“You…” She brushed a shaky hand over his lapel, and his whole body strained in her direction. “I thought I was the one who took advantage of you that day. I thought afterward that I’d pushed for something you didn’t want.”
“Didn’t want?” He huffed an incredulous laugh. “I’d imagined touching you for so long I could barely believe it was actually happening. God, I’m sorry I made you feel that way. But when Gina showed up, I remembered who I really am. I panicked.”
Her eyes rounded. “And who are you really?”
“The guy who doesn’t get the girl like you.”
His lips hovered above hers, and she didn’t push him away. “Look around you, pal. You’ve got me.”
The last of his doubts sloughed away at her words. “I guess I do.” He slid his hand behind her head and buried his fingers in her hair, not caring about the fancy arrangement she had it in. He needed to unravel her, to mark her as his. Talking might not come easily to him, but this he could do.
She was practically panting as he held her immobile with a hand in her hair and another at the base of her throat.
“You’re who I want, Erik. Nobody else here tonight. Nobody else anywhere in the world. This girl wantsyou.”
Well, fuck. How could he not kiss her after that?
Twenty
Josie’s head was spinning, but she hadn’t had more than a few sips of alcohol during the toasts.
It was Erik, filling her lungs, bubbling through her blood, giving her goose bumps. His eyes never left hers as he closed the tiny distance between them, his fingers tightening in her hair, and this time there was no mistaking who was going to kiss whom. He wanted her, and he wasn’t engaged, and he’d just recited a soliloquy that left her breathless. She needed to put her hands on this good, kind, wonderful man without further delay.
Just as her eyes fluttered shut and his lips brushed against hers, the balcony erupted in a flurry of noise and laughter. A group of wedding guests surged from the reception hall and broke the spell.
She dropped her head against his shoulder with a soft groan. “I don’t think the universe wants us to be together.”
“Fuck the universe.”
His growl made her shiver.
“What are your thoughts on screwing around in a coat closet?”
“Not ideal.”
Still, his hand crept up her thigh and under the hem of her dress, and she bet if she pulled him into an empty room, she could change his mind.
Raucous laughter reminded her that they were no longer alone, and exhibitionism wasn’t one of her kinks.
“Do you want to come home with me? Or I can come home with you.”
He fell silent, his face unreadable in the semidark, and Josie felt a trickle of self-consciousness wiggle down her spine.
“I said ‘come’ too much, didn’t I? You’re paralyzed with lust.” When in doubt, joke it out.
“Good God,” Erik muttered, putting his huge hand on her back and guiding her toward the bright lights of the reception. She chattered nervously the whole time, keenly aware that he hadn’t actually answered her question.
“Oh great. I scared you off again. Someday you’re going to tell your great-grandchildren about the crazed redhead who kept hitting on you in inappropriate settings and trying to get you into supply closets to—”
Her voice cut off with a squeak when he spun her so her back was pressed against the wall next to the reception hall entrance. Wedding guests milled around the balcony mere feet away, but Josie didn’t care. Not when the distant throbbing bass of the music echoed the pounding of her heart and the deejay’s strobe light fell through the window and painted Erik’s face in streaks of red and purple and blue as he pinned her in place with his hard body.
“We’re going to my place tonight, because when I finally get you naked, it’s not going to be in a goddamn closet.” His hands flirted with the hem of her skirt again, ghosting along the backs of her legs. “It’s going to take all night, and you’re going to be as loud as you want. Nod your head if that’s okay.”
She bobbed her head like a newly sprung jack-in-the-box while the rest of her body clenched in anticipation of Erik following through on his promises.
“Okay.” He nodded once and bent to give her a fast, firm kiss that ended with the merest brush of his tongue against her lower lip.
“You’re exceptionally good at talking when you put your mind to it,” she said shakily.
