You Might Just Get It by Julia Barrett, Winterheart Design Page B

That’s all he needed.
    “ You have a long day today?”
    “ Not too bad. Really. It would have been better if I hadn’t locked myself out. But what can you do? I was sort of hoping to curl up in a hot bath with a good book, but I left my book in the car and then the key… Well, you know the story.” Kate carried the plates to the sink.
    Eric followed with the empty glasses. “You can still have a hot bath,” he said.
    “ Yeah, I guess,” she replied, rinsing off the plates.
    Eric set the glasses down on the counter and ran a hand lightly through the chestnut locks that hugged the back of her neck. He watched goose bumps rise as he trailed his fingers along her shoulders. He heard Kate’s sharp intake of breath. He waited momentarily to see if she’d move away, but she remained still.
    “ I mean, if you’re interested, you could have a hot bath…with me.” Eric lowered his mouth to the tender juncture between her neck and her shoulder and lightly moved his lips over her soft skin. God, she smelled sweet. Like fresh, spring rain. He felt Kate’s breathing quicken and he wondered if she would bolt, but she stayed where she was. He moved his hands down her arms and wrapped his hands around hers beneath the running water. His long fingers twined through hers. She didn’t pull away.
    Kate raised her head and stared at his reflection in the window. Her eyes were wide. “Eric,” she said softly, “We’ve only known each other for ten days and even at that, this is the most time we’ve spent in each other’s company. I’m not sure, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
    Eric stood behind her, meeting her gaze in the window. “I think it’s a very good idea,” he replied. “I’ve been thinking about it since the day you moved in and I saw you across the courtyard. Through this very window.”
    “ You can see me?” she asked.
    “ Just your head.” Eric chuckled. “When you’re in the kitchen. I like your hair damp like this. I like the way it curls around your face.”
    Another intake of breath.
    “ Eric…I…what about…I mean…” Kate began to pull her hands away. “We’re not the same age.”
    “ No, we’re not,” he answered. “And that’s an issue because?”
    “ It’s an issue because I’m older than you.” Her voice was husky.
    “ An issue for whom?”
    “ You? Me?”
    Eric kept his voice low. “Kate, if it was an issue for me, I wouldn’t be standing here, trying to keep from pressing against you because I’m so hard it hurts.”
    Staring at Kate’s reflection, he watched her eyes close. Her lips parted and a tiny sound, almost a whimper, escaped her. His wet hands left hers and he wrapped his arms around her narrow waist, drawing her backwards, drawing her close, pressing her shapely bottom against his erection. He wasn’t lying to her. His cock throbbed behind the zipper of his jeans, eager and aching to be buried inside the heat of the woman in front of him. If, and this was a big if, Kate would give him the opportunity.
    Eric didn’t find many women this intriguing at first glance. When he prepared a meal, he refused to settle for anything less than the best quality ingredients available. He felt the same about women. He didn’t like drama. He didn’t like guessing. He wasn’t attracted to gigglers. He preferred a mature woman. One who knew what she wanted, where she was going. A woman who knew her way around her own body. Knew what she liked and wasn’t afraid to show a man how to give it to her. Younger women tended to be too self-conscious for his taste. It often seemed to Eric as if many of the younger women he’d dated acted like being in bed with a man was an audition tape. They tried to turn love making into a performance. He found it a big turn-off..
    The minute he’d spotted Kate across the courtyard, he felt something, a tug in her direction. It didn’t hurt that she had short hair. For some reason, Eric had a thing for a woman with short, dark