by K. M. Scott
She looked up at me and smiled. “You keep saying I deserve, I deserve. I bet your mother didn’t get one hundred percent of your father for a long time, and they turned out fine. Women married to powerful men rarely get one hundred percent of them. If I got involved with any of those friends of Tressa’s she suggested I date, I doubt I’d get all of them.”
Damnit. My sister had tried to set Summer up with one of her successful douchebag male friends.
“I remember all those nights my mother putting the three of us to bed without my father anywhere in sight. She likes to romanticize things, but sometimes she looked sad. I don’t want you to be sad because of me.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to convince Summer that I wasn’t the guy she wanted. She continued to smile like she’d considered all of this and still thought I was the one for her.
“Real life is sometimes sad, Ethan. What you call romanticizing by your mother about those days is probably just her remembering the good things and forgetting everything else. Nobody’s perfect. Being with someone is a matter of give and take. We just have to tell one another the truth. That doesn’t mean things will always be good, but at least they’ll be honest. We didn’t start out telling the truth to anyone, including ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start now.”
“What did you lie to me about?” I asked, my heart slamming into my chest as my brain raced with all the possible answers she might give.
Her mouth turned down into a deep frown, and she looked toward where our hands sat joined on her leg. “I fell in love with you on the flight back from Australia. I didn’t think you’d ever feel that for me, though, since you had dated all those beautiful women. Then when we broke up and you wouldn’t tell me who that text was for, I figured you decided I wasn’t pretty enough for you.”
Her confession made my chest hurt as I thought about her focusing on what could be wrong with her when it was me who had the problem. Taking her face in my hands, I tilted her head up so she could see the truth in my eyes when I apologized.
“You couldn’t have been more wrong, but I’m sorry what I did made you think that. I never meant to make it seem like you weren’t good enough. That never crossed my mind because I was so consumed with the guilt I always feel about Diana.”
I leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. “I love you, Summer. I wish I knew when I fell in love with you, but it just feels like I’ve always loved you.”
She smiled sweetly. “I love you, Ethan.”
Taking a deep breath, I sighed like I had years of unhappiness to let go. “Well, we better get going if we want to get to the party before it ends,” I said as I reached back to grab my tie.
“Your mother is going to be so happy you’re coming.”
“I have no excuse now. I didn’t think I could handle seeing you, but that’s all changed now, and I didn’t think I could be around her success at the gallery, but things are changed with that too.”
Summer stood from the bed, clearly confused. “Have you decided to go back to being a photographer shooting models?”
“Not exactly. I’ll tell you about it in the car on the way to the party.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Summer
I opened my eyes and saw Ethan working on his laptop in bed next to me. We’d fallen asleep after getting back from the party just after midnight, and I looked around for any hint for how long I’d been asleep.
Craning my neck to see the time on his computer, I struggled to focus my bleary eyes on the tiny numbers in the corner of the screen. Five-thirty? Why was he up so early?
“Good morning. Or is it good night since it’s still dark out?” I asked as I sat up next to him. “How long have you been up?”
He leaned over and kissed me. “I couldn’t sleep. Too many ideas running around my brain. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“I don’t think so. What are you doing?”
“Someone from the Philadelphia Beacon emailed about getting some shots for their story on the shelter, and I’m trying to decide which ones I should send,” he said matter-of-factly as he stared at the pictures of the animals on the screen in front of him.
“So it was you who got them to come out to Mended Paws? Dawn told me you denied having anything to do with it, but I knew that couldn’t be true. I didn’t think they’d just somehow seen the pictures you took and became interested.”
He turned to look at me and smiled. “Yeah, it was me, but I didn’t want anyone to know. I asked my father to contact the owner of the paper and tell him about the shelter so they could get some press about what they do there. My father’s been Andrew Mason’s friend for years, so I figured he might be willing to help if he heard about it from his old buddy Tristan.”
I kissed his cheek and shook my head. “So you’re stunning to look at, a god in between the sheets, and have a good heart? I must be dreaming.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead as a playful look came over him. “A god in between the sheets? I’ll take that compliment as an invitation.”
He set aside the laptop on the nightstand as I slid my hand down over his chest. “You should.”
Rolling me over onto my back, he ran his hands up my sides until he cupped my breasts and kissed me long and deep. With my feet, I tugged his pants off to find him naked underneath.
“Going commando these days?” I asked as he tilted his hips so his hard cock grazed my pussy.
He looked down at me and smiled in that wicked way I loved. “I didn’t think sitting with a laptop on my cock was a good idea, but when I got out of the shower last night, I didn’t feel like putting on underwear. So I compromised and put on pajama pants instead.”
Pressing my heels into his lower back, I urged him toward me. “Feel free to eliminate that extra step and make things easier anytime.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said low and deep in my ear in that voice that never failed to make me want him so badly it hurt.
Ethan sunk his teeth into my earlobe, biting down just enough to send a string of need racing through my entire body as he slowly slid into me, filling me completely. I arched my back, desperate to feel every inch of him against my skin, and he groaned my name into the pillow next to my head.
