Chapter 7 Finally…

Chapter 7 Finally…
Elizabeth slowly awoke, as she was opening her eyes she realized she was in a large bedroom that was not hers. She quickly jumped up, which made her realize that her head was throbbing. She rubbed her head and moaned ‘Owe.’ to herself. Elizabeth then looked around and noticed she was in a California king size bed covered in white sheets, and a huge large comfortable blanket, that was at least a thousand thread count. She saw framed art work on the wall to her left, and in front of her was a desk and a huge window overlooking a large backyard. Elizabeth could not figure out where she was.

Suddenly she felt queasy she thought it was because she did not know where she was until she felt it in her throat. She had to vomit; she brought her feet over the bed wanting to find the bathroom, fortunately her feet knocked into the garbage bin Keith had left for her there. She thought ‘Thank God’ and picked it up and vomited into it. It seemed to go on forever she had a hard time catching her breath while it was happening. When she finally up heaved all that she could, she grabbed a Kleenex she found on the bedside table next to her and wiped her mouth. She then put the garbage bin on the floor where she had found it.

She suddenly heard a man ask “Are you OK?”

She jumped when she heard his voice, wondering who the man was that she had clearly spent the night with. She looked over and saw Keith.

She said out loud “Oh thank God.”

She then felt sudden pains in her head that felt like someone was inside her head stabbing her over and over again. She put her head foreword to hold in her hand and moaned.

Keith walked over to her with a tray that was covered; he put it on the bed in front of her. Elizabeth looked at it, held down her upchuck reflex then said. “Thank you but I do not think I can eat right now.”

Keith lifted the cover to reveal painkillers with water and smiled. She smiled back then quickly grabbed the painkillers and washed them down with the water.

“I cannot remember the last time I was this hung-over.” Elizabeth said.

“Yea, you were really drunk last night.” Keith responded.

“What am I doing here? How did I even get here? Did we sleep together?” Elizabeth wondered aloud.

“No, I don’t know, and we slept together but we did not have sex.” answered Keith.

“We didn’t?” asked Elizabeth relieved.

“No but you really wanted to.” responded Keith.

“Then why didn’t we?” Elizabeth asked wondering why Keith would not take advantage of her wanting him.

“I don’t want you that way.” Keith answered.

“Why not?” Elizabeth asked intrigued.

“Because it would be a one night of fun for me, a lifetime of regret for you, and it would never happen again.” Keith responded.

“Oh.” Elizabeth said touched by his sentiment.

“Besides you’ve been wounded you need time to heal, I can wait.” Keith remarked.

“You’re relentless.” Elizabeth stated. “Wait how do you know about Paul?”

“You told me last night, before you asked to have sex with me.” Keith replied.

“Oh, Wow. I am so embarrassed. I am so sorry about last night. At least I did it on a Friday.”

“You’re happy you did this for Friday? Why so you can skip work?” asked Keith.

Elizabeth responded “No so I won’t miss work.”

“Today is Friday.” explained Keith.

“What seriously.” Elizabeth jumped up to get ready for work hoping that she could still make it in on time.

Keith took her arm and gently eased her back onto the bed.

He told her “Don’t worry about it; you can take the day off.”

“No it’s not right.” claimed Elizabeth.

“Sure it is, consider it a personal day.” Keith answered.

“No, it’s not. You’re only letting me off the hook because you like me.” Elizabeth stated “If it were anyone else, this would not be OK.”

“So” Keith responded.

He took her face in his hand between his thumb and index finger. He turned her face to be directly in front of his he stared directly into her eyes.

He softly said to her “This is so much more than like.”

Elizabeth’s went weak at the knees, and felt like her entire body went numb “OK.” she rattled off nervously.

Keith caressed her face then moved his hand from her face down her neck. Elizabeth could feel the warmth in her center, his touch always had this effect on her. He brought his hand across her shoulder, then down her arm. He grabbed her hand in his and held on. He moved onto the bed beside her holding her hand. When Elizabeth realized that was all he was doing she found herself disappointed. However she held onto his hand she liked that she was not alone, and she really did not want to be alone.

So she asked Keith “Do you mind if I stay her a little longer?”

“Stay as long as you want. Stay forever if you want.” Keith said whole-heartedly.

“Thank you.” Elizabeth answered.

Elizabeth only stayed until after dinner. She did not want to leave, and Keith did not want to see her leave. But she thought it would be best to go so that she did not send Keith any mixed signals. Not that she knew what signals she wanted to send him she was really confused herself. She just knew that she could not let the raw animal attraction she had for Keith lead her actions so she left.

Elizabeth decided to pour into her work into her work, her friendships, she even reconnected with some old college friends. She decided that she was going to enjoy the single life this time around. Keeping her mind distracted aided her in getting over Paul. It was not long before she stopped thinking about him, which freed her from the memory of him.

