by Diana Tobin
“Michaela? Would you please stop at my house on way home?” Ethan sounded ill. “I think I’ve done something wrong with the food you left.”
“Are you all right?” What could possibly be wrong? He sounded terrible. Had he managed to get food poisoning?
“No. No, I’m not.” She had to press the phone hard to her ear to hear him. “Please, help me.” He disconnected before she could say another word.
She hesitated for all of five seconds while she considered calling 911. If he were ill enough to go to the hospital, she could probably get him there faster than waiting for the EMTs to arrive and take him. Still, she reminded herself to be cautious as she made her way out of the parking lot. Crashing into a ditch wouldn’t help either of them.
Snow fell in huge, wet flakes, making visibility difficult on a road she knew like the back of her hand. After what seemed an eternity, she arrived at Ethan’s house. Jumping out of her truck she slipped and slid to front door which opened as she reached it.
“You got here fast.” Ethan’s voice was normal, not the weak and shaken one she’d heard on the phone. “Come in so you can warm up.” He pulled her inside, locked the door behind her, and pulled off her damp coat. “Leave your boots right here.” He bent down to tug them off.
“If you’re sick I need to get you to a doctor. What’s wrong with you?”
He was on one knee, tugging off her boots, caressing her calf as he pulled her foot from each one. “I don’t need a doctor. Just you.”
She jammed her fists on her hips and glared down at him kneeling at her feet. “If this is your idea of a sick joke I’m not seeing the humor.”
Slowly, he rose to his feet and pressed his hands over hers. “No joke, Michaela. I’m sick at heart you won’t talk to me. Let me explain.” He leaned closer to press a kiss to her forehead. “Let me make things right between us. Come have some wine.” He tugged her away from the door, leading her to a couch near the Christmas tree.
“I need to call my family, let them know where I am.” She might as well get this over with. Ethan wanted to remain friends, so fine, let him have his say. She’d agree to be friends, and when the season ended, she’d never see him again. Mike knew he’d leave. Didn’t everyone?
“They know you’re here. I called after I talked to you. Told Nettie when I saw you pull into the drive so she knows you made it safely.” He pressed her into the corner of the couch before taking his seat much too close to her and handing her a glass of wine. Twinkling lights glinted off the ruby liquid in her glass. “Would you rather eat first?”
“I suppose you want me to cook,” she grumbled.
“No.” His smile was all charm as he leaned toward her. “I admit I got one of your casseroles out of the freezer. I was more concerned with getting you here than with what we’d eat.”
His voice slid right down her body making her wish for things that would never happen. Pressing a hand to his muscled chest, she pushed. He leaned back a bit letting her know it was his choice to put space between them because it was what she wanted. “If you planned on this being some seduction scene, you’re out of luck. I’m not about to fall back and spread my legs for you.”
The smile left his face as he gave her a stern look. “Never speak of yourself in such a manner again.” The soft southern vowels were harder than a northern storm. “You are not some one-night stand!”
Mike slammed her glass down on the table at her elbow. “You’re right about that! I was barely a five-minute stand. You couldn’t wait to be done with me!” Hot tears stung her eyes adding fuel to her temper. “Screw this!” She got to her feet to bolt out the door when Ethan grabbed her and pulled her down to straddle his lap.
“I had a fucking cramp in my leg!” he yelled. His hands gripped her waist, keeping her firmly pressed to his thighs. “Sit still before you end up hurting us both.”
“You’re the idiot who pulled me on your lap while your leg is cramping.” Of all days to wear a skirt. Just being in this position caused the skirt to ride up her thighs. Struggling to get free had only made it ride higher. “Let me go.”
“No,” he said tugging her closer. “I can’t let you go. I don’t want to let you go. Ever.” He murmured the last word so low she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “We’re talking at cross purposes, so if you’ll sit quietly, I’ll explain.” One large hand was over her hip holding her in place, while the other traced a pattern across her lower back inching her closer to his heat. “Please.”
