Wrong Number, Right Woman

by Jae

  “Supervising me while I eat chocolate mousse? Uh-huh.”

  They bantered back and forth all through dinner, making the time fly by, but Eliza declined dessert anyway. She couldn’t wait to get back to her room so she could call Denny and hear about her day.

  Once she was upstairs, she didn’t even get changed before she lifted the phone to her ear.

  “Hi, you!” A noise indicated Denny had dropped whatever she’d been doing to focus solely on their conversation. “How was the first day?”

  “Great.”

  “But?” Denny prompted.

  Eliza kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. “No but. We’re learning a lot and making some great connections.”

  “But?” Denny said again.

  How did she do that? Eliza sighed. “Um, but I’d rather be back home right now. I miss you.” She huffed out a breath. “Jeez, kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? It’s been only two days since we last saw each other!”

  “Well, if you’re ridiculous, then so am I because I miss you too.”

  Hearing that made Eliza melt inside. She loved that Denny had no problem admitting to missing her. “It feels a little weird. In a good way,” Eliza added quickly. “But this is new for me. I’ve never been like this in any other relationship.”

  “No?”

  “Nope. Definitely not. Maybe because I was always eager to assert my independence.” With Denny, she didn’t feel that need, because she knew Denny would always respect her and let her be her own person.

  Denny was silent for a moment. “Can I…? Is it okay if I ask about your previous relationships?”

  “Of course it’s okay.” Eliza adjusted the pillow beneath her head. “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. Anything. Whatever you want to tell me.”

  “Okay, here’s a summary: You remember what I told you about my search for a job that fit me, right?” When Denny made a sound of confirmation, she continued, “It was the same with relationships. In my twenties, I tried a lot of different jobs and, to be honest, a lot of different guys too.” She realized how that might sound to Denny and quickly added, “Well, not like dozens or anything. And I didn’t sleep with all of them.”

  “No judgment, even if you did.” Denny sounded as if she meant it.

  “My last relationship ended when he got a promotion that took him to London, and I realized I didn’t love him enough to give up my life in Portland and go with him. That’s when I, to quote Heather, became ‘very picky.’ I’d had enough of being in a relationship just for the sake of it. I hadn’t been on a date in a year and a half, which is why Heather nudged me to give No More Frogs a try.”

  “Thank God she did,” Denny said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have sent that accidental text asking for outfit advice.”

  Eliza smiled as she thought back to that first text. “What about you? Have you ever had anyone in your life you’d move across the Atlantic for?”

  “Yeah.” Before Eliza could decide whether she should be jealous, Denny added, “Salem and Bella. I haven’t been in a lot of relationships—just three—and only one since my sister moved in with me. My last girlfriend broke up with me after accusing me of always putting Salem and Bella first.” She paused. “Maybe she was right.”

  “It’s not a competition,” Eliza said fiercely. “At least it shouldn’t be. I promise I’ll never make you choose between them and me.”

  “Thank you.” Denny’s voice was quiet and vulnerable.

  Wow. Maybe her business trip was a good thing after all. At least it had made them talk about something that, on some level, seemed to have worried Denny. Sometimes, it still seemed easier to talk about difficult topics on the phone, maybe because that was how they had first gotten to know each other. “So there hasn’t been anyone else since? Not even…you know, just for sex?”

  “No. I’m not the just-for-sex type.”

  That answer didn’t surprise Eliza.

  “I’ve been on a couple of dates,” Denny added, “but I haven’t slept with anyone in an embarrassingly long time.”

  Now it was Eliza’s turn to say: “No judgment, okay? You’ve got no reason to be embarrassed.”

  “Maybe it’s not so much embarrassment as…well…”

  “Nervousness?” Eliza asked when Denny didn’t finish her sentence.

  “A little,” Denny said. “Okay, a lot. It’s been five years. And please don’t say it’s like riding a bike.”

  Eliza stifled a giggle. “If it feels anything like riding a bike, you’re doing it wrong.”

  That made both of them laugh.

  Eliza smiled into the empty hotel room. She loved Denny’s laughter. “You’ll be fine, Denny. We’ll be fine.”

