Page 4 of Soft Rebound (Mad City Moments #2)

Joe

I do a double take . “Your name is Liz?”

“Yes. For real. I don’t know why I said Melanie earlier.” She shrugs a little, like she’s embarrassed. “Melanie is ... my cousin’s friend.”

“Oh-kay.”

“I promise my name is actually Liz.”

“Should I ask to see your license?”

“You can, but I won’t show it to you.”

“How about something else? A library card? Gym membership?”

She pulls out her wallet, locates a credit card, and carefully covers the number with her fingers, leaving just the name for me to read.

“Elizabeth.”

“That’s me.”

“Liz.”

“Yes.” She actually sounds a little breathless. I swallow hard.

To deflect from my rising nervousness, I go for faux self-righteousness. “Well, in the light of your deception, I think it’s only fair that you now tell me your life story. As compensation for emotional distress.”

“So we’re not watching football anymore?” Her words are almost a whisper.

“Let’s face it—we never did.” My voice sounds lower and thicker than it should.

We look at each other across the table, that tether between us pulled taut. Each of us holds their beer glass with both hands, as if it’s an anchor, something grounding. Something to stop us from leaping.

I clear my throat. “So... Tell me about your family’s business.”

The server comes back with a pitcher and I top off my glass, then hers. Liz’s.

“Dad owns an auto repair shop,” she says. “Both my brothers work for him. The plan was for me to do their books. I was the only one of his kids who didn’t suck at math.”

“Were you the only one to go to college?”

She nods. “The first in my family. Everyone was really proud. And I felt I had to do something to give back, you know. Since they put in so much.”

“Where did you go to school?”

“St. Cloud Technical & Community College for the first two years. Got my associate’s degree there. Then transferred to St. Cloud State to complete my bachelor’s. You?”

“University of Minnesota. Both undergrad and law school.”

“Are your parents lawyers?” she asks.

“No, my mom worked in retail. Dad at a factory. My brother’s in the Navy.”

“And you’re a lawyer.”

“And I'm a lawyer.”

“What kind of law do you practice?”

“Corporate,” I say. “But you won’t trick me , missy. This is your time. Why don’t you like accounting?

She smiles and traces the rim of her glass with her fingertips. “I like it fine. But it’s just not ... what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.”

“How does your family feel about that?”

Liz shrugs. “I guess they don’t know.”

I’m confused, and certain my face shows it. “What do you mean?”

“They don’t know I don’t want to work for them.

They don’t know the life they want for me is not what I want for myself.

They don’t know how relieved I was...” She stops herself.

Her face is twisted with emotion, and I feel that what she’s trying not to tell me is the most important thing she might choose to.

The fact she’s even considering it means she trusts me.

Without a reason, against all odds, this mesmerizing woman might be ready to trust me with something deep and hard, and I feel honored and overwhelmed and excited and scared—

It’s my turn to take her hand. “Liz, how relieved you were to do what ?”

“How relieved I was that the man whom I’d dated for seven years—of which we were engaged for the last two—told me three weeks ago that he had second thoughts and that we shouldn’t get married.”

For a moment, I’m rendered speechless.

She pulls her hand out from underneath mine. “See? You’re judging me. I know you are. I judge myself, too. Who reacts like this to a broken engagement?”

I reach out and grab back the hand she pulled away. “No, no. It’s not that. I was just surprised. It was a lot of information all at once. I just needed a minute. So why were you relieved?”

She considers me somewhat warily, her chin tilted downward, eyes looking up beneath half-closed eyelids.

“When he said—he being Jake, my ex-fiancé—that he’s not sure we should be getting married, that he’d been thinking about things and they just didn’t feel right, that he was sorry but it would be worse if we got married and it didn’t work out, I swear I was having an out-of-body experience.

Like I was floating above the scene, watching myself watch him, as he kept on and on, and all I thought was, ‘Thank God I’m free. Thank God I’m free.’”

I clasp her hand with both of mine. “Was he... Did he hurt you?”

She waves away my concern. “Oh, no, nothing like that. Just... Between him and my parents, I would never leave St. Cloud. I would get forever stuck there, working for Dad’s shop, having Jake’s babies, living the same life my mom has lived.

“And don’t get me wrong, it’s a great life and she’s happy... But that’s not what I want. I don’t actually know what it is that I want, but it’s not that. Or at least not just that.” She pauses. “Does that make sense?”

“I think it does,” I say. “But, do you love him? Jake?”