“God…Summer…you feel so fucking good.”
My fingernails scratched the silky soft skin on his back, exciting him with that touch of pain I knew thrilled him. He responded by stuffing his hand into my hair and tugging hard.
He lifted himself off me and looked down into my eyes. “Fuck. You know how hot that gets me when you do that. I’m not going to be able to hold back and I’d hoped to make this slow and easy first thing in the morning.”
I didn’t want slow and easy now. I wanted Ethan wild and free like he’d been when we met, not the buttoned-up suit and tie man he’d been forced to become.
“Good. Don’t hold back,” I whispered and then kissed him with everything inside me.
His dark eyes filled with that sexy look he got in them that I loved, and the next thing I knew, he filled me completely again in one hard thrust that touched that single spot no other man had ever reached. It took my breath away, but I wanted more.
I wanted everything Ethan offered. His sweetness and the laughter. The darkness that existed in him because of his past. The sensual creature who never failed to thrill me more than any other person in the world had. The good and the bad, I wanted it all.
His cock pistoned into me hard and fast, slowly torturing me with pleasure as my body ached for the sweet release I knew he could give me. I watched his body tense and relax with every thrust, his muscles straining beneath his tattooed skin.
I tilted my hips and moved my legs further up his back to change position, and his eyes grew wide as he slid even deeper into me. I knew how to excite him, even if I didn’t have a perfect body and I’d never look like the women he had before me.
Pulling him down to me, I whispered in his ear, “Fuck me.
Don’t hold back.”
He said nothing but held me tightly and fucked me just as I wanted. He didn’t hold back, and when he came, it was only after I’d come twice. When he wanted to go again a half hour later, I climbed on top of him and rode his cock until he came again.
Ethan brought out the wild in me, but hours later as we lay in each other’s arms in bed, I knew he didn’t need his wild brought out by the woman he loved. He needed the good that existed inside him brought out, and even though I didn’t know how, I did that for him.
“I want you to meet someone. I thought we could do it this afternoon,” he said quietly above me.
Lifting my head off his chest, I saw how much this meant to him and nodded. “Okay. Who am I meeting?”
“My sister Diana.”
A rush of fear ran from my brain through my body. I’d met everyone else in Ethan’s family, and they’d liked me. I wanted to believe they liked their son and brother with me. But Diana was different. She meant more to Ethan than anyone else.
“Oh, okay. I don’t think I have anything to wear, though. My hair could use a good cut too. I wish you had given me a couple days to get ready.”
At any moment, I knew I’d begin rambling, so I quickly rolled out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Diana was the person he’d already warned me he’d have to choose over me. She meant more to Ethan than anyone else. What if she didn’t like me?
He padded up behind me as I stood staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and wrapped his arms around me. Nuzzling my neck, he kissed me just below my earlobe. “Trust me, this is going to be great. You’ve already met the tougher sister. Diana is crazy about me, unlike Tressa, who I’m pretty sure enjoys seeing me suffer. She’s going to love you because I do.”
I turned in his hold and looked up at him. “What if she doesn’t? What then? You’ve already told me how much she means to you. What if she doesn’t even like me? Will we be finished? I guess at least I’ll know why you don’t want to be with me this time.”
He kissed me before my insecurity spiral could spin out of control. Smoothing the hair back off my face, he said, “I don’t need anyone’s permission to love you, Summer. That’s not what this is. And it’s not an audition to see if you get the part of the woman I love. You already have that role. That’s why I want you to meet her. Because you’re the woman I’m madly, crazy in love with.”
Closing my eyes, I admitted the truth. “I just worry that she’ll think I’m not enough. I’m sure she’s seen all those women on the covers of magazines you’ve been with. What if she thinks you deserve someone like that instead of me?”
Ethan pressed his lips to my forehead and kissed me softly, whispering against my skin, “You’ve met everyone else in my family. Do you really think there’s a chance that the one member of the Stone clan I like best would think that?”
I looked at him as the reality of our past flashed back into my brain. “They wanted you to settle down with a nice girl. Maybe she thinks you should live the life you used to have. I don’t know. I’m just worried.”
“She wants me to be happy. That’s it. And you make me happier than I’ve ever been before in my life. Well, except for when I got that motorized Jeep that I drove around the yard until the gardener complained about my tearing through the flower beds and my parents took it off me. That was a very happy Ethan.”
Unhappy with his poking fun at me, I lightly jabbed him in the side and moved past him. “Stop teasing. I’m worried about this, and you’re talking about toys.”
From behind, he scooped me up in his arms and began walking back toward the bed. “Enough talk about being worried. She’s going to love you and you’re going to love her.”
Ethan tossed me down onto the mattress and sat down next to me. Suddenly, his expression grew serious. “I do need to tell you a few things about her, though.”
His tone worried me, and I listened as he explained what Diana had physically gone through because of the accident. Each word sounded so full of regret that by the time he finished telling me what I needed to know before meeting her he looked like a different man than the one who’d just be joking around in the bathroom.
