Page 7 of Ethan
“No,” he growls. “I just don’t like you going in there by yourself. What if something happens?”
I let out a laugh, but then stop. I can tell he’s serious. “Ethan,” I say, “they’re a bunch of teenagers. I think I can handle them.”
“Yeah,” he says, his eyes traveling down to my hips and then back up to my face. “I reckon there’s a lot of things you can handle, Sydney.”
My face blushes, but I don’t let that stop me from flirting back. “Well, if you behave yourself, you might just find out exactly how much I can…handle.”
He closes the space between us. His lips graze over the skin on my neck. His hot, breath sends shivers down my spine. “Is that a promise?” he purrs.
“You calling me a liar?”
“I’m calling you the woman of my dreams.”
My hand grabs the back of his head and I force my lips against his mouth. Our tongues slam together.
“Ethan,” I moan, “we shouldn’t be doing this. Not here. Not like this.”
“I can’t help myself,” he says. “Not when I’m around you, Sydney. You drive me wild. I’ve never met a woman like you. Ever since you stepped on that plane earlier. I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”
“You really mean that?” I say, looking into his eyes. Trying to find out if he’s being serious or if he’s just giving me a pick-up line, designed to get me in bed.
Not that I’d mind either way. But, if all he’s after is sex, then I’d prefer it if he didn’t play with my emotions, too.
Even though I’ve only been thinking about things in terms of the physical. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine falling for this guy. Falling hard.
“You callingmea liar?” he smiles.
“I don’t know,” I say, freeing myself from his grasp. “This is a lot to take in, Ethan. I mean… I like you. I like you a lot. But we’ve only just met. You’re a frigging famous person, for God’s sake. I’m just a small-town girl from Nowheresville USA.”
“I don’t care where you’re from,” he says. “All I care about is this…”
He takes my hand and places it over his heart.
“One thing at a time,” I mumble, barely able to fight the urge to jump into his arms and rip off his clothes. “First, let me go find your son. We can talk about this later.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says, in mock servility, stepping back and slapping my ass as I walk past him.
My butt cheek stings slightly from his touch. When I look over my shoulder, he’s still watching me.
6
Ethan
Aaron boltsstraight to his room as soon as we get back home. He seems angrier with me, for having dragged him away from a party than I am with him for having sneaked off in the first place.
Teenagers. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.
Grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge, I slump down on the couch and lean my head against the cushion.
“He’s a good kid,” Sydney says, sitting down beside me and taking the bottle from my hands.
“He’s spoiled,” I tell her, “and it’s my fault. God knows I’ve tried. But… I didn’t grow up with any of this stuff. My parents were dirt poor. I always dreamed of having the kind of money to give my children all the things I wanted when I was young. But it’s not good for them. It’s not good to have no sense of where the money comes from. To Aaron, it’s like the stuff just grows on trees. All he has to do is groan a few single-syllable words and he has more money than most people earn in a week. And then there’s the divorce. It’s only made things worse.”
She pours us both a glass. I take a sip of wine and shake my head. “But, you don’t want to hear any of this.”
“I think you’re a good father,” she says, playing with the hem of her dress. “You really care. And, yes… maybe you’ve made a few mistakes. But we’re all human. It’s how you deal with those mistakes that counts.”
“How did you get so goddamn perfect?”
