by Cate Beauman
“That’s good.” She looked away. Seconds later, she snorted out a laugh. “I’m sorry.” She covered her mouth as another fit of laughter escaped.
Ethan grinned up at her. “So, you think this is pretty funny, huh?”
“I’m afraid so.” She let out a full-throated hoot as she got to her feet and extended a hand. “The least I can do is help you up.”
He reached out to take it and she collapsed forward, hands on her knees, fighting to catch her breath. “Oh, oh, that was so funny. If your eyes got even half as big in the pool when I gave you that wedgie...” She swiped at her cheeks, brushing away happy tears.
Ethan stood, enjoying Sarah’s mood. He couldn’t remember the last time he heard her laugh like this. “You know what they say about payback, right?” He started toward her and she sobered up, walking backward.
“Ethan, I don’t want to go for a swim, and you better not even think about returning the wedgie favor.”
He grinned, wiggled his brows. “I think you should be afraid, Sarah; very, very afraid.”
“Ethan,” she said in her warning tone. She glanced behind her quickly when she banged into the wicker couch. “I’m serious.”
“Oh, so am I.” He lunged forward, making a grab for her, and she pivoted toward her room. He snagged her arm and pulled her body over his shoulder in a fireman carry. “I’m pretty sure you’re at my mercy.” He spun her in two fast circles as she laughed.
“Yeah, until I lose my dinner all over your backside.”
Thoroughly enjoying himself, he stopped. “You bring up a good point.” He walked to her room. “You do realize you’re in the perfect position for an ultimate wedgie, right?”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She pounded against his back. “Ethan, don’t you dare.”
“There’s really only one way out of this.” He tugged up gently on the elastic of her pants with his opposite hand.
“Damn it, Ethan.” She tried to bite his back, but he moved her out of position.
Inspiration struck as he remembered his childhood fights with his sister. “I’ll give you a choice—the wedgie, or you have to call me King Ethan for the rest of the night.”
She stopped struggling. “King Ethan? You’ve got to be kidding.”
He tugged on her pants again. “It’s your choice, Sarah. I’ll give you to the count of three. One, two, th—”
“Okay, okay, King Ethan, put me down.”
He set her on her feet and grinned as she glared at him. This wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind for their evening, but it worked. “So, what should we do now? Don’t say lie on the hammock.”
Her glare dissolved into a smile. “No, I think once was enough.”
“I can order champagne, and we can sit on the couch by the fire.” He took her face in his hands as he emphasized couch. “Stargazing still isn’t out of the question.”
“You’re a real sport.”
She kissed him quick, and he let her go with the contact, stepping back. He needed her with a desperation he could hardly handle.
Her smile disappeared as she stared into his eyes. “Ethan,” she murmured. She took a step forward, and they were toe to toe. Her palms rested against his cheeks. “I want to kiss you first this time.”
He wrapped his hands around her wrists. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.” He wanted this, but he wanted her more.
“I do.” She moved in hesitantly, until her lips warmed against his.
Unable to fight any longer, Ethan took her face in his hands again and plundered, savoring her sweet flavor. Her fingers moved to his hips, hanging on the waist of his slacks, until her hands slid under his shirt, slowly moving up his back—her cool skin, tracing circles over his, making him shiver.
He ran kisses down her neck, over her shoulders, before he met her gaze. His need for her was staggering. “I have to touch you, Sarah. When you want to stop, we can, but please let me touch you.”
Eyes dark, cheeks flushed, she nodded.
Ethan took her hand as he led her to the bed. He pulled the tie from her hair, watched her golden locks cascade to her shoulders, surrounding him in the scent of her flowery shampoo. He ran his hands through her silky tresses and kissed her softly, sensing her nerves.
He moved his mouth to her cheekbones, feathering kisses along her skin. Her breath shuddered out, and she closed her eyes as he traced her earlobe with his tongue. He wandered back to soft skin—where neck meets shoulder—and nibbled. She tipped her head back in surrender.
