by Cate Beauman
He tightened his grip on her fingers. He knew what she was offering. Not only was she willing to share her body, but the intimacy of her bed. They were moving in the right direction. He didn’t want to ruin it. “Not tonight. Let’s take a little more time.”
“Okay.” She glanced over her shoulder, frowning, searching, shuddering.
He followed her gaze around the beach and parking lot. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. I keep getting a creepy feeling. Sometimes it still feels like I’m being watched. I haven’t been able to shake it.” She smiled, shaking her head. “I know, silly.”
Ethan pulled her closer as he continued to look around. The man accused of the rapes still sat in a jail cell. He’d been refused bail, but something still didn’t sit right, something still didn’t add up. “Would you feel better if I stayed tonight?”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know I don’t have to, but I will. I’ll camp out on the couch. It’ll be like old times.”
“I wouldn’t hate it,” she hesitated.
“Then I’m staying. Let’s go home and break out the spare pillow and blankets. Maybe we can find a movie on TV.”
She rested her head against his shoulder and he felt her body relax.
After the ultrasound appointment tomorrow, he was going to go home and continue crosschecking the orders for rice paper. After the evidence had come back on the accused, he’d stopped looking. His gut told him there were answers in the rice paper, to keep going, so he would.
CHAPTER 26
THE DIM EXAMINATION ROOM ECHOED with the rapid heartbeat of his child, and Ethan loved more than he knew he could. Kylee sat in his lap with Mr. Ruff while he gripped Sarah’s hand in his. Everything that mattered most in his life was right here.
Enchanted, he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. Their tiny baby’s arms and legs moved about at random. Perfect little fingers flexed before the fetus turned, showing off its still elongated rump. “The baby’s mooning us,” he said, grinning.
Sarah looked away from the monitor, laughing, and smiled at him.
“Mooning us,” Kylee repeated with relish.
Snuggling her against him, Ethan stared at the screen as the little body continued to shift about in Sarah’s womb. “That’s your baby, Kylee, your brother or sister.”
“My baby.”
“That’s right.” He kissed the top of her soft blonde hair pulled back in perky side ponytails.
The sonographer continued to mark spots and freeze the frame, pointing out different parts of the anatomy. She stopped on the face with its tiny nose jutting from a profile that still resembled an alien’s. Ethan could just make out earlobes still forming and smiled.
The sonographer pressed and clicked at random, or so it seemed. “I have everything I need. I’ll print out pictures for you to take home. Congratulations.” The woman handed Sarah a paper towel and left the room.
Sarah wiped the clear goop from her stomach before she fixed her pants. Sitting up, she beamed. “Wasn’t that amazing?”
“It really was.” Ethan stood with Kylee in his arms and pressed his lips to Sarah’s, caught up in the wonder of the miracle they had created together. “You’re amazing. I love you.”
Bright blue eyes locked on his as her hand moved to his cheek. “I…love you too.”
He rested his forehead against hers, happy, relieved. It had been so long since she’d told him.
“I love you too,” Kylee chimed in as her small hand rested against Ethan’s other cheek, mimicking her mother.
A grin split his face. When he looked at Kylee, she pushed her forehead up. Catching on, he rested his forehead against the baby soft skin of hers. “I love you too, Squirt.”
The sonographer came back in with a form for Sarah to give to the front desk and pictures in an envelope.
“Thank you. ” Sarah smiled. “We’ll have to put these in the baby book.”
“Little Mildred’s first pictures,” Ethan said with a wink.
Sarah hopped down from the table, gave him a nudge to the ribs. “You better be careful, Ethan, that name might grow on me.”
He opened the door, scoffing. “Like hell.”
“Like hell, Mama.”
Wincing, Ethan put his hand over Kylee’s tiny mouth as he walked down the hall. “You’re going to get me in trouble, kid.”
Sarah’s brow winged up. “You’re right about that one. That’s just what I need Kylee saying at her Monday morning playgroup.”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry, Mama.”
He grinned as Sarah rolled her eyes.
When they made it out to Sarah’s sedan, Ethan buckled Kylee in. “See you tonight, ma’am.”
“O-tay.”
He shut Kylee’s door and pulled Sarah against him before she could get in the car. “Do you mind if I come by later?”
“You know I don’t. I have a few errands to run, but we should be home before dinner.”
“I’ll be at the house for most of the day. I have some things to do.” He thought of the files he planned to crosscheck. “I’ll be over around six.”
“We’ll see you then.” She kissed him quick, moved back, settled in her seat. “I’ll try to have the baby book ready for you.”
“I look forward to it.”
Sarah started the car and drove away with a wave.
Ethan got in his Rover, eager to get home. He had work to do.
“Ethan?” Sarah called out as she climbed the stairs, holding the present she’d thought of while out on her errands. “Ethan?” she called out again as she started down the second story hallway.
When there was no answer, she continued on, surprised. It was mid-afternoon. She’d expected to find him sitting in his office chair, talking on the phone, or down in his gym, working out the muscles of his glorious body. Lust curled tight in her belly as she thought of Ethan, sweaty and intense, pounding away at his punching bag.