Elizabeth no longer felt the need to avoid Keith, now that she and Paul were no longer together. So she did not avoid him, she did the exact opposite and paid a lot of attention to him. She always made it a point to say good morning to him, she talked to him in the break room; sometimes they would have private conversations in each other’s offices. She enjoyed that she no longer had to ignore Keith; it made her feel a little freer at work. In turn Keith was happy about it too, now that he was spending a lot more time with Elizabeth.

One enough time had passed, and he could see that Elizabeth was completely over Paul he decided to ask her out. He went into Elizabeth’s office under the pretence that he needed to talk to her about work. Elizabeth discussed all the cases she was working on, and only discussed her work.

Keith interrupted her annoyed with her professionalism “Yea I actually did not come in here to talk about work.”

“Oh OK!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“Yea sorry.” Keith responded then began nervously “I actually came in here, to ask you out for tomorrow.”

Elizabeth was flattered when she said “Oh my God you’re nervous. That is so cute.”

Keith was embarrassed by his nerves.

Elizabeth soothed him “I’m sorry it is just that you have been so, I don’t want to say full of yourself, cause that is not what it is.” Elizabeth stopped to think about what she meant, realizing the word she had forgotten she quickly quipped “Confident”

“Yea, well you’ve said no to me a million times since then. My confidence has been shaken.” Keith responded.

“You’re right I am sorry. You have every reason in the world to be nervous.”

“So?” Keith asked.

“So what?” Elizabeth countered.

“So will you go out with me tomorrow?” Keith reiterated.

“Oh.” Elizabeth could not believe that she had forgotten that he had asked her out. She thought about it briefly then said “Yes.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up at seven?” Keith asked Elizabeth.

“Sounds good.” Elizabeth agreed.

Keith walked out feeling good about himself having regained some of his confidence. Elizabeth was smiling content that Keith had asked her out, because she was able to get Paul out of her mind. But it was as though Keith took up a permanent residency in her brain. She found herself really wanting to see those feelings through.

Elizabeth immediately called Davina when she got home to tell her all about her upcoming date with Keith. Davina was really excited for her. She even offered to go to Elizabeth’s place to help her get ready.

The night passed by slowly for Elizabeth. Elizabeth fell asleep late into the night. She only woke up because she heard knocking on her door. Elizabeth was a little alarmed, she looked at the time it was only seven ten A.M.

“Who the hell is that?” Elizabeth said to herself.

She groggily stumbled to the door and looked through her peep hole, she saw Keith standing there. She was confused as to why he was there. She opened the door.

“Hey what are you doing here?” She asked.

“I came to pick you up.” answered Keith, he then realized she was in her pyjamas and asked “Are you not ready?”

“No.” answered Elizabeth.

“You’re not hung-over again are you?” asked Keith sincerely.

“No, I just took a while to fall asleep. I thought you said we were going out at seven.” answered Elizabeth.

“Yea.” Keith confirmed “It is seven now.”

“I thought you meant night time, like most people.” retorted Elizabeth.

“No, sorry I meant seven in the morning. If we go out at night then I miss out on spending the day with you. I want to spend every single second with you that I can.” Keith reasoned.

” That is good, sweet. Just give me a few minutes to get ready. Where are we going so I can dress for it?” Elizabeth queried.

“It’s a surprise, but comfortable clothing is fine.” responded Keith.

“Alright, but next time we go out we need to hammer out the details before hand.” Elizabeth countered.

“OK.” Keith was grinning happy that Elizabeth was already thinking about a second date.

Elizabeth took a five minute shower, dried her hair pulled it back into a pony tail, she pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans and, and a white tank top. She put on some eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. She came out and saw Keith sitting on the couch, she gestured her arms toward Keith asking him silently how she looked.

He told her “You look amazing, perfect, and beautiful. I like seeing you in casual clothing.”

“Thank you.” Elizabeth responded.

“Alright let’s go.” Keith said.

Keith got up and walked toward Elizabeth, grabbed her hand as he passed her, then they walked out hand in hand. Keith helped Elizabeth into the car; before he got in he had glanced across the street. He saw Paul standing there staring at them. He shut his eyes in disbelief when he opened them again Paul was gone. Keith did not want Elizabeth to know about Paul being there. So he shook it off, got in the car next to Elizabeth and pretended that did not just happen.

It was an hour long car drive before they arrived at their destination. They pulled up to a large ranch, with a stable that was full of horses, and a huge field for the horses. Elizabeth’s face lit up she loved horses, but she never had the opportunity to be near them. Keith turned to see her reaction and was delighted to see how happy she was, he put her hair behind her ear for her, then pulled her face close to his, then bent down to kiss her.