  “What about you?” Denny asked. “Aren’t you nervous at all?”

  “Hell, yes! I’m so nervous I shake all over thinking about it.” Admittedly, that wasn’t all nerves—part of it was excitement and desire too.

  Furniture creaked as if Denny had sat up in bed. “Don’t be. I promise I’ll communicate the entire time, and I won’t touch you in any way that would make you uncomfortable.”

  “I know that. That’s not what worries me at all. You always make me feel comfortable in all the other areas of our relationship, so I have no doubt you’ll do the same when it comes to making love.”

  Denny was silent for a few moments. Was she thinking about what else might make Eliza nervous…or processing her use of the term making love instead of having sex? Surely, deep down, they both knew it would be so much more than sex.

  “What is it, then? Are you worried about safer sex?” Denny asked. “You really don’t have to be. That’s the one good thing about how long it’s been for me. I got tested a few years back. Everything was fine, and I haven’t been with anyone since.”

  “Same here.”

  “So if you’re not worried about me or about being safe, that means you’re worried about your…um, performance,” Denny finally said.

  Her choice of words made Eliza smile. “Of course I am. After five years, you deserve someone who’ll blow your socks off in bed. What if I’m an awkward klutz?”

  “Then we’ll be awkward klutzes together. That kind of makes me feel better.”

  Eliza laughed. “Glad to be of service. Denny?”

  “Yeah?”

  Eliza wanted to tell her again how much she missed her and that she loved her. But she didn’t want to say those momentous words when there were more than six hundred miles between them. “It makes me feel better too.”

  “Good. We really will be okay.”

  “I know,” Eliza said. “And if it’s not perfect the first time, I read somewhere that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to achieve greatness in anything.”

  “Ten thousand…” Denny gasped out between bursts of laughter. “God, you’ll be the death of me. But if you’re committed to putting in ten thousand hours, so am I.”

  It felt as if she would agree to commit to so much more, but Eliza didn’t hesitate. “I am.” She rolled onto her side and listened to the sound of Denny’s breathing. “Now tell me about your day.”

  Chapter 26

  On Friday evening, Denny rang Eliza’s doorbell. When no answer came, she rang it again and glanced at the window. Since they had talked on the phone last night, she knew Eliza had made it home safe and sound from her business trip, so why wasn’t she opening the door? Had something happened to make her late?

  Just when Denny reached for her phone to call her, the intercom crackled. “Yes?” Eliza’s muffled voice came through the device.

  “It’s me, Denny.”

  “Come on up,” Eliza said. “I’m running late and just stepped out of the shower.”

  Denny tried not to picture Eliza in the shower, hot, soapy water streaming down her body, but it was like trying not to think of a pink elephant. She nearly missed the moment when the door buzzed. Belatedly, she pulled it open.

  She’d better take the eleva
tor. Her hands were already damp at the thought of running her tape measure over Eliza’s body, and she didn’t want to be a sweaty mess by the time she reached the apartment.

  When she arrived on the second floor, Eliza greeted her with a sheepish smile. “Sorry it took me a minute to open the door. I was on a cleaning spree earlier and needed a shower.”

  Denny scrubbed the entire house every time Eliza came over, so it was good to know it wasn’t just her. When she stepped past Eliza into the apartment, she caught a whiff of her shower gel and perfume—a heavenly combination.

  Eliza’s favorite jeans and a white, short-sleeved knit top clung to her still-damp skin. She looked incredible.

  “Hi again.” Eliza closed the door. She ran her gaze over Denny, then stepped close until her freshly showered scent engulfed Denny again. “Mmm, you smell wonderful.”

  “I was just thinking the same about you.” Denny kicked off her sneakers and let the backpack slide to the floor so she could wrap both arms around her.

  They came together in a tender, lingering kiss…and then another. Their bodies molded together, and when Eliza caressed her back and shoulders, Denny struggled to remember their plans for the evening. “Pants,” she got out when they finally drew apart a few inches.

  Eliza’s lips curled into a smile against her own. “Is that a suggestion to take them off?”

