“Soon. I told the crew I’d call when I was on my way back to the airport. They were going to do some routine maintenance on the plane, so I want to make sure they’ll actually be ready for me when I get there.”
“Was that necessary?” Zach asked. “Why couldn’t they wait until they were back in Portland?”
Ethan shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t question it because it seemed like a good way to spend the time rather than twiddling their thumbs while I was trying to find your sister.”
“Is she really all right?” Zach said, and for the first time, it was actual concern lacing his voice, not annoyance.
“She’s fine. She’s worried. Hell, I’m sure she’s not the only one who is. She’s just the only one who was outspoken about it.”
“I’m sure. Okay, look, I appreciate you going there and getting things under control. I’m sorry to have made you waste a day chasing Summer down. Get back here and get yourself ready so we can leave tomorrow and go with clear heads.”
Ethan wasn’t sure he’d be able to leave with a clear head, not tomorrow and certainly not today, but rather than share that observation, he told Zach he’d see him tomorrow and hung up. His first instinct was to head back into the tepee, but he knew where that would lead, and as much as he wanted it, Ethan also knew it wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone in the long run. “Dammit,” he cursed and searched his phone for the pilot’s number and called him instead.
* * *
Summer wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this certainly wasn’t it. Pacing the space around her, she patiently waited as Ethan got on another call. When she had left Portland this morning, she honestly didn’t think anyone would come looking for her. She wasn’t a fool; she had seen all of her brother’s missed calls and knew he was chomping at the bit to talk to her. She just hadn’t been ready to talk to him yet.
Finding Ethan standing fewer than ten feet away from her while she was doing yoga? Yeah, big surprise. And seeing he was concerned about her, and not just concerned on her brother’s behalf, had been a little eye-opening.
And then there was the kiss.
Oh Lord, how the man could kiss!
Even now, some ten minutes later, her body was still happily vibrating from the encounter. For so many years, she had taken Ethan’s indifference to her and lived with it. She didn’t like it, but there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. How could he have treated her with such detachment for so many years and then kiss her like that? It didn’t make sense. Summer wasn’t naïve where men were concerned, but there was definitely something about Ethan’s kiss that was anything but casual.
Was he really attracted to her? Why hadn’t he acted on it before? Was it because of her family? It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Ethan had been reluctant to approach her because of her brothers (and father and cousins and so on). Most of her life, Summer had had to deal with being from a predominantly male family who enjoyed intimidating any guy she ever brought home. Was it any wonder she’d moved away at eighteen?
Risking a glance outside, Summer saw that Ethan was off the phone, but he didn’t seem inclined to hurry back inside to continue what had been interrupted. That can’t be good, she thought. Was he regretting it? Had she somehow disappointed him? That was a depressing thought. Turning away, she shook her head. “No,” she muttered and returned to her pacing. “No, this is totally not because of me. If he’s hesitating, it’s because of his own issues.” Summer had always been a confident woman, and she wasn’t going to change now.
“Hey,” Ethan said from right behind her.
What is he, a ninja? she thought, spinning around to face him. “Hey, yourself. Everything go okay with Zach?” Ethan gave her the abbreviated version of his conversation with her brother. “So…what? Now he’s fine? Is he seriously just realizing how much of a jackass he’s been to me in the last month?”
Ethan chuckled. “Baby steps,” he said. “I can only hope that when we get back, he’ll be true to his word and actually take some time to figure out why he’s so hard on you.”
When we get back. Summer sighed. “So you’re still going?” she said sadly.
He stepped in close and put his hands on her shoulders. “We have to. I told you already.”
Just as quickly as he had touched her, Summer pulled away. “Obviously there’s nothing I can do to change your mind so…you should just go.” It nearly killed her to say those words. What she really wanted to do was pull him back to the bed with her so they could finish what they’d started and to hell with the stupid climb. If anything happened, at least she’d have the memory of this time with Ethan.
But she wasn’t the kind of woman who could do sex without giving her heart, and clearly, if he had truly ever felt anything for her, he would have acted on it before now. It was probably just the emotionally charged circumstances and the fact that she had initiated the kiss. He probably kissed all of his former lovers like that. The thought made her ill.
“Summer,” he began, but she was entirely focused on petting the sleeping pup. Ethan waited to see if she would acknowledge him, and after a few minutes, he decided he was tired of waiting. “Please don’t be mad. I wish I could give you a guarantee that you have nothing to worry about, but I can’t.” He looked at his watch. “I have to head back to the airport. The plane should be back together by the time I get there, and I have a lot to do back home.”
Alarm prickled down her spine. “Why is the plane apart?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. The crew was just doing some general maintenance. There was a small oil leak and they were taking care of it. It will be ready by the time I get there. Nothing to worry about.” Smooth, he thought to himself. Give her something else to freak out about. He waited for her to try to stop him with rantings and ravings about how unsafe it could be, but she merely shrugged.
“So go,” she said. As she made her way across the space, she stopped and forced a smile to her face. “Have a safe trip, Ethan,” she said with a cheeriness she didn’t feel and made her way back to her yoga spot.
