Chapter Forty Nine

She came, she came...it was like a mantra in his head as he lowered his lips to hers. Lizzie reached out and wrapped her arms around him, and he melted in to her. Never had a kiss meant so much, it brought them together and seemed to give them a neutral ground to battle things out. He duelled with her lips fighting to control her, to show her the depth of his feelings for her, but she wouldn't be cowed, instead she thrust her tongue into his mouth, tasting, teasing and exploring...and it was his undoing, Oscar collapsed on to the floor beside the sofa flat on his back and groaned.

"Fuck...you have no idea what you do to me!"

Her smile was suddenly coy as she pulled herself up to sitting and studied him from under hooded lashes, "I think I do."

Her eyes were focussed on his groin and he groaned, she was right; he was ready for her, desperate even.

"You unwind me, Miss Breen."

She reached out and ran a finger over his thigh, "unwind? Surely you mean the opposite. Because right about now I think I'm winding you UP!"

He groaned dropping his head back to the floor and closing his eyes, "we should talk, Lizzie..."

From her position sat on the sofa, looking down at him, she felt incredibly powerful; he was literally squirming on the floor, due to her hand sitting on his thigh. Talk? They definitely needed to do that, but not now. He'd dropped the 'L' bomb on her, and she was struggling to control the racing of her heart and the rising nausea. She couldn't begin to comprehend all that he was saying, wouldn't allow herself to believe it. Not really. But she wanted him, wanted this SO badly.

She was exhausted, they'd travelled for the best part of twenty four hours to get there, Nate had been asleep on his feet and had collapsed into the bed as soon as they'd gotten into the hotel room...and that had been no easy feat, after all, she wasn't part of the booking. But fortunately a female receptionist had taken pity on her, Nate draped in her arms as she juggled their suitcase. She could probably lose her job, but Lizzie had never been more grateful to someone for breaking the rules.

Dropping to one knee, she lifted the other across Oscar's prostrate body and sat on to him, astride his waist. That made his eyes pop open, wide. Watching her as she reached down to slowly unbutton his shirt, his eyes didn't leave her.

"Is this you distracting me?" He asked, before gasping when her hands ran over his bare chest. "Using you wiles to stop us talking?"

She gave him another coy smile, "I don't know what you're talking about...I've travelled a couple of thousand miles...just thought I'd claim my reward!"

He grinned, reaching up to cup her face, "is that what I am? A reward?"

She bit her bottom lip, her bravado was starting to fade, "I was hoping so."

He chuckled, "don't lose your confidence now, darling. You've come so far."

Lizzie hated that she felt tears well in her eyes, and he couldn't deal with that, so he flipped them over, so that he was towering above her, that was where he needed to be, back in control. With a growl, he dropped his head and devoured her lips, teasing with more enthusiasm than she'd tried with him earlier.

Within moments he had that t-shirt off, but her skinny jeans were a bloody nightmare. Laughing he sat back on his heels, "lift your legs, one at a time."

He used all his effort to slide the fabric off, then with a grunt of victory tossed them into the corner of the room. When he looked back at her, she was grinning at him.

"Funny, hey?"

When she again bit her lip, he tore off his remaining clothes, throwing them randomly, uncaring of where they landed. Leaning back over her, he took in their surroundings, "the floor might hurt..."

She shook her head, dragging his lips to hers, at the same time, wrapping her arms around her neck, her fingers burying in his hair. As his teeth sank into the sift curve of her shoulder, she folded her legs tightly around his waist and forced the contact between their bodies. As he drove into her, she closed her eyes, letting her head tip back and felt her body climb and climb until she exploded in a dramatic fashion, in a way that she had only experienced with him.

She could barely open her eyes, Oscar realised as he glanced down at Lizzie, encased in his arms. But there was no way that they were sleeping on the floor of the suite. There was a gigantic bed next door, with only a small five year old in it.

"Come on, Lizzie. We're not sleeping on the floor."

Dragging her to her feet, he led her into the room. He had a t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts on his bedside table, and he helped her into the top part, before sliding the shorts on himself. When he pulled back the duvet, he spotted the curled up little man in the middle of the bed.

"As brilliant as it is to see him, he's not lying between us."

Sliding the boy to one side, he climbed into the middle, then opened his arms to welcome her into his embrace, and there he lay, listening to the relaxed snores from both sides...his family. There was still so much to discuss, but now, he was going to enjoy it.

He was already on West coast time, so wasn't surprised that he woke first. He had work o do, so pulling on his joggers and a t-shirt, he headed to the lounge, or rather the desk in one corner and cranked up his laptop. There was a coffee machine on the sideboard, and he set that to run as he opened his emails. There were several from work, he had a lot of negotiations to make now, to get what he wanted out of his soon to be ex-employers.

Amongst the HR and management emails, he spotted his sister's email address and opened it with relief.

"Oscar. Where are you? Neither of you is answering calls. So Coop's had a date to move to Manchester. Whoop whoop, I still can't believe I'm moving back home. I was hoping Lizzie would give me some recommendations for where to live. I'm so excited.

