Erin McCarthy: It’s About Time

Saying it made her feel like complete and utter dog crap, even though she knew it was true. Yet she wanted it not to be true.

Annoyed at her weakness, she stood there, leg out in defiance, and said firmly, “I’m the transitional woman. That’s it. Nothing more.” Only it had felt like a heck of a lot more to her last night when they had talked for hours. And this morning, just minutes ago, when he had been holding her, their bodies joined intimately.

Dammit. She should have just stuck to unconscious orgasms-they were a lot safer, though not nearly as satisfying.

Ashley’s eyes darted past her, then went wide. “Hello.”

Violet put her fingers over her mouth. “Oh, my.”

Trish turned and saw Caleb in the doorway, wearing only his jeans, water still running down his chest, hair sticking up like toothbrush bristles.

“So you felt sorry for me? The sex was your contribution to the Poor Caleb Fund?”

Her mouth worked, but nothing came out.

Ashley said, “That’s one big, angry guy.”

Which pretty much summed things up.

“Of course not! I’m not nice enough to run around having pity sex with guys. Iwanted to have sex with you.”

“But that’s it?” His voice was quiet, tight, tense.

Shoot, shoot, he was hurt. She had hurt his feelings. This was why she couldn’t make a relationship work. She was selfish and too blunt.

Violet tapped Ashley on the shoulder. “It’s time for us to go. We’ll meet you there, okay, Trish?”

Trish waved her hand in agreement.

Ashley looked disappointed to miss the show, but she followed Violet with one more peek back at Caleb’s chest.

A Lake Erie-sized wave of jealousy flooded over Trish.

“I saw that, Ashley Andrews! Watch it or I’ll tell Lucas.” God, she sounded like she was twelve. And she knew darn well Ashley was head over heels for Lucas, which made her own reaction seem even stupider.

“What?” Ashley blinked innocent green eyes. “I was checking the clock.”

“We’ll see you at the shower,” Violet said, and dragged Ashley out the door.

When it clicked in place, Trish turned to face Caleb.

But he was gone.

She found him in the bedroom, pulling on his T-shirt. “Caleb…I have to go to this bridal shower, but we need to talk first.”

“About what?” He sat on the bed to pull on his socks.

“Us.” She stood there feeling like a humongous jerk, somehow devastated by the idea that he was going to just leave and she’d never see him again.

“There is no us.”

“Yes, there is,” she snapped.

“No, you’re just the transitional woman, remember?” He tossed her own words back at her calmly as he laced his gym shoes.

And her heart broke for the first time in her twenty-eight years of life.

Caleb wanted to eat his words the minute they left his mouth. Trish froze, her hand dangling over her chest, her eyes huge.

He swore. Just because she had hurt him didn’t mean he was justified in turning around and doing the same thing. And she hadn’t said anything that was surprising. They hadn’t discussed dating at all. They had just fallen into bed together.

Because it had felt so right, so perfect.

“I’m sorry, Angel, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

Her hand came up in a defensive gesture. “No, no, you’re right. I said it first. It’s not like we could actually date or anything.”

Jesus, there were tears in her eyes. He leaped off the bed, reached for her, hesitated.

“We don’t have anything in common or, or, anything,” she finished, turning away and blinking hard. “God, I’m just as annoying as your ex-wife must have been.”

That’s when he knew she felt the same as he did, and that they could get past this little blip, and be together. Because for some reason she had sat down on that stool next to him the night before, and he knew what that reason was. They were supposed to be together.

“We have a lot in common. We like bowling, lizards, and Harleys, and we believe the bad guy should pay for his crimes. We like the same books and movies and we’ve both been lonely. We like each other.” He touched her chin, forcing her to look at him. “At least, I like you. A lot.”

“You make it sound like it’s easy.”

“It can be easy, if we make it easy.”

She snorted. “The only thing easy is me. I was about as subtle as a hooker this morning.”

Caleb was momentarily distracted by the memory of her straddling him. “Did I look like I minded?”

“Caleb.” She gave a sigh, all hint of tears gone. “Let’s be practical. Maybe I wasn’t tactful in what I said to Ashley, but it was the truth. I’ve confused you with great sex, but I’m not an easy person to get along with. And you still have feelings for your ex-wife.”

The only thing confused was her logic. “Honestly, Trish, I do not.” They needed to get that cleared right up. “What drove me to that bar last night was the fear that I was never going to find someone to share my life with. A woman confident in who she is, intelligent, passionate. And then there you were. All of those things, sitting down right next to me. That’s not dumb luck, Angel. That’s the universe telling us something.”

Trish turned and went to her closet, sorting through her clothes. She shot him a rueful expression over her shoulder. “Telling us what? I don’t feel illuminated. I feel confused as hell.”

Anything he was going to say was forgotten when she pulled that nightshirt off and stood in front of her closet completely naked.

Her fingers plucked an orange-colored dress off a hanger and she turned and threw it on the bed, clearly not noticing that his tongue was on the floor and his dick had shot forward like a pointer dog at attention.

“I’m going to be late to this shower, which makes me a sucky friend. I have to get ready, Caleb. Kindra’s important to me and I don’t want to let her down.”

He wasn’t even going to acknowledge she was standing there naked, looking good enough to lick from head to toe. Because if he did, he wasn’t going to be able to prevent his tongue from taking action.

“I’ll drop you off.” Caleb took a step toward her, palms itching to touch her. He shoved them in the pockets of his jeans. “But before you go, think about this. You said you’re not sure marriage would ever be worth it. Well, this…” He gestured from himself to her. “This is worth pursuing. Because right now I’m feeling like if you let me, I could fall right into love with you.”

Trish felt her nipples harden and her heart go soft like crème brûlée. She was naked and he was talking about love. How exactly did she get herself into situations like this?

Someone here had to be rational, and since he was giving her a lovesick look, it would have to be her. “You just think that now. It’s called afterglow. You don’t really mean that. We just met sixteen hours ago.”

She expected him to give in. Maybe even look a little hurt and embarrassed.

Instead he took another step closer to her, eliminating the remaining space between them. His big hands landed on her arms and she thought taking that nightshirt off had been her stupidest move to date.

“We have something else in common, Trish Jones. You said you always get what you want. Well, so do I. And I want you.”

Then he picked her up and held her so tight she expelled all her air and feared for the safety of her bladder. “Put me down.”

“No. I want you and I’m keeping you and you can’t do anything about it.”

“You’re nuts.” And sexy as hell. Geez, she had it bad for him.

“Nuts about you, lawyer girl.”

“I thought I was Angel.” Her words came out breathier than intended since his hands were stroking across her backside and her breasts were pushing into his bare chest.