A Million Kisses or More (21 page)

As his lips touched hers, she slid her hands into his thick hair, loving the weight of his body over hers. The heat of his palm was against her skin as he slid his hand beneath her shirt. Skimming it over her stomach, her ribs, he teased her by stopping just short of her breast. Arching her back, silently encouraging his exploration as he tangled his tongue with hers, she shamelessly whimpered when he finally touched her.

A gasp from the doorway made them jerk apart from one another. Flying off the bed, her hair disheveled, she pulled her shirt down and met Carrie’s indignant eyes. Even though Carrie was no longer married to Harrison and hadn’t been for a long time, Ana still felt inexplicably guilty. Flickering her eyes towards Harrison, seeing that he was holding the blanket against his chest while wearing a furious expression, Ana turned back to Carrie, though her words were for Harrison. “I’ll let you get dressed and I’ll see you… later.”

“Ana, don’t leave,” he rasped. The covers rustled as he got out of bed but she didn’t turn around. If she saw him, she’d run towards him faster than she had ever run before because she was inextricably drawn to him. She simply could not trust herself around him. It didn’t matter that his ex-wife was standing there staring daggers at her or that his daughter was down the hall packing her bags, Ana would have melted into a puddle at the sight of his dark eyes, his warm smile, his hard body. Now that she was intimately familiar with it, she wanted to explore every inch of him and it wasn’t the time or the place.

Carrie refused to move from the doorway, forcing Ana to squeeze past her. It didn’t matter that Harrison had asked her to stay, she couldn’t be in the same house as the three of them. It was too awkward and her hormones were out of control. Of course, Jolie chose that moment to pop out of her bedroom, her eyes lit with excitement. “Are you going home, Ana?”

“I am,” Ana said, her lips trembling as she forced them to curve upwards. “I should probably check on Angelico.”

“You can just bring him with you the next time you sleep over,” Jolie said in all of her eight year old innocence. “That way you won’t have to worry about him.”

“Perhaps,” Ana managed, not needing to see Carrie to know the look of horror she wore.

Jolie threw her arms around her waist, giving Ana a huge hug, “I’ll come over and say hi when mommy drops me off on Monday, okay?”

“Okay, sweetie,” Ana said, returning the hug, loving how natural it felt to be hugging Harrison’s daughter. Until she realized Jolie’s mom was standing right there. She awkwardly patted Jolie’s back as she extricated herself from the little girl’s grasp without being too obvious about it. “I’ll see you later.”

“Ana, wait,” Harrison said from right behind her, making her freeze. His fingers wrapped around her elbow as he pressed his front against her back and whispered in her ear, “I’ll come over as soon as Jolie leaves.”

Not able to speak, she simply nodded, savoring the feel of his hand on her skin. With a weak smile, she faced Carrie, “It was nice to meet you.”

Carrie murmured something pleasant but her eyes were filled with loathing. Well, the foolish woman had been stupid enough to give Harrison up. Ana was just the one lucky enough to capture his attention. Carrie’s eyes widened as if she had read Ana’s thoughts. Or worse, Ana had said them out loud. But Harrison was silent and Ana realized her smile had turned a little smug. In effect, she
had
said her thoughts out loud with that single smile.

Pressing her lips together, she raced down the stairs, grabbing her jacket and her keys on the way out. A few minutes after she got home, Harrison walked through the front door with a grim expression on his face and a duffle bag in his hands. The moment he saw her, though, the grimness turned to relief. Locking the door behind him and dropping the bag, he murmured, “Ana.”

Standing in the middle of the room, still wearing his clothes, she couldn’t help but smile at the relief she felt as well. “So, you forgot your ex had Jolie this weekend.”

“Apparently,” he said, closing the distance between them. Resting his hands on her hips, he waggled his eyebrows at her as he said, “I’ve been a little preoccupied lately.”

“Good sex will do that,” she grinned, draping her arms over his shoulders.

“No,” he countered. Scooping her up in his arms, making her scream with laughter, he raced up the stairs as he added, “
Great
sex will do that.”

“Harrison!” she cried out, hugging him tight.

