Free The Innocent Liar by Elizabeth Finn

tampons, a small makeup bag that had nothing but lotion in it, mascara, lip gloss, and a toothbrush with a small travel size tube of toothpaste. Her bag was otherwise empty aside from the wallet that was taunting him. But he managed to keep his hands off it. He collected the laundry silently. He checked the pockets quickly before tossing her clothes in the washing machine with some of his own.
    Her bag had held three pair of jeans, all size five, three long sleeve shirts, a fleece zip up, four pair of socks, five pair of underwear, and two bras. Her shirts were either small or medium, and her bras were a very generous thirty-two C cup. Nothing of what he pulled out told him anything about her except her body size, and he already knew it was perfectly curvy and perfectly fuckable. There was little doubt in his mind everything she owned or at the very least everything she had with her was in that damn ridiculously large purse, and after he started the wash, he collapsed on the sofa in the living room, finishing the bottle of Shiraz he’d left abandoned on the coffee table. He closed his eyes, waiting for the washing machine to finish.

    When Eli opened his eyes, Fiona was sitting beside him at his hip, wrapped in sheets. It was the most perfect morning after look he’d ever seen. Sadly, it was nothing more than the morning after she’d slept in one of his guest rooms alone, and he’d stolen her clothes to wash for her. Not nearly as sexy as the alternative.
    “It’s odd. I could have sworn I had clothes.” She tried for a small smile, and he sat up next to her.
    “Fuck.” He muttered, and she mistook it as offense as he watched her face fall. “I meant to get them dry for you before you woke. I’ll toss them in the dryer now. How about I make some coffee, and you take a bath? The bathtub in the master is a Jacuzzi if you’d like to use that one.”
    She nodded. “It’s been a while.”
    “I assumed as much.” He stood. It was still early, dawn was only starting to break over the mountains in the distance. His house overlooked the protected land, which was a vast plane of dry and dead grass this time of year. But there was a herd of mule deer out there now, and as she stood hugging the sheet around her, she stared out the expansive wall of windows to the distant plain. She looked perfectly at home in his personal space, though he doubted she felt that way. As he watched her for a moment, the same images returned that had woken him in the middle of the night. He knew what he’d find if he pulled that sheet from her body, stripped the tank top over her head, and pulled her underwear down her legs. He could nearly imagine what she’d feel like. He knew without having ever touched her skin that it would be smooth as silk and warm. He also knew she’d pop with goose bumps at his touch. She was just nervous that way, and he wanted to feel those nerves as his fingers brushed over her skin.
    But he walked away, started the coffee, switched the laundry to the dryer, and then showed her to his master bath. Her eyes looked at his bed as they walked through his bedroom. She scanned the room, taking everything in as they moved, and he suddenly felt guilty. He’d worked hard for the home he had, but while he didn’t know her story, he was guessing she’d lost everything she’d ever had, and he didn’t like that. He also didn’t like that he didn’t like that . He’d prefer to not think about such things, but she seemed to force her human life on him.
    He set out a towel for her, started the faucet in the overlarge bathtub, grabbed some shampoo from his shower, and then found a disposable razor in his linen closet. She blushed as he held up the razor, offering it to her, and she nodded.
    “I’ll bring you some coffee when it’s ready, and I’ll leave your clothes on my bed when they’re finished drying.” He watched her for a moment, and she bit her lower lip. It was sexy but not intentional. She was uneasy, and