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caution to the wind, but her hormones had at least fizzled to the point where her head could take over. Warmth spread through her limbs, and it wasn’t from the Drambuie. It was the abiding warmth of gratitude, tinged with a dose of embarrassment. “I, I think I should go home now.”

Chapter Six
    “I’m glad to see you’re back to soup for lunch, instead of chocolate.” Helen added another teaspoon of sugar to her chai tea at their usual haunt, Co Co Sala.
    “I could live on soup. It’s the world’s most perfect food.” Courtney blew on her spoonful of beef barley, though she still yearned for chocolate.
    “And sounds to me like you’ve found the world’s most perfect man,” Helen said.
    “Yeah, it’s been two weeks since the big reveal, and he’s still around.” Courtney shook her head. “But we’re sticking to coffee shops, art museums, and the zoo. Places where we can’t get into an intimate conversation.”
    “The zoo is especially good. Coffee shops can be intimate and there’s always something erotic at an art museum, but animal sex isn’t much of a turn on. ‘Oh, Eric, look at the rhinoceroses humping. Let’s go home and get it on.’” Helen sipped her tea. “But you’re avoiding the inevitable.”
    Courtney looked at Helen sideways. “I think the plural is rhinoceri, but what do you mean by inevitable?”
    “I mean, you like this guy.”
    “Oh, criminy, I know. And I want to melt into him. I want to snuggle into his chest and breathe him into me so that we become one person.”
    “Okay, aside from the fact that
sex
would do that, what’s your problem?”
    “What if I’m way too tame for him? I’ve never done this before. What if I freeze up in bed with him? What if I’m a vanilla-sex girl?”
    “Maybe he’s worried about the same thing. He’s got toys, but has he used them?” Helen patted Courtney’s hand. “Look, the first time for sex is like jumping in a frigid lake, but once you get past the initial plunge, the pleasure takes over. Don’t worry about it so much, Court. You’re not a vanilla girl. I’d peg you for Cherry Garcia. Lots of bursts of flavor, that’s you.”
    “Easy for you to say! What if
I’m
the frigid lake?
    “Well, you like this guy right? I mean, sex aside?”
    “Yes, I
like
Eric. I more than like him. I find myself thinking about him
all the time
, and I’ve
never
felt that way about a man. He’s everything I never wanted.”
    “Huh?”
    “I didn’t realize falling for someone could be such a major distraction,” she shook her head. “The vote’s fast approaching and I still need two more senate votes.
    “Yeah, and you don’t even have Eric’s yet,” Helen pointed out.
    “I’m working hard on everyone else. Maybe I can turn someone. It’s great that this tax is bipartisan. It provides an opportunity for both parties to finally agree on something. “
    “Have you given up on convincing Eric? It could be a post-coital bargaining chip?” Helen waggled her eyebrows.
    “I hope you’re kidding. I would never do that.”
    “Of course, I’m kidding, although he may think you’re sticking around just to take another stab at swaying his vote.”
    “I’m sticking around until I blow it, which I inevitably will.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Because I really don’t know what I’m doing.”
    • • •
    Eric was used to linear relationships. Not that he had a checklist for the steps to take, but he typically didn’t start with a major confession and then work backwards—at least not until he met Courtney. But damn, no woman had ever intrigued him like this. He’d butt heads with her any day on congressional issues, where she was more than capable of holding her own. But in terms of sex, she was a babe in the woods. And except for his first sexual encounter—at age fifteen with his equally inexperienced girlfriend—it had been at least ten years since he’d dated a virgin. Whoa. That revelation travelled to his heart.