No Deal Breakers (25 page)

"Yeah, 'oh'" he mocked with a small smile and
leaned in, their faces almost touching, his eyes bore into hers,
seeking, asking permission. Instead of granting it her hands moved
of their own accord, her fingers winding in his hair, pulled his
lips the rest of the way toward hers. The second their lips met it
was like she was on fire, something she had never felt before.
Plenty of men had kissed her before, but he was the first, and only
man she'd ever kissed or wanted to kiss.

As the kiss spun on and on she tentatively
opened her mouth to his and the kiss deepened, they spent several
long minutes exploring each other's mouths, and she was shocked to
find she couldn't get enough.

Finally, and far too soon, Brian pulled back
breathing heavily and staring at her with that hungry look in his
eyes. He leaned back, away from her, just slightly and she could
see him trying to compose himself, she attempted to do the same,
but her heart was determined to beat right out of her chest.

"See, you are determined to kill me," he
smirked.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
She looked down and bit her lip.

"Hey, none of that, I see where this is
headed. I'm just teasing you, you can kiss me like that anytime you
want to, I promise you won't find me objecting. And before you say
it, I know you still aren't ready, and that's still okay. I never
want to push you, but I do want you to know that I love you and I
do want to make love with you, but not a second before you're
ready."

"I love you, too. I'm not sure if you heard
me last night, but I realized it then, I do love you. I'm sorry I
fought it for so long, thank you for waiting."

"I thought I heard you say it last night, but
I was so close to sleep I also thought I may be dreaming. And, I'd
wait forever for you." She smiled and leaned in to give him another
kiss, this time just a peck. When she pulled back, the clock caught
her attention and she jumped up.

"You have to get to work, I'll start
breakfast while you hop in the shower." He looked around at the
sunlight now streaming through the windows and jumped up as
well.

"Shoot, you're right. I would just take the
day off and stay here with you but I've missed so much time with my
family being back, and then we have that wedding in a few weeks. I
need to keep caught up."

"I know, I promised Tammy I'd be in today
anyway. Apparently there's a coffee shop opening in town and she's
scared to death that this new woman is going to serve better pie
than her, so she's set up a meeting to try and scare her out of
selling any at all." They both laughed at that, it was a very Tammy
thing to do.

"I'll bet she's more worried that all the
good gossip will get moved over there." Brian said with a wink as
he turned to go to their room.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you, last night
you kept apologizing for something, what did you think I was upset
about?" She asked him over breakfast, that and what he'd said about
Julia had been driving her crazy, but she had had enough heavy
topics already this morning.

"I thought I'd scared you when I was running
my hand along your shoulder. I thought I'd gone too far with that
and you were afraid I was trying to do more than what you were
comfortable with." He looked away nervously, traces of last night's
concern still etched on his face.

"Hey," she said gently, waiting until his
eyes met hers to continue. "You have never done anything to make me
uncomfortable, and if you did, I know that I can trust you enough
to tell you. I like your hands on me," she said shyly, cheeks
aflame as she stared at her half eaten eggs.

"I'm glad you know that…I like my hands on
you too," he mumbled the last part and when she looked up at him
she noticed his face was stained pink, as she was certain hers was
as well.

She cleared her throat, "I've been thinking
about that, and I think that it's time that we revisit the no
touching rule."

He rose a questioning brow, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean I'm still not ready for…you
know…uh, yeah," she could feel the heat returning to her cheeks as
she looked everywhere but at him, though she noticed he was
smirking at her now. "Anyway, we both seem to be in agreement on
kissing, cuddling, holding hands, that sort of thing. I was
thinking, now that I trust you enough to know that you'd never push
me, and that you would stop if I said no, that we could lift that
rule, and you could touch me without asking first. I mean as long
as you're prepared for the possibility that it may still be too
much and I may ask you to stop."

"Really? You trust me that much?" He was
grinning so wide she was surprised his face wasn't splitting in
two, oddly enough, she thought her grin may actually rival his as
she nodded.

Brian was whistling as he went into work that
morning, replaying the morning with his beautiful wife, it had
started out with some ugly truths and revelations that made his
skin crawl, as did the night before, but all of that was the
beginning of a healing that she desperately needed.

It was also a huge step in their
relationship, his smile widened as he started toward his office,
remembering the deep passionate kiss she'd given him on his way out
the door. To think, just twenty-four hours earlier he'd gotten just
as excited over a little peck on the cheek. Shaking his head at
himself he flipped the light on, and froze.

Sprawled out in his office chair was a
completely naked woman, and not the naked woman he'd like to see in
his office, he turned his back immediately, and anger flowed
through him. Just when things were starting to get better at home
this woman had to come along and throw a wrench in it.

"Tasha, get your clothes and get out of my
office, now!" He had never raised his voice to a woman before that
moment, the only thought in his head was Aria and how she would
feel if this got out, the thought of her hurting over this just
fueled his anger.

"Sorry, can't," she purred, he heard a
clanking noise from behind him, "I'm handcuffed to this chair and
you have to find the key and release me."

"Nope," was his only response as he stormed
out and down the street to Zimmer's, Aria wouldn't be there yet,
she was going to take a shower and clean up breakfast before coming
into town, but he hoped Helen would be there for her morning
coffee, she could handle this…though, admittedly, it went far
beyond her normal secretarial duties. He should have thought to put
"control Tasha" in her contract.

He threw open the door to the restaurant and
every head in the place turned his direction, he scanned the faces,
not finding Helen and fought the string of curses that threatened
to escape.

"Brian, just who do you think you are
storming in here like this? This isn't like you." Tammy came
towards him, coffee pot in hand. Her reprimand soothed some of his
anger, reminding him of his behavior.

"Sorry, it's complicated, have you seen Helen
today?"

