Read Online Valentine Vote by Susan Blexrud - Free Book Online Page B

the meantime, I’ve got a deposition to take in the morning. I need some shut eye.” She bounced off the bed. “But before we leave this discussion, are you really afraid that what Eric wants is kinky sex? Or is it possible that what you’re really afraid of here is intimacy? Because when you look at the big picture, kinky sex is just a speck on the horizon, but intimacy is the whole shebang.”
    Courtney squeezed her eyes shut and blew out a huge breath. “I’m afraid I’ll lose my edge, that all I’ve worked for will turn to mush because I’m blinded by a man.”
    “Sweetie, you gotta live a little! Stop trying to anticipate all the things that could happen and get out there and see what
does
happen, huh?” Helen nudged her thigh.
    She let out a heavy sigh. “I know you’re right. I guess. Okay, I’ll try.”
    “Hey, you know what they say: Do or do not. There is no try.”
    She opened one eye and squinted at Helen. “Eleanor Roosevelt again?”
    Her roommate shook her head. “Yoda.” She ducked just in time to miss the throw pillow Courtney launched at her grinning face.
    • • •
    Eric drummed his pencil on his desk blotter. What did she want from him? Hell, what did he want from her? Friendship was out of the question. If they didn’t end up lovers, they couldn’t be friends. The tobacco issue had seen to that. And if she held out any hope of convincing him, she’d be sorely disappointed. No, they couldn’t be friends, and after the upcoming vote on Valentine’s Day, they might not make it as lovers either.
    When he’d kissed her, the world stood still. All that mattered was Courtney in his arms. And it wasn’t enough. He wanted to be inside her, to be the first man in her life, but he was at odds with her innocence versus her awkward attempts at dirty talk. Did that stuff really turn her on or did she think that’s what he wanted to hear?
    He’d tried to keep the evening light. He was afraid of becoming aroused and then going too fast if she wasn’t ready. Maybe she’d stopped him because she was worried they’d get too rough—like he’d ever done that. But perhaps she thought he had. She probably assumed he took the riding crop out of the frame in his office so he could ride an occasional lobbyist or two. But his collection of what she thought was fantasy equipment was just that … a collection, not all that different from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles he collected growing up.
    Would he want to spank Courtney? The thought of her naked across his knee maybe held a certain appeal, but seriously, he’d rather just be with her, holding hands in the park, eating popcorn at the movies, taking Travis to a ballgame. He shook his head, hoping to clear his confusion. This continuous loop was getting him nowhere.
    If he were smart, he’d give Courtney some space. That way she could figure out what she wanted. And he could, too.
    • • •
    Courtney didn’t hear from Eric for a week. Though she was busier than she’d ever been, he constantly invaded her thoughts. It was that kiss. Why did she torture herself, reliving his lips on hers, the sensuous way he’d eased his arm around her and pulled her close, the taste of him mingled with his scent of spice and woods after their day at Manassas. She shook her head, trying to clear the image of how sexy and dark his eyes were when their kiss ended, staring at each other, their breathing shallow with yearning.
    Trying to forget about him, she threw herself into securing the last few votes she needed for the tobacco tax. It was going to be dangerously close. Commitments from senators in Arkansas and Oklahoma were solid, but Florida and South Carolina could go either way, and without Eric’s vote, the bill was in serious jeopardy. But she wouldn’t try to convince him again. He’d dug in his heels, and in her objective moments, which were few where he was concerned, she could even understand his point.
    That afternoon, she heard Bill clipping