Claiming Colleen (Home to Harbor Town 3)

His dark head dipped slightly. His breath, warm and fragrant, brushed against her nose and lips. The subtle scent of his spicy aftershave filtered into her nose. She inhaled, greedy for it.

“Do you regret that kiss?” he asked.

For a stretched few seconds, neither spoke. The silence was absolute. Colleen wondered if they both held their breath.

“I keep trying to regret it but—”

She never finished her sentence, because he leaned down and closed the distance between them, seizing her mouth with his. One second she’d been Eric-less, and the next she was submerged in him, overwhelmed by the feeling of his demanding lips and singular taste. She stumbled in her boots. In fact, she later wondered with rising horror if she hadn’t swooned. He caught her, holding her firmly in his arms.

But what woman wouldn’t be caught off balance—and thrilled by her dizziness—while being consumed by Eric Reyes?

She went up on her tiptoes and pressed against his long, lean body, her prickly nerve endings in need of pressure…sensation. It was if she’d been starving all this time and hadn’t recognized her state of deprivation until now. He must have felt her desire, because he tightened his hands around her arms, pulling her closer still. His agile tongue demanded entry and she granted it, all too eager for his taste. He staked his claim, sweeping his tongue everywhere, exploring her. It thrilled her—his size, his strength. She wasn’t used to feeling so small next to a man, so feminine in comparison.

One of his hands trailed up her arm, opened along the side of her neck in a thoroughly possessive gesture, devouring her all the while, making her hot…dizzy. The next thing she knew, his mouth was moving, awakening her nerve endings along her jaw and then her neck.

“You taste good enough to eat,” he whispered roughly before he increased her shivers by placing a kiss on her ear. His ravishment of her throat continued. Colleen struggled to stand…to think.

In a remote part of her brain, she also recognized that he’d been restraining himself on Sunset Beach. Coming into contact with the full extent of his desire had her spinning.

“Eric…please…I don’t think…such a good idea,” she mumbled incoherently. Even as she attempted her lame protest, however, her actions told another story. Her hand found a way to his head. She held his mouth against her neck, delving her fingers into his thick, wavy hair.

He groaned when she scraped her fingernails against his scalp. He tightened his hold and pulled her higher and more firmly against him. Colleen gasped at the sensation of her breasts sliding along his chest. She twisted slightly against him, rubbing, needful of the friction his hard flesh offered her. He went still for a moment, his hot mouth at the base of her neck.

He lifted his hand from her shoulder, and Colleen heard the snick of the lock on the door.

Her eyes sprang open. The sound had been tiny, but full of meaning—charged, incendiary…illicit. She pushed against his chest and shoved out of his arms.

For a good five seconds, they stood there, both of them breathing heavily, several feet of space separating them. As the spell of his touch slowly faded, anger rushed in to take its place.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, locking that door?” she grated out.

He arched one brow sardonically, the expression telling her loud and clear that the answer was obvious.

She smoothed her shirt and took another step away from him. Not even her rising fury over what had just occurred could make her totally immune to the fact that Eric looked damn attractive at that moment. Her stroking fingers had mussed his hair. Several dark locks fell sexily onto his forehead.

And that wasn’t all. His aroused state was shockingly—thrillingly—obvious, and he didn’t appear to be in any haste to hide that fact from her.

The realization sent her into a tailspin. She was angry, true, but also bewildered by the strength of her response to him. She wanted Eric Reyes. Eric Reyes. She didn’t want to want him, but her body seemed to be ignoring her wishes.

“I suppose this is some kind of ritual for you, to bring women to your office on your lunch hour,” she said in a low, shaking voice. She reached to unfasten the lock.

“Always running, aren’t you, Colleen? I always pegged you for having more courage than that.”

Her hand dropped, and she spun to face him. “You ask me up to your office on a pretense and then take advantage of the situation and maul me. I choose to leave, and you claim that’s running?” she said in a shaky voice.

He regarded her somberly. If it weren’t for his mussed hair, smoky eyes and…agitated state, it might have been the return of the indomitable, arrogant Dr. Reyes. Seeing both aspects of his character in evidence—the cool, arrogant side alongside the hot, impassioned male—intrigued Colleen despite her irritation.

“If you want to leave, that’s your prerogative, of course. I don’t think it’s me you’re running from, though. Not me....or my ‘mauling’ of your body,” he added darkly.

Colleen flushed. He was right to chastise her for that mauling comment. If that had been mauling, then she was just as guilty for returning the favor.

“You’re running because of the way you feel,” he continued. “Why are you so determined to deny that we’re attracted to each other?”

She rolled her eyes and released the lock. “The attraction would have to be a heck of a lot stronger than that for me to ever get involved with you,” she said coldly, despite the fact that she was hot.

Very hot.

“Oh,” he said, his head going back slightly as if he’d just caught her meaning. “A kiss has to be a lot better than that for the princess to be interested. I get it.”