Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake (A Brush with Love, #2)(18)
She told herself the little pangs in her chest had nothing to do with saying goodbye tomorrow to this gorgeous stranger she didn’t have any feelings for. No feelings at all.
She lied to herself and let her mind drift back to sleep to the sound of Rake’s breathing, deciding to enjoy the fling and not worry about it ever being something more.
Chapter 9
RAKE woke with a start as his alarm blared. He fumbled until he could turn off the screeching, letting out a low groan as he scrubbed his hands over his face before stretching his arms over his head and dropping them down to the mattress with dead weight.
Expecting them to land with a soft thump against the sheets, he nearly jumped out of his skin when the palm of one hand landed firmly on another person’s flesh with a smack.
Heart thumping up to his throat, he turned his head slowly to see his large palm resting on a plump, freckled butt cheek. Moving his gaze farther up, he locked eyes with Lizzie’s similarly wide-eyed stare.
“Well, good morning to you too,” she said after a moment. “I’ve always said there’s no better way to start the day than with a good ole-fashion spanking.”
Rake quickly whipped his hand off her butt, and Lizzie giggled, pressing her face into the sheets. Something about the noise produced a warm feeling in his chest, but he rubbed it away, blaming the foreign sensation on his sleep-addled brain.
“I’m sorry,” Rake said gruffly, sitting up and pulling the sheets around his waist. “Are you—” but the rest of the words lodged in his throat as Lizzie turned onto her back, stretching her fingers and toes as far as they would reach as she yawned. Naked. She did all of this completely naked and almost made Rake’s head explode.
“No biggie,” Lizzie said casually, throwing her long hair into a ponytail as she sat up. Acting as if it was completely normal for them to wake up together in the same bed totally naked and thoroughly tumbled. Maybe Rake was the only one who felt the hum of intimacy about the moment.
He was overreacting, he reasoned, as he turned away from her and snatched up a pair of boxers. He hadn’t shared a bed with another person since Shannon, and he wasn’t used to the odd feelings that swirled in the air the morning after sex. He needed to get a grip and get back to his normal, isolated life.
“What time is it?” Lizzie asked, surveying the room from her spot on the bed.
“Five thirty,” Rake answered, scooping up her clothes from their various locations around the hotel room and gingerly laying them on the bed. “Sorry to have to wake you. I—uh—I mean I guess you could probably keep sleeping, right? I can just…”
Lizzie let out a loud laugh, and Rake’s eyes snapped up to her face, taking in her massive grin.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Lizzie said, trying to hide another giggle behind her hand. Rake stared at her. “You’re just really cute the morning after,” she said. “All awkward and shit. It’s endearing.”
Rake felt himself blush. Oh for fuck’s sake.
“I’m not—I wasn’t—”
“You better take a breath before you kill yourself there, sport,” Lizzie said with a wink, hooking her bra and slipping her arms through the straps. “I hate seeing you so flustered.”
Something about her shit-eating grin made it obvious that she hated nothing about his discomfort. But he couldn’t help but smile back.
“I haven’t done…” He waved his hand vaguely.
“The awkward morning after?” she cut him off, smiling. “Me neither. But I won’t make you eat awkward morning sex pancakes. I’ll spare you the misery.”
“Sex pancakes?” Rake asked, his brow furrowing.
Lizzie waved the question off. “Never mind. Have you seen my purse?” she asked, sliding out of bed and hopping up and down as she pulled her tight shorts over her hips. Rake was momentarily distracted by the movement before he shook himself and started looking for her giant bag. He found it spilled by the door, a ridiculous amount of odds and ends littering the floor around it.
“Ah, there she is,” Lizzie said, bending down to sweep everything into the gaping mouth of the purse with practiced efficiency. She stood, slinging the bag over her shoulder and turning to face him. They stared at each other, looking for the right way to say goodbye.
An odd sensation speared from the bottom of Rake’s stomach up to the top of his throat. He couldn’t name it, but something about it made him want to grip Lizzie to his chest and not let her go. Which was absolutely ridiculous. So instead, he stuck out his hand. “I really enjoyed meeting you,” he said.
Lizzie looked at his proffered hand for a long moment before her eyes flicked up to his, her face creasing into a giant laugh. In a flash of movement, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his chest while she giggled, the vibrations of it amplifying that odd sensation puncturing his body.
“You’re so awkward,” she said through her laughter. “But I really enjoyed meeting you too.”
Rake couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face as he squeezed her back, holding on for a second longer. But he absolutely needed to let her go before any more of these strange sensations took over him and he did anything else out of character.