A moan left his lips that shook me to my core and shivered up my spine. I pushed my hand along his face, my fingers slipped into his hair and I kissed him back just as deeply.
Our bodies moved together and I moaned as his tongue prodded my lips. I let him in. He tasted like sweet red wine and longing that I'd forgotten about so long ago, that it almost felt like a dream to kiss him now. He panted against me and I wanted to hear that sound against my ear as he took me into his bedroom and slid inside of me.
My thoughts jolted back to reality.
Was I really having those kinds of thoughts about Peter?
I knew whatever this was, it couldn't last. I would be packing up and going home soon. There was nothing to pursue, nothing to hold onto. The last thing I wanted was to have meaningless sex with the man I'd called my best friend for years. Even if I wanted him so desperately I craved it.
I pulled back quickly and took in a shaky breath. When I opened my eyes, Peter looked at me with pink lips and confusion in his eyes. That look almost made me want to kiss him again. It looked so lost and disappointed. I pushed a few strands of hair behind my ear and cleared my throat.
"I… it's getting late," I managed to stammer out. "I should get some sleep so I can get back to work tomorrow. That house won't clean itself out."
Peter nodded slowly. "You're right," he grunted, his voice deep and low and toe-curling. "I'll let you take my bedroom for the night. I'll sleep out here."
I shook my head. "That's okay, the couch is more than fine for me. Thank you for dinner and the wine." I drained my glass. "I'll go get ready for bed."
I quickly walked off even as I felt his eyes trained on my back.
You're not staying long enough for this. I can't lead him on.
I'd already hurt him once. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him again. I snagged my bag on the way to the bathroom and locked myself inside.
I needed some distance from Peter or I was going to make a huge mistake.
Chapter 6
Peter
I couldn't stop thinking about our kiss. Joanne's lips against mine, so soft, sweet and warm they made me want to kiss her all over again. I wanted to trace my tongue against hers and hold her in my arms again.
I don't think that's a good idea.
I remembered the way she pulled away and quickly put a space between us. Clearly, it wasn't what she wanted.
After I stared at the ceiling for a while longer, I decided to get up and start moving for the day. I still needed to take her back home and help her finish packing everything up. Finally, I rolled myself out of bed and tugged on the flannel pajama bottoms I'd tossed off the night before when I was too hot. I decided to leave the shirt. My house was hot as hell and I didn't want to burn up while I made breakfast.
I slipped out of my room and found Joanne up and folding the blanket neatly on the couch. She glanced up at me and stared. I blinked at her before I realized her eyes had traced my chest and were working their way down my hips rapidly. I grinned. When she caught my eye, she coughed and went back to folding.
"Good morning."
"Morning," I said. "How'd you sleep?"
"Just fine," she said as she scratched her head. "So, what are we doing today? I still have things to do at my mom's place."
"I figured I'd make us some breakfast and then we'd get started with our day." I walked over to the window and pushed aside the curtain before I whistled. "On second thought I don't think we'll be going anywhere today."
"What? Why not?" Joanne walked over to me and stared outside before her jaw dropped. "That's a hell of a lot of snow."
"Yeah, I don't think we're getting out of here anytime soon. Someone might need to dig us out."
I glanced around my property. Every inch of it was covered in snow. I walked over to the front door and opened it. Snow stood almost halfway up the door and held the imprint of the door itself on it. I scratched my head.
"Yeah, this is crazy."
Rory ran out of my room and headfirst into the wall of snow at the door. He crashed through it and I jumped back as snow cascaded to the ground. The cold stung at my toes and I sighed as Rory stepped back and shook his head in confusion before he barked and bit at the snow.
"You see snow every winter and you still act like this every year."