Ethan laid her on the bed and went back to the bathroom, where he prepared a cold towel for her face. When he returned, Tia had already fallen into a fitful sleep.
Draping the cool towel over her forehead, he slipped off her sandals and pulled the comforter over her. He watched her for a few moments and then turned to leave for the sitting room, where he could still keep an eye on her.
“Don’t go,” she croaked, lifting her head slightly off the pillow.
Ethan knew in the big scheme of things Tia was merely exhausted from a long car trip, overindulgence at the amusement park and a stomachache. However, she looked so small, so vulnerable lying in the middle of the hotel-room bed, and the truth was, he didn’t want to leave her.
Toeing off his shoes, he climbed into bed beside her, leaned his back against the headboard and drew a half-asleep Tia into his embrace. It didn’t take long for her restlessness to settle into the slow, deep breaths of sleep.
Although he was tired, Ethan didn’t sleep. Instead, he savored the opportunity to hold her close, and the gentle weight of her snuggled against him. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
Once they got back to Nashville, with his grandmother in tow, he could hardly wait to get to know the woman beside him better. Ethan thought about the tactics he’d used to persuade her to come on this trip. He’d had his reasons; still, he was ashamed of his behavior.
He looked down at her sleeping face. “I promise to make it up to you.”
The minutes on the nightstand digital clock ticked by all too fast. If Ethan intended to catch up to his grandmother and Glenn, he’d have to leave for the amusement park now.
Ethan glanced down at Tia. He didn’t want to wake her. Nor did he want her to wake up alone. What if she got sick again?
Sighing, he turned away from the clock and wrapped his other arm around her. He’d pick up his grandmother’s trail tomorrow.
Tonight, he was taking care of the woman in his arms.
Chapter 9
Tia blinked against the light of the bedside lamp, squinting at the clock. It was after midnight, and apparently she’d been asleep for hours.
She was also wrapped in Ethan’s arms, her head resting against his hard chest. Tia peered around the unfamiliar room.
As the grip of sleep slowly released her, the events of the past twenty-four hours came into focus: the superhero museum, the drive to Branson, the amusement park.
Then there was Ethan.
Last night, Tia had seen another side of him and discovered the nature she’d called bossy was in reality chivalrous. What she’d mistakenly assumed was a desire to control was actually a man in control, who’d do whatever it took to safeguard the ones he cared about. And last night, he’d cared for her.
No. He hadn’t come out and said it. However, the words didn’t matter. Ethan had proved the kind of man he truly was through his actions.
Tia sighed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been really cared for.
Since her mother’s death, she’d been the one to have everyone’s back, from her sister to her father to her mother’s crumbling empire. Tia glanced down at the arms wrapped protectively around her. It felt good to have someone catch her back for a change.
Peering up at Ethan’s sleeping face, bathed in the warm glow of the single lamp, she stroked the shadow of a beard clinging to his jaw with her palm.
“You’re a good man, Ethan Wright,” she whispered.
Tia allowed herself a few more precious moments in his embrace. She didn’t want to move, but a hot shower beckoned.
Ethan barely stirred as she gingerly peeled away his arms and extricated herself. She found a hotel robe in the closet and stopped to check her phone.
Nothing from Carol. So either Ethan hadn’t found her last night or perhaps he hadn’t gone back out to the park. Tia returned the phone to her purse. She’d find out soon enough.
Tia started in the direction of the bathroom, then stopped. She turned to the man on the bed and allowed herself a long, unencumbered look. Her chest tightened with an emotion she couldn’t describe. If she wasn’t careful, Tia thought, she’d end up falling for Ethan Wright.
However, as the steam rose from the shower and the hot water washed over her, Tia knew without a doubt she already had fallen for him, head over heels.
Tia emerged from the bathroom wrapped in the plush robe to find the bed empty.
“Ethan,” she called out. Tightening the belt on her robe, she padded barefoot into the sitting area adjoining their rooms.
The door to his room was open.
“Ethan.”
Tia hesitated a moment near the doorway, then decided she was being silly. They’d blurred the lines of privacy when he’d pulled her head out of the toilet.
She walked into the room just as Ethan stepped out of the bathroom, colliding with his bare chest.
He reached out, grabbing her arms to steady her.
“S-sorry,” Tia stammered. “I didn’t realize...”
“I thought I’d take a quick shower.” He dropped his hands.
“I—I see.”
Tia’s heated gaze roamed over his naked torso. Water droplets beaded on his broad shoulders, and her eyes trailed the rivulets running down his sculpted chest and abdomen, disappearing into a towel riding low on his waist.
Goodness. Her tongue did a slow slide across her bottom lip at the pure deliciousness of the sight. Too bad she didn’t pack her vibrator, because she’d definitely need it tonight.
Tia cleared her throat in a gesture she hoped would stop the urge to lick the water off his bare skin and her curiosity about the sizable bulge beneath his towel.
“Well, I just wanted to thank you again for taking care of me. I’d better head back to my room.” Tia shifted her eyes away from his glorious physique and turned to leave.