She stuck her head in his bedroom, heard the shower running in the master bathroom. Not wanting to catch him by surprise and end up with a gun pointed in her face, she walked toward the sound of water slapping against granite as it ran off his body. “Ethan, I’m here. I didn’t want to startle you.” Along the way she set the wrapped gift on his dresser.
Frowning, she continued forward when he didn’t respond. Was he okay in there? Peeking around the corner of the doorframe, she watched him, naked, sculpted and wonderful as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair. “Knock-knock. I’m here. I didn’t want to…” She stopped when he still went on as if he didn’t hear her. What was going on?
She walked forward, speaking the entire time, expecting him to respond or strike out in reflex. “Are you deaf, Ethan? I’m talking to you, for God’s sake.”
Still nothing. He held his head under the spray, breathing out through his mouth.
Perplexed and concerned, she stepped from her sandals, making her way as far into the massive walk-in shower as she could without getting herself completely soaked. She reached out to tap his back, trying again. “What is wrong with you? Why won’t—”
Her words were cut off on a stifled scream as he grabbed her wrist, yanking her forward into the stream of warm water. Instantly soaked, she stared in shock at Ethan’s grinning face. “What in the hell are you doing?” She swiped at her hair, now plastered to her head before she attempted a shove. “Look at me!”
Gray eyes gleamed with mischief. Ethan chuckled as he backed her against the granite wall. “I am looking at you, baby. You’re the best sight I’ve seen since this morning.” He rested his hands on her hips, where navy blue cargo pants met her striped blue and white top.
With as much dignity as she could muster, Sarah raised her chin and glared into eyes that continued to dance with glee. “I can see you’re quite proud of yourself. Just how am I supposed to stop by the supermarket when I look like a drowned rat?”
“You’re not. You’re supposed to stay here with me
so I can do things to you that will make us both crazy.” He traced the swell of her breasts until her nipples firmed against fabric and she shuddered. “I want to make you crazy, Sarah.”
“What if I’m not interested in playing your games?” she asked in a voice gone thick with desire.
His hands snuck under her sopping wet shirt. In seconds he unclasped her bra and molded her sensitive breasts against his callused palms. She whimpered and he smirked. “Then I’d have to call you a liar.”
Heart pounding, already needing him, already wanting, she pulled his mouth down on hers. Lips slippery from the water slid against his before he moved to her neck, sending waves of pleasure dancing along her skin as his teeth grazed her collarbone.
Ethan pulled her shirt over her head, threw it. Blue and white cotton landed on the floor with a soggy slap, followed by her bra. He took her nipple into his mouth, ran his tongue around its peak in slow, torturous circles.
Her full breasts tingled and she moaned. She grabbed hold of his shoulders, clutching.
Fierce eyes stared into hers. “You better hold on, Sarah, because I’m just getting started.” He unsnapped her pants, unzipped them, yanked them down, taking her panties with them, sending a thrill up her spine.
She remembered the night on the bathroom rug when he’d been rough and demanding. She’d liked it, wanted more.
Ethan pressed her against the wall again, fingers and lips trailing down her body as he left open-mouthed kisses along the way, before he stopped at her rounded belly. He molded the swell with his big hands, kissing tenderly.
She ran her fingers through his wet hair, touched by the gentleness overshadowing need.
His busy hands began to wander again, palms skimming her skin, tracing slow, sensual circles over her hips, moving to her butt, cupping her, bringing her closer to the warmth of his breath puffing against her upper thighs, promising her what she needed. He kissed and nibbled just shy of where she wanted him.
She moaned, waiting for release. All he had to do was touch her.
He tortured her with teasing flicks of the tongue, brushing here, there, always shy of the mark.
“Ethan, please.” She pressed palms to his head, urging him forward.
Looking up, he spoke against her skin, only adding more skittering sensations. “Not yet. I’m not ready yet.”
He continued and she gasped, legs trembling, when his tongue feathered her lightly, bringing her further up.
Tensed, she teetered on the peak. “Ethan.”
He journeyed up slowly, tracing his fingers against her.
She sucked in a breath, expecting him to send her over.
“Not yet, Sarah.” He twisted off the jets and she groaned in frustration, aching and desperate. Ethan pulled her mouth to his, walking with her still in his embrace, grabbing a towel as they moved past the rack. He attempted to dry her as his tongue dove deep and he guided her to the bed.
He dropped the towel and they fell to the mattress, still soaked.
Sarah straddled him at the waist as she stared into his eyes, eager to give. Her fingers journeyed down firm pectorals, skimmed the lines of his muscled stomach. She moved down, taking him into her hand. She smiled when he shuddered, enjoying the power of making him weak. “I’m just getting started, Ethan,” she repeated, giving him back his own words. As her hand continued its busy work, her mouth followed the same journey her fingers had taken, kissing, licking. She stopped at his trembling lower stomach, met his gaze as she touched him with her lips, setting a slow pace, until he gasped, until he closed his eyes and his jaw clenched.
Ethan tugged her up and they were eye-to-eye.
She continued to work him with her palm until he rolled on top of her, trapping her hand against both of their bodies, making it impossible for her to continue. “You’re going to end things if you keep that up. I don’t think either of us is ready for that.”
