Sorry! I know I hate excuses as much as the next person, so I am just skipping it. This chapter is a short one and it sets up the (next) direction the story is going to go. You didn't think it was going to be THAT easy, did you? Where's the drama in that?
Elizabeth woke surrounded in tepidness. She reached up and wiped at a curl of hair that had fallen across her cheek. She was lying on something lumpy. She opened her eyes slowly to try and process ah! Bright light! She closed her eyes and dropped her arm heavy back on her bed. Her hand clinked on a watch. A watch on an arm. What the And that is when the headache hit. It was excruciating. She tried to curl up in the fetal position to get the throbbing to fade. She placed her hands on either side of her head and pushed them together as hard as she could.
"Whoa, hey, wait a minute." Robert felt elbows and knees and shoulders dig into him. "Ouch. Hey, Foreman slow down a minute." But with her hands against her ears she didn't hear him.
He opened his eyes and saw the all too telling grimace on her face. "Lizzie. Shhh it'll be ok." He freed his arms from under the weight of her and slowly traced his thumbs over her eyebrows. She relaxed her facial muscles and slowly opened her eyes again.
She was staring into warm eyes. She must be dreaming. She began speaking in a grumbling whisper, "large pools of dark" her eyes wandered downwards, "sexy thin lips" and then her dream laughed. And she felt his chest rise and fall. The rush of humiliation flooded her. It was overwhelming. She jumped from him and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Romano sat up from the couch and shook off the last of his sleepiness. He heard the familiar sound of retching coming from the bathroom. He was conflicted. He wanted nothing more to spend the morning pampering her, continuing the intimacy that they had established last night. But the precarious nature of their relationship over the years told him that pushing things now could only end badly. He walked over to the bathroom and knocked lightly. "Elizabeth? I'm gonna let myself out. You have some healing to do. We'll talk later. Good day."
"Yes. Robert. Bye. And thanks." She called out. She waited until she heard her front door open and close. Then in the solitude of her own amenities she questioned into the fluorescent lights, "what the hell happened?"