CHAPTER TWELVE
The ride with Ethan was…peculiar, to say the least. After we went back to the compound, Ethan dropped Tequila off with a team that would take him to the station. I left Maria in one of the ambulances that were called, and another one tended to Aaron after Danny patched him up—he underwent medical training in his Navy days.
Aaron was hit more than once in the chest at a short distance and with a high-pressure bullet. His Kevlar vest controlled the damage, but he’d be sore for a while. The other wound he withstood was a through-and-through on his shoulder. I knew for a fact they were annoying as hell; at least they weren’t lethal.
Ben and Danny would follow him to the station—he was adamant about being present for the interrogation—and Ethan and I would meet them there after we picked up some files at the house where we were staying. That was where we were headed.
Ethan looked pissed. I was trying to understand why.
It could be because he almost died in the operation. Or because someone clearly betrayed us and set up a trap for him, Aaron, and their team. Maybe it was because I challenged him to shoot at me. And ignored his order. Then shot Tequila .
Nah . I was a delight. It couldn’t be about me.
Either way, I felt bad. I knew I overstepped. If we were going to work together for the foreseeable future, it’d be easier if we could at least be cordial.
During the whole way, he opened his mouth to say something, then groaned and shook his head. He shifted in his seat, glanced at me, and raised his index finger. I was waiting for the fatherly lecture when he composed himself again and tightened his hold on the steering wheel.
It was…endearing that he was trying so hard to find the right words and not go ballistic. He ran his finger over the bridge of his nose to push up the glasses he wasn’t wearing. We arrived at the house, and I smiled lightly when I noticed he didn’t slam the car door, as annoyed as he was. He opened the front door and stepped aside so I could walk inside first, like the boy scout he was.
Whoever said we get more bees with honey than with vinegar was spot on. It’d be easier to be mad at him if he was a jerk.
He eased the door closed, and I sighed. “I’m sorry for what I said when we were leaving the compound. I had a lot of ways to deal with that situation, and I chose a bad one. I was—”
“‘Point the gun at me?’”
I leaned my head and tried to weasel my way out of that conversation. “Is that what you want? I wasn’t really planning on killing you.”
“‘Point. The. Gun. At. Me?’ ” He rubbed his mouth and looked at me in bewilderment. “Were you out of your mind? Have you no sense of self-safety?”
And just like that, I was getting annoyed. “I had it under control.”
“You absolutely hadn’t!” He paced the room running his fingers through his hair. “A deranged woman—”
“A victim.”
“—had a gun pointed at you. At your request, no less! A gun she had no business carrying since she was trembling and with no emotional control. ”
“She wouldn’t have shot me.”
He stared at me with indignation, his mouth agape. “There was no way of knowing that!”
I raised my arms at my side. “She was in pain, suffering from what he did to her.”
“All the more reason not to ask her to point a gun at you!” Ethan stepped closer. “He’s going to pay through the legal system.” Closer. “After we follow all the procedures. But at that moment, that victim was a hazard.” Closer. “For us, for the unsub—who can be really valuable to our investigation—for herself.” He bent until our faces were inches apart. “And especially for you.”
We were both breathing heavily when I snapped. “ And why the hell do you care? ”
He placed his big hands on my face, pulled me closer, and slammed his lips on mine. Maybe I should’ve been more surprised. But as he devoured my lips, I felt like that was where we had been heading since the beginning. I moaned against my control and pushed my hands through his hair.
He bit my bottom lip, making me gasp, and took advantage of it by inserting his tongue inside my mouth. Palming my ass, he lifted me and pressed me against the nearest wall, as I circled my legs over his butt.
We broke the kiss and stared at each other. Neither of us seemed to understand what was happening. Neither one of us dared to stop.
“I guess I found a way to shut you up.” He took my lips again, and we both started to grind against each other.
I could feel his shaft against my core through our clothes, and it was intoxicating. He was intoxicating.
Ethan bit my bottom lip. Then left a trail of nibbles from my chin to my neck as I grabbed his hair and closed my legs and arms even tighter around him.
“Or maybe you just ran out of good arguments.”
His hands found the hem of my shirt, removed it, and then began to explore me. My back, my belly, and up to my breasts. He kissed down from my neck. “You weren’t supposed to taste so good. Why can’t I stop tasting you?”
I took in a deep breath and pulled his face to my chest. “We have enough reasons to hate each other. Let’s just enjoy this moment.”
Ethan looked up from my breasts and smiled. The devilish grin on his nerdy face could only make me wetter. Even his damn galaxy of freckles was driving me crazy. He stepped away from the wall, carried me to the sofa, kicking a couple of chairs out of the way, and dropped me gently on my back. After pulling his shirt off from the back of his neck, he kneeled between my legs.
The way he watched me unsettled me. For the first time in a long time—maybe ever—it felt like someone was truly seeing me. The worst part was that, as vulnerable as that left me, it was also empowering, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
We stared at each other for a few seconds. Still looking me in the eye, he unbuttoned my pants and pulled them down my legs, throwing them on the floor. His pants found the same destiny, right before he leaned over me.
With a tenderness I wasn’t expecting, he ran the tip of his fingers over my face and pushed my hair behind my ear. Not once looking away, he ran his hands down and touched the front clasp of my bra. “Is that okay?”
At a loss for words, I just nodded.
Ethan continued his perusal until he reached my underwear. “Is that okay?”
Once again, I just nodded. He pulled it down, and I thought it was time to even things out. I pulled him down from his neck to kiss him again as I inserted my fingers inside the hem of his boxers and took them off him. While our tongues battled, I palmed his cock and was startled.
“Is that…?” I looked down and ran my thumb over it to make sure my eyes weren’t tricking me. “You’re pierced ? I guess people are right. It’s always the quiet ones.”
Who would’ve thought the geeky bird was a wild Phoenix?
He positioned himself at my entrance. “Time for talk is over.” He entered me in one motion and waited until I could get comfortable with his girth and the surprise attached to it.
When I started moving under him, Ethan took charge, and it was refreshing not having to take control of everything. As his piercing did wonders inside me, reaching places I barely knew existed, he claimed my mouth again.
I pushed my hips up to meet him and fisted his hair, already feeling myself getting closer to ecstasy. Before I could do it myself for a final push, Ethan surprised me yet again.
He ran a hand down my body until he found my clit. As he circled my bundle of nerves with his thumb, he roamed his other hand up my chest to grab my neck. He applied just the right pressure to make me crave him more and make my heart speed up.
As Ethan circled his hand around my neck, choking me, and leaned his face until we were breathing each other’s air, he circled and pinched my clit as he pistoned his shaft inside me relentlessly.
Between our moans and whimpers, I couldn’t hold it back much longer. I tightened my hold on him, fisting his hair even harder, and came, squeezing him until he fell off the edge, groaning in my ear.
We stayed lying on the sofa, him still over me, both of us in a pile of sweaty and satisfied—not to mention confused—limbs .
After so long of only feeling grief, guilt, and pain, I didn’t know what to do with the many emotions taking charge inside my chest and my head. It was an overload of sensations.
The most disturbing one was that, under Ethan’s weight and care, I felt at home.