Chapter Thirty Two

The taxi pulled up at one of the better wine bars in the centre of Manchester. Oscar helped her out and led her into the building. Nodding to the waiter as they were shown to a table, he ordered a bottle of champagne, then joined her at the small table tucked away at the back of the room.

"Champagne?" Lizzie asked, watching him fill the two flutes that the waiter returned with.

He gave a little shrug, "only the best for the best."

Again she blushed and that made him smile, "I love making you blush, but I can't believe how easy it is sometimes. You need to learn to take a compliment a little better."

She dropped her eyes and shrugged her shoulders, he knew that her parents weren't affectionate or supportive, and he imagined that Janis dominated her rather than praised her. Surely there were friends and boyfriends who made her feel special? But as he looked at her, he knew that there wasn't. Vicky was the only friend she mentioned, and she didn't see her that often. She'd never mentioned a boyfriend. That meant he had to start that conversation, didn't he?

He toyed with his glass as she sipped hers, then offered, "so I was talking to Freya earlier, she was telling me about when you met Krystal when you were out one night."

Oscar let that hang there for a while, watching as she lowered her head, the blush once again sweeping over her.

"She's beautiful." She finally offered.

He shrugged, "she wanted what I wanted. You were right, no strings. It was easy, too easy. She didn't come to family dinners; she basically kept herself out of every part of my life..." He sat back in his chair, his eyes not leaving hers, "and that suited me. Because I've always been so transparent, so superficial."

"I get that."

He laughed, "no, you don't. Because the moment I walked into your home, met you and Nate...then I've wanted different things. I thought in the beginning it was just Nate, that it was being a father. But it is SO much more than that."

He could tell that she wasn't convinced, but he carried on, "I knew before I felt jealous this weekend, you know?"

That made her laugh, a really quick blurt, "I don't believe that."

Leaning across the table he sighed, "and I can't believe that no one has told you how beautiful you are, made you feel special...treated you right."

He watched as she gulped, swallowing nervously, "please, Oscar."

Reaching out he took her hand, "I'm not feeding you lines here, you're one of the most wonderful people I've ever met, selfless, caring, strong, loyal...and that's just your personality. I'll keep telling you that you're beautiful until you start believing it."

"Not happening."

Her voice was quiet and he wanted to punch something at that.

"You've dated the wrong men."

That made her laugh out loud, "that's an understatement."

He was relieved that she'd confessed that. "So don't judge me by their standards."

She paused, looked up at him, "I don't. I guess."

Topping up their glasses, he returned the bottle to the ice bucket before he spoke again, "ok then, don't think that I'm the same as everyone else. I say what I mean."

That gave her food for thought, for the rest of the time that they spent in the bar. Then when they left, he pulled her close to him, his arm around her shoulder, as he led her to the restaurant for dinner. And not just any restaurant. But the latest two Michelin star restaurant on the top floor of a modern central hotel.

Lizzie knew that her jaw was hanging open as he led her in to the reception, and as a liveried woman came to greet them he leaned in.

"Catching flies, Lizzie?"

She immediately snapped it shut, then hissed, "how the hell did you get a table here?"

Smiling, he replied, "be prepared, because this is how you SHOULD be treated. Get used to it."

What followed was a swirl of great food, yet an overfill of pomp and ceremony. She enjoyed it; she'd be lying if she said she didn't.

"How did you find it?" Oscar asked as helped her into her coat.

She smiled up at him, "it was lovely, I feel special." When he smiled, nodding in agreement, she leaned close do him and whispered, "but I do think that the company made the evening that."

He stopped dead in his tracks, a smile beaming on his face, "wow! Can I get that in writing?"

Where she would normally roll her eyes, not give him an inch, whether it was alcohol, or her change in her outlook, she instead smiled, coyly, but friendly, linking her fingers with his.

Oscar felt as though he'd won the biggest lottery jackpot ever.

"So I hear that this is THE place to go on a weekday evening."

Lizzie looked around, to see that the club they were in was full of people who looked like they had money, elite, and a few famous. She nodded, then leaned close so he could hear her over the noise, "a little pretentious."

He nodded, "not my thing either, but it beats going home to my parents."

That made her roll her eyes, "how did that happen?"

"Someone needed to look after Nate whilst I showed you a good time."

She gave a knowing nod, "and this is it?"

There was a glint in her eye at that and he laughed, then leaning his mouth to her ear, whispered, "it's as good as this night gets, young lady. I am going to be the perfect gentleman. You'll see."

Lizzie sighed, and that made him laugh again, if he only made her half as frustrated and desperate as he was, then he'd be doing a good job.

They sat at a booth at the back of the room, watching the world go by. The place was full, and it amazed Lizzie that so many people were out on a Wednesday evening. And more amazed that after only a few weeks in the city he'd found this place.

"So you like it here?" He had to lean close to talk to her. His voice a warm breath against her ear, making her shudder.