“I could live with it,” she said, smiling.
“I couldn’t. It’s my turn.”
Before the smile left her face, he pulled her legs up, knees meeting shoulders, and sent her flying high with his tongue. His mouth and fingers played her until she could hardly catch her breath, until she screamed out for him, fisting her hands in the sheets. Wave after wave careened through her system until she was dizzy, until her legs shook with fatigue.
Breath tearing in and out, she clawed at his shoulder in defense against his continued assault to her system. “Ethan, Ethan, I’m going to pass out.”
Triumphant eyes stared into hers as he flicked his tongue against her, making her body jump and tremble before he moved back up. “I guess we should stop then.”
“No, I didn’t say that.” She gripped his firm butt, yanking him down, reveling in his weight settled against her. “I just need a second.”
“A second’s about all I can give you.” He kissed her again. “I need to be inside you.”
Shuddering, she spread her legs wider, inviting him in. She brushed his hair back from his sweaty forehead. “I think I’m fully recovered.”
“We’ll have to do something about that.” Pushing himself into her, thrusting deep, he pumped hard and fast.
She built again, feeling him slide against her smooth skin, until her muscles tensed, her breath rushing out, and she pulsed around him. Crying out, she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him deeper.
Ethan nestled himself against her neck, breath rushing in and out, groaning loud and deep close to her ear as he stiffened and pressed her into the mattress with all of his weight.
He panted and played with her hair as she concentrated on leveling her heartbeat.
After another deep breath and a nibble at her earlobe, he adjusted himself, propping himself up on his forearms. “I know I need to move. I’m crushing you and the baby.”
Sarah caressed her fingers over his back. “We’re both okay. You worked hard. Go ahead and take a minute.”
He grinned, kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re a real trooper, Sarah. I appreciate it.”
Chuckling, she looked toward the bathroom. “I need a serious drink of water.”
“Let me get it. I could use one too.” He pulled himself free of her and walked to the bathroom.
On his way back, he stopped at the dresser. “What’s this?”
“Something for you. That’s the reason I came by, although this was a great addition to my afternoon plans.”
He smiled. “You got me a present?”
“Just something small.” She patted the bed next to her. “Come sit down and open it.”
Settling himself next to her, he handed her the water and tore at the pale yellow paper. He said nothing when he pulled the wooden picture frame free.
Frowning, she put her hand on his and looked down at the picture. “You don’t like it.”
He met her gaze. “It’s our baby. I love it. How could I not?”
Sarah smiled at the soft look that came into his eyes. She kissed his cheek. “I thought maybe you might want to put it in your office or right here by the bed.”
He brushed his knuckles against her jaw. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” He pulled her forward, pressed his lips to hers. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He moved his fingers through her hair, playing with it. “I love you.”
It was easier to say this time. There was no question he meant it. “I love you too.”
“I know I said I would give you time and I will, but I want you to know I’m so ready for this, for you and Kylee, for this baby. I want my family, Sarah. I won’t bring it up again, and I’m not pressuring you, but when you think it’s time, I’ll be waiting right here.”
He pressed her back against the comforter, running his hands along her belly, kissing her stomach. “I can’t even tell you what it was like seeing our child growing inside of you today. I didn’t know I could love like this, all three of you.”
He stroked small circles against the
baby within her, sat up, looking in her eyes. “I’ve been so afraid I would screw everything up, disappoint you, that we would somehow end up like my parents, but when I watched our child move around while I held Kylee, while I held your hand, I knew I would never do to you what they’ve done to each other.”
He took her chin in his hand and her heart pounded at the unwavering look in his eyes. “I want you to look at me. I want you to see it in my eyes. This is me promising you, Sarah, that I will love you for the rest of my life. When you’re ready, I want you to marry me. I want to raise our children together, make more babies, if that’s what you want. I just have to be with you.”
Overwhelmed by his words, consumed by love, she hugged him close, knowing he meant everything he said. “I love you, Ethan, so much, but I still need a little more time.” She took his face in her hands, needing him to understand. “I want you to know I want everything you do. I still have some feelings I need to work through, to be fair to you, to be fair to all of us. I just need you to be patient for a little bit longer.”
He blew out a breath and nodded before resting his forehead against hers. Frustration all but vibrated from him.
She kissed him again. “I love you, Ethan. I want you to remember that.”
“I do.” His cell phone rang on the side table. “I really have to get that. I’ve been waiting on this call.”
He kissed her again before he moved forward.
“I’m going to go throw my clothes in the dryer and head out. I’ll see you for dinner tonight.”
“Okay.”
CHAPTER 27
“I WOULD LIKE TO THINK I won’t be any later than three, maybe three-thirty. I’ll give you a call on my way home,” Sarah said to Hailey as she walked out the front door.
Hailey followed. “I know you’re not looking forward to this.”
Sarah blew out a long breath as she opened the door to her sedan and placed her camera bag on the backseat. “No, not particularly, but by this evening I’ll be able to say it’s over.”
Hailey smiled. “That’s a good way to look at it.”
