The moment wasn’t.
“You made a lot of progress on your dating karma,” she murmured later as they drove back to his house. Eric had taken her out for an intimate, delicious dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Colleen was feeling drowsy and content.
“Still work to be done, though?” he asked, taking her hand in his. “Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”
She chuckled and gazed out the window lazily. “I don’t know how much more courting you’re going to get in. A big storm is predicted over the weekend.”
“All the better. Indoor activities are my specialty.”
Colleen grinned wryly, but she didn’t refute him. He had a point.
When they returned to his house, she made some tea while Eric built a fire. While they were separated, she experienced an urge to clarify his intentions about getting involved with her. She quashed the idea almost as soon as she had it. She despised the needy female stereotype. Just what is it, exactly, that we’re doing here?
Just thinking about the predictable phrase featured in dozens of chick flicks and romantic comedies made her cringe. Why did men have to be the only ones who were supremely comfortable not questioning motives at the beginning of relationships and just taking things as they came?
No, she assured herself. She would not turn into a simpering idiot just because she liked a man. She’d take this one step at a time, like Eric was doing. Just because she was a novice in the world of sex and dating didn’t mean she was naive. Experience and knowledge were two different things, and she’d racked up years of knowledge being a professional counselor.
“Do you want to work on Lucy tomorrow?” she asked him once she’d brought out the tea and they were sipping it on the couch before the fire.
“Sure, if you do.”
“The wedding is only two weeks away. I can’t believe it. I still haven’t gotten them a wedding present,” she murmured, setting her cup on the coffee table. She leaned back and snuggled against Eric’s side. He put his arm around her. The heat from the fire warmed her cheeks.
“We’ll say Lucy is from all of us.”
Colleen lifted her head, blushing. “No…I didn’t mean anything like that—”
“I know you didn’t,” he said. “Still, it only seems right. You, the kids and your mother have worked on her. Brendan asked me point-blank if he could help restoring Lucy. That takes a serious time commitment for someone his age. He’s a great kid. So’s Jenny.”
She shook her head in amazement. He quirked one eyebrow at her.
“What?” he asked, grinning.
“I can’t believe I ever thought you were arrogant.”
His grin faded. He leaned forward and deposited his cup on the coffee table. He put out his arms, reaching for her. “Come here,” he said gruffly.
Colleen went without hesitation. Nothing in the world sounded so appealing to her at that moment as the idea of sitting in his lap and having his arms surround her. And it was nice, she acknowledged a second later when she settled on his thighs, facing him, her knees bent at her side and her hands around his neck.
Not as nice as when she leaned forward and kissed him with the force of all the emotions she had brewing in her chest. Not as nice as when Eric returned the kiss with undisguised fervor and admirable skill.
“I’ve been waiting to do that since I woke up this morning,” she told him a while later, her damp lips brushing against his as she spoke.
“I’ve been waiting for you to do that for half my life.”
She laughed. He delighted her. She kissed him again. He opened his hands along her hips and buttocks, scooting her forward on his thighs. Their embrace was very similar to that night after the engagement party on her couch. Intimate. Heated.
It was drastically different, too. Tonight, Colleen’s desire had been liberated.
She ran her fingers through his hair, and then tilted his head, turning hers at an angle to deepen their kiss. He groaned, and she transferred her mouth to his throat, relishing the vibrations of his desire on her lips. She ran her fingers fleetly down his chest and belly, unbuttoning his outer shirt. Beneath it, he wore a Detroit Red Wings T-shirt. He seemed all too eager to assist her struggle in getting him out of it, post haste.
She kissed his bare chest a moment later, submerging herself in the sensation of him. She gave herself full permission to forget everything but the gorgeous, delicious male she currently sampled with lips, tongue and teeth. He hissed when she bit gently at a hard, rounded shoulder muscle. He began to lift up her sweater, but she stopped him.
“Remember last night?” she asked breathlessly. “When you said I’d have my moment to touch you? Now’s the moment.”
His nostrils flared slightly. She pressed a kiss just below his right nipple and glanced up at him. She thought his stare would burn her when she placed her lips directly over the nipple. He was still watching her, his face rigid and his eyes blazing, when she scooted back on his thighs and tested the texture of his taut abdomen with her lips. His muscles leapt at her touch, sending a thrill through her. Her hair fell forward, swishing across his stomach.
He hissed like she’d scalded him.