She nodded, biting her lip, she turned to look at him, "it's cool. I can't believe you found it."

He chuckled against her cheek and she almost melted into a puddle, then his husky voice added, "my company owns one of the top hotels in town, working this week, I've learned a lot of things."

"Only you could make that sound pornographic!"

The laugh that followed was almost more erotic. She shivered; he was doing a real seduction job on her, without even trying. If he touched her she'd dissolve, or throw herself at him. One of the two, or both.

"You want to dance?"

Her heart raced as she looked up at him, "I'm not sure...I'm not very good."

Oscar shrugged, "I don't believe that, for one minute." Standing, he held out a hand and pulled her to her feet, "come on."

Reluctantly she followed him across the room to the hot and sweaty dance floor, because despite the exclusivity of the clientele, the place was bouncing. Dozens of bodies writhing and swaying to the pulsing music, she didn't recognise any of the songs, but that didn't matter. As soon as he pulled her into his arms, nothing else mattered, but the beat and the feel of his body along the length of hers.

Oscar looked down at Lizzie's face, eyes closed, arms above her head, wafting to the music. She was divine, and she could dance, if that was what it was. She was pressed into him, turning him to flames, yet she leaned away from him, testing his grip around her waist, flaunting her body to him. Suddenly this whole plan was backfiring. He was as hard as he'd ever been and had the resilience of a horny teenager. How the hell was he going to last the night?

She turned in his arms, pressing her spine against his chest, the wiggling her backside over his rather obvious erection.

"You are playing with fire young lady," he spoke the words into her ear, before swooping his lips down to caress the skin of her neck. "And I have a feeling I'm going to get burned."

She giggled, her hands crossing over his on her abdomen, "you started this."

She was right, and he was desperate to finish it.

He tolerated two more songs before he thought he'd explode no amount of thinking of sobering things helped. Leading her back to the booth, he ordered them a drink from a passing waitress, then pulled her onto his lap, "I promised myself that I wouldn't touch you tonight, that this was a date...but you make it so hard..."

She ground her hips into him, "I can tell!"

He rolled his eyes, "you are testing every inch of my resolve."

Lizzie planted her lips on his and said, "I know," against them.

The kiss was obscene, they were turning each other inside out, his hands were in her hair, drawing her in, her hands were sliding down his neck, under the collar to his shoulders, nails marking him, at least he hoped they marked him, he wanted to look at them in the mirror tomorrow and relive this moment in Technicolor detail.

A discreet cough caused them to part, but it took a long time. He smiled at the waitress as she placed the drinks in front of them, but Lizzie kept her head bowed, embarrassed.

He reached for her glass of wine, then whispered, "don't be ashamed, that was the hottest kiss known to man."

It made her blush, but that was barely discernible in the darkness of the club.

He reached for his drink and watched her take hers. He knew he should move her from his lap, but he needed time to control his wayward libido, and his raging hard on.

Plus he loved the scent of her.

Lizzie was feeling dazed, the alcohol she'd drunk was having an effect, but it was more than that, he was intoxicating. That kiss had been off the scale, and she knew if they were anywhere else that there was only one way that it would have ended. Instead, she was mortified, curled into his chest. She'd pushed him, she'd teased him, and she'd almost let him....

"Don't run away with those thoughts Lizzie, I know you."

She lifted her eyes to his and knew that it was no use, she was powerless to resist him, she had tried, but as he pierced her with eyes, promising so much from their depths, she feared going home. Because alone with him, she'd have no defence, no resistance to him.

They finished their drinks, but the atmosphere had changed, it was tighter, more charged, and both of them were on edge. Plus it was late, well after two am; Oscar knew his parents still had to get back to their hotel, so he led her towards a taxi.

Curled up against him in the backseat, he watched as she closed her eyes, exhausted. It had been a night filled with emotions, the closeness, the open and honest times, the passion, the desire...it was all too much, on top of great food and far too much alcohol.

He had to wake her at the house, and asking the taxi to wait as he had paid him to take his parents home too. He hadn't intended on being this late, and getting a sleepy Lizzie into the house took time, but was worth it for the pause on the doorstep when she turned to him and kissed his cheek

"Thanks for tonight, it was lovely to feel so special."

But that also broke him, because someone like her should be made to feel special every day. In the hallway, she swayed at the bottom of the stairs, then met his eyes. That nervous lip bite was back.

"I think I should go straight up...I'm not in a fit state to see your parents."

Smiling he nodded, then pulled her close for a quick kiss, chaste but as enchanting and all encompassing as every other time he kissed her. She staggered a little as she stepped away, and the look she gave him was as 'come and get me' as it was possible to be. Shaking his head, he swatted at her backside as she ran up the stairs.

The turned to face his parents, who were both fast asleep.

He'd thank them again the following day, promising them dinner if they hung around.

Then headed to bed, horny, hard and alone.