Elizabeth gave in to Keith; she leaned in to allow his soft plump lips to go on top of hers. Elizabeth opened her mouth allowing him in, to implore her mouth with his tongue. Elizabeth greedily returned the favour. She gripped into his thigh as they were kissing. She was feeling so close to him, she had never felt so close to a man, she had never felt that much emotion just kissing someone. Elizabeth wanted to rip his clothes off and make love to him right then and there. She reached out, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him closer to her. She then brought her hand too his neck and her other hand to his chest to caress him. Keith had moved his hand into Elizabeth’s hair and he brought his other hand to her leg and started feeling up her leg. His gentle touch was only making her want him more.

Keith’s driver cleared his throat breaking them from the spell they had each other under. Keith pulled away from Elizabeth slowly and reluctantly. Elizabeth turned red she uncomfortably laughed in embarrassment. Keith laughed at her.

“Don’t worry, Harold has seen worse.” Keith believed he was reassuring Elizabeth.

“It’s true ma’am I have.” Harold agreed.

Elizabeth pulled back from Keith; she put as much distance between them as she could. She was annoyed.

Elizabeth sneered at that “Not something you tell a girl on your first date with her.”

Elizabeth got out of the car angrily she slammed the door on Keith before he could get out. Keith laughed, amused at her jealousy. He opened the door, got out of the car and went after Elizabeth. Harold drove away, as Keith grabbed a hold of Elizabeth and gently brought her to him to and held her close and tightly and whispered “I’m sorry, I was trying to make you feel better”

“You didn’t” retorted Elizabeth.

“I know I didn’t. That is why I am saying sorry. But I have a past.” responded Keith.

“I know you have a past, I have a past too, but I am not going to tell you all about it on our first date. Especially after kissing each other the way we were in there.” replied Elizabeth.

Keith softly said “I am sorry I should of kept my mouth shut.” He added flirtatiously “Or kept it on yours.”

Elizabeth smiled at him, then she wrapped her arms around him to hug him back, he then kissed the top of her head. Elizabeth thought that she could stay in his embrace forever. Keith backed up and led her to the stables. They were given horseback riding gear and they spent the day riding horses. Elizabeth loved it, the galloping of the horse, and the wind in her face, it made her feel free in some way.

When the riding was over her thighs were hurting her but she did not care she had a great time. She was so happy to get to not only see but ride a horse she had always wanted to.

Curious she asked “How did you know I would like to go horseback riding?”

“You told me.” answered Keith.

“I did?” asked Elizabeth.

“Yea you did.” Keith answered.

Elizabeth responded “Wow I cannot believe you remembered that.”

“Yea I remembered that, your birthday is August 6, your favourite colour is purple, your favourite food is chicken wings, hot chicken wings, your boyfriend in college was a douche who broke your heart because you took him as seriously as he acted.” Keith stopped talking because he saw Elizabeth starting to cry “Oh I am sorry did I upset you talking about your ex?”

Elizabeth said shakily through her tears “No I’m not upset, I am happy. I cannot believe you remembered all that, it is so sweet. I do not know why I am crying though”

Keith wiped away the tears that fell to Elizabeth’s face. Elizabeth grabbed his hand and kissed him, she said to him “I don’t know why you like me this much.”

“Are you kidding?” asked Keith “You are beautiful, intelligent, kind, you have no siblings, and you are an amazing friend to that Davina person.”

“Davina.” Elizabeth corrected Keith.

“Oh, sorry, Davina. I should probably remember that” Keith apologized.

“Yea it’d be good to remember.” Elizabeth answered.

Elizabeth remembered just then as Davina had planned on going to her place this afternoon as they were talking about her. And she had not called, texted, or e-mailed her to let her know that she had already left for her date

“Oh shoot” Elizabeth sighed out loud.

“What?” Keith asked concerned.

“It’s nothing really; I just forgot to let Davina know not to come over today. She wanted to come over and help me get ready. I got to call her.” Elizabeth responded.

Keith took out his phone and handed it to Elizabeth “Here use my phone.”

“Thank you.” Elizabeth responded, she took his phone to call Davina and she explained how she was confused about what time she was going out at. She had hoped Davina had not already left. Fortunately, Davina was a procrastinator and was late for everything, so she had not left her place yet. Elizabeth was grateful for her friend’s tardiness today, it eased her guilt.

She gave the phone back to Keith who queried “Everything OK now?”

“Yea fortunately she never does anything when she says she is going to do them.” Elizabeth returned.

“Good then we can continue our date.” Keith stated.

“Yea.” Elizabeth looked cheeky and asked “Is the next place a surprise too?”

“It’s all a surprise. “Keith responded cheekily.

He grabbed her hand and they went back to the drive way in front of the ranch where Harold had reappeared.