Kisses After Dark (53 page)
Authors: Marie Force
Tags: #Romance, #Fiction, #Contemporary, #Contemporary Women, #General, #Sagas
“The weekends are keeping me sane, so keep them coming.”
“How would you feel about a whole week?”
She raised a brow in question.
He told her about the trade show and watched her eyes go wide with surprise and then laughter. “Your dad is seriously considering offering that stuff in the store?”
“I’m not really sure what he’s up to, and once he said ‘a week in New York’ I didn’t ask a lot of questions. Although now I’m wondering if I should’ve asked you before I committed. I know how busy you are.”
She reached across the counter for his hand. “I’d love to have you in New York for a week. That’d be awesome.”
Colton bent his head to kiss the hand she’d wrapped around his. “I’m glad you agree. I thought it sounded pretty damned good, too.” He looked over at her and gave her hand a gentle tug, encouraging her to come closer. “You know what else sounds good right now?”
She stepped between his legs and flattened her hands on his chest. “What’s that?”
“More of this.” He kept his eyes open as he tipped his head and kissed her softly. “And some of this.” More kisses to her neck. “And then there’s this.” He raised his hands from her hips to cup her breasts, running his thumbs over nipples that tightened in response.
Lucy sighed and relaxed against him.
“How does that sound?”
“Really good. Exceptionally good.”
“I’m glad you agree.” He kissed her again and withdrew from her reluctantly to deal with the dishes as quickly as he could while she finished her wine.
“I can help, you know.”
“No need. I got it.”
“Good with his hands
and
good in the kitchen.”
Amused, he waggled his brows at her. “And you haven’t even seen the full extent of my bedroom work yet.”
Lucy’s face turned bright red, forcing her to turn away from him. She wandered to the windows that overlooked the lake.
Regretting that he’d embarrassed her, Colton wiped his hands on a dish towel and went over to her. When he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck, he noticed how tense she seemed. “What’s wrong, Luce?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on. I made a joke and you went all tense on me. Talk to me.” He encouraged her to turn and face him and was shocked to see tears in her eyes. “Lucy . . . What’s wrong? I didn’t mean to upset you. I was only joking.”
“I know you were, and you didn’t upset me.”
“Then what is it? And don’t say it’s nothing when I can see it’s something.”
He could also see that she was trying to summon the courage to tell him, and watching her struggle made Colton ache.
“After last weekend, when things got kind of. . . heated . . .” She cleared her throat and looked away.
Hearing her describe the previous weekend as “heated” made him hard as he remembered the feel of her hand stroking him. Shaking his head, he willed those memories from his mind to focus on what was happening right now. “What about it?”
“I’m not very experienced at all of this, Colton. I know I should be at twenty-nine, but I’m not. I’ve had a few boyfriends and done some stuff, but I don’t really know a lot about, you know . . . Any of it.”
His mind raced as he tried to process what she was saying. “By ‘some stuff,’ does that mean you haven’t—”
“I have. A few times with less-than-stellar results.” Her face got even redder, if that was possible. She quickly added, “I’ve been really busy with my work and my family and friends. And I’m shy. Painfully, awkwardly shy. With guys.” She looked up at him, slaying him with the open, innocent look she gave him. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“Jesus,” he muttered as he pulled her in tight against him, not caring that she would immediately feel what her sweetness did to him. “You could never disappoint me.”
“Still . . . You probably know more than I do.”
“No one’s keeping score here, Luce. Least of all me. I told you before—we don’t have to do anything. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not looking to pressure you.”
“You haven’t pressured me. You’ve been amazing and very patient.”
He kissed her forehead and looked out at the lake as he held her. “I hate that you’ve been stressed out about this. You should’ve told me.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“It’s endearing.”
“It’s
embarrassing
.”
“Fine,” he said, laughing. “Have it your way, but don’t be embarrassed around me. I think you’re amazing, and I love being with you.”
“I love being with you, too, but . . .” She looked up at him. “Before this goes any further, I feel like I should say again that I’m not going to move, and I understand that you can’t either. Just because Cameron did—”
“I get it. What worked for them won’t necessarily work for us.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt here, Colton.”
“Neither do I. Let’s just have fun, like we have been, and not let it get too serious. Okay?”
“All right . . .”
“Why do I hear more questions in there?”
“I just wondered . . . If not getting serious means not getting
serious
.” Her coy smile was positively adorable, and he couldn’t refrain from smiling back at her.
“Doesn’t that count as fun?”
“I suppose it could. It’s never been particularly fun for me.”
“Oh, honey, we need to fix that.”
“Right now?” she asked hesitantly.
“Whenever you want.”
“I’d love to take a shower.”
“Follow me.” He took her by the hand, picked up her bag and led her to the spacious master bedroom that was located down a short hallway from the kitchen.
“This house is so beautiful. I can see why you love it here.”
“We all do. We’ve had some really fun times here. You’d be surprised how this big house starts to feel awfully small when all the Abbotts are in residence.”
“That must be crazy.”
“You can’t even imagine.”
“Isn’t this your parents’ room?”
“When they’re here, yeah. But they don’t care if the rest of us use it.” He went ahead of her and flipped on the lights in the bathroom.
“Oh, wow. Is that a hot tub?”
“Sure is. The window above it opens. It’s pretty cool. You want to check it out?”
“Only if you do, too.”
“You’re on.” Colton turned on the water and opened the window to let in the soft evening breeze off the lake. “Go ahead and get changed. I’ll be right back.”
He left her with a kiss and closed the door behind him as he left the room.
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While her husband was in the Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two teenagers and two feisty dogs, Brandy and Louie.
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