Mike nodded and clamped her thighs around his to keep from moving against the erection she could feel so close to her center. Had he always been this strong?
“Our night together—our much too short night together—that’s when my leg cramped.” He kept his gaze locked with hers even as his hands slowly pressed her closer to him. “You should have told me you were a virgin. I’d’ve taken more care, made sure you were ready for me.”
She opened her mouth and truth won out. “I was ready. I nearly begged you.”
One side of his mouth lifted a bit. “You never begged, sweetheart, but I’m pretty sure I did. If I didn’t, it was only because I was so busy exploring every inch of you I could barely speak. Then you were standing there in those bits of blue satin and…I lost my mind.” Slouching a bit, he tilted his hips so she slid closer.
When did his hands get under her skirt? She could feel his palms cupping her butt while his thumbs caressed from her hip bones up to the waist band of her panties, then down to the top of her thighs. “You didn’t trust me.”
“You’re right, baby, I didn’t.” His voice was full of regret. “You’ll never know how sorry I am about that. I let someone else’s treatment cloud my judgment of how you’d react.”
“Someone hurt you.” She was holding herself as still as possible when all she wanted to do was rub along the hot erection she could feel beneath her. She should be getting as far away from Ethan as possible instead of thinking how much closer they could be.
“Yes. I don’t want to talk about it, but there needs to be nothing but truth between us.”
His words brought to mind an image of a very naked Ethan and she bit back a moan.
“I was engaged when I was injured.” Mike felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her head and she began wiggling to get off his lap. He firmed his grip on her hips. “Stay here and listen. Please.” He waited until she stilled and met his gaze again. Only then did his touch gentle as he absently ran his thumbs along the crease of her thighs. “I can’t honestly say I would’ve gone through with the wedding. Natasha liked to be…pampered. She wanted the best of everything, and complained about what a tightwad I was.”
Mike tilted her head to the side in puzzlement. She couldn’t imagine anyone accusing Ethan of being cheap. He overpaid her for the meals she prepared for him and his boys and still wouldn’t allow her to pay for Dani’s skate lessons.
“Natasha acted like the devoted fiancée when I was injured, up until I gave permission to have my leg removed.” For a moment, his fingers tightened and he rolled his shoulders, as if releasing the stress of that time. “As I said, Natasha always wanted the best and I no longer fit the bill.”
“What? Were you having your brain and personality removed along with your leg?” His eyes widened and his lips twitched as if he was trying to hold back a smile. “She stayed by you during your surgery and recovery, right?” Mike couldn’t imagine turning her back on someone in need. Especially someone you were supposed to care about.
“She refused to talk about the surgery, except trying to convince me I shouldn’t do it. She didn’t want to hear details of what might happen without it.” His gaze went to a spot over her shoulder. “I heard she’d come to visit the next morning just after they’d taken me into surgery.”
“But she was there when you came out of recovery.”
His eyes came back to meet hers and he slowly shook his head. “I never saw her again.”
“She left you
alone? You need better taste in women.” Mike couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. She’d like two minutes with the selfish Natasha! She bet the woman wasn’t even Russian, just pure gold digger.
“My taste has improved greatly,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “My folks came up. In fact, Dad was able to keep Tash from emptying my apartment, otherwise I’d have been sleeping on the floor when the hospital released me. That’s part of what made Mama hover so. Not just my injury, but she figured my heart was broken, as well.”
“Was it?” She feared his answer.
He looked deep into her eyes. “Yep. That was one of my favorite legs.”
She curled her hands over his shoulders. “It’s nothing to joke about.”
“Who’s jokin’, darlin’?” He spread his legs a little. “Natasha hurt my pride, what little I had left. I got sick of people looking at me with pity, or disgust, because I was damaged goods. The guys on my team didn’t know how to act around me, what to say. It was easier to go home and try to learn how to be a man again.”
