Taking Heart (27 page)

Still, there was that one nagging thought that had inhabited his every
brain cell the past few weeks, preventing him from ending his search. He had
come close to calling Ren a few times but had put the phone back down, knowing
that she needed to make the initial move. He was done trying to push her into
closure. The only thing left to do was wait with open arms and a hopeful heart.

To avoid thinking about Ren yet again, Eric raised his wine glass for a
toast. “To the family Sorenson,” he said, giving a nod to Jens, who returned
the gesture.

“This is nice,” his mother, said. “We’ll have to do this for every
holiday.”

“I don't know about
that
, Kathleen,” Jens said, patting her hand.

She still looked hopeful. “How about Norway for Christmas then?”

Eric smiled despite the melancholy thoughts that were snaking around in
his head, reminding him that a few weeks ago he had two wonderful women in his
life, and now he would spend the holiday season alone.

“We'd love to meet that girl you were going to propose to,” his sister
said, finishing her last bite of pumpkin pie.

“I love Ren but I wasn't ready to pro—” Eric paused, realizing that
they were not talking about Ren at all. “Ah, Karen and I broke up a while ago.”

Nobody said a word. They all just looked at him with expectant eyes,
waiting for an explanation. So he took a deep breath and recounted the entire
situation, beginning from that fateful flight to Colorado. “A girl named Ren
sat next to me on the plane…”

After Eric was done with his story, Lara asked, “So you love her?”

He set his wine glass down, uncomfortable with the prospect of discussing
his feelings. “Hey let's talk about something else.” He turned to CJ, Lara's
husband. “So I heard you pinned on Major?”

“Yep,” CJ said with an amused glance at his wife, who clearly had more to
say.

He wasn't wrong. “What I want to know is,” Lara said. “If you're so in
love with her, why don't you just go over there and win her over?”

Jens spoke up, taking Eric by surprise. “He has to step back and let her
do things on her own terms.”

Their eyes met, and stepfather and stepson shared a moment of
understanding before the doorbell rang. Eric pushed away from the table,
wondering what Carson wanted this time of night. When Eric opened the front
door, his heart gave a small lurch.

“Ren,” he said, barely able to get the name out, as if all of the oxygen
had been sucked out of the entire building. “What are you doing here?”

Ren smiled, a tentative, hopeful little quirk of the mouth that had his
nerves tingling with anticipation. “I wanted to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.”
She held out a dark brown box with a sticker of the bakery's logo on the top.
“I brought this for you.”

He opened the box to find eight red macarons, each with an iced letter on
top. “Lie ovu yo?”

She blushed and grabbed the box. “They must have shifted around when I
got out of the cab,” she muttered as she rearranged the cookies.

The smile on his face grew as he watched her fuss. He didn't need it
spelled out to him; it was clear from the absence of worry lines on her face,
from the confidence in her posture, even from the relaxed style of her hair.
This was a different person from the one he’d said goodbye to nearly three
weeks ago.

“Hey,” he whispered, leaning down just as she looked up. “I love you
too.” The moment their lips touched, he felt something shift inside and he knew
then that everything had finally snapped into place.

The box fell to the ground with a thud as he pulled her closer and he
kissed her with everything he had, expressing with his actions what his words
could not.

He groaned inwardly when she pulled away, unwilling to let go. “I came
here to thank you for finding Ben's heart,” she said. “I don't think I got
to—”

“You’re welcome,” he said quickly and covered her mouth with his own once
again.

But she was determined to keep talking. “And I wanted to tell you that
I'm over—”

He cut her off with another kiss.

“But your—”

He held a finger up to her lips. “You're over Ben and you finally came to
the realization that you love me, right?”

She nodded.

“Well then why are we wasting precious time talking?” he asked before he
kissed her again. Nothing was going to hold him back now that they were finally
together, now that peaches were back in season.

It took Eric a second to notice the chorus of
throat-clearing
behind him. Too elated to feel embarrassed, he pressed a soft kiss to Ren’s
forehead before turning around to his family.

“Well, are you going to invite her in or were you planning on just
mauling her on your doorstep all night?” his mother asked with a look of false
innocence.

Eric turned back to the amazing woman in his arms. “Would you like to
come in and meet my family, knowing that they will probably ask embarrassing
questions?”

“I have a few naked baby pictures as well,” his mom piped in.

Ren burst out laughing, the sound filling his heart with so much joy that
he thought it might explode. “I'd love to.”

He picked up her duffel bag, pressed his hand to the small of her back,
and led her into his apartment and, finally, into his life.

CJ was already
back
in the dining room, adding another chair to the table
while Eric made the introductions
. Eric sat
by Ren and held her hand during dinner while his family tried to suppress their
curiosity but not entirely succeeding. They asked about Ben, about the bakery,
about her sisters, and Ren for her part answered with truthful aplomb.

“So Ren, I have to ask,” Jens said near the end of the meal. “What do you
see in Eric?”

Eric was not at all surprised that the tentative ceasefire between them
hadn’t lasted longer than one meal, but he said nothing, determined not to let
anything bring him down.

Ren squeezed Eric’s leg under the table. “Well, he’s kind and funny and
thoughtful,” she said. “And he’s hard-working and talented.”

The older man crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back.

“But I don’t need to tell you that,” she said, running her fingers along
the weathered surface of the table. “His work speaks for itself.”

Eric was surprised to see his stepfather nodding. “I agree,” Jens said. “For
a while there my son was, for lack of a better word, aimless. But I think he
has turned his life around and is really making something of himself. I think
we have you to thank for the change in him.”