He wanted to give her more, wanted to watch as he gave her everything. He moved his hands down her waist, under her cotton top. He skimmed his fingers along hot skin, wandering up until fingertips met naked breasts.
Sarah snagged her bottom lip with her teeth, moaned when he brushed his palms over taut nipples. He crushed his mouth to hers, frenzied, ready to explode.
She unbuttoned his shirt, parting it. Her mouth left his, wandered. Lips and tongue moved across his chest, driving him mad.
“Sarah,” he whispered as he lifted the camisole over her head. He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her, reveling in the feel of her pale, firm breasts pressed to his skin. He took her mouth again, devouring.
He tugged her pajama bottoms down, leaving a swatch of frilly peach lace behind. “My God, Sarah.” He tugged on her lip with his teeth, fighting the need to free himself and take what they both wanted.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms. Long, smooth legs wrapped around him as she pulled his shirt free, tossing it to the floor.
“I want to taste you.”
Ethan didn’t give her a chance to respond. His mouth was at her breast, flicking, tracing, suckling, then the other, until she gasped and clutched at his shoulders.
She snagged his ear, her breath heaving as she said his name: “Ethan, Ethan, Ethan.”
He lifted her arms above her head, running his hands up, capturing her fingers between his. His eyes burned into hers. “Be with me, Sarah. Will you be with me?”
“Yes.” She captured his mouth.
Ethan collapsed back, taking her with him. He set her hands free, snuck beneath her panties, grabbing at the smooth, firm skin of her ass, pulling her against him, heat to heat.
She let loose a long, throaty purr as she fumbled with his belt. “I want you, Ethan.”
He reversed their positions, more than ready. He yanked her panties away and she stiffened.
Ethan stopped, breath heaving. “What is it? What’s wrong? Am I being too rough?”
“No. No, it’s not that. My phone’s ringing.” She yanked her panties back up and scrambled from the bed, grabbing her cell on the nightstand. “It’s my mother.”
Instantly tense, he waited for his own phone to ring.
“Mom, is everything okay?” Sarah closed her eyes and let out a long breath. “She did? Oh, poor thing. Yes, put her on.” She glanced over, mouthed ‘nightmare.’
He breathed his own sigh of relief and sat back as Sarah soothed her daughter, standing in nothing but panties by the bed. Knowing they were finished for tonight, he got up, put a blanket around her shoulders. She smiled at him and continued to talk to Kylee.
When she hung up, Sarah gripped her hands together. “I feel so guilty right now. Kylee had her first nightmare, and I wasn’t there.”
Ethan took her hand, pulled her until she sat on the bed next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “It won’t be her last, and she’s fine now, right?”
“Yes, but I should’ve been there.”
“What was the nightmare about?”
“Mr. Ruff got eaten by Goldie, Hailey’s fish.”
“That’s some pretty serious stuff,” Ethan said solemnly.
“Yes, it is. Goldie grew pointy teeth and ate him all up.”
“Traumatic.” He bit his cheek, trying not to smile.
She took his chin in her hand. “You’re laughing.”
“No.” A grin s
plit his lips. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I just see this little goldfish swimming around, and then, wham, he opens his mouth full of shark teeth and poor, unsuspecting Mr. Ruff gets it.”
Sarah’s smile turned into a laugh as she hugged him, kissed him.
He brushed his fingers through her hair. “I should probably say goodnight. If you don’t go to bed, you’re going to sleep through your massage tomorrow instead of enjoy it.”
“Are you sure?”
He knew what she was offering, and it was tempting, but he didn’t want to make love to Sarah for the first time with her guilty and worrying about Kylee. “Yeah.”
“I’m not tired.” She took his hand. “We can watch a movie.”
The purple smudges under her eyes told him different. He reached under the pillows, pulled the covers back. He bent down, grabbed her pajama top from the floor, handed it to her. “Call me when you’re finished tomorrow, and we’ll do something.”
