What The Heart Finds (11 page)

She had woken up the next
morning with a splitting in her head, looking over at him in the
harsh light or morning, and felt so ashamed of herself, she quickly
threw on her clothes and ran back to her dorm, declaring to her
curious roommate that she was swearing off men until graduation.

And she had.

At twenty-four she had
graduated with her MBA and set out get herself a good career. And
seemed to average about one man a year for the next four years. Which
brought her up to present. So she had six. Which seemed like a fair
enough number, especially considering that work was always her main
priority.

Which, if she was honest,
was pretty much the reason each of those men had to be tossed aside.
They had started wanting more. Wanting some kind of commitment.
Wanting daily texting, or calling, or face-to-face contact. And she
simply didn't have time for them once she started at EM.

And everything was as it
should be. Work should be her main priority. She had goals. She had
plans for her future. Once she achieved those goals, then maybe she
could make time in her life for something more serious.

Because maybe she
actually wanted that in her life.

Lena shook her head,
looking out her window at the town. She had EM to blame for that
realization. If he hadn't forced her to take this pseudo-vacation,
she would have happily gone about her life as usual. Rushing into
work early in the morning, the sun barely up and busting her butt all
day long. Going home when the sun was already set and sitting down
over a plate of takeout and answering work emails. Going to the
market on Saturday. Baking crazy dessert recipes she had found online
on a rare Sunday when she didn't have work she could throw herself
into.

Everything planned.
Predictable. Easy.

But a little time to
herself had her realizing all the things she had been denying
herself. Things maybe she hadn't even been aware of wanting to do.
Like exploring the woods. Without many opportunities to spend time in
untamed wilderness, she couldn't have ever known she would have
enjoyed it as much as she did. Maybe when she got back to the city
she could plan to take weekend hiking trips. There had to be places.
And maybe she could find somewhere to take horseback riding lessons.

If she tried, she could
incorporate her newly discovered hobbies into her life back home.

And, eventually, she
could find herself a man. Maybe even someone with the raw animal
magnetism of Eric O'reilly. Not like him though. Someone stable.
Professional. Not so whorish.

Lena sighed, moving away
from the window.

She slipped into blue
silk pajama pants and a tight pink tank top, climbing into the bed
and deciding to spend the rest of her night catching up on some
reading. The inn's library was actually pretty extensive. They had
everything from the classics to the most recent science fiction
favorites. She wondered if Liam was the one to make the suggestions.
She couldn't quite picture him throwing himself into stories about
vampires and witches, but maybe between the thick tomes on
who-knows-what he did like to escape a little.

She had just opened to
the title page of a book she'd been promising herself she would read
since high school when she heard a strange tapping. Looking up from
the book, she glanced around and decided maybe it was just the inn
settling. Or rain. Or a lawn mower kicking up rocks.

But it kept tap-tapping,
closer than it should. From outside the window.

Lena got up slowly, her
heart a little bit in her throat as if she might walk upon some kind
of inn burglar. She pulled the curtains apart slowly, standing as far
from the window as possible.

And there was Eric, his
finger still on the glass, looking in at her with his usual casual
grin. Lena dropped the curtain with an exhale and reached for the
window, hauling it up.

“What the hell are
you doing?”

Eric shrugged, taking in
her pjs... despite it barely being past nine. “Just coming to
say hi.”

Lena leaned her head out
the window, looking around. “Wait... how did you get up here?
There isn't a staircase between floors.”

Eric leaned up against
the window frame, looking down at her. “I have my ways. You
gonna let me in?”

Lena felt her body flush.
Eric O'reilly in her room. In her room which was really just one big
bed? That was a terrible, terrible idea.

“What?” Eric
asked, smirking. “You afraid you cant control yourself around
me baby?”

Lena straightened,
embarrassed at being so easy to read. She rolled her eyes, swinging
her legs through the window opening, and sitting down on the ledge.

“I just want a
little fresh air. I've been inside all day working,” she said
casually, looking down at her bare feet.

“You really need to
look up the definition of a vacation,” Eric said, refusing to
move from his position, his thighs pressing against her arm.

The silence hung for a
long moment, Lena watching the street, seeing Maude leave her office
and looking up at them. As if she knew who it was. Lena could swear
she could see the woman smile even through the distance.

“So how's my car
doing?” she asked, trying to keep it professional. Trying to
put up the boundaries they had spent the night before tearing down.

“I got a few parts
in. Waiting on the rest. Tomorrow probably. Then I can get to work,”
he said, his hand reaching down and touching her hair. “You
have your hair down,” he said, his tone dipping lower.

“Yeah, I was in
bed,” she said then quickly added, “Reading.”

“Reading?” he
asked, his fingers brushing the skin on her shoulder. “But
there are so many other fun things to do in a bed.”

Not being able to think
of anything witty and chastening to say, Lena made a non-committal
sound in the back of her throat.

Eric moved slowly,
shifting to stand right in front of her for one horrifying moment as
Lena was face-to-face with his crotch, before he lowered himself down
to his knees in front of her. His hands moved to the cool silk of her
pants, running up her calves, gently kneading the muscles before
moving around to her knees. They settled there for a moment, his head
downcast, before moving up to her thighs, moving in slow, circular
explorations.

She closed her eyes,
every nerve ending in her body focused on the sensation of his hands
on her, the silk making the movement fluid and soothing. Then he
grabbed her knees unexpectedly and pushed her legs open, his body
slipping into the space between.

He looked up at her then,
his eyes full of promise and desire. “Why don't you let me in
there and I can show you?” he suggested, his tone almost
challenging.