Are you all ok? I'm hoping you haven't screwed this up, bro. Oh and btw, I saw Krystal yesterday...she's a woman scorned, don't come back to town for a while.

Anyways, CALL ME!

Fxxx"

He sighed and groaned in equal measure. He had no idea what it would be like having Freya and Coop local to them again, but he couldn't think it was bad...they all got on, and it would be great to have more time with Coop, they had rekindled their great friendship after his reaction to their relationship. He missed time with him. And of course he loved his niece and nephew. He smiled, that was good. He wasn't worried about Krystal. He'd have to go and close his flat, but he wasn't planning on seeing her again.

He still had to sort things out with Lizzie, they still hadn't spoken and now they had Nate with them, he knew that she wasn't comfortable talking things through, so she'd hide behind the little man if she could...but she came. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

After an hour, he felt up to date, so refilling his coffee mug, he switched on breakfast TV to see what calamities were happening in the world, when he sensed a presence to his right. Glancing over, he spotted Nate, in short pyjamas, stretching and yawning.

"Hey Champ."

Nate's eyes focussed on him and he yelped, "Dad!" He ran across the room, launching himself into his father's arms with glee. Oscar held him tight, he'd missed him so much, that all he could do was breathe him in, bury his nose in his hair, and kiss his forehead.

"I've missed you, mate."

Nate pulled back and looked up at him, "miss you too."

He kissed him again, "I'm not leaving you again, ok. I'm going to come home every night."

"You are?" His face lit up.

Oscar nodded, "I'm going to read you a story and tuck you in EVERY night, I promise." Nate hugged him again; a clinging desperate hug that tore at his heart, this kid had lost too much. He couldn't ever let him down again.

"You want some breakfast? We can order room service as your Aunty is still fast asleep."

"No I'm not!" A voice called out from the bedroom, "And I want a huge US breakfast, so make it happen Mr."

He chuckled as he deposited Nate on the sofa then crossed the lounge to the bedroom, to see Lizzie stood in the centre of the room in just his t-shirt, and it just covered her buttocks.

"So you're awake."

She turned to face him, to find he'd already covered the distance between them, and before she could speak he'd lowered his lips to hers.

"Nate," she breathed against his lips. But his response was a laugh.

"He's going to have to get used to this."

Staring into her eyes, their lips still connected, he wanted to freeze time. She was scared, he could tell that, but she was also excited. He could tell so much, and he knew that he was winning.

"That t-shirt looks better on you than me." He wasn't lying. He loved seeing her in his clothes, "but it's still better on the floor."

Lizzie blushed, and this time pushed him away, "Nate is just through that door, Oscar. Behave."

That made him laugh, "it's impossible around you. Do you know what I want to do?"

Her blush deepened as she shook his head.

"If Nate wasn't in there..." he nodded to the bed, "then you would be flat on your back, and I would be burying my head between your legs, and loving every second."

He saw her swallow, overwhelmed with desire, he knew her pulse was racing, that if he pushed her, she'd be powerless to resist. But she was right, Nate was next door. So he stood upright, pulled away from her.

"But you're right. Nate is next door."

She groaned, "you are a bastard!"

Chuckling he pointed to the bathroom, "cold shower before breakfast?"

Lizzie was furious, or rather horny, and frustrated. She wanted to punch Oscar...or make him do what he said. But she showered, and they went, as a family to breakfast. Afterwards they walked down to the beach and Nate ran off to the small park. Leading her to a bench, he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Alone at last."

She looked around theatrically, "Venice Beach before lunch. Hardly!"

"You know what I mean."

She twiddled her thumbs, staring at them for a moment, "so you're not travelling away again?"

Oscar should have known she'd heard him earlier. He reached out and took her hand, tugging so that she had to turn and face him, "I've resigned."

Lizzie felt her mouth fall open, "really?"

He nodded, "figure I have a lot of experience, and I can start up something back in Manchester."

"You want to live there? Really?"

"Of course! I told you this already. I'm going to do a little freelance work, just whilst you go back to college...and then I'll branch out. Hopefully."

Her heart was starting to race, "what if it doesn't take off?"

Oscar grinned, "it will. You'll see. I don't want you worrying about anything, ok? College by day, my bed by night. That's what the future holds."

She blushed, her face heating, "Oscar."

It was a weak chastisement, and as a response, he slipped an arm around her, pulling her close, "there are so many things I've been dreaming about doing with you...to you...around you. All filthy and fun..."

She shuddered, literally and when he laughed, she turned to him, "you were never like this..."

"Teasing you?"

"Talking dirty..."

"I've been on my best behaviour, not I want everything, babe. Everything."

She studied his face, his smile, his warm eyes, and just muttered, "ok."

It was his turn to groan at her double bluff, "shit, that is called touché."

"You are trying to tease me, yet tonight you'll be sharing a bed with your son!"

"And there she throws the bucket of cold water!"

As they left the park, it was his turn to add, "just remember that Nate will go to sleep, and then we'll be alone." When her eyes widened, he grinned, "and you won't get your wicked way with me until AFTER we talk. So you've got all day to get your talking head on. You hear that?"