She grabbed the remote from the bedside table and flipped through the channels. “Oh look, one of those action flicks you like. Stay and watch it with me.”
“You don’t like action movies.”
“This one isn’t so bad.” She winced as a building blew up on screen and a gunman lost an arm.
His brow arched. “Sarah, what’s up?”
“I feel silly admitting this, but I’ve been pretty creeped out at night.”
If only she knew the direction the case was taking. “That’s not silly, Sarah. I would be concerned if you weren’t.”
“It’s been such a comfort having Austin around…”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Yes,” she said immediately.
Ethan smiled. “Do you want a second to think about that?”
She smiled back. “No.”
“All you had to do was ask.”
“I’m asking for tomorrow night then too. Will you stay here with me tomorrow night?”
“Absolutely.”
Sarah pulled her top on and crawled under the covers. Ethan slid out of his slacks, got in on his side, and turned off the light. The moonlight filtered through the curtains, illuminating the bed. He rested against the pillow, turning his head to look at her.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“Get some sleep.”
She hesitated before sliding over.
He lifted his arm, inviting her.
Sarah snuggled close, resting her cheek against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist. She looked up and kissed him. “Night, King Ethan.”
He chuckled and kissed her hair, content with where they were going. “This is good, Sarah. I think this is going to be good.”
CHAPTER 10
THE SUN’S RAYS HAD REPLACED moonlight when Sarah opened her eyes again.
She looked over at Ethan sleeping on his stomach. His arm lay hooked across her waist, pinning her to the mattress, and she smiled.
As she snuggled against him during the night, guilt snuck through, threatening her peace and newfound happiness. It was the first time she’d been in a man’s arms intimately since Jake.
She couldn’t deny her want for Ethan—on so many levels. When his eyes had burned into hers, she’d been ready to give him what she never planned to share again. Her body had burst into a flame of need as he touched her. It had been so long since she’d felt that kind of desire. Her experience with Ethan was so different from what she’d had with Jake. Where Jake had always been sweet, Ethan was…intense.
She was eager for the heat, eager to see where they would go. Ethan was right; things were good between them—always had been.
Sarah moved her hand to her necklace, to the ring Jake placed on her finger years before. She wanted to believe—no, needed to believe—he would be okay with this. She stared at Ethan’s handsome face, no less arresting in sleep, and brushed her fingers through his hair.
He was a good man; tough, but with so many soft spots. He’d always been so gentle and patient with Kylee, taking on a role in her life not many men would. He’d been there for both of them, just as he promised, and she’d never had to ask.
Ethan had come with her, holding her hand and the baby, when Kylee received her first series of immunizations. When Kylee spiked her first fever, he’d rushed right over, concerned. He’d stayed so many times, helping her through the endless nights of teething, taking turns walking a fussy baby up and down the hall.
When Kylee vomited all over his brand new Armani on a visit to his office, he hadn’t batted an eye. The day in the park when she toddled up to him, arms open for a hug, calling him ‘Dada’, he’d hugged her and smiled, never mentioning it.
It crossed her mind on occasion that Kylee had always been more Ethan’s than Jake’s. Jake didn’t get the chance to be a part of Kylee. He’d been back in Afghanistan before the pregnancy test turned blue.
It had been Ethan who’d been there every second after conception. He’d been her comfort during the wonder and agony of birth with Jake watching from thousands of miles away. They’d both been great.
“Oh, oh, here comes another one. I have to push.”
“Then go ahead and push,” Ethan said next to her ear as she leaned her back against his chest, her hands gripping his.
“Come on, Sarah, you can do it,” Jake said from the laptop screen the hospital staff set up beside the bed.
Pain radiated through her rock-hard stomach as she bore down against the need to free her baby. Groaning loudly, she gave it her all, clutching Ethan’s fingers, listening to his quiet encouragement while Jake cheered her on.
She took a breath and pushed again, unable to stop. “It burns, it burns so much,” she cried.
“It’s almost over, Sarah. You’re almost there,” Ethan said with excitement. “Look, in the mirror. You can see the top of her head. Touch her, Sarah. That’s what you’re working for.”