  “No!” She was determined to let Eliza make that choice, without putting any pressure on her, even though it was becoming harder to hold back. “I’ll get a more accurate sizing if I measure you wearing just your underwear, but I’ve measured people fully clothed, and it turned out fine.”

  “Did you bring a tape measure?” Eliza asked.

  Denny nodded and bent down to dig it out of her backpack, along with her notepad and a pen. Damn, her fingers trembled. She ducked into Eliza’s tiny bathroom to wash her hands and take a minute to get herself together. Measuring. That’s all you’re going to do, she sternly reminded herself.

  When she returned, Eliza had turned on the floor lamp since the sun had sunk behind the neighboring buildings and the light was fading.

  Denny placed the notepad and pen onto the coffee table and unrolled the tape measure. When she turned to find the spot with the best light, the tape measure fell from her hand, and she nearly sank onto the floor next to it.

  Eliza had popped the button of her jeans and slid down the zipper. Slowly, she pulled her pants down over her hips, revealing smooth legs and a pair of black panties.

  With every inch the jeans lowered, Denny’s body temperature shot up more. Her heartbeat drummed in her ears. Oh. My. God! She tried not to stare, but it was impossible.

  Eliza shifted her weight. “Um, you did say this would be more accurate, right?”

  Denny mentally kicked herself out of her trance and picked up the tape measure. “Yes. This looks…uh, works much better.” She kept her gaze on Eliza’s face and searched her eyes. “If you’re comfortable with it.”

  “Comfortable isn’t the first word that comes to mind for how I’m feeling.” Eliza’s chuckle sounded nervous. “But I trust you, and eventually, I’d like us to see a lot more of each other’s bodies than just our bare legs.”

  God, how could Eliza turn her inside out without even trying? The honesty and vulnerability in Eliza’s eyes blew her away, and the glint of passion made it hard not to cross the room and strip off the rest of her clothes. Denny swallowed against her dry mouth. “I’d like that too.” Her voice came out in a rasp. “But this isn’t a ploy to get you naked. You know that, right?”

  A tender smile chased the hint of nervousness off Eliza’s face. “Of course I know that. I know you.”

  “Okay. Then let’s do this.” Mentally, Denny added, Before I chicken out. She rubbed her hands together to warm them, even though they were as overheated as the rest of her body. On unsteady legs, she crossed the room toward Eliza.

  Eliza licked her lips—which looked way too sexy and didn’t help Denny focus on her role as a seamstress. “How do you want me?” She gestured down her body, then, as if realizing her question could be mistaken for innuendo, added, “I mean, do I just stand here?”

  The last thing on Denny’s mind was wanting Eliza to put on clothes, but she forced herself to say, “First, I need you to put on a pair of shoes. Whatever you want to wear most often with the pants I’m making you.”

  Eliza’s panty-clad hip brushed Denny’s as she walked past her toward the door. When she returned, she was wearing the canary-yellow sneakers.

  Booming laughter burst from Denny’s chest. As fond as she was of those sneakers, they didn’t add to the sexiness of bare legs and high-cut panties. Maybe that was a good thing.

  Eliza laughed along with her. “Yeah, I know.” She shook one foot. “Hot, right?”

  “On you, a pair of neon-green Crocs would look hot.”

  “No one looks hot in Crocs.”

  “You’d manage.”

  Their gazes caught, and the expression in Eliza’s dark eyes raised Denny’s body temperature even more. If they continued like this, she’d die of a heatstroke before this was over.

  She tried to remember the task at hand. “All right. Stand upright but relaxed, with your feet hip-width apart, and look straight ahead.”

  As Eliza followed her instructions, Denny stepped closer. She flexed her fingers, not knowing where to safely put them. “Um, first, we have to find your natural waist.”

  Eliza glanced down at herself. “Is it hiding?”

  Denny chuckled. “Kind of. The natural waist is the narrowest point of your torso. There’s a trick to finding it. If you bend to the side, we can see where the crease forms.”

  “Do you want me to take my top off so you can see?” Eliza crossed her forearms in front of herself as if preparing to pull her knit top over her head.