“Tia.” His husky whisper washed over her body. “Don’t go.”
She halted in her tracks and turned to face him. Their gazes connected.
“On second thought, this probably isn’t a good idea,” Ethan said. “We already agreed...”
“To wait.” Tia nodded. “We’ve only known each other...”
“A short time.” Ethan completed her sentence. “And things between us are progressing...”
“Much too fast,” she agreed. “But...”
Ethan’s eyes blazed into hers with an intensity that made her flush hot from head to toe. “To hell with it. Let’s...”
“Do it anyway,” Tia finished.
Ethan closed the space between them in a single stride. Threading his fingers through her damp hair, he brought his mouth down on hers in a kiss that unleashed the pent-up passion they’d both denied.
His tongue swept over her bottom lip, and Tia opened her mouth to him. Ever since their first kiss back at her condo, she’d longed for another taste of him. She sucked his tongue into her mouth, and he entwined it with hers as if they’d been kissing each other a lifetime.
Ethan wrapped an arm around her, tugging her against him. Tia inhaled, feeding her senses with the scent of him, a heady mix of sandalwood soap and freshly showered male. She rested her hands on his hard chest, relishing the heat radiating off his large body and the feel of his bare skin beneath her palms.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hold you, to kiss you like this?” he rasped when they came up for air.
Tia smiled and raised a brow. “About two days.”
“Two long and extremely hard days,” Ethan countered.
“Mmm.” Tia ground herself against him. “Feels like it.”
“I’ve been like this ever since I walked into your office and saw those endless legs of yours.”
Tia sighed. “Now you tell me,” she said. “Did you realize ho
w badly I wanted to drag you across my desk and have my way with you?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because you wouldn’t stop grousing at me long enough to put that sexy mouth of yours to better use,” she teased.
“Speaking of sexy, every time I look at those gorgeous legs of yours I can’t decide where I’d like them more, draped down my back while I bury my face between them or wrapped around my waist while I bury myself in you.”
The legs in question went weak at the thought, and Tia was sure her panties—if she were wearing any—would be wet with anticipation.
“Pop quiz,” Ethan said. “What do you want?”
“Hmm. Tough decision.” Tia pretended to think it over.
“You plan to answer sometime tonight?” Ethan asked, his arm keeping its grip around her waist.
“Maybe a sample will help me decide.” Tia stood on tiptoe and kissed him. She’d meant it to be a quick teaser, but Ethan took control, changing the intensity to achingly slow and oh, so deep. He took his time, tasting, probing and devouring.
When he was done, Tia sagged against him, breathless. If the man worked that kind of magic with a kiss, what else could he do with that talented tongue? She squeezed her legs together to ease the throbbing at the apex of her thighs and shivered.
“Have you made up your mind?”
“Not yet.” Tia slid her hand between their bodies, splayed her fingers over his rock-hard erection and gently squeezed.
“Aah,” Ethan groaned and she felt him grow even harder in her hand. “You’re killing me.”
Tia stroked the thick length of him through the towel. She rose on her toes again, captured his earlobe between her teeth and tugged.
“Can’t I have both?” She whispered the question in his ear.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Ethan walked her backward toward the bed until the backs of her knees hit the top of the mattress. He tugged the belt on her robe and it fell open.
His eyes lit up as his gaze fell to her bare breasts before slipping lower. “There are no words for how beautiful you are.”
Gently pushing her back onto the bed, Ethan dropped to his knees. He grasped her calves and tugged until her bottom was at the edge of the bed.
Tia rose up to her elbows. She spread her legs wide before draping them over his broad back.
Ethan groaned and dropped a kiss on each of her inner thighs before moving in and sliding his tongue over her core in one long, languid lick.
“Yesss,” Tia hissed, nearly coming off the bed.
She looked down to see the man sandwiched between her legs smiling up at her.
“You taste even better than I imagined,” he said. “I could die right now a happy man.”
“I’m already a very happy woman.”
“Let’s see what I can do about making you ecstatic.”
Tia closed her eyes, and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as Ethan proceeded to let his tongue do the talking with another long, toe-curling lick. Tingles radiated from her core, and her head fell back against the bed.
He did it again. And again. Each time a little slower, drawing out the motion and her pleasure. She rocked herself against his mouth in an attempt to relieve her pulsing clit, but he was not a man to be rushed.
Cupping her bottom in his large hands, Ethan stilled the motion and dived in deeper. He licked her harder, increasing the pressure while maintaining the achingly slow pace until Tia thought she would go crazy with need.
“Ethan.” She moaned his name and dug her heels into his back. “Please.”
He lifted his head and she writhed on the bed, not wanting him to stop.
“Please, what?” he asked.
Tia was sure Ethan knew exactly what she wanted.
“Make me come,” she half demanded, half pleaded.
Releasing her bottom, Ethan slid a finger deep inside her and sucked her clit into his mouth. Tia fisted the covers, and the sound of her own voice egging him on filled the heated air surrounding them as the first seismic waves of her orgasm hit.
