200 Harley Street. Lynne Marshall

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       CHAPTER TWELVE

      LEO HAD BEEN right—it was Goldilocks.

      After a blissful night of lovemaking Lizzie woke to a silver-grey morning and lay warmed by Leo’s body spooned into hers. As she felt him stir and wake up she then felt him become still as he perhaps realised just who was sleeping in his bed.

      And was still there.

      Lizzie stared at her dress. Her beautiful dress, which lay like a puddle on the floor, and she remembered him taking it off. She thought of her coat still on the floor in his hallway and she hoped its magic would last, that the costume she had worn last night, where she had been so bold and brave, could see her through this morning.

      They had to face each other at work on Monday, which meant things had to play out well today—it was that or run screaming into the woods, never to be seen again.

      She could do this, Lizzie decided. In the painful times when her mum had first been diagnosed Lizzie had learnt how to act. How to not notice her mum’s errors in conversations, how to say nothing except thank you when her third birthday card appeared in the post, because her mother had forgotten that she’d already sent one.

      Yes, Lizzie could act.

      ‘Morning.’ She didn’t turn, just stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. ‘I won’t ask how you slept, given you’ve had as little as me.’

      ‘Coffee?’ Leo asked, and Lizzie nodded.

      ‘Two sugars, please.’

      It was an unusual request from a bedfellow! Normally, Leo thought, yawning as he spooned sugar into her cup, it was black coffee and a sweetener, or green tea. He thought of Lizzie’s curves and last night and, really, there was no regret.

      Now came the awkward part.

      He walked into his bedroom and she was still gazing out of the window and the view from behind was stunning. Her hair fell in thick, still-lacquered curls and as he put her coffee down he was treated to the sight of Lizzie with panda eyes and a mark low on her neck and a slow smile on a mouth that now knew him intimately. Recalling last night’s surprising lack of inhibition, the furthest thing from Leo’s mind now was feeling awkward.

      ‘Your view is so amazing,’ Lizzie said. ‘I feel like I’m on the London Eye.’

      ‘If at any time you require assistance …’ Leo made her laugh as he put on an automated woman’s voice ‘… press the button at either end of the capsule …’

      ‘What happens then?’

      ‘I’m not sure.’ Leo climbed back into bed and took a very welcome drink of coffee. ‘How much champagne did we have?’

      ‘Well, I had three glasses so there goes my excuse …’ She rolled over and he watched as the sheet slipped and one breast beckoned him but he took another sip of his drink instead. ‘And you had about two sips …’ His cup hesitated as he realised she’d rumbled his game. ‘You just keep taking a fresh glass …’

      ‘I like to stay sharp.’

      ‘So I noticed.’

      A smile spread his lips and Lizzie found she was biting down on hers. God, he looked sexy in the morning, unshaven, rumpled and, despite his attempts to halt it, one hand was playing with her breast, which had slipped out from under the sheet.

      ‘Do you want to go out for breakfast?’ Leo asked, because maybe it would be easier to clear the air for Monday somewhere public. He wasn’t concentrating very well in bed. ‘We could go to Drakes,’ he suggested, then gave a brief shake of his head. ‘Actually, that’s not such a good idea. Half of the Hunter Clinic will be there, nursing their hangovers and trying to work out who got off with who last night.’

      ‘And we don’t want to fan the flames …’ Lizzie said.

      ‘No,’ Leo agreed.

      ‘Where shall we go, then?’ Lizzie asked.

      ‘How about here?’ He put down his coffee and suggested that she do the same. ‘Beside mine,’ Leo said, and he slid down on the bed as she leant over him, caught the breast with his mouth and Lizzie, one hand beside his head the other on the bedside, knelt and revelled in the sensation, tried to remember to breathe as he pulled her hips so she was over him.

      She wanted him to pull her down, she loathed how he had to stop a second to put on another condom, she almost told him not to bother, that she was on the Pill, she just wanted him inside her now.

      ‘Where were we?’ Leo said, and pulled her down onto him, his hands working her breasts and then down to her hips and then back to her breasts because she rode him so perfectly he could just enjoy and watch her enjoyment too.

      ‘So much for feeling awkward …’ Leo said, loving her breathless laugh, loving looking down and watching, then cursing as he saw the condom wrapped low around his thick base. ‘Lizzie …’ She was coming as he grabbed her hips and lifted her off him; she didn’t want to get off, didn’t really understand what was happening till she looked down to the gorgeous sight of Leo pulsing over her.

      ‘More …’ She just said the first thing on her mind.

      ‘Here.’ He stroked more out onto her and then rubbed it in with his fingers and for Lizzie it was shockingly intimate and it was the same for Leo too.

      He rubbed in silver, he looked up to eyes that looked golden, and for the first time Leo wanted more too.

      More of the same.

      Over and over.

      He drove them to Lizzie’s apartment but this was no awkward car ride home, they were just going so that she could change into jeans and boots, and brunch had been well earned, it was no wonder they were starving.

      This should be ending about now, both knew it, but walking along the Thames a little while later Leo wanted to keep pulling the scarf she had over her face down just so he could see her mouth.

      So he did.

      And warmed it with his.

      ‘Shouldn’t we be regretting this about now?’ Leo checked as they walked alongside the river.

      ‘Probably,’ Lizzie said. ‘How on earth am I going to face you at work tomorrow?’

      ‘You won’t have to,’ Leo said. ‘I’ll just turn you over your desk …’

      She hit him with her hand; he made her laugh, and she hadn’t laughed like this in a very long time.

      Ever.

      ‘Do you want to go to the zoo?’ Leo asked.

      ‘The СКАЧАТЬ