Chapter 6
Mia
Ethan Waters is the most annoying man on the planet. First, he shows up at my apartment unannounced. Then he crashes on my couch, trapping me under his big body, forcing me to sleep beside him. And now, he’s hogging up my bathroom and using all the hot water.
“Ethan, get out of the bathroom!” I make a fist and bang on the door. “I have to get ready for work.”
I hear the loud shower knobs turn on the other side of the door. Ethan laughs, and then the water stops running. Bastard.
A few seconds later, Ethan cracks the door for me to enter. He’s standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around his waist, slung low enough for me to see the V of his abs leading down to his…
OMG, stop it, Mia.
Get your shit together.
It’s just abs…
And muscles bulging from…
Everywhere.
Ugh, someone help me because Ethan Waters is pure fucking perfection.
I hate myself for allowing the thought to creep into my mind.
But it’s hard to deny his sex appeal. My older brother’s best friend has always had this power over me.
No matter how much I want to hate him, I can’t forget the person I once knew.
He has to be in there somewhere, I’m sure of it.
Steam from the shower clouds around him, reminding me of a commercial for body wash.
Ethan could model with no problem. Water drips from his shaggy brown hair and trickles down his handsome face.
A mist dots his thick chest and muscular arms, drawing my attention to each curve of his defined stomach.
I bite my bottom lip once I get to the well-defined muscles that trace down to his package.
“See something you like, princess?” His deep voice pulls me from my sex-induced haze.
I look up at Ethan with my jaw clenched in anger. “Nope, not anymore.”
He reaches behind me, pushing my face into his wet chest to shut the bathroom door. “Don’t let Will hear you say that.”
I step back and roll my eyes at him, wiping the water from my face. “Like he would ever believe we were friends.”
“You didn’t sneak outside to talk to me every night because you wanted to be friends.”
“Don’t act like you know what I wanted from you,” I spit back.
“You bailed on me without a second thought and still won’t admit why you left.
It’s not like you would’ve been interested in a kid.
You were on your way to college, and now look at you.
” I wave my hand at his body. “You have plenty of women falling all over you, and why wouldn’t they? ”
Damn, my stupid mouth and my inability to control saying my thoughts aloud.
Ethan flashes one of his panty-dropper grins, even I’m not immune to after all these years. “If things were different, I would have waited until you were older.” He lifts a razor from the sink. “I didn’t move on. I had my reasons for going back to Boston.”
I lean against the wall and stare at him, folding my hands over my chest. “Whatever. You don’t owe me an explanation. We were two kids who needed someone to talk to about our shitty lives.”
“And now you hate me because I left.” He says it more as a statement.
I nod in answer.
Ethan lathers his face with shaving cream, staring at me from the corner of his eye. “You hate me for the wrong reason.”
“I don’t want to live in the past anymore.” I remove my toothbrush from the holder and nudge Ethan with my hip to make him share the sink with me. “I have to get to work before I don’t have a shithole apartment for you to crash.”
Without another word, Ethan glides the razor along his jaw, eyes on me. I wish he would stop looking at me. The intensity in his eyes pricks my skin with tiny bumps. A strange feeling stirs inside my chest, and if I’m being one hundred percent honest, he’s doing something between my legs, too.
I want to ask him so many questions.
But what’s the point?
My brother doesn’t know we met every night in my parents’ backyard. Since his return from Boston, we’ve pretended to hate each other to keep Will from seeing the sparks between us.
So, why stop now?
Let’s keep this charade going.
Ethan shaves his face as I brush my teeth, all while we study each other in the mirror. Electricity pulses between us and sets fire to my skin. I spit and rinse. He washes his face, peeking up at me from between his fingers.
Even though my hatred for Ethan is real, I still find him attractive.
And it’s not just his body that holds my interest. Ethan is smart.
He graduated from high school and college at the top of his class.
On occasion, he would even help me with my homework.
I struggled with math during my freshman year of high school, and Ethan was the only reason I passed algebra.
I wish I could shake how my body responds to him when he touches my hip. I should be able to control my breathing when he moves his palm over my ass. But I can’t move or think. Ethan has always thrown me off my game.
“What are you doing?” I choke out once Ethan moves behind me and grips my hips, pulling me back against his… erection.
“Testing your limits,” he whispers in my ear.
He smells of shaving cream and my shea butter body wash. His breath on my earlobe causes me to be still, unable to breathe or think clearly.
“Who said you can touch me?” I glance at him in the mirror. “And why are you hard?”
“I’m horny, and you look good in this shirt.” He slides his hand up my side and cups my breast. “You’re not a girl anymore, little lamb.”
“Thanks for noticing, Captain Obvious.” I shove his hands away from me. “Will is in the living room, and I have to get to work. When I get home tonight, we’re going over the rules.”
He laughs. “What rules?”
“The ones you and my brother will follow if you plan to sleep here for the next… How long will you two be here?”
He shrugs. “Two weeks to a month. Our apartment is trashed.”
Annoyed, I sigh. “Wonderful. Then, we need to talk later because this living arrangement won’t last long if you think you’ll hog up the bathroom every morning and make me late for work.
” I point at his long, hard cock tenting his towel, and shake my head.
“That can’t happen ever again. I already told you to keep your dick away from me. I meant it.”
“It’s not something I can help, Mia.” He grabs himself over his towel. “This is what you do to me. Don’t deny it. You want me, too.” His gesture causes the fabric to loosen at his waist, and before I have time to prepare myself, I get a perfect view of Ethan’s long, thick, and hard cock.
Holy mother of dragons.
I cough and spin around to face the door because I have no idea how to react.
Wow!
So, this is what I’ve been missing. My ovaries are doing a happy dance. Meanwhile, my undersexed brain is screaming, Get a fucking grip.
“You did that on purpose,” I say, unable to face him. “Ugh, I hate you.”
He comes up from behind me and breathes against the shell of my ear. His length digs into my ass cheek, making me wetter by the second. “Fight me, little lamb. It only makes me want you more.”
I don’t have to turn around to see the smirk on his lips. I already know it’s there. What a jerk.
Ethan always does things to piss me off, but this is a low blow. Inappropriate sexual advances are not out of the norm for him. A part of me wonders if he’s serious. But I don’t allow the thought to dwell for too long. A relationship between us isn’t a good idea. We have no future together.
Will knows I hate Ethan, but he has no idea why. I was Ethan’s dirty little secret. The thought makes me sick to my stomach. But I can’t ignore how he made me feel in high school or how he makes me feel right now.
After everything Will has done for me, I owe him, which means dealing with Ethan. I can do this for him. A few weeks of Ethan sleeping on my couch shouldn’t be that hard, though I doubt he’ll make it easy for me.
Ethan slaps my ass and gives me one of his crooked smirks. “Have a good day, princess.”