“Don’t stop,” she panted. “Please, don’t stop.”
And he didn’t. His tongue, his fingers continued to wring every last bit of pleasure from her until the last shudder subsided.
Ethan stood, and Tia’s hungry gaze took in his bare chest before dropping to the towel, tented by his erection. Summoning the last bit of energy from her drained body, she sat up and snatched the towel away.
“My, my.” She zeroed in on his cock and then smiled up at him. “I’m impressed.”
The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “That’s good to hear,” he said. “Because we’re just getting started.”
Tia inched back on the bed as he crawled onto it. His muscular frame hovered over her, his eyes intent on her breasts. She lay back, raised her arms over her head and offered them up to him, the stiff peaks issuing a silent invitation.
Ethan leaned in and captured her mouth in a kiss. His tongue stroked hers in the same unhurried motion he’d used on her clit. The same care. The same thorough attention to detail. Tia sighed into his mouth as his hand caressed her breast, his thumb flicking over an erect nipple.
When he broke off the kiss, Tia couldn’t help feeling deprived. The man was so good at it, he could probably make her come from kissing alone.
“You’re so beautiful.” Ethan stared down at her. His voice was a reverent whisper.
“I think you’ve already said that.”
“I can’t say it enough,” Ethan said before closing his mouth over her nipple.
He tugged it between his teeth, sending shards of sensation right to her core. She wanted him, needed him, now.
“Ethan, please.”
He moved on to her other breast, giving it the same rapt attention. He circled her nipple with his tongue, took it into his mouth and gently tugged.
Tia threw her head back and moaned.
“Ethan, please,” she pleaded again.
They both knew what she wanted and that he’d give it to her in his own time. His hand slid downward, smoothing over her belly until he cupped her mound. She spread her legs wider, and he rewarded her by sliding a finger inside her, then another.
Tia gasped at the sweet invasion and rode his fingers in anticipation of the even sweeter one to come.
Releasing her breast, he nuzzled her neck and trailed kisses up to her ear. “Are you ready for me?”
She reached for his cock and stroked the length of it. “I don’t want to wait another second.”
Ethan reached over her head for his wallet on the night table, retrieved a foil packet and flung the wallet aside. He quickly sheathed himself with one hand and smoothed her hair off her face with the other.
He brushed his lips against hers in the gentlest of kisses as he drove into her with a single stroke. His groan of ecstasy mingled with hers as he withdrew his length and filled her again and again. He was a man who definitely knew how to please; each slow, methodical stroke hit her spot as if she’d drawn him a map of her body that included a bull’s-eye.
“Ethan.” Tia whispered his name and bit down on her lip to keep from screaming it.
His movements went deeper, but he kept the same unhurried tempo as he had when he’d pleasured her with his tongue. Back and forth. Harder and harder. Tia met his thrusts with her own; the more he gave her, the more she craved him.
Tia ran her hands over his wide shoulders and down his back until her palms gripped his firm butt. She pulled him even deeper inside, simultaneously squeezing his behind with her hands and his cock with her inner walls as he continued to stoke the mounting thrill between her thighs.
“You feel so good.” Ethan went completely still and touched his forehead to hers as if he was struggl
ing to maintain his control.
Finally, he lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. As she met his gaze, her racing heart turned a somersault in her chest. Something passed between them she couldn’t give a name to, an intensity, a swell of emotion that went beyond their joined bodies.
“Wrap your legs around me,” Ethan commanded.
For the first time since they met, Tia took great pleasure in following his orders. Her eyes locked on his, she wrapped a long leg around his waist, raised her hips off the bed and hooked the other over his shoulder.
“Damn,” he swore softly, and Tia felt his cock lengthen and thicken inside her at the new angle the shifted position provided.
Gripping her hips with his hands, Ethan plunged into her harder and faster. His control shattered, his pace quickening with every relentless thrust.
A fine sheen of sweat covered his glorious torso as he worked her body into a frenzy.
“Oh, Ethan. Yes,” Tia cried out, and a climax as long and powerful as the man inside her claimed her body, racking it with explosive shudders of pure ecstasy.
Ethan’s fingers dug into her hips. His thrusts quickened, the pounding strokes outpacing the wild beat of her heart. Tia heard her name on his lips as he rode out the pulsing waves of her release into his own.
* * *
“That was...” Ethan returned to bed after disposing of the condom.
“Incredible.” Tia finished his sentence.
Immediately, he pulled her into his arms, having missed the warmth of her curves the moment he’d stepped away.
“Is completing each other’s sentences going to turn into a habit?” he asked.
Tia snuggled her nude body against him. “Let’s see if you can finish this one,” she said. “It’s after midnight, room service is probably shut down for the night and I’m...”
She made a circular motion with her hand as if it would help him put it together faster.
Feigning ignorance, Ethan shrugged. “No clue,” he lied.
“Starving,” she said, completing her own sentence. “I’m starving.”
“Ah, now I get it,” he said. “You’re starving for more good loving, but you don’t want to come right out and beg for it.”
Every Road to You Page 12
