Moonlight Over Manhattan(78)
“You seem like a normal human being to me. And I don’t know how you do what you do.” She was humbled by it. She knew there was no way she would be able to cope with the emotional pressures of his job, let alone the rest of it.
“Hey, I don’t know how you do what you do.”
She laughed. “I walk dogs, Ethan. That is not rocket science.”
“It is to someone like me. I’d find the responsibility terrifying. I’d bring them all back dead or injured.”
“This from someone who spends his days saving the lives of someone’s loved one, although having seen you with a dog, I’m not going to argue with the point you make.” She rested her head on his chest and smiled as she felt his fingers gently stroke her hair. “You were right, by the way. This is my first ever one-night stand. If I’d known how much fun it was I might not have waited so long.”
And she wondered why, when it felt like that, anyone would ever stop at one night.
She hated the idea that she’d never have a night like that again.
Was that how it was for Fliss? Daniel?
No. They were in love. It was different.
Ethan was silent for a moment. “I hate to break it to you, but that wasn’t a one-night stand.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. Have I just ruined your bad-girl status?”
“I don’t know. I guess that depends on what happens next.”
He turned his head and trailed his mouth across her jaw and upward, his lips lingering on the corner of her mouth. She felt his hands cup her cheeks and then his mouth, firm, coaxing and then demanding, slow expert kisses that demolished her ability to think.
“Ethan—”
He lifted his mouth from hers just enough to speak. “I don’t know where this is going. I don’t know what this even is, but right now I’m not sure I’m ever going to let you out of my bed again.”
She didn’t know where it was going, either, and she didn’t care.
She was dizzy with it.
She loved the shape of his mouth. The firm lines and the way the corners tilted when he smiled.
“This is my bed. We’re in my bed.”
“In that case you’re going to have to call someone to have me forcibly removed. In fact I’m not sure I’m going to move again. When I find the energy to pick up my phone, I’m going to call work and resign. We can both stay here until we die of thirst or starvation.” He slid his hand over her hip and lower, lingering on the junction of her thighs.
She caught her breath and arched against his seeking fingers, her body heavy with sensation and saturated with need. She’d never felt this way about anyone before. Not ever. Never felt this all-consuming, intimate connection with a man.
His touch was sure and skilled and she wondered how it was that he could know exactly what she wanted and needed when she hadn’t said a word. The only sounds that came from her lips were soft moans of pleasure and he captured them with his mouth, intensifying sensation with kisses that blew her mind.
And in the back of her mind, the only part that hadn’t blown a fuse, a question began to form.
If this wasn’t a one-night stand, what was it?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SHE WALKED ON AIR, her smile so wide that people turned their heads to look at her as she walked the dogs, curious as to what had made her so happy.
She could have told them in one word.
Ethan.
Ethan, Ethan, Ethan.
“You look as if Christmas came early,” Glenys said as they walked slowly along Fifth Avenue. “So it’s going well then with the doctor?”
“Oh—” Harriet blinked. Was it that obvious? “Well, he’s working a lot of the time of course, but we’ve seen each other occasionally.” And each time had been better than the last. She never would have believed dating could be so easy.
“I knew right from the beginning that he was the one for you.”
Harriet felt her heart skip. “I don’t believe in ‘the one.’ How can there only be one person for us? What if ‘the one’ lives in Peru and I’m in New York? How am I supposed to find him? I don’t think my internal GPS is that reliable.”
“You found him, didn’t you? Life has a way of sending us to the right place at the right time.”
“You think spraining my ankle was all part of some master plan? Because that wasn’t even the start of it. If it hadn’t been for the dog sitting, I never would have seen him again.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Glenys was cryptic.
Harriet sidestepped a patch of ice. “Be careful here. How’s your hip?”
“Much better thanks to you. The doctor says all the walking has been good for me.”
“I’m pleased to hear it.”
“Are you seeing him later?”
“Your doctor?”
“No, your doctor, honey.” Glenys gave her a saucy wink and Harriet rolled her eyes.
“You’re worse than my sister.” And she was conscious that she had yet to tell Fliss what was happening. But what was happening exactly? She didn’t know, which was why she was avoiding the conversation. Fliss would turn it into more than it was and Harriet didn’t want that.
“We love you, that’s all. We want you to be happy. You’re like a granddaughter to me. If you didn’t already have a grandmother who loves you, I’d try and officially adopt you. Because of your chocolate chip cookies of course. Not for any other reason.”