It was Ana who came up for air first and looked him in the eyes. She pressed her cheek to his. “Why haven’t you kissed me before now?”
“I’ve been a fool,” Erik said, and kissed her again.
Ana pulled his shirt out of his waistband so that she could run her hands over his hot skin. Another new experience since friends didn’t routinely touch one another’s naked bodies. Her feverish mind thought back. Yes, she’d seen Erik in a swimsuit on a couple occasions. Once when they had flown to Barbados for the weekend with his sister, Belana, and her husband, Nick, and another time when they’d taken a dip in the pool at his parents’ house in Connecticut. He was in great shape. Cut from all the running and weightlifting he did on a daily basis. Ana was not nearly as disciplined. She liked running with Erik on Saturday mornings, but walking was more her taste. All this was going through her mind while the man of her dreams was kissing her, and she thought she must be neurotic to be thinking of anything other than the taste of his mouth and the warm, solid feel of his body touching hers. It was fear of change that stood in the way of her truly enjoying Erik.
What would she do if he made love to her and lost interest, just as that actor who would remain nameless had done? It would kill her—she realized at that instant in her kitchen, she adored this man. She loved him in a way she had never thought to love a man, completely. Until Erik she thought of men as enigmas whom women were doomed to never fully understand. However Erik had proved that theory a lie. She understood him. She knew, for example, that even though he denied it he had an abandonment issue with his mother. It’s true that his mother had come back into his life briefly last year, but by that time the damage had been done. And she wasn’t in his life long before she revealed she had a terminal illness. Only weeks later she had died with all her children holding her hands, the very children she had walked away from. No one came away from that without emotional scarring.
Erik had never let himself get close to anyone before Ana. He jokingly said it was because he’d just never found the right woman. Ana believed it was because he was afraid of being abandoned yet again by a woman he loved. This, Ana, thought last night in her kitchen, put a great deal of pressure on her. She would never dream of hurting him, but what if she did hurt him in spite of every effort not to? She was only human.
It was soon after this thought ran through her mind that Erik had tipped her chin toward him and said, “Let’s not waste any more time than we already have. I love you, Ana. I believe I’ve loved you since the first time we met.”
Tears instantly sprang to Ana’s eyes. “I love you, too!” She hugged him tightly. “I love you so much that I’m afraid of my feelings for you.”
He kissed her forehead. “Afraid? What do you mean?”
“What we have is perfect in a sense. You’re my best friend, the person I confide in, aside from my own family. What if that changes? What if becoming lovers changes us?”
Erik laughed. “If anything it’ll enhance how we already feel about each other.” He became somber. “It’s that actor, isn’t it? The one who broke your heart after you’d slept with him? Ana, you’re not guilty of doing anything to warrant his behavior. Some men are bastards and will always be bastards. He’s one of them. I’m sure you’re not the only woman he’s treated that way.”
“Maybe I’m not good in bed,” Ana said miserably.
Erik held her by the shoulders and looked deeply in her eyes. “That’s the most ludicrous statement I’ve ever heard.” He smiled as he pulled her into his arms. “One day, my sweet Ana, you and I are going to make love, and you’re going to know without a doubt that you are very, very good in bed and maybe the couch, the kitchen table and the shower, too.”
Ana laughed and cried. “Someday? Why not this day, this night?”
“Because sex for the first time is an event,” Erik said. “It’ll be remembered forever and you don’t want to mess with forever. We’ve waited this long, we can wait awhile longer.”
Now, as they stood in each other’s arms on the Barone’s balcony, Ana gazed up at him and said, “It’s just as well we didn’t make love last night because I would want you again tonight and it would be awkward making love under the Barones’ roof.”
“We’d be very quiet,” Erik joked.
“I doubt it,” Ana countered.
* * *
Later, at the party, Erik spent most of the time fielding questions from Leo Barone’s employees who wanted to know more about Whitaker Enterprises. It was apparent to him that they were grateful to be retaining their jobs in these hard economic times. So many people were out of jobs and finding it difficult to find another. They almost made him feel like some kind of hero for offering assistance to Barone Shoes, a feeling he fervently declined.
“I should be thanking you,” he told them. “Leo has built a wonderful business and you’ve contributed to the quality of the product he produces. Without loyal, hardworking employees, no business would survive. Or be able to build a reputation investors like myself notice when we’re looking to invest in someone.”
Leo had stepped up and said, “That’s a long way of saying he wouldn’t have been interested if we didn’t make a quality product.”
Everyone laughed, but Erik was happy he’d gotten his point across and from that moment on during the evening, business was not discussed. The topics stayed on golf and sports teams.
Meanwhile in another section of the great room, the women and children were gathered around Ana who was quickly making sketches of the children in charcoal. She didn’t go anywhere without her sketch pad and the children were taking great delight in her swift manner of drawing their likenesses. Since it was only a few days from Halloween, Teresa had suggested that the children come in costumes and, now, Ana was drawing the image of a six-year-old African-American girl dressed as a fairy princess. The mother of the little girl stood behind Ana on one side, and Julianna stood on the other.
“You’re very good,” the mother said, smiling broadly. “You even captured the mischievous expression in Nikki’s eyes.”
Julianna laughed. “That’s our Nikki to a T.” She had babysat Nikki on occasion and knew the little girl was a handful.
Ana, sitting on a straight-backed chair directly in front of Nikki, smiled warmly. “She’s adorable.”
Finished with Nikki’s portrait, she handed the finished product to Nikki’s mother. Nikki climbed off her chair and spontaneously kissed Ana on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said.
“Well,” Ana said, laughing softly. “That’s the first time I’ve ever been paid in kisses for my work. Thank you, Nikki.”
With Nikki’s portrait, Ana had drawn all four children who had attended the party with their parents. Not to be outdone, Teresa asked sweetly, “Would you draw my baby now?”
Julianna immediately took umbrage with being called a baby. “Mother, I’m not a baby!”
“You’re my baby, and always will be. Get used to it,” Teresa returned. “Now sit down and let Ana draw you. It’s not every day that you get to have your picture drawn by an artist of her caliber.” She smiled at Ana. “Don’t you dare forget to phone and tell me when and where your show is going to take place.”
“I won’t,” Ana promised. She met Julianna’s gaze.
Julianna