Lena shook her head
slowly, looking down at him and realizing she wanted that more than
she had wanted anything in a very long time. “I cant do that,”
she said, her tone almost sad.

“Well,” he
said, undeterred. “what can you do then?”

She almost tried to fight
the urge. Almost. But even as she was trying to convince herself of
that, she was lowering her face to his, her hands going to the back
of his neck and holding him still as her lips found his.

It was tentative at
first, soft. Eric's lips were firm but pliant under hers, letting her
set the pace. His hands slowly slid up the sides of her thighs,
slipping into the hollows above her hipbones and pressing. Lena
groaned against his lips and his hands slowly moved upward, caressing
her ribs, landing by the sides of her breasts.

Lena pulled back
suddenly, looking down at him, her breath coming out shallow and
rapid. His hands felt heavy where they were resting with no intention
of moving. Eric's eyes opened slowly, the color an almost slate gray,
piercing. He watched her for a moment, waiting for some sign that she
wanted him to pull away. Finding only a heavy-lidded desire, his
hands moved forward, cupping her breasts in his wide palms.

Lena sucked in her breath
at the contact, unable to concentrate on anything but the sensation
of his hands on her body. His hands shifted, his thumbs moving across
her nipples slowly, teasing them into rigid peaks. His hands moved
upward, pulling the straps of her tank top off her shoulders. He kept
pulling downward until her breasts were exposed to the cool night
air.

“Eric...” she
breathed out, feeling anxious, looking around.

“No one can see
you, baby,” Eric said, his voice confident and assuring.

Lena leaned backward
slightly, her head resting against the bottom of the raised window.
Eric's hands covered her bare breasts, squeezing them slightly before
his thumbs went back to their teasing. He pinched the sensitive peaks
between his fingers, just hard enough for her to yelp, but not hard
enough for her to want to pull away.

He looked up at her for a
second before dipping his head and taking one of her nipples into his
mouth, sucking and running his tongue over the point. Lena moaned,
her hands slamming down on the window sill to keep herself from
falling backward. She felt shock of desire growing in her core,
making her legs feel shaky, slamming shut around Eric's torso,
pulling him closer.

His teeth sunk into the
peak, his other hand squeezing her left breast roughly.

Somewhere on the street
below, a car door slammed and Lena's eyes flew open. She struggled
against the sexual tension, quickly pushing her toward a cliff. And
all she wanted to do was jump. But her hand slammed down on Eric's
shoulder instead, pushing at him.

“Okay... stop,”
she said, her voice weak.

Eric looked up at her,
his eyes cloudy and intense for a moment before he fell back on his
heels, moving away from her. Lena grabbed the front of her tank top
and yanked it back into place, snapping the straps back onto her
shoulders. She leaned forward for a moment, her elbows on her knees,
her head in her hands.

“You alright?”
he asked, reaching out and placing a hand on the back of her arm.

“Yeah,” she
said quickly, standing up and almost knocking him onto his back. She
tried to avoid eye contact as she carefully stepped back in through
the window and into her room. If she looked at him, she knew she'd
invite him in.

Once she was inside, Eric
slowly got to his feet, taking one long deep breath and exhaling it
as a quiet curse. He ran a hand through his hair, looking out toward
the town.

Lena took a steadying
breath and leaned her face out the window to look at him. She felt a
smirk, much like the one he was always giving her, playing at her
lips.

“So I can't control
myself around you, huh?” she asked, and Eric turned back to her
with a disbelieving smile. “Try not to die scaling back down
the building,” she added, ducking back into her room, slamming
the window, and closing the curtains.

There. Now she had the
upper hand. She smiled at the closed window. All was how it was
supposed to be. She was finally the one in charge.

Ten

Eric stood on the balcony
for a long while, Lena moving around inside her room for a for a few
minutes before turning her lights off. He raked a hand down his face,
frustrated. And maybe a little more confused than he would like.

He sighed, hauling
himself over the railing and climbing halfway down the old wooden
trellis before jumping to the ground. He looked back up at the inn
for a second before turning and walking toward the center of town.

What the hell was going
on with him? He stalked down Main Street, his footsteps heavy,
conveying all the anxiety he was feeling inside. He needed to get the
girl out of his head already. It wasn't like him to think about
someone so much. But, he reminded himself, not many of the other
women had been quite so big of a challenge. Or a puzzle. He wanted to
get to know the woman she was inside, underneath the ice queen image.

He walked up the glass
door, slamming his fist against the wooden door frame, making the
glass jump ominously. Somewhere inside a light went on. Eric kept his
hand on the door frame, leaning as if he wasn't capable of standing
on his own anymore.

The door opened a minute
later. Liam stood there in a pair of blue plaid pajama pants, his
eyes small like he had been sleeping. He looked up at Eric for a
second before raising his hands and showing Eric a bottle of whiskey
and two glasses.

“Yup,” Eric
said, pushing past Liam and walking past the bookshelves and toward
the cafe, dropping down in a chair and tapping the table.

Liam snorted, putting the
glasses down and pouring whiskey into one until it was half full and
pushing it toward Eric before filling his own. Eric tipped the glass
and finished it in one gulf, slamming it down and reaching for the
bottle as Liam settled down across from him.

“It's the city
girl, huh?” Liam asked, toying with his glass but not drinking.

Eric stared down at his
glass, empty again. “Yeah.”

Liam nodded. “It's
an awful plan,” he said, his voice reasonable. “she's
going to be gone in a week.”