Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Keep up?
Remy would have floored the gas if he’d been leading the way to Erin’s house. He’d been willing to sacrifice what he wanted to make sure she didn’t get hurt in the fallout when he left town, but Erin had made her stance clear. She wanted to take the risk.
She wanted him.
He followed her old Thunderbird away from Heartache’s main street past peach orchards in full pink bloom.
The car had a custom paint job in royal blue with metallic flecks, but underneath, the pimped-out ride was basically an antique.
Erin had a way of rescuing worn-out things and giving them new appeal.
When she turned down the long driveway, he was right behind her.
Thinking about her. As much as he’d wanted to be there for his daughter today, Sarah didn’t want to leave Heartache, and he was in danger of alienating her more if he refused to let her spend time with her friends before he took her back to Miami.
There’d be plenty of time to figure out what was going on with her once they left Tennessee.
Until then, Sarah had her friends and Remy—unbelievably—had Erin. One night to pretend the past didn’t exist. One night where they wouldn’t worry about the future or the complications of being together. After all, he’d be on a flight home before dawn.
He was out of his car and opening her door for her before she’d even collected her belongings off the passenger seat.
“I kept checking the rearview mirror on the drive here,” she admitted as she took his hand and let him help her out.
He didn’t let go of her. Lacing their fingers together, he held tight to the only woman who had been more than just a blip on his male radar in the past two years. Erin Finley fascinated him.
“You didn’t seriously think you were going to lose me?” He climbed the front porch steps beside her, the mild breeze of a Tennessee spring stirring the scent of flowering trees and the barest hint of Erin’s amber fragrance.
“Maybe not with my driving.” She dug in her bag for keys and opened the door while he held the screen. “But I worried you’d have second thoughts.”
His brain stalled when he noticed how fast she’d gotten inside her house.
“You don’t have an alarm system out here?” He realized there were homes within sight of hers—her sister-in-law’s house even. Still, Erin was a single woman living by herself.
“I haven’t spent that much time here since it was built. I traveled a lot up until last fall.” She dropped her things on the rattan coffee table in the living area and kicked off her black-heeled boots.
She reached into a bowl of cherries on the stand and ate one, handing him one by the stem.
“All the more reason.” He knew it troubled him unreasonably, but he needed to say something.
He took the cherry and ate it mostly to be polite, though the burst of flavor on his tongue was a pleasant surprise.
“You’re right. I’ll get an alarm for sure.” Her eyes were full of understanding as she reached to swipe the juice from his lips.
He swallowed hard, shoving aside the worry about the locks and anything else except for this amazing woman.
“I’m glad you asked me over.” His temperature spiked at her nearness just knowing where this would lead. Knowing there was no turning back.
“I’m glad to have a second chance to make my interest known.” She laid her palm flat against his chest. Warm. Direct.
Sexy and sweet at the same time.
“I like it that you don’t play games. That I don’t have to guess what you’re thinking.” He didn’t have the emotional fortitude for that kind of stuff these days.
She walked her fingers up the buttons of his shirt and landed at the knot of his tie.
“Are you suggesting you know what I’m thinking?” She inserted a finger between his collar and the tie, easing the knot down until the cotton silk released and the whole thing unwound.
His body roared with fresh heat.
“I’ve got a good idea.” He cradled her face in his hands and studied her dilated pupils. Her flushed cheeks. “A very good idea.”
Trailing a hand down her neck, he watched her eyelids flutter and close, her head tip back. Beneath his palm, her pulse went wild, a rapid tattoo against his hand that spurred his own heartbeat.
She opened her eyes to meet his gaze.
“Prove it,” she dared him, lifting another cherry to her lips for a bite. “Show me.”
Twenty different scenarios ran through his head in an instant as he envisioned everything from having her against the door to lowering her to the nearest couch. She had a hot tub out back. A kitchen island that he could seat her on and make himself comfortable between her thighs.
But he nixed all of those to sweep her off her feet.
A gasp that sounded like part surprise and part delight escaped her lips as he hoisted her high against his chest, savoring the armful of feminine curves.