Pushing through the door to her bedroom, he tossed her onto the bed and then stared down at her with a besotted expression softening his face. Her heart stumbled over itself and then took flight as she realized he loved her, he really, truly loved her. She couldn’t speak as he grabbed the waist band of her pants and started pulling them off her legs. Lust mixed with the look of love and she wanted to give him everything, even if she couldn’t speak to let him know.

“I love a woman who doesn’t wear panties,” he growled. Of course, the reason she wasn’t wearing underwear was because she had taken a shower last night and hadn’t had any to change into and it had been too cold to run across the street to grab a pair. Oblivious to her uncooperative tongue, he reached down and touched her dangly belly button ring. “And I am fascinated by this little bit of jewelry. I didn’t get to spend enough time this past week studying it.”

Bending his head, he flicked the jewelry with the tip of his tongue as he pushed the sweatshirt upwards. Lifting his head just a little, he rumbled, “Take it off.”

Since her powers of speech were still absent, she did as he instructed, pulling the sweatshirt off and tossing it onto the floor. She was completely naked beneath Harrison’s heated stare and there was no other place she’d rather be. Reverently, he ran his palm over her stomach, along her rib cage, over her breast. His lips parted as he sucked in an audible breath and whispered, “You are so beautiful, Ana.”

He met her eyes once again and whispered, “Say something.”

Instead of words, she offered him a helpless smile as she held open her arms. In the next moment, he was lying on top of her as she hugged him, as she held him close and vowed never to let him go. Pressing a kiss against the warm skin of his neck, she rasped, “I love you.”

His arms tightened around her as he buried his face against her throat and a shudder moved through his body. Without words, he slid his hand down the side of her torso and between their bodies. Softly, gently, he rubbed her clitoris, adding pleasure to the profound moment. She started to pull his shirt out of his pants but he shook his head, “Let me do this for you.”

And so she did.

*****

After bringing her to tears with ecstasy once again Sunday afternoon, Harrison held her in his arms as they stared up at the ceiling, both trying to catch their breath. The only thing she could think to say was, “Wow.”

He chuckled as he hugged her against his side but he was silent. Tilting her head back, she saw that he was looking at her. Reaching up with his free hand, he lightly stroked her cheek as he murmured, “I’ve only said those three words to Carrie.”

The air froze in her chest and her heart came to a stuttering halt as she stared at him, unable to blink. His gaze dropped to her lips as he toyed with a strand of her hair. “I said it on our wedding day and I meant it at the time. But, Ana, what I feel for you is a thousand times more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt for her. The words aren’t… big enough for what I feel for you.”

As wonderful as his words were, her heart still ached a little. It’s not like she needed to hear them because she didn’t. Not really….

Raising his lashes, he seared her with his gaze. “I love you, Ana.”

A choked sob escaped as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, her heart flying with the angels. He rubbed her back as she cried, she wasn’t even sure why she was crying. She held onto him as he pressed kisses against her head, as he whispered, “I don’t want to let you go. Stay with me and Jolie.”

This time her sob was one of despair because she couldn’t stay, no matter how much she wanted to stay with him. “God, I want to, Harrison, you have no idea how much I want to but I can’t.”

“We could pay back the scholarship,” he said but she knew that he was just saying that to have the illusion of a choice. “I’ll sell the house and we can live in an apartment.”

“No,” she told him, putting her finger over his lips before he could speak any more beautiful lies. “My love for you will survive two thousand miles and a year, don’t ever doubt it.”

“I know,” he murmured against her fingers, kissing her palm. “I’m just afraid that once you leave, you’ll find someone new and you’ll forget all about me.”

Her laugh came out as another sob as she shook her head. “I’ve waited my whole life for you Harrison. My whole life.”

He stared at her for a long moment before he nodded his head. Tucking her forehead against his neck, he whispered, “At least spend New Year’s Eve with me. I want to start the New Year with you in my arms.”

She had planned on giving herself plenty of time to drive out to California and have a few days to explore her new city. But if she had to choose between getting to know L.A. or spending more time with Harrison, there was no choice. If she left on the first, she’d be cutting it close, since her first day was the 5
^th
, but it would be worth it. “Okay.”

