Page 42 of Ignite

I hadn’t expected to run into Ethan.

After our kiss in my workshop, he should have been my first choice. These last weeks, he’d been everywhere. We’d talk, our connection would ignite and then one of us would do or say something stupid. Hooking up with him at the pub hadn’t been my plan any more than spilling the tea about my ex. But Ethan seemed to be able to make me do the crazy—right down to running away, letting him lead me back here, and now being honest.

“You said,ex-girlfriend?“ Ethan’s soft question hung in the room, and I wished Reece or one of the other guys had broken their promise to me and clued him in.

Ethan wrapped his fingers around mine while his other hand tore apart a slice of pizza and fed it to me. While we ate, he changed the subject to music festivals and challenged me to guess who’d make next year’sHottest 100. Ethan kept things light and breezy while I had time and space to think.

Give him the truth.

I swallowed the last bite, wiped the grease away with the back of my hand, and nodded. “They broke up.”

“Is the ex-girlfriend still friends with the team?” I could tell from his careful tone that Ethan knew who I was talking about.

I nodded.

“Is the ex-girlfriend looking for revenge by dating one of the team?”

“No.” I never wanted a relationship out of revenge. I came to Beringi thinking I wanted a rebound, but I’d come to my senses before finishing my first drink. Ethan had happened because he was … well, Ethan. We’d been on a collision course since the day I’d hit him.

“Does the ex-girlfriend consider me part of the team?”

Snap.

“Have you ever worn the jersey?”

“Not yet.” He waggled his eyebrows until I giggled and swatted his arm.

“Have you registered for next season?”

“No, but I’ve got a signed contract with the football club.”

“Then, technically, you’re not on the team.”

Ethan bowed his forehead against mine, pressing until our noses also touched. If this was his signature move, it worked.

“So, Rylee,” he said, his breath taking mine away. “Is the ex-girlfriend willing to share her bottle of wine with someone who is not yet on the team, and not yet her boyfriend?”

If our first time was about me needing rebound sex, our second time was all about us.

Actually, he made it all about me.

Ethan’s kisses were loving, his touch tender and giving.

He showered me with compliments, but not just the normalyou look hot. No, he described the way my hair glistened that first day and how my eyes reminded him of salted caramel—before telling me it was his favorite sauce.

“Beats chocolate any day.”

“The world doesn’t swoon over salted caramel fudge brownies.”

“Only because they haven’t been invented yet.”

“And you think you’re the man to do it? I’ve seen your kitchen.”

Ethan covered me in kisses and gentle nibbles that sent my skin into orbit.

Then, when we made love, he made it all about me, bringing me to two orgasms before he’d taken the time to sheath up.

When I crashed into his arms, I felt reborn.

---