“What way?” He strode toward the stairs as she pointed her answer.
“I’m not entirely sure this is what I was thinking, but I have to admit, I like your imagination.” She popped the top button of his shirt collar as he carried her upstairs.
Her touch felt cool along his hot skin. He couldn’t wait to feel all of her.
“I haven’t gotten to the part you were thinking about yet.” He spoke into her ear, close enough to feel her shiver at his words. “I merely needed the right place to show you.”
She unfastened another button, her fingers diving into his shirt to graze along his shoulder and up his neck. He studied the lay of the land at the top of the staircase. Which way to go? She wasn’t giving directions now. She wasn’t paying attention to where they were going.
Good.
He wanted her distracted and thinking about him.
Following where his instincts led, he found a room with a purple sweater hooked over the doorknob and toed the door the rest of the way open.
The scent of amber increased ever so subtly and he knew his guess had been correct.
Everything was white except for a few anime paintings in bright colors and a red lacquer headboard painted with small birds along one edge.
Sunlight filtered in the bottom half of wooden blinds, which had been left partially slatted.
All of which he processed just enough to know where to lay her down.
Except she wouldn’t let go of him when he tried to stand so he could undress.
She twined her hands around his neck and pulled him down with her, sealing soft lips to his.
Any plan he’d had after that disintegrated on impact.
She tasted like lip gloss and cherries, a combination he’d never known was apparently his personal erotic trigger.
Need for her pounded inside him and he’d only just taken his first taste of her.
“Erin.” He pulled back, levering himself over her so he didn’t crush her. “I could take all night to kiss you.”
“You could. But I hope you won’t.” She slid her hand around his waist to palm the small of his back. She tugged at his shirt, freeing the hem from his pants in slow, teasing increments. “I’m going to need you to touch me everywhere at once. Maximize your efforts until I can’t think anymore.”
Arching her back, she brought her hips close to his.
There was no misunderstanding her. And while the tiniest sliver of his brain warned him that she deserved to be romanced, the rest of him got on board with her approach.
Especially since her fingers worked the buttons on the rest of his shirt, flicking them open until she could push the fabric off his shoulders.
He shrugged out of his shirt and then applied himself to giving her what she wanted.
Kissing his way down her neck, he licked the hollow at the base of her throat where her skin was impossibly soft.
He skimmed the hem of her shirt up with one hand, palming her waist and tracing a teasing pattern with his thumb.
They lay side by side on her bed now, so he stroked her hair with his other hand.
He watched her face as her eyes slid closed to focus on what he was doing. Pale freckles he’d never noticed stood out in the slanting rays of afternoon sun, her lashes a dark auburn as they fanned her cheeks.
Her lips were still stained a darker red from the cherry juice, inspiring him to revisit them. Sucking and nipping, he pulled her lower lip into his mouth. He wanted to taste more of her.
Lifting himself off her, he stood. As he started to remove his belt, it occurred to him he was not prepared for this. Condoms hadn’t crossed his mind since…a long damn time.
“I didn’t bring anything with me. That is, I didn’t even think about—”
She arched an eyebrow before flipping over and crawling up the bed. Digging in a nightstand drawer, she produced the kind of box he was looking for, the shrink wrap still on.
“I bought them for Sunday, because…you know. I was thinking about seducing you that night.”
Sunday. When she’d invited him to dinner.
He didn’t bother thinking about how things had gone once they’d taken their drinks out onto her patio. He might not have been ready for this then, but he sure as hell was now.
Not hesitating another second, he stepped out of his shoes. Ditched his pants and the boxers, too.
“My, my.” Erin rose to a sitting position, scooting to the edge of the bed. “I like how you don’t waste time.”
Before he could help her, she tugged her white blouse up and off, tossing it into the growing pile of clothes on the floor.
Full, beautiful breasts rose above the cups of a white lace bra with a tiny red ribbon in the center.
One strap had already slid off her shoulder as she reached for him, her hand circling his erection and gently stroking.
“You’re playing with fire.” He gripped her wrist, keeping her hand still for a second until he found his breath and got himself under control. “I haven’t been with anyone since—”