“How could you ever doubt—” Her eyes closed as she imagined how wounded he must have been.
“You never would’ve left me, would you?” She shook her head. “Duty would’ve made you stay.”
“Not duty. Love. She shoulda stayed for love.”
“She didn’t love me though, did she darlin’? Not like you do.”
Mike pressed her lips to Ethan’s and he took control of the kiss. Her heart knew the truth of Ethan’s words. She loved him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“C’mon, darlin’. I need you to get up.” Ethan liked the idea of staying right where they were for the next ten years. Michaela’s head rested on his shoulder and she was snugged into his lap. Having her in his arms was the best feeling in the world.
“I need to go,” she murmured.
“We’re not done talkin’, yet.” This was as close as he was going to get to a do-over of their first time. Only this time, he’d do it right. Then, they would discuss their future. “I’d like to be your hero and carry you, but I’m more afraid of dropping you or tripping than I am of appearing like a wimp. So, I need you on your feet.”
Slowly, reluctantly, he pushed her off his lap to stand in front of him, keeping his hands at her waist. When he was standing next to her, he draped his arm over her shoulder and wrapped his hand around her hip. Her head nestled into his shoulder perfectly.
“We never did get around to dancing the night of our date.” Pivoting on his right foot he pulled her into his arms. “I used to be a pretty good dancer. Been a long time, but I’ll try not to crush your pretty toes.” When she opened her mouth, he claimed it in a heated kiss. He didn’t end the kiss until her eyes glazed and her lids fluttered shut. “That’s my girl,” he said in a thick voice.
“Not your—”
His lips cut off her denial as he danced her toward his bedroom. “Don’t argue, sugar.”
“Sex isn’t going to solve anything.”
Clasping his hands loosely together at her lower back, he stopped them next to his big bed. “We’re not a puzzle, darlin’. We’re two people who fit together just right. Sex is a very happy bonus. One we’re gonna do proper this time.” He slid down the zipper on her skirt and pushed it over her hips to fall on the floor. “Only you can make knee socks and cotton panties sexy as hell.”
“I—we—”
Ethan covered her mouth with his. “Not sure you were trying to argue, sugar, but I’m gonna like handlin’ any arguments we have like this.” He pulled her sweater off over her head. “Thank Robert E. Lee and all his soldiers! You’re wearin’ my favorite bra.” He bent his head and placed his mouth over the pretty pink lace, just as he’d wanted to that first day. “Hmm.”
“Wait. Ethan, stop. Please.” He stilled and lifted his head. “What are we doing here?”
He wanted to make a joke, but knew she was serious. She needed to know he was even more serious. Cupping her face in his large hands he said, “I’m trying to make up for our first time. I’m trying to show you how much I love you. Please, let me.” He pressed gentle kisses to each corner of her mouth. “You can tell me to stop any time, and I will. Even if my brain is about to implode. I promise I’ll stop if you say no. Please, don’t say no. Please, don’t say stop. Let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. Let me show you what you mean to me.”
Michaela’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She didn’t say no, and she didn’t say stop, so he let his tongue glide across her lips seeking entrance. When she let him in, he drew her against him. His heart pounded so hard in his chest he could barely breathe. Releasing her lips, he held her, concentrating on hockey plays before he blew it again.
“You have on too many clothes.”
He chuckled, deciding plays wouldn’t do him much good. He just needed to keep in mind the goal; loving Michaela like she’d never been loved before. Ethan drew in a deep breath. “I need to take off my leg.”
She had the hem of his long sleeved knit shirt halfway up his chest. “Arms up.”
“Yes’m.”
She tossed his shirt behind her. “Don’t call me ma’am.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’.” Her hands were on his zipper, tugging like she was battling a locked door. “Easy, sugar.” But she was pushing the jeans down over his narrow hips. “I need to sit to…” He lowered to the bed.