She shrugs. “I thought I did. Now I’m not so sure anymore. Isn’t that an awful thing to say?”

“Not if that’s how you really feel.”

She takes a deep breath and leans back. “I mean, we spent so much time together. We were going to get married.”

“And now you aren’t and you’re glad. Seems like he and you are actually on the same page, which, ironically, makes you well-suited for marriage.”

She giggles and swats me lightly on my arm. I am still holding her other hand in both of mine.

“So you’re a free woman,” I say, trying to meet her eyes.

She meets mine boldly. “So I’m a free woman.”

“And I’m a free man.”

“And you’re a free man.” Her voice lowers, taking on a raspy note.

What the hell is happening?

She covers both my hands with her free one. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but here goes nothing.” She takes a deep breath and pins me with her gaze. “Joe, do you want to spend the night together?”

My eyes bulge out as I swallow my tongue. What?

Looking embarrassed, Liz starts pulling her hand from mine. “Sorry, I thought we had a moment... I’m sorry I misunderstood.”

“Yes. Fuck yes.” I grab both her hands. I’m never letting them out of my grip again. “Yes, I want to spend the night with you. Sorry it took me a second.—I told you I was rusty and this was unexpected. But yes. Absolutely yes. Yes.”

She smiles, looking young and shy and so fucking adorable. “Okay,” she says.

“So, you want to go, or stay here till the game ends?”

“I think I will lose my nerve if we stay any longer.” She gulps down half her glass. “Maybe I should get something stronger. In case the nerves start to catch up with me.”

“Look, you can rescind the offer anytime you want, you know that, right?”

“You might be the one bailing on me when you see my granny panties and the fact I haven’t shaved my legs in weeks.”

I laugh. “I don’t care about your underwear as I will be promptly taking it off. And I couldn’t care less about body hair.”

“My hero,” she says with a smile.

“So, you wanna come to my place?”

“I don’t think so. It feels like it might be a little too much.”:

“Yours then?”

“I’d rather not.”

“What then? A hotel?”

“A hotel would work.”

I pull up my phone and search for options nearby, blood whooshing through my head. I’m nervous and excited and incredulous. “Here are the nearest three...” I say.

“This one.” She points. “Get a king-size bed.”

“We really doing this?”

She meets my eyes. “We’re really doing this.”

Fucking hell. I down my beer and get up. “I need to go to the bathroom and I‘ll settle the tab. Don’t go anywhere.”

She sits prim and proper, knees pressed together. “I will not move a muscle.”

I go to the restroom and take the world’s fastest leak, then get some condoms from the vending machine. Thank God it’s there.

I check my phone quickly and see Lance has texted me.

Lance: Sorry to cancel last minute but Millie started running a fever and vomiting

I couldn’t leave Sarah to deal with the kids alone

It’s really stressful when one of them is sick

Joe: No problem, man. Sorry about Millie. Hope she feels better soon

Give my best to Sarah and the kids

When I’m done, I half expect to go back to the bar and find Liz gone.

But she’s not. She’s sitting prettily, smiling, looking a little shy and more than a little excited.

I walk over to her, and her knees part—that hits me straight in the groin.

I stand between her legs and grab her face in my hands.

Her cheeks pinken as she grins, and I realize that this is it, this is the moment, I absolutely have to kiss this woman right this instant.

I press my lips to hers, lightly and softly at first, barely a whisper of a kiss, but then her mouth opens and I feel her body reach toward mine.

She places her hands on my forearms as I deepen the kiss, and she slides forward in the chair, her legs spreading wider as she tries to get closer.

Her hands move up my arms to my shoulders, down my back and toward my waist, and then she stands up and presses herself flush to me.

I lower one hand onto her back and I’m not sure what our lips and teeth are doing, but I know it’s only been seconds and I’m as hard as a rock as she rubs against me probably more eagerly than strictly acceptable in a sports bar, but I shield her with my body and enjoy how she tastes, mostly of herself and a little of beer.

She’s just as into it as me, her tongue exploring my lips and teeth, and when I roll my hips just slightly against her core, she lets out a breathy sigh.

The crowd goes wild and I pull back, briefly disoriented. Who are they cheering for? I mean, it was a very good kiss, but I didn’t think—

Liz chuckles as she takes a peek at the screens from behind my bicep. “It looks like the Vikings just scored a touchdown.”

“Damn straight,” I mutter as I nuzzle her neck.