She had no idea what they were going to do once they left the restaurant, but whatever it was she was going with it. The decision was made without her even being conscious that she’d made it.
If this was the only date with him she was ever going to have, she was going to make it a night to remember.
CHAPTER TWENTY
THEY TOOK A cab back to her apartment.
Although she kept her eyes fixed ahead, he could feel her tension. She was so still she barely seemed to be breathing.
Wondering if she was nervous, he reached out and covered her hand, closing his gloved fingers around hers.
She sent him a glance that told him she wasn’t nervous. He’d expected indecision and doubt, but there was no sign of either and everything he saw in her eyes made him want her even more than he already did.
The evening hadn’t exactly gone the way he’d planned. As for what happened next—
He’d intended to see her safely to her door and then leave. That would have been the safe, sensible thing to do but when they reached the front door of her apartment building she turned to him.
There was something in her eyes he hadn’t expected to see. A challenge. He wasn’t sure if she was challenging herself or him.
“Do you want to come in?” She sounded breathless, as if they’d both sprinted the length of Fifth Avenue instead of cruising in the warmth of a cab.
Did he want to go in with her? The answer was yes, but whether he should was a different question altogether.
What was she thinking?
What was going on in her head?
It was snowing again, and he reached out and brushed the flakes from her hair. Had he ever felt temptation like this? If he had he couldn’t remember it. Selfish and single-minded, Alison had called him. And maybe it was true, because he was about to be selfish again. “You’re not the sort to invite a man in after a first date.”
“Maybe I am. Maybe I want to be.”
“So is this another Challenge Harriet?”
“I don’t know. But I do know that if you want to come in, then I’d like that.”
She was so straightforward. So honest. It was one of the things he loved about her. Liked, he corrected himself quickly. Liked, not loved.
He quieted his conscience by reminding himself that she wasn’t a child. She was a woman with a mind of her own, and it seemed that mind had been made up. Who was he to talk her out of doing something they both wanted? And it wasn’t as if it was complicated.
What he wanted was simple.
Driven by a need he couldn’t quite identify, he cupped her face in his hands, taking his time.
The whole time she’d been living in his apartment, he’d thought about kissing her. By the time she’d moved out, he’d found it hard to think about anything else.
None of his thoughts had come close to reality.
The moment his mouth touched hers, he realized that there was nothing simple about this. Nothing simple about his relationship with Harriet. Nothing simple about the chemistry that burned through them, or the way she made him feel.
Her lips were cool and soft and he felt them part under the pressure of his. He kept it gentle, exploring her mouth with slow easy kisses intended to relax her, but they created nothing but a delicious, dangerous tension and slow and easy swiftly turned into raw and passionate. After five seconds of kissing her he was so aroused that for a moment he forgot that they were standing outside her apartment in full view of anyone who happened to pass.
Not that many people were passing. It was a winter night in New York City and most people were tucked away inside.
Ethan had his own internal warmth, all of it generated by kissing Harriet. He felt her arms wrap round his neck and her body press against his. If she was undecided about what should happen next, there were no outward signs of it.
Above them the sky was inky dark but the street was bathed by the ghostly wash of lamplight. He felt the snow, light as the air it floated through and he felt her sway and then wrap her arms round his neck and press closer. She molded herself against him, delivering hot, melting kisses that burned through the last of his doubts. He could feel her soft curves through her coat, felt temptation and promise. He also felt her shiver.
It was the shivering that cut through the brain-clouding desire.