smooth lips had made the sweetest contact with hers, and Deanna had sighed with pleasure.
The kiss had been full of fire, eliciting passion while respectfully not crossing the line. He had left her bedazzled while kissing her without using his tongue. Instead, his lips had skillfully and teasingly played over hers. And when he had softly suckled her bottom lip, Deanna had thought she would go mad with lust.
That’s what she was feeling now as she lay on her bed. Lust.
It had been a long time since she had slept with a man. She and Brian had gone to bed only a few times, and she hadn’t felt a smidgen of the fire and passion in his bed as she had tonight while kissing Eric on the street.
Before Brian, it had been a good year since her last relationship. And she hadn’t really missed the sex.
But now…
Deanna rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. Closed her eyes and replayed the kiss with Eric in her mind.
They hadn’t even exchanged phone numbers—she was going to see him tomorrow, anyway—but she was so hot and bothered that a part of her wished she could call him now, that she could pay him a visit….
“What am I thinking?” she asked herself. “One decent kiss and you’re thinking about getting naked? Deanna, what is wrong with you?”
Though in all fairness, it had been more than a decent kiss. It had been an amazing kiss.
So amazing that she couldn’t wait for the hours to pass so that she could see him again at school tomorrow.
* * *
No doubt about it, the kiss had been worth the wait.
Eight years and ten months after the last time he had seen her, Eric had finally done what he’d always wanted to do. Tasted Deanna’s lips to see if they were as sweet as he imagined they would be.
And, man, were they ever! He had heard people say that a kiss could determine if there were truly sparks between people, and based on the kiss he and Deanna had shared, they had generated enough heat to melt the snow in Cleveland on a winter’s day.
He’d heard her soft purr of protest when he broke the kiss. Had seen the dazed look in her eyes as he gazed down at her.
Yes, the kiss had come out of the blue—at least for her. But it had proven a point.
They had chemistry.
The kind of chemistry Eric couldn’t wait to experience in a bedroom.
But that wasn’t all that he wanted, which was why he knew better than to push things too quickly. As much as he suspected—based on the fact that after the kiss Deanna had asked him if he was just heading home—that another kiss or two and she would have been agreeable to spending the night with him, he had refrained.
Because the chemistry certainly wasn’t one-sided, and they were bound to explore their sexual connection sooner or later.
In the meantime, Eric wasn’t about to blow the opportunity he’d been waiting for by rushing the sex.
Because eleven years ago, when Deanna had started dating Marvin, Eric had felt that she had chosen the wrong brother.
Chapter 5
The next day, Deanna went to Kwame’s school shortly before three-thirty as planned. She went into the office, where she saw Eric talking to the secretary. Hearing Deanna enter, he looked in her direction.
And damn if his smile didn’t cause her heart to flutter.
His eyes held hers, and Deanna couldn’t help wondering if he was thinking about the same thing she was.
Their kiss.
She swallowed. Just seeing those full lips, she could feel them on hers again. Who was she kidding? She didn’t need to see his lips to remember the kiss.
She had relived it many times during the night.
Why hadn’t someone snatched him up? Simply because he had been too busy with work? Was that his issue? There was no doubt that he was a good catch.
“Hey,” he said, walking toward her.
Deanna wasn’t sure if he was going to hug her, but she darted her gaze in the direction of the secretary, a silent way of saying she wasn’t sure a hug would be appropriate here. Not now that Eric had changed the landscape of their relationship by telling her that he’d always been attracted to her.
And whether he simply caught her meaning, or didn’t plan to hug her regardless, he kept his hands at his side. He simply said, “It’s good to see you again.”
“I’m glad to be here. I’m excited to work with the kids.”
Eric nodded. “Let me take you to the auditorium. The rehearsals will just be starting, so this is a good time for me to take you in and introduce you to everybody.”
Deanna followed Eric the short distance from the office to the large double doors she remembered from her childhood.
And as she had thought upon seeing the exterior of her old school, the auditorium that had once seemed large and daunting didn’t seem nearly as big now. Oh, it was definitely a good size, but it certainly looked smaller from her perspective as an adult.
At the end of the seating area was a stage. Deanna could remember performing Christmas and Easter plays there.
A number of kids were seated in the front row, and Deanna could only see the backs of their heads. An Indian man in jeans and a short-sleeved dress shirt sat on the edge of the stage with his feet hanging over.
“If I didn’t call your name, you can still have a part in the chorus,” the man was saying, “but I’ve made my decisions about the lead roles, and my decisions are final.”
As Deanna and Eric walked down the sloping floor toward the stage, the man stopped speaking. Eric moved forward with purpose, and as he got close enough to the stage, he said, “Mr. Singh, this is Ms. Hart.”
Mr. Singh hopped off of the stage and walked toward Deanna with his hand outstretched. When he reached her, he shook hers firmly. “Call me Sanjay.”
“Hello, Sanjay. I’m Deanna.”
Sanjay Singh looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, and he had a stern look about him.
That sternness was proven when, a moment later, he whipped his head to the right and said, “I won’t tolerate any excessive chatter. No one speaks until I say otherwise.”
Inwardly, Deanna cringed. For a man working on a theater production, he seemed to be tightly wound.
Then Sanjay turned back to her. “So, you’re a professional recording artist. Sorry, I never heard of you.”
It was the kind of comment that Deanna suspected was intended to knock her down a notch. And Eric must have figured the same thing, because he clamped a hand down on Sanjay’s shoulder and