She panted through the pain and reached down, touching her baby’s hair. “My baby.”
“Yes, your baby.” He grinned at her when she glanced up, breathing fast and deep.
Her mother held the camera close. “Jake, do you see your daughter?”
“Yes. Oh, my God, Sarah. Come on, honey, you can do this. She’s coming.”
“I need to—”
Sarah couldn’t finish her thought through the overwhelming power to try again. She wanted to stop and somehow avoid the pain, but her body knew what to do. Ethan clutched her closer as she tensed up, crying out as Kylee’s head was born.
“Breathe, Sarah. Breathe,” he encouraged, voice calm. “She’s almost here. She’s almost here.”
She heard Jake and her mother in the background, but focused on Ethan’s strong hands locked with hers, on his murmurs of confidence against her ear. He was her beacon of calm.
With her next push, Kylee was born.
Sarah reached forward and grabbed her baby, pulling her to her chest as Kylee screamed out her protest. “She’s here, Jake, she’s here.”
“She’s perfect, honey.”
As she grinned up into her husband’s awestruck eyes, Ethan brushed his fingers over her daughter’s back, his hand bigger than most of Kylee’s tiny body.
She glanced up into Ethan’s swimming gray eyes as he sniffed. “You did it, Sarah. She’s amazing.”
“Yes, she is. Thank you, Ethan, for everything. I wouldn’t have gotten through this without you.”
He kissed her forehead before she turned back to her baby girl and Jake, still resting her body against Ethan’s.
Sarah smiled, remembering the best moment of her life, glanced at Ethan once more before she turned her head, looking at the bedside clock. She had fifteen minutes to get over to the spa. Wiggling out from under Ethan’s arm, she dressed.
While she brushed her hair, Sarah stared at her necklace in the mirror. She reached behind, feeling for the clasp, freed it. The ring swung back and forth on the chain. “It’s time, Jake. I hope you can understand. I need for you to understand. I love you.
I’ll always love you, but I have to give this a try.” She kissed the diamond ring given to her in love, accepted in love, placed it in her small jewelry case, tucking it deep in her makeup bag.
She opened the door, looking back at Ethan still asleep, and left.
After three blissfully relaxing treatments, Sarah and Morgan wandered back toward their rooms, stopping off at the small, complimentary breakfast buffet first.
“We need to make this an annual event, but next year I’m paying my own way,” Sarah said as she scooped fresh fruit from a large serving bowl.
“You tipped the ladies for our services today.”
“Which was a drop in the bucket compared to the price of the treatments.”
They sat at a table overlooking the rocky cliffs.
Morgan popped a glossy green grape in her mouth. “Did you enjoy yourself?”
She grinned. “How could I not?”
“Then don’t worry about it.” Morgan pushed her chair closer to Sarah’s. “So, now that I have you all to myself, I’ll expect some details.”
Sarah frowned. “We had the same treatments.”
“When I left my room this morning, a sleepy-eyed Ethan was leaving yours—without a shirt on. He didn’t have much to say.”
Sarah chewed her bite of sweet strawberry, stalling. Morgan’s pretty green eyes never left hers.
“He stayed with me last night. This creepy rose business gets to me after dark.”
Morgan raised her brow. “Austin stays with you too. Do you kiss him the way I saw you kissing Ethan in the pool?”
Because Morgan smiled, her question didn’t sting. “You saw that, huh?”
“It was hard to miss. I’m just glad it was me and not Hunter.”
Sarah winced, thinking of what a messy scene that would’ve been. “We’re not sneaking around. This is all so new. It just sort of happened. One night we were fighting—right after your wedding, in fact—and the next, he was kissing me. It took me by complete surprise.”
Morgan sipped at her water with a twinkle in her eye. “So how was it?”
Sarah laughed. “Pretty darn great.”
“And the sex? I have my ideas about the sex. You can’t look like that man and not be good at it.”
