“I know.” He wasn’t sure how in depth she wanted to talk about Owen, so, again, he was going to let her take the lead on this. He was open to letting her vent about it. No matter how he felt about her, she was first and foremost his friend, and she’d been hurt. It was going to take her a while to get over it.
But instead she dove into the snacks and drank two glasses of wine and told him all about the day’s wedding, which sounded like it went well.
They had moved over to the sofa to drink their wine. The dogs were playing together on Puddy’s blanket on the floor.
“I’m glad you had a good day,” he said.
“I did, actually. Seeing two people who obviously really care for each other made me realize that’s what I deserve. I want someone who loves me unconditionally, who’s going to be there for me no matter what.”
“You do deserve that.”
“But I’m not looking for that right now.”
“What are you looking for right now?”
She laid her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. “Honestly? Just some breathing room, some space to gather my bearings and get back to normal life again. I don’t want people tiptoeing around me thinking I’m going to burst into tears at any moment. I’m made of stronger stuff, you know?”
“Yeah, I do know that.”
“I’m hurt, for sure. And I’ll probably be hurt for a long time. Maybe forever. But I don’t spend every waking moment thinking about Owen. He doesn’t occupy space in my head or in my heart. What he did to me was devastating. I had a few days where I cried hard about it, and now I’ve moved past it. I go to work every day, and we have weddings at the vineyard every weekend, and when I see a bride I don’t fall apart envisioning the wedding I didn’t get to have. Owen and I weren’t meant to be, and now it’s time I get on with my life.”
He admired Erin for her resilience. A lot of women would still be crying over how they’d been treated, making everyone feel sorry for them. Not her. She was mad, and she deserved to be mad. But she wasn’t going to let that one incident in her life define her.
“You should have everything you want, Erin. Whatever you want.”
“I want you, Jason. I don’t need promises or a relationship. I don’t want to look too far into the future. I just want to live in the moment.”
He wanted so much more, but he could give her what she needed right now. He pulled her onto his lap and cupped his palm on her neck, drawing her face to his. When their lips met, it was an explosion of heat and passion that this time wouldn’t be extinguished. Not by him, anyway.
And from the way Erin gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin, he didn’t think she wanted to stop, either.
As they kissed, she rolled her hips across him, against him, and he reached for her to draw her closer, her dress riding up higher on her thighs. He let his fingers map a trail across the satiny soft flesh of her skin, sliding his hands under her dress.
Erin moaned against his lips, which made him lift his hips against her.
She straightened. “We should be naked so we can rub all our fun parts together.”
He slid his hands up under her dress, teasing her inner thighs. “You definitely have some fun parts I want to play with.”
She slid off of his lap, stood and tugged on his hand. “Let’s go.”
He appreciated her enthusiasm. He stood and led her down the hall, wishing his master bedroom was finished so he could lay her on a new, bigger bed. Instead he could only offer the small bedroom he currently occupied. He opened the door and led her inside.
“Sorry about this,” he said. “The master bedroom is still a work in progress.”
“Trust me. The last thing I’m worried about right now is the size of your bedroom.” She palmed his erection through his jeans. “This, though? Extremely interesting.”
He sucked in a breath when she unzipped his jeans then tugged on his T-shirt. He drew the shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
Erin ran her hands over his chest and shoulders. “You have an amazing body. Look at all this chisel.”
He laughed, then reached behind her to unzip her dress. “And you have curves that I’ve been dying to get my hands on for—”
She looked up at him, curiosity making her head tilt.
He didn’t want her to know for how long. “For a while.” He took the straps and pulled them down her arms, the top of her dress falling to her waist.
“No bra,” he said, admiring the fullness of her breasts. “I like that.”
“It’s efficient. Plus, it’s hot outside.”
“It’s hot in here, too.”
He tugged the dress down, holding her hand so she could step out of it. He took the dress and draped it over the arm of the nearby chair, since her dress was much nicer than his clothes. Then he looked up at her.
She was wearing yellow lace underwear, a tiny scrap with just bands holding it to her hips.
Damn sexy woman. Curvy in all the right places, with hips and a waist and legs. Oh, her legs. He knelt to smooth his hands over her ankles, lingered at her toned calves, then behind her knees, making her laugh.
He looked up at her. “Ticklish there?”
“Maybe.”
He grinned, then spread her legs and continued to map his way up her body with his hands, learning her beautiful thighs, her hips, reaching around to cup the globes of her ass.
How many times over the years had he admired her butt, had he fantasized being able to grab a handful of this sweet ass? Now he was here, on his knees in front of this