Taking him in my arms, I held him and said, “You’re a good person, Ethan. Don’t ever forget that.”
I squeezed Ethan’s hand as the seconds ticked by and we stood at Diana’s hotel room door waiting for her to answer. Even though he’d assured me she’d love me, I still worried she wouldn’t. What if, unlike the rest of her family, she didn’t think I was right for her brother? The guilt he felt for that car accident might make him want to believe her, and then what would happen?
He sensed my worry and leaned down to kiss my cheek. I turned to see him smiling so confidently. “It will be fine. Don’t worry. She’s going to love you as much as I do.”
Quietly, I said, “I hope so.”
Just then, the door opened and I finally saw the third Stone triplet. For a moment, I stared at Diana, surprised by how much she looked like her mother since Ethan looked like the spitting image of his father and Tressa resembled Tristan Stone more than Nina too. But Diana had the softness that her mother possessed, and in her blue eyes I saw the same kindness I’d seen in Nina Stone’s. Her chestnut brown hair was a little lighter than mine but much longer, nearly down to the bottom of her back. It hung in long waves that framed her face and hid the scars Ethan had told me still faintly existed on the side of her cheek and on her neck.
“Ethan! I’m sorry it took me so long to answer. I was fixing my hair.” Diana turned toward me and smiled. “You know how it is. Any other day it would look fine, but when you have someone special to see, it never looks the way you want it to. I’m Diana. You must be Summer.”
I extended my hand to shake hello, but she pulled me into an embrace instead, surprising me. “It’s so nice to meet you. When Ethan told me he wanted me to meet you, I was so happy.”
She stepped back and opened the door to let us in. “Come in, come in! I’m sorry. I forgot my manners having you stand out in the hallway.”
Ethan followed me into her hotel room, which looked like the mirror image of mine, and as she closed the door, he said, “I didn’t forget about the pictures from Mom’s show. I thought it would be nice if we looked at them together later.”
“Was it wonderful?” Diana asked with hope in her voice as she offered us a seat on the couch.
He looked at me and smiled. “It was. The show was great, and the party Summer organized was perfect.”
“I can’t wait to see the pictures! I bet Daddy stood off to the side near one of the windows for nearly the whole thing, didn’t he?”
Before I could tell her she was right, she explained, “Our father is very supportive of our mother, but he’s not a huge fan of spending time at art galleries, so he always goes to shows but he does his best to keep out of the limelight so she can be center stage.”
Ethan laughed. “When we were kids, my mother would take Diana and me around to show us her pieces and my father and Tressa would stand off to the side patiently waiting for us to be done.”
A look of concern came over Diana. “But please don’t think my father isn’t a great husband. He has this tradition whenever she has a show. At the end when all the guests have left, he walks up behind her and gives her a hug. Then he says, ‘Now it’s time for your biggest fan to tell you how much he loves what you’ve done.’ When I was a little girl, the show wasn’t over until my father said those words. It’s his way of telling her he loves her and he’s proud of her.”
Smiling, Ethan nodded. “Tristan Stone isn’t much for the whole art scene, but he loves our mother more than life itself. Tressa too. They just aren’t huge art fans.”
“But Tressa had me arrange that whole party,” I said in confusion. “She’d seemed to care a great deal about your mother’s show.”
Diana looked at her brother and then smiled at me. “Tressa loves parties. She loves anything where she can schmooze peop
le and talk business. Not that she doesn’t love our mother or respect her talent.”
They joked around about Tressa and their father’s tolerance for art being about two hours tops as I watched Ethan and Diana together in a way I imagined had never happened with Tressa. The dynamic intrigued me, especially how relaxed and happy he seemed around this sister compared to how I’d seen him around his other sister.
After a little while, Diana said, “Ethan, I ordered food from that little restaurant I love. I told them two o’clock, so would you go pick it up? Summer and I will spend the time getting to know one another better.”
“Only if you promise not tell her all the bad things about me growing up,” he said as he stood to go. “She doesn’t need to know about the awkward middle school years.”
He kissed me before he left and whispered, “You’ll be fine, but if she breaks out those middle school pictures, I need you to remember what you said about me being a god in bed. No kidding. Those were rough years.”
I watched him leave, desperate to see those school pictures after that warning. No sooner had he left, Diana sat down next to me on the couch. Now I’d see if she really liked me.
She carefully smoothed her hair around her face before she spoke. “As you can tell, I love my brother very much. Ethan and I are much closer than Tressa and I are, and I can tell even without him saying it that he’s madly in love with you. Do you love him?”
Her directness wasn’t rude or intrusive but seemed to come from a place of genuine concern and innocence. I liked that, so I answered in the same way.
“I do. I love him more than I thought I could love anyone.”
A gentle smile made her face light up. “Good. I had hoped he’d find someone who made him happy. And can I tell you something else? I love your name! I wish mine was something interesting like Summer. It’s almost magical. I love it.”
And just like that, all my worries disappeared into thin air. “I wish I had a name like Diana. It’s so classic and dignified. I worry sometimes that I’m going to be a very strange old lady with a name like Summer.”