"No, I talked to her Wednesday and she said
you gave her the rest of the week off. What's going on." Of course,
how could he have forgotten? Looking around he saw Jake Erickson,
Todd's brother, the local sheriff, and, it just so happened, one of
Tasha's exes, well, sort of. He marched over to his table.

"Jake, I need you to get her out of my
office."

The other man looked up in confusion,
"Who?"

"Tasha." Chuckles erupted all around him, he
was sure it was the look of panic on his face combined with the
knowledge of her relentless pursuit of him.

"Did you try asking her to leave?" Jake asked
with a smirk,

Brian groaned, and leaned closer and lowered
his voice, so that only he could hear, "I did, but she's handcuffed
herself to my chair and hidden the key somewhere."

Jake tried—and failed—to stifle a chuckle,
"Couldn't you just find it and let her go?"

"She's as naked as the day she was born." He
confided, Jake mumbled a curse, followed by a groan.

"Come on Brian, I can't go over there, she'll
set her sights on me again, at least you have a wife to help buffer
her," he practically whined, Brian chuckled.

"You were engaged to her, besides, it's your
job, Sheriff."

Jake's eyes narrowed, and still whispering,
he confided; "You know I was only going to marry her because I
thought she was pregnant and the dead beat dad had run off and left
her, I never even touched her." Brian sighed, that was true, he'd
been away at college at the time but had heard from Todd what had
happened, though Jake was his age he'd always been closer to the
oldest Erickson brother, he was like a second father and big
brother all rolled into one.

"I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone
there, but you are the sheriff." Jake huffed but pulled himself out
of the booth, tossing a few bills on the table.

"Fine, but you're going to owe me big time
for this, Harris. Do you want me there as an officer of the law, or
a friend?"

"Just a friend, I don't want to press charges
or have her arrested or anything, I just want her out."

"Who are we not arresting?" Brian stilled as
the sweet, familiar voice came from behind him.

"We're drawing a crowd, let's take this out
on the street, I don't want her to be any more embarrassed than she
already will be." Jake said, herding him and Aria out the door.
Aria flashed him a confused look, but didn't question him further.
Once they had made their way back to his office Brian stopped
outside and explained to Aria and Jake exactly what he found when
he walked in that morning.

"I'll handle her," Aria growled and stormed
into the building, both men following quickly behind, when they
walked into the lobby area Aria motioned for them to wait as she
headed toward Brian's office.

Brian started to follow her, but Jake placed
a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Brian had never seen
Aria so enraged before, and truthfully he was worried about how
exactly she planned to handle Tasha. While she was a nuisance, and
had definitely gone too far this time, she was really just a broken
and confused woman in need of some serious direction.

He'd tried talking to her about her issues in
the past, but she'd always shut him down and tried to proposition
him instead, and from what he knew of her situation with Jake,
she'd done the same to him. She'd gone away to college for a few
years and came home pregnant, or at least that's what she'd told
Jake, feeling sorry for her to have no one to take care of her and
the baby he'd offered to marry her and provide for both her and the
baby.

As far as anyone else in town knew they had
kept in contact while she was away and were getting married out of
love, no one else knew about the baby. Brian only knew because Todd
had called and asked for prayer in the matter, knowing that he
couldn't reach out to anyone in town. A month into the engagement
Tasha broke it off and told Jake she had never been pregnant in the
first place. She then went on to marry someone from out of town
just a month later.

"You're back! I knew you couldn't stay away—"
Tasha started as Aria opened the door, but stopped as soon as she'd
moved into full view. The men had stayed back by Helen's desk, out
of view, to give Tasha the respect she deserved, regardless of if
she wanted it.

"I don't know what your fascination with my
husband is, but it has got to stop, now. He's off the market, he
doesn't want to dance, come over to dinner, have coffee, or have
anyone naked in his office that isn't me." Brian's thoughts drifted
into dangerous territory at the images she evoked with that last
statement, he shook the thoughts off and refocused on the rant
coming from his office.

"Now, I'm going to give you to the count of
ten to tell me where the key is or I'll be forced to wheel you out
of here, just as you are, park you on the sidewalk and let Sheriff
Erickson deal with you. And let me tell you, everybody and their
brother's uncle is in town today. It's your
choice…one…two…thr—"

"Fine! It's in the bowl of kisses." Tasha
plead with her, Aria must have looked intimidating for her to back
down so quickly. There was some rustling around, and then the sound
of handcuffs being undone.

"Thank you, now get dressed, and get out. I
don't want to see or hear about you flirting with my husband
again." Aria said firmly, but without any malice as she walked back
into the lobby to join them. His heart swelled with pride for how
well and quickly she handled the situation.

The door opened a moment later and a very
contrite, and clothed, Tasha walked into the room, she stopped in
front of Aria and mumbled, "I'm sorry, I finally realized today
when he turned his back on me that a man can't be stolen if he
doesn't want to be…and Brian doesn't want to be." Never taking her
eyes off the floor she started to shuffle forward. Aria reached
out, lightly grabbing her hand, "I forgive you."

The women exchanged shy smiles, and Brian was
completely shocked at what he'd just witnessed. The two women had
been at each other's throats since day one, and not even five
minutes ago Tasha had been naked and waiting in his office. Now,
she was apologizing, and looking sincere about it. Even more
amazing was how calm, yet firm and forgiving Aria had been, he
couldn't have been more proud.

"Thank you, Aria," Jake stepped forward when
the door closed behind Tasha, "I never thought taking this job
would mean dealing with naked women, but that's the second time
that something like this has happened." He shook his head with a
slight chuckle

"Are you talking about the time you had to
help deliver that baby?" Brian asked, the town was small enough
that he thought he'd heard of every incident that took place.