Michaela stood in front of him, her hands on his shoulders, her breasts level with his face. “Is it all right if I—” His mouth closed over her, wetting the lace and stopping her words. After minutes of suckling, licking, nipping, and nuzzling she said, “You really like pink.”
He chuckled against the valley between her breasts. “I love what the pink is covering. Now that it’s wet, it needs to come off.” He reached behind her to undo the clasp and slowly peeled the bra down her arms. “I’ve thought about doing this since I first saw you.” His gaze took in all her beauty. He frowned at a spot just under her right breast. “What’s this?” Gently he placed a finger below the mark.
“From when the coffee splashed on me. Guess I missed it with the aloe.”
He pressed a soft kiss to the mark and her ribs lifted with the breath she drew in. Then she dropped to her knees and took off his shoes.
“Don’t you ever go barefoot?” Now that his shoes were off she began tugging down his jeans.
“I do now that the kids know about my leg. I really only have one foot, the other is—”
“Yours,” she finished. “Is it all right if I watch you take off your leg?”
“Are you gonna run? It’s not a pretty sight. Besides,” he rolled a shoulder, “you’ve seen it before.”
Michaela met his gaze head on. “Last time I was shocked, hurt, and angry. Stop being a coward and let me see.”
His lips thinned. She had a point, he was being a coward. Now that she’d had time to adjust to the idea, he feared he’d see the disgust her hurt and anger had hidden before. She had tossed his jeans to the side and sat on her heels studying his prosthesis. If she noticed the tremor in his hands as he removed it, she didn’t say.
Ethan was about to move back up on the bed when her palm settled on his left thigh. “Do you want this sock thing off or left on?”
He swallowed hard. “You decide.”
Lightly she ran a finger over the edge. “Will you think me a coward if we leave it on for now?”
He barely croaked out a “No,” when she began exploring from his knee to his groin, running her fingers over the muscled flesh and coarse hair. “Baby, I—” She pressed a kiss to his knee, then peppered more up his thigh to the hem of his knit boxers. “Jesus.”
She looked up at him and smiled. An actual honest-to-goodness smile. “You’re so strong.”
He just shook his head in wonder at her. “Gettin’ weaker by the second. You need to come up here now, or I’m not gonna get to love you like I want.”
Michaela licked her lips. “How about
I love you like I want?”
He grasped her biceps pulling her up over him, then rolled so she was under him. “How ’bout we love each other? Me first.”
****
When the man set his mind to something, he was a formidable force. Mike stretched, wincing slightly at some tender places. She’d been kissed, licked, and touched from head to toe and back again—and in places she didn’t realize she had. She had loved every minute of it, and returned the favor as much as Ethan had allowed. Who would’ve guessed he’d be so shy about his stump?
Cuddling into his heated body, she thought she could stay right where she was for a week or two. “Oh, gosh. What time is it?”
He tucked her more firmly into his body and lifted his head to squint at the clock. “’Most midnight. Merry Christmas Eve, sugar.”
“I have to go.” She began wiggling to get out of his hold and bed.
“Nope.”
“Ethan, I can’t stay. Mom and the girls must be frantic with worry.”
“They know you’re spendin’ the night.” He stretched and yawned.
“How…When?” Now that he’d released her, she jumped out of bed searching for her clothes.
“Called her when I shut off the oven.” He grinned at her. “We never did get to eat. Sorry, honey. Hate to waste one of your casseroles, but that one is done for.” At one point, Ethan had gotten out of bed, hopping on his one leg to the kitchen to turn off the oven before the house burned down. Considering the way they’d spent the past few hours it was a wonder the bed hadn’t burst into flames. “You hungry?”
Mike located her panties in a far corner of the room. “Now that you mention it, my stomach is grumbling.”
“No sense in puttin’ those on, sugar.” He took the panties from her hand, tossing them over his shoulder before he leaned down to kiss her. How could a one-legged man move so fast? “They’re just gonna come off after we eat.”
“I’m not cooking naked.”