He called her name one more time and was surprised when she actually stopped in her tracks. “I wish things could be different. You and I both know that what happened here…it would complicate things. Too many things. I’d have your entire family chasing me down to kill me.”
Looking over her shoulder, Summer gave him a sad smile. “That’s the thing, Ethan; there’s no one here. No one would ever have to know.”
What was she saying? His mind raced. Was she giving him the okay to have one night, one night where he wasn’t her brother’s best friend and he didn’t have to worry about angry Montgomerys vowing to do him bodily harm? It was almost too good to imagine. He was about to take a step toward her, but his conscience got the better of him. “You deserve better than that, Summer. You deserve someone who can give you more than one night. You’re better than being someone’s dirty little secret.”
If anything, her expression grew even sadder. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” she said quietly. “Good-bye, Ethan.”
Ethan wasn’t sure how long he stood there, stupefied by the exchange. If Zach hadn’t called, they would both have been naked and out of breath and he’d be looking forward to round two right about now. Dammit. He looked down at his watch again and cursed. He needed to get on the road, but he knew this wasn’t finished. Time might not be on his side right now, but eventually, he and Summer were going to have to discuss what could have happened here and what they were going to do about it.
Maybe what they were going to do was more of what they had already done, but without the threat of her family.
A man could only hope.
Chapter 4
“What do you mean we can’t leave?” Ethan snapped. He stared from the airport mechanic to his pilot, Mark. “You told me on the phone we were good.”
The pilot looked a
little uneasy. “At that point, I thought we were. It was a small leak. We had to call out for a part and the last I checked, everything was getting put back together. The wrong part was sent and unfortunately, I can’t get another one until tomorrow morning. They’re sending it overnight, but I’m afraid the earliest I’ll have it here is ten a.m. You’ll be in the air by eleven, but it’s the best I can do. Sorry.” The mechanic did seem sincere, but that didn’t help Ethan at the moment.
“So what the hell am I supposed to do?” He wasn’t asking anyone in particular; it just seemed like the thing to say.
“I’ve already checked for you, sir,” Mark said. “There’s only one more flight left today going to Portland and it has two stops. You won’t land until six thirty tomorrow morning.”
Ethan turned around and looked at him in shock. “It’s a forty-five-minute flight! That’s ridiculous!”
Mark nodded nervously. “You could rent a car and drive back. It’s not ideal, and I know it’s a five-hour drive but…”
“Unbelievable,” he muttered and stalked away to get his head together. It was almost six o’clock in the evening; he hadn’t eaten dinner and he was exhausted. There was no way he could safely make that long a drive without killing himself or someone else. He walked back over to the two men. “And you can guarantee me I’ll be in the air by eleven tomorrow morning?”
They both nodded. Ethan turned to the pilot. “Where will you spend the night?”
Mark shrugged. “There aren’t a lot of accommodations here, but there is a motel about ten miles up the road. I’ll probably just crash there.” Ethan made a noncommittal sound. “What about you?”
That was a good question. The first thing that popped into Ethan’s mind when he heard he was going to be stranded here for the night was that he could get right back in the car and return to Summer. They’d have their night together and he’d get her out of his system and be able to go on the climb with one less thing messing with his head. Then he realized how shallow that sounded and how he had told her she deserved more, deserved better. And he was right.
With a sigh of resignation, he thanked the two men, told them he’d see them in the morning, and went to the car to find someplace to spend the night that wasn’t too far out of the area—and more than the no-name, by-the-hour places that he had driven by on his way to and from where Summer was staying.
It was a far cry from what he wanted to do and where he wanted to be, but like everything else in his life lately, he might not like it, but he’d have to accept it.
* * *
The yoga was relaxing.
The soak in her private hot spring was great.
The yogurt-and-granola dinner left a bit to be desired.
It was barely eight o’clock and Summer wasn’t the least bit tired. The peace and quiet was all right, she supposed, but it left her too much time to think.
About Ethan.
About the kiss.
About him leaving.
While Summer loved her family to pieces, sometimes they were a royal pain in the rear. It was times like this when she could totally relate to her brother James and his almost fifteen-year sabbatical from all things Montgomery. If she thought she could get away with it, Summer would gladly have packed up and moved away where no one could interfere with her life. Particularly her love life.
If she had one.
“Please,” she said. “I could totally be having a love life right at this very moment with Ethan if it weren’t for my interfering family.” Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to think she could move away and be without them, Summer was too much of a family girl. She loved them.
Even when she hated them.
Like right now.
She threw her clothes back on over the bathing suit she’d been wearing from her earlier soak, and with nothing pressing to do, she decided to take Maylene on a walk around the grounds and got out her leash. It wasn’t the most exciting way to spend a Friday night, but with any luck she’d exhaust them both so that going to bed early wouldn’t be quite so hard.
