Page 77 of Paging Dr. Hart
In the middle of the night, I wake and roll over to look at Ethan sleeping beside me. He’s lying on his back, his boyish face peaceful. Long eyelashes cast shadows across his cheeks from the bright silver moonlight that cascades in through our hotel window. His arm is under my neck, a human pillow made just for me.
We’re both still naked. My eyes travel the length of him, from the well-defined muscles in his chest and arms to the hollow of his belly, the way his hip bones stick out all sharp and pointy. His skin glows as the light shifts over him, moving with his breath. I’m jealous of the moonlight, to kiss him everywhere at once as it does.
After our lovemaking earlier, I had fallen asleep so at peace, content in a way I’ve never felt before. Now, gazing at Ethan in that luminous silver light…it takes my breath away. There’s a swelling in my chest like my heart is physically expanding to make room for him. I can’t decide if it’s a choice. Getting swept away by these feelings because now that I’ve touched him, the whole thing seems somehow inevitable. That it would be him for me and me for him.
I want him again, need him.
When I trail kisses up his neck and end on his mouth, he rouses and sleepily looks at me. I continue to kiss him awake, my hand already on him, gently stroking and tugging.
“What time is it?” Ethan asks, his voice raspy.
I peer at the red numbers lit up on the bedside clock. “A little past 3:00 a.m.”
Ethan is growing hard under my touch. It’s a powerful thing to arouse him like this. It makes me feel strong and wanton. He sighs with pleasure. “This is a nice way to wake up.”
I smile in the darkness.
“You’re insatiable, Tiffy.” His breathing has sped up in time to the rhythm of my hand.
“Insatiable?” I pull my hand away, stung by his words. Does he think badly of me because I want to have sex again? Am I being too forward? Too aggressive?
Ethan recognizes the hurt and insecurity in my voice. “No. No. Come back. That’s not what I meant.” His hand clamps around mine, and he pulls me until I’m lying on his chest.
He brushes the back of his hand lightly across my cheek. “I like it, waking up with you touching me.” A short, gentle laugh as his hand moves to my hair, tangling in it. “I mean a gorgeous woman in my bed waking me up for sex. You’re making teenage Ethan’s dreams come true.” He gives me a soft-sweet kiss.
“Really?” I’m still skittish.
“Really,” he answers firmly, followed by another kiss, his tongue teasing mine.
Soothed, I ask, “What was teenage Ethan like?” I rest my chin on his chest, my hand rubbing lightly over his shoulder and down his arm.
Ethan shifts higher on the pillow so he can see me better. His eyes shine molten from the light through the window. “Teenage Ethan was afraid something like this would never happen.” He chuckles. “I want to travel back in time, pat him on the head, and tell him don’t worry, buddy, it’s all going to work out. I was so worried back then about my parents and their expectations of me. Feeling like if I couldn’t fit in with my family, then maybe I’d never fit in anywhere. Wondering if anyone could ever care for me just as I was.” Squeezing my shoulder lightly, he grins at me. “Wondering if I’d ever get to touch a girl.”
He drags me farther up his body until we’re eye to eye. He kisses me again. This time it’s a spine-tingling, toe-curling type of kiss, his mouth hot and devouring. I’m panting by the end of it, my body aching for more.
He continues, his voice low and rough, “I want to tell teenage Ethan that he’s going to meet this incredible woman whose brains and beauty and strength are going to blow his mind.”
My mouth is on his, and we kiss endlessly, pausing only for him to put on a condom. I climb onto his lap. Ethan is hard and ready. When I slip down over him, we sigh together. As we move, he groans, “Jesus. I’m never going to get enough of this. I’m always going to want more.”
I silence him with a kiss and then I ride him, pulling out until I almost lose him and then plunging back in deep. Ethan’s hands are on my breasts. He pinches my nipples and rolls them between his finger and thumb. Pulling me forward, he greedily takes my breast into his mouth, his tongue licking and sucking.
I keep moving, my concentration rotating between the sensation of his mouth hot and wet and the growing pressure between my legs. Soon it all becomes too much. The orgasm that rolls through my body leaves me shuddering and breathless. Ethan follows right behind, crying out as he bucks beneath me, intensifying the residual tremors of climax that still echo within me.
Afterward, when Ethan spoons me and runs his fingers over and over through my long hair, he whispers into my ear, “You’re mine now.All mine.” There’s something primal in his voice, something fierce, possessive, and unyielding. Those are the last words I hear before I slip into a fathomless ocean of sleep.
64
The next morning, I wake and lie still with my eyes closed, replaying the events from last night. I linger on the way Ethan touched me and the sweet things he said. Without opening my eyes, I reach out and run my hand across the bed to where he should be.
When my hand encounters nothing, just a pillow empty and cold, my heart gives a frightened spasm. Eyes open, I search for him, my fingers sweeping over the sheets even though I can clearly see that his side of the bed is empty.
That’s when I find the note on my nightstand, propped up against the table lamp.
Tiffy,
Off to the gym.
Be back to pick you up at 8 a.m.
