Her trembling only increased when he pressed his face next to her neck, kissing her. She sunk her fingers into his damp, thick hair.
“I’ve waited for this for so long,” he murmured next to her throat. Colleen’s eyes went wide. He’d sounded a little rough…desperate. She felt a tug on her bra, and then the fabric loosened. They both moaned when his lips found hers and they kissed feverishly. Her fingertips mapped the muscles and tendons on his neck and shoulders. He was so hard, but his skin was so smooth. The contrast fascinated her. She couldn’t get enough. She caught him at his neck and pressed, increasing the pressure of her kiss. His hands moved. His fingers skimmed her sensitive breasts as he pushed aside the fabric of her bra. He lightly detailed a nipple with his forefinger and a violent shudder went through her.
He sealed their kiss and lifted his head.
“Colleen?” he rasped, obviously concerned. “You’re shaking. You’re still cold.”
“No. I mean…maybe I am a little cold. But I think it’s mostly nerves. And…and…”
“What?” he whispered, stroking her face as if for reassurance.
“It feels so good,” she admitted in a threadbare whisper. “I don’t remember it feeling quite this…intense.”
His caressing fingers stilled. It suddenly struck her that she was ruining things with all her shaking. If they just could get on with things, she knew it would eventually stop. She had faith in him. It would take all of another thirty seconds for Eric to make her forget her own name, let alone the fact that she was nervous and experiencing feelings she’d never had in her life. She leaned up, determining to resume their torrid kiss, but he halted her with a hand at her shoulder.
“Wha—?” She stopped when he stood next to the bed.
“Come on. I’m going to put you in a hot shower.”
“But—”
Again, he never let her finish. He just matter-of-factly whisked her bra off her arms. Colleen’s heart sunk a little when she saw he barely glanced at her breasts.
Oh, no. She really was ruining this.
He grabbed her hand and hustled her into the master-suite bathroom. It still felt warm and humid from Eric’s earlier shower. He flipped on the light and shut the door. Colleen stood there stupidly as he turned on the shower.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled when he began to unfasten her skirt a few seconds later.
“Why? You’re cold. I’m the one who should be sorry for not warming you up before I dragged you to bed.”
“You hardly dragged me,” Colleen muttered. She tried to brush his hands away, feeling foolish. “I can undress myself, Eric.”
“I want to do it.” He speared her with his gaze and Colleen dropped her hands. She’d thought him calm and collected in the past minute, but she’d thought wrong. Very wrong. His eyes told the true story. He was far, far from being unaffected by her partial nakedness.
He bent his head and resumed unfastening her skirt. It slid over her hips with his urging, falling in a pool around her ankles. He helped her step out of the fabric. She stood there wearing nothing but panties, thigh-highs and pumps. His gaze trailed over her, making her tingle wherever it touched. He placed his open hand over her belly and hip, the gesture blatantly possessive and intensely erotic. Colleen couldn’t breathe.
“I can’t think of what to say,” he muttered, his hand stroking her waist. “You’re so beautiful.” His fingertips skimmed the bottom curve of one of her breasts. “So incredibly soft.”
The pleasure wrought by his touch was sharp and concentrated. Her nipples pulled so tight as he caressed her, it made her hiss between a clenched jaw. He glanced into her face.
The next thing she knew, he was pulling down her panties and kneeling before her, working her thigh-highs down her legs. He held up a hand, and she grabbed it to steady herself while he removed her heels. Spikes of pleasure shot through her when he palmed her naked calf and then stroked her heel as he slipped off a shoe.
By the time he straightened, and she was naked, Colleen was trembling again from acute desire. She reached for the waistband of his sweats, but he grasped her hands, halting her.
“Get in,” he said, nodding toward the shower, his voice rough. “It’s nice and hot.”
She went hesitantly. The steam and heat felt delicious when he slid back the glass shower door. “Eric,” she called in protest when he shut the door between them.
“Just give me a second. Try to warm up,” she heard him say through the barrier of the door and the sound of the hot water pounding on the shower floor.
“I’m not that cold,” she said, but she turned into the inviting heat anyway, submersing herself in the steaming, jetting water. It dismayed her a little, to think she would look like a drowned rat when Eric next saw her, but she couldn’t resist the heat. She closed her eyes and put her head at the center of the spray, hastily wiping away the mascara she was quite sure was streaming down her face.
Heat and comfort coursed through her, soaking into flesh and then bone, erasing her tension.
She peered sideways, trying to
discern what Eric was doing. Had he left the bathroom? The glass doors had already steamed up, obscuring her vision.