She felt his throat move as he opened his mouth but she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Shaking her head, she said, “We still have seven weeks. Don’t waste them by dwelling on my leaving because I’ll be back.”

“What if you find someone in California?” he asked in a pained whisper.

“What if you find someone here?” she asked, twisting around and resting her chin on his chest so she could see him. At the look of utter pain and desolation on his face, she realized he was serious and she wished she could take the words back. Brushing his hair away from his forehead, she murmured, “Harrison, there’s no one for me but you. You have to know that.”

“You’re young and so beautiful, Ana,” he said, his voice a low, rough whisper. Squeezing his eyes shut, he pressed his lips against her forehead as he took a deep breath.

“Have you looked in a mirror lately, Harrison?” she asked, dumbfounded. “Because from where I’m sitting, damn, you are gorgeous.”

Twisting his lips up into a pained smile, he ignored her comment and tried to lighten the conversation by saying, “But some Hollywood agent is going to get one look at you and make you an offer you can’t refuse. You’ll be famous and where will that leave me?”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said, her throat tight as she forced her lips into a smile as well. “I suffer from terrible stage fright. If I ever took it into my fool head to get up on a stage and act, I’d probably trip over my own feet and break both of my legs.”

“You’ll become a movie star.”

“I’ll never be famous,” she told him, shaking her head. “I have no desire to be famous.”

“Then some rich bastard, perhaps even Asher, will whisk you off to Paris for a romantic dinner,” he continued, his eyes genuinely troubled by the possibility. Silly man.

“The only way that would happen is if said rich bastard kidnapped me and took me to Paris against my will,” she countered. “And I would raise such bloody murder, he’d need a new set of ear drums and probably penile reattachment surgery. I would not go quietly.”

His lips almost quirked into a genuine smile but didn’t quite make it. “Then you’ll realize that the weather in California is more to your liking and you’ll refuse to return to Minnesota.”

“Hmm, that may be true but you forget one very important, very crucial thing, perhaps the most crucial thing.”

“What’s that?”

“
You’re
not in California,” she murmured, kissing the tip of his nose. “It won’t matter how warm and beautiful the weather is because my heart would be frozen. You just need to have a little faith in me.”

He smiled at her, a little less strained than before. “I guess so.”

“And I’m serious about acting,” she continued, rolling onto her back but tilting her head back so she could still see his face. “I was going to be a theater major in college. Sophomore year, I tried out for the play and landed a decent role. I went to all of the rehearsals and nailed my lines every single time. The day of the show came and I didn’t have a single butterfly fluttering in my stomach at all.”

He winced as if he knew what was coming but he couldn’t possibly know the horror of it. Pursing her lips, she continued, “I got up on stage, the lights were on me, I opened my mouth and threw up all over everything. The cast screamed, the audience screamed, and I could do nothing because I couldn’t stop. It was so horrible and I’m not even sure if I puked because I was sick or because all of the butterflies that had been silent for months woke up and screamed all at once.

“I was asked to let the understudy take over my role,” she continued. “And to be honest, it was a relief to know that I never had to step foot on the stage again.”

“But you still worked in the theater department.”

“I did,” she confirmed. “But behind the scenes. I’m a much better stage crafter and makeup artist than I am an actress. Trust me. I think if I ever had to get on stage again, I’d pass out.”

“So I guess that
is
one less thing I have to worry about,” he teased.

“It is.”

They lay in bed and simply talked for the next couple of hours, until he had to get ready for work. It took him twenty seconds to run downstairs and grab the duffle bag he had brought over and another five minutes to take a quick shower before he returned to the bedroom. As he got dressed, he asked, “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yes,” she said, her insides melting at the simple question. Holding the comforter against her chest, she murmured, “Come here when you get off work, Harrison. I want to wake up in your arms.”

He kissed her. “Will do.”

“Just for you, I’ll even lock the door,” she murmured with a smile in her voice. “You can let yourself in and just come up to bed. I’ll be waiting for you.”