  Oh heavens. If she did that, Denny would either pass out or bite through her lip in an attempt to keep herself from touching Eliza the way she had wanted to for weeks. “Maybe you could just, um, pull your top up a little.”

  Eliza bunched the fabric together in her fists. Were her hands shaking? She slid the top up until the hem rested right below her breasts, baring a flat midriff and the sexiest belly button Denny had ever seen.

  Okay, focus—on the task, not her body! Denny clutched the tape measure like a lifeline. “Thanks. Now bend over to the side.” When Eliza did, Denny’s gaze followed the graceful arc of her body and the way her top slid up on one side, revealing the edge of a black bra. Crease. She was supposed to look for the crease indicating her natural waist, not ogle other parts of her body. “Got it. Your natural waist is right…here.” She laid her finger lightly against Eliza’s waist.

  Eliza inhaled sharply.

  “Don’t hold your breath, or we’ll get the measurements wrong.”

  “Measurements. Right.” Eliza exhaled. She straightened so she was no longer leaning to the side.

  Denny tried to keep her gaze on the tape measure, not on Eliza’s skin, as she drew it around her waist. When it was in place, she slid a finger between the tape and Eliza’s body, making sure it wasn’t pulled too tight. Oh God. Her skin was warm and soft. Sweat broke out along Denny’s spine. Twenty-seven, twenty-seven, twenty-seven. She repeated the waist measurement like a mantra as she quickly backed away and scribbled it down.

  It occurred to her that she could have put the notepad on the floor next to her, but then she wouldn’t have a reason to create some much-needed distance between them so she could cool off.

  Measuring Eliza’s hips wasn’t any easier on her libido, because she had to run the tape measure around the fullest part of her hips and the curve of her butt, but the worst—or maybe the best—was yet to come.

  Denny went to the coffee table, where she’d left the notepad, and wrote down more numbers, hoping she’d be able to read them later. “Let’s do crotch length next.”

  “Crotch length?” Eliza’s laugh—low and husky—made Denny ti
ngle all over. “Now that sounds sexy.”

  To Denny, every part of Eliza was sexy, no matter how much she tried to hide behind sewing terms. She held one end of the tape measure against Eliza’s front at waist height. “Um, the tape needs to be looped through your legs, over your butt, to waist level in the back.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Eliza took over holding the tape against her front as Denny threaded the other end through her legs and ducked behind her to read off the number, glad to hide her flushed face for a moment.

  The outseam was next. That would give her a break—or so she thought. She kneeled in front of Eliza to put her finger against the tape measure on the outside of her ankle. But she hadn’t considered that this new position would bring her head level with Eliza’s panties. The most erotic images ricocheted through Denny’s mind—of her leaning forward, pressing a whisper of a kiss to Eliza’s lower belly, and then…

  She shook her head to get rid of the tempting vision. Quickly, she brought the tape down the outside of Eliza’s leg. “How do you want it?” Her voice was breathless. “I mean, how long do you want the pants to be? To here?” While holding the tape measure with the other hand, she trailed one finger over the spot beneath her ankle.

  Eliza had slipped her feet into the sneakers without wearing socks, and now a trail of goose bumps rose beneath Denny’s finger. She nodded three times, as if her vocal cords refused to cooperate.

  While Denny was already kneeling, she wrapped the tape measure around Eliza’s calf, then her ankle. God, her legs were perfection. She fought the urge to run her fingers along the curve of her calf and up the back of her knee, where her skin would probably be even softer. Numbers, she reminded herself. Write them down. Now.

  She fled to the coffee table and jotted down the new measurements.

  But the sweet torture wasn’t over yet.

  “Um, your thigh is next.” Denny surprised herself with the ability to form words.

  Eliza slid her feet wider apart, inviting her closer without hesitation.

  Denny’s cheeks felt as if she were running a fever as she wound the tape measure around Eliza’s upper leg. She felt Eliza’s gaze on her hands, making her even hotter. “Don’t glance down,” Denny whispered. “Look straight ahead.”