Steve experienced a surge of anger on her behalf. "Sounds like he should have at least been at the cafe helping you out."
"Oh, he always had an excuse why he couldn't be there," she said with a bitter laugh. "His best one was that he had job interviews lined up, but none of them ever seemed to pan out. If I questioned him, we'd get in a big fight. Sometimes he'd storm out after accusing me of not trusting him and leave for a few days. And when he returned, he wouldn't tell me where he'd been, just that he needed time to cool off. After a while, I just couldn't take it anymore."
It wasn't difficult to figure out where the marriage had been heading. "You filed for divorce?"
"I never had the chance," she rasped, a flicker of pain passing through her gaze. "The night I intended to ask for a divorce and tell him to pack his bags and find another place to live, he wrapped his sports car around a telephone pole, going over eighty miles per hour, and was instantly killed because he wasn't wearing a seat belt. He was with a woman that also died on impact, who I later discovered he'd been having an affair with."
His chest squeezed tight. What in the world did he say to the terrible betrayal she'd endured? He felt out of his element, and shocked as hell at what she'd been through.
"See what I mean by naive?" She didn't wait for him to answer or refute her claim, obviously believing it was true. "And if that mess wasn't humiliating enough, within a month of his death, I started receiving all these credit card bills in the mail that he'd applied for under both of our names but had kept from me. He'd bought jewelry and meals at fancy restaurants I'd never eaten with him, and he stayed in some pretty fine hotels the nights he didn't sleep at home. He paid the minimum payment on the credit cards while purchasing tons of stuff for his girlfriend, from furniture to clothes to a five-thousand-dollar stereo system he'd obviously enjoyed while he stayed at her place. To my horror, I realized that / was now tens of thousands of dollars in debt because everything was in my name, too."
She lifted her left hand and wiggled her fingers, letting the lamplight glimmer off the shiny band. "Which brings us back to this ring I wear, and three years without sex," she said humorously, as if she hadn't just given him a very private glimpse into her past, and possibly even a part of her soul. "In a nutshell, I've been working my butt off to pay off all those creditors and make sure I don't lose my business in the process. And then there's the money my aunt and uncle loaned me as part of my investment that I haven't paid in full yet, either, since I had to cut back on their monthly payments in order to meet my obligations with those credit cards that I'm still trying to pay off."
Now he understood her desperation in accepting his cut-rate fee in exchange for his help in finding her cousin, as well as her insistence on signing her paycheck over to him so he wouldn't be one of those debts hanging over her head. Their deal was temporary the whole way around, yet he'd never expected to be so intrigued by Liz beyond anything sexual.
While she'd been an unabashed vixen an hour ago, this strong yet vulnerable facet to her appealed to him, too. She was so determined not to depend on anyone to get her out of the mess she'd gotten herself into with her deceased husband, and now she was taking on the responsibility of finding Valerie, too.
"Dating and men are a distraction I haven't been able to afford the past three years," she said, bringing his mind and attention back to her.
"And I am?"
"You, Mr. Wilde, are a very exciting fling that came around at an opportune time." Smiling drowsily, she brushed her fingers along the tribal band on his arm. "I know exactly where we stand with one another. Neither of us wants anything long-term or complicated, so our arrangement is perfect."
She was offering him the kind of reassurances and rules he would have demanded from any other woman, yet his jaw clenched in denial, his reaction knee-jerk and unexpected. But Liz was right about them, and he'd do well to remember the boundaries of their temporary relationship. Which meant ending their night together and leaving-now.
"I'd better get going," he said abruptly. "You're about to fall asleep on me, and I've got an early day at the office tomorrow. I plan to talk to a few people I know with some connections and see if I can get anything on the inside track of The Ultimate Fantasy." Moving off the bed, he pulled on his briefs and jeans. The rest of his clothes were still in the living room.
"I'll walk you to the door so I can lock up after you." Sliding off her side of the mattress, she grabbed the worn and faded cotton robe tossed on a nearby dresser. "I also have that application filled out with Valerie's personal information, or as much of it as I could find when I went digging through her bills. There's some bank and credit card numbers I pulled from statements, along with her social security number and mother's maiden name, just in case you need any of that to check her accounts."
"That's great. Every little bit will help." He caught one last quick glimpse of her sweet curves before she slipped into the thigh-length cover-up and tied the sash around her waist. "It's amazing how one little detail can lead to something substantial."
She headed out of the bedroom. He followed her back to the entryway, his eyes drawn to the gentle sway of her hips as she walked, his senses filling with the scent of soft, sexy woman.
She waited quietly while he yanked his T-shirt over his head, secured his weapon and holster back in place, and shrugged into his leather jacket. She watched him avidly, with sensual green eyes that seemed to eat him up. When he finished getting dressed, she handed him the application, which he glanced at briefly before folding the paper and tucking it into his pocket.
She started past him to open the door, but before she could execute the move, he gave in to the urge to catch her in his arms and lowered his mouth to hers, open and seeking. Like a woman in sync with her lover's demands, she wrapped her hands around his neck and responded enthusiastically, without hesitation. Her luscious body melted into his embrace, and she returned the sensual kiss with abandon, telling him without words that she wouldn't mind if he stayed.
He was unable to suppress a deep groan. Everything male about him acknowledged that she was naked beneath that flimsy robe she wore, that it was just a matter of unzipping his fly, pressing her up against the nearest wall, and sinking right back into her tight, lush body and losing himself once again in her dampness and heat.
God, if he didn't get the hell out of there, neither one of them would get any sleep tonight, and he'd end up in a morning-after situation he didn't want or need.
Or so he had to keep reminding himself.
He ended the passionate kiss he'd instigated, and saw the questions in her slumberous eyes, an eager hope that he'd change his mind about staying. He took a much needed step away from her.
"I'm going," he said, his tone gruff.
She licked her lower lip, and gracefully accepting his decision, she opened the door for him. "Good night, then."
Their gazes met and held, and he paused, much too long for his own peace of mind. " 'Night," he finally said, then left while he still had the willpower to do so.
The early-morning rush of customers at The Daily Grind kept Liz's mind occupied and her hands busy making a steady stream of cappuccinos, lattes, and mochas. It was a diversion she welcomed, considering she'd spent too much time thinking after Steve had left her apartment last night-thinking about the incredible foreplay and sex they'd shared and how good it had felt to let go sexually in a way she'd never done before. She'd held nothing back with Steve, mainly because he hadn't allowed her to retreat. He'd been bold and dominant, yet so generous with her pleasure, and she'd been greedy and utterly shameless. Not that Steve seemed to mind at all.