The property was massive. Besides the tepees, there were dozens of small cabins scattered around and a large main resort building for those needing a little more in the way of creature comforts. While none of it was deluxe, Summer was sure she could head into the main building at some point tomorrow and grab a hot meal and a shower. There were bathrooms and showers out by the tepees that would be fine, but she had no desire to make regular use of them. Not when there was a perfectly enclosed private locker room in the hotel. Roughing it was one thing; roughing it with no other options was quite another.
Maylene trotted happily along the property, her rhinestone collar sparkling. They stopped occasionally, and Summer talked to some of the other guests along the way, but an hour later she found herself right back at her tepee.
“Not the most exhausting walk I’ve ever been on,” she said dryly as she stepped back into the tepee and contemplated the door. It was a flap. There was no other way to describe it, and although there were ties, it didn’t seem the safest way to make sure no one came in. Why hadn’t she thought about that before?
Maylene danced around Summer’s ankles as she tried to disconnect the leash. “Easy, girl,” she cooed, and once the dog was free, she scampered over to her water bowl and took a drink before promptly curling up in her own little bed. She was snoring within seconds. “Oh, to be able to sleep like that.”
It was still early and Summer wasn’t tired. She had her e-reader with her and it was loaded with books, but that wasn’t appealing. She was restless. The fresh air and the walk had been all well and good but didn’t seem to take the edge off what she was feeling. The temperature was very comfortable inside the room, and with nothing else appealing to do, Summer stripped back down to her bathing suit and climbed back into the hot tub. A sigh of pure bliss escaped as she felt herself relax.
“Must be some magic water to make you moan like that.”
Summer screamed and jumped up from the water. “Ethan?” She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart. “What in the world? I thought you went back to Portland! You scared the hell out of me!”
Ethan hadn’t meant to scare her; he honestly thought she would have seen him sitting on the sofa on the side of the room. Unfortunately, she had been so engrossed in her own thoughts and talking to the dog that she hadn’t noticed. Not that he was complaining; watching her strip out of her yoga clothes had been quite entertaining. All that was missing was music, and he would have called it the most erotic striptease he had ever seen.
“The maintenance didn’t get done. Something about a wrong part being sent and it won’t be in until the morning.”
“Where’s Mark?” Summer was familiar with the pilot who had been flying the Montgomerys around for almost ten years now.
“At a motel.”
“And there was only one room?” she asked, one brow quirked.
Shrugging, Ethan stepped closer to the tub. “I don’t know. I didn’t bother checking.”
“And why not?” Was that her voice sounding so breathless?
Now he was standing right in front of her. The sight of the water droplets making their way down her bikini-clad body had him twitching with need. “I didn’t want to go to a motel.”
Summer’s heart rate still hadn’t calmed, only now it wasn’t because of fright but because she was nervous about where this conversation was leading. Risk. She had to remember she needed to take this risk. Right now. With Ethan. “And what did you want?”
Ethan didn’t answer. Instead, he held her gaze as he kicked off his shoes. He barely blinked as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. He almost groaned when Summer licked her lips as he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them off. When he was down to his briefs, he stepped over the edge of the tub until he was close enough to touch her. “You,” he sai
d gruffly. “I want you, Summer.”
No words had ever sounded sweeter to her.
Her mind raced with some kind of seductive comeback, but the words wouldn’t come. Ethan’s hands came to rest on her bare waist and she gasped. They moved slowly up her rib cage and settled on her breasts. Summer closed her eyes and sighed. All too soon, Ethan’s hands once again moved up to cup her face.
“I’m a bastard for coming back here,” Ethan said. “I meant what I said earlier; you deserve better than this, more than what I can give you, but heaven help me, I couldn’t stay away.”
“I didn’t want you to,” she admitted softly. This time, it was Ethan who initiated the kiss, and it was just as electrifying. Steam rose up around them, and Summer couldn’t say if it was from the springs or from the two of them, because she certainly felt ready to combust. Slowly, they not only sank into the kiss, his lips slanting over hers again and again, but they also sank to their knees in the water.
“So good,” he murmured as he sipped droplets from her lips and across her cheek, down her throat, and to her collarbone, tasting the water on her skin. “You taste and feel so good, Summer.” His words were part praise, part growl. It was awkward as they settled themselves into the tub with Ethan’s back against the side and Summer straddling his lap, but once they settled in, it was pure bliss.
There were so many questions rattling around in Summer’s head, but she was afraid to voice any of them for fear of ruining the moment. This had been her dream, her fantasy, and it was really happening. Running her hands up his arms, his biceps, and his shoulders, she relished the feel of him. His muscles were hard and yet smooth. He had a tribal band tattoo on his left bicep and it fascinated her briefly. When had he gotten it? What did it mean? She didn’t linger; her hands continued the journey up to touch his face, his strong jaw, before sinking into his hair and pulling his mouth back to hers. Beneath her, Ethan shifted and the size of his arousal pressing against her was pretty impressive. She had always thought he was impressive, both in looks and physique. But feeling it this up close, this intimately, was beyond her realm of comprehension. Summer felt as if she were somebody else because she had never felt this good, this wanted.
Meant for You Page 5