Eric opened his mouth to agree when Ren shook her head. “Oh, I can’t take
any credit for that,” she said. “If anything, Eric was the one who helped me.”

“How so?” his mom asked.

Ren gave Eric a look so tender it warmed his entire body. “He gave me
friendship and hope,” she replied. “Basically, he showed me how to live again.”

Later, after the kitchen had been cleaned and everyone had departed for
their own hotels, Eric and Ren were finally alone in his apartment. Wordlessly
he took her by the hand and led her down the hall to his bedroom, turning off
the lights as they passed.

Finally they were facing each other at the foot of his bed and only the
sound of their rapid heartbeats could be heard. He took her face in his hands
and simply gazed at her, taking in every little detail, savoring every moment.

“How did I get so lucky?” he asked, rubbing his thumbs along her cheeks.

She closed her eyes and leaned her face into his palm, covering his hands
with her own. “I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one.”

“God, I love you.” Unable to hold off any longer, he leaned down and
touched his lips to hers, reigniting the fire in his core. She opened her mouth
and accepted him in, deepening their kiss. His hands left her face and roamed
over her, peeling the clothes off her body on their own. He couldn’t have
stopped them if he tried.

When the last of her clothes were gone, she tried to cover herself but he
pulled her hands away. “I want to see you,” he said, his eyes taking in her
naked form hungrily. “All of you.”

“Only if I see you too,” she said, tugging his shirt over his head.

It took him all of ten seconds to shuck his clothing—fishing a
condom from his wallet in the process—and he stood bare before her,
hoping she wouldn’t have second thoughts. He got his answer a moment later when
she pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top, straddling his legs as she ripped
open the foil package and slipped the condom on him.

“Ren,” he rasped, leaning up on his elbows. He could barely control his
vocal chords but he needed to speak his piece before they went further. “I want
you to know that it doesn’t matter if you’re still not completely over—”

She shut him up with a kiss. “It’s just you and me, Eric,” she said, her
eyes burning into his. “There’s no one else.”

He sat up and clutched her to his chest, raw from her words. “You have no
idea how happy that makes me.”

She glanced down between her legs. “I have a firm idea,” she said with a
grin a moment before she lifted her hips and positioned herself above him.

Eric didn’t realize he was holding his breath until she moved down, her
warmth wrapping around his length, and he let out a long, blissful groan. Any lingering
doubts were erased in that one moment when he slid home, when he finally knew
what it was like to feel whole.

Ren rocked her hips, looking like a goddess with chocolate-colored hair, her
gentle movements winding him tighter and tighter. He held her eyes, unable to
look at anything else, and pressed her palm to his chest, above the muscle that
was thundering inside, letting her know that his heart was his own and it was
completely and utterly taken with her.

She acknowledged the gesture with a kiss and tightened her grip as she picked
up speed. His entire body was straining as he held her body against his,
lifting his hips to meet hers over and over.

She came with a soft cry, her legs giving out as her insides trembled
around him. He continued moving until he too was climaxing, groaning against
her ear and clutching onto the back of her head as he rode through the tremors.

“I love you, Eric Sorenson,” Ren whispered against his neck, her breath
and her words making his skin tingle, and in that moment, as their hearts
pounded in unison, Eric thought himself the luckiest man alive.

epilogue

“Thank you, Aunt Ren!” Nina jumped up and threw her little arms around
Ren's neck. “I always wanted one!”

“A bow and arrow, Ren?” Paul watched with eyebrows knitted as his
daughter struggled with the seemingly indestructible packaging. Finally he
reached over and helped her out.

Ren shrugged. “I told her to pick out her Christmas gift and she went
directly to that. I doubt she could do much damage with a plastic bow and
suction-cup arrows.”

“You'd be surprised,” Paul mumbled.

Jolene reached for another gift under the tree and turned to Eric. “And
here's one for you,” she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Eric looked taken aback. “You got me a gift?”

“Actually, it's from me and Lisa.”

“Just open it,” Lisa said.

Eric ripped the wrapping paper, flipped open the box and began to laugh.
He continued laughing even as he turned and gave Ren a peck on the cheek.

“What is it?” Ren asked, studying the strange grey material on his lap.

Eric unfolded an article of clothing, one that Ren recognized with some
embarrassment. “Best present ever,” he said, still chuckling. “Thank you for
the gift of the Ugly Emotional Baggage Sweater.”

Ren groaned. She didn’t know how Jolene and Lisa had gotten into her
closet without her noticing, but if she had to guess, she’d bet that Jolene was
the mastermind. Somehow, the youngest Lawton girl always managed to be.

“We hope she won't be needing it for a while,” Lisa said with a raised
eyebrow.

“Not if I can help it.” Eric set the gift aside and stood up. He took a
deep breath. “I guess now's a good time to give Ren my gift.”

Ren looked up at him with trepidation. The last time he had surprised
her, she had cried for an entire week.

Her horror must have showed because Eric laughed and said, “Don’t look so
worried.” Then with a grin he reached into his pocket and slowly, almost
torturously, withdrew a key.

Jolene slapped a palm to her forehead. “Oh my God, I thought you were
going to ask her to marry you!”

Ren shot her sister an exasperated look. “We haven't even been dating for
a month. Get a hold of yourself!” she said, though she’d also fleetingly
thought the same thing. Still, as amazing as their relationship was, they both
knew it was too soon for such grandiose plans. One day at a time.