one.
“How was him cheating on you your fault? I’d love to hear how he explained that one.”
She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, and my eyes zeroed in on it. The move momentarily stopped my brain from working and sent all my blood flowing south, but I forced myself to remain in my seat.
“He said that I was too focused on what I wanted for my future. I didn’t give him enough attention because my dreams were too big. And no guy would ever want someone like me because I wanted too much for myself.”
I couldn’t listen to another word without wanting to smash something. “What kind of insecure piece of shit doesn’t want his girlfriend to be successful?”
“That’s what I said!” Her voice became animated at this point. “But he said that guys wanted their women to take care of them and support their goals, not have goals of their own. He said that all guys thought that way, not just him. And he acted like he was doing me a favor by telling me, like he was clueing me in on some giant secret in the book of men.”
I shook my head back and forth so hard that I thought it might fall off my fucking shoulders. “I am so sorry that happened to you.” Anger pulsed through every inch of my body. I could feel it seething through my veins like blood.
Pushing out of my chair, I rose to my feet and sucked in three deep breaths before sliding into the bench seat next to her. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her against me and kissed her forehead. My heart pounded against my chest. It wasn’t because of the woman in my arms—although, that would have been enough. It was because my fucking adrenaline was pumping so hard. This guy had done a number on her, and I understood now why she had been so guarded.
What girl wouldn’t be after experiencing that?
I looked down at her and reached for her chin, tilting it up with my fingertips, before pressing my lips against hers. If I had the power to kiss away all the bullshit she had been told in her life, I wished for it to work now.
My tongue swept across her bottom lip before begging for entry into her mouth. She parted her lips, and the taste of sweet wine was on her tongue. We kissed for a few seconds more before I slowly pulled away from her and planted a soft peck on her cheek.