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Ethan’s hand ran through my hair and then he gripped it tight. My head shot back and his hot tongue was on my neck again. “Seems pretty convenient right about now. Doesn’t it?”

  I nodded, his knuckles still digging into my scalp. Hands in my hair was a weakness of mine, and Ethan seemed to instinctively know every one of them.

  He exhaled his scalding breath into my ear and his free hand went up between my legs, seemingly to test what his actions did to me. “I don’t know if we can make it to my house. I may not be able to stop myself from fucking you right here.”

  Shit!

  My brain turned to a discombobulated pile of mush at his words. His hand slid over the top of my panties, his fingers gliding through my slick folds over the thin fabric. He could’ve blown on my clit and I would’ve come instantly. He pressed his hand over my entire pussy, cupping my heat in his palm, his mouth still in my ear, as if he knew I was about to convulse in his hand. “Not yet.”

  I bucked my hips against his palm, my body practically begging him to let me come. His hand slipped down through my hair and gripped the back of my neck, his forehead pressed against mine. My eyes closed, and I tried to experience every point of contact vividly in my mind.

  “Look at me.” It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command. And it worked. I was a slave to his words and his touch. He shifted my panties to the side and rubbed up and down the length of me, parting my lips. Two fingers slid inside of me and my eyes jolted open to meet his, a coo escaping my lips.

  My breath left my body as I experienced the most intimate moment of my life. He was in control and I was holding on for dear life as he drew his fingers in and out of me. His thumb brushed against my clit and my back arched from the seat into him, taking him deeper.

  “Not yet. When I say.” He smirked and that devilish grin formed on his lips.

  He pressed his forehead harder into mine, and his fingers clamped down on my neck. “You ready?”

  I nodded furiously against his head, panting uncontrollably as he sped his fingers up to a punishing pace, drawing my wetness from my core. “Please.” His face started to blur and my eyes rolled up into my head. It was sensory overload like I’d never experienced before. His thumb moved to my clit and started to circle. I was on the verge of a blackout if he didn’t let me come soon.

  My fingernails dug into his shoulders, probably hard enough to draw blood through his suit jacket.

  “Come for me.”

  His mouth was on top of mine, his tongue down my throat as I finally let loose and gave in, moaning his name into his mouth. His fingers went to the hilt and he gripped up with his fingertips, finding my secret spot that sent me to another world. My ass and hips shot up from his leather seats. Fuzzy stars filled my vision and my orgasm rolled through my body, working its way through my tightly curled toes.

  The car came to a halt as Ethan’s fingers slipped out of me. He leaned back and let go of my neck. I started to come to my senses when he stuck his glistening fingers up to his tongue, tasting me on them, his eyes still locked on mine. I squirmed in the seat and my pussy heated right back up to where it had been just moments before. Through a pant I managed to get a few words out. “How do you do this to me?”

  Before he could speak I lunged at him, straddling his waist. His cock was rock hard and I grinded my clit against it, needing another orgasm from him as soon as possible. I never came from a man’s touch before. My ex-boyfriend had convulsed on top of me more than once and then rolled over, leaving me to fend for myself. Ethan was on a mission to ruin me for anyone else with only his fingers. I kissed him hard and long, his hands squeezing my hips and shoving me down against his dick.

  My phone went off in my handbag on the floorboard of the car. I groaned and bit his lip. “Fuck. I have to get that.”

  “Bullshit.” He gripped me tighter and tried to claim my mouth again with his.

  I pulled back. “I’m sorry. I have to.”

  I rummaged through my bag, Ethan’s eyes burning my skin wherever he looked. I yanked the phone from the messy assortment of random crap that had accumulated. It was Kelsey. I slid my finger across the screen to answer. “I’m a little busy.”

  There was a silence, but I could hear her breathing into the receiver.

  “Kelsey? What is it?”

  “It’s your dad. He’s in the hospital.”

  Chapter 12

  Ethan Mason

  “Get us to Saint Thomas General, now!” I growled.

  I wrapped Jenny up in one arm and squeezed her tight. My other hand stroked her hair as she cried into my shoulder. “Is he okay?”

  She burst into a sob and it was like a kick to the groin. What did I do? Jenny couldn’t speak. Her whole body trembled under my touch. “We’ll be there in a minute. Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine.”

  And this is what I always did. I hurt people. Usually, I didn’t care much, but this time—I wanted to die. I pulled her closer to me, trying to absorb every bit of pain she was feeling. I failed.

  Tim, my driver, sped through a red light after looking both directions. It wasn’t fast enough for me and I kicked the seat in front of us. “Get us there! Now!”

  Jenny’s hand gripped the lapel of my jacket and she looked up at me. Her face was pure hurt, her mascara streaked down her face in thin, jagged black lines. I could see her mind racing just by looking into her eyes. Her brow furrowed and she shoved me away from her.

  “Fuck you!” It was a scream that rattled my bones.

  I knew she was hurting. I knew she was upset with the situation, and she wasn’t there because of me, but there was no way I could’ve known this would happen. For fuck’s sake, I was an asshole, but not even I was capable of something like that. Five minutes ago she was coming on my fingers and moaning my name into my mouth, and now she hated me?

  “I didn’t know—”

  “Fuck. You.” Her words cut into my flesh.

  Anger swarmed me from all angles. I tried to shove it all back inside, but it was at the point of eruption. “Don’t say that. I didn’t know, okay? So just don’t.” My words were stern, much more so than intended.

  “I would’ve been there.” She shoved me again. “He is terminal! He has cancer! He’s about to fucking die and you tricked me into leaving him!”

  I shrunk back in my seat. I’d known her dad was really sick, but I didn’t know he was on his deathbed. My hands went up in surrender. “I didn’t know—”

  “You don’t know shit! Fuck you! Let me out of the car!” She yanked at the door handle like a crazy person until she finally broke down into another fit of sobbing, clutching her hand over her mouth.

  The tears streamed down her face and I reached over to try and hug her. She slapped me away with her free hand. “Don’t touch me right now!”

  Jenny wouldn’t stop screaming. I sat there for the three longest minutes of my life, watching the woman I wanted to comfort suffer alone in the seat next to mine. Pure agony. That’s what it was. My fingers dug into the seat and I stared up at the roof of the car and then back at her. “I’m sorry.”

  Her face fell into her palms and she let loose with more sobs, each a knife thrusting deeper into my heart. The car skidded to a stop in front of the emergency room. The doors unlocked and Jenny yanked hers open.

  “I’m coming with you.” I reached for my door handle.

  Her head whipped around to me. “No! Don’t come near me. Leave!”

  I lost control. “I’m not fucking leaving you like this! You’re pissed off and that’s fine, but don’t take it out on me!”

  “Don’t you fucking come anywhere near this goddamn hospital or I will call the cops, Ethan! Shove your job up your ass and lose my phone number. Got me?”

  She slammed the door closed and I jumped across the seat and rolled the window down as she turned to run up the steps to the hospital.

  A few people stared and covered their mouths as she stormed past them.

  “Leave!” She didn’t turn aro
und to look at me when she screamed it.

  —

  “Fuck!”

  I pummeled the punching bag that hung from the ceiling of my workout room. It was impossible to stop pounding it with everything I had. I kept swinging until I had nothing left and collapsed to my knees on the floor, sweat streaming down my face.

  I crawled over to a weight bench where my phone sat and looked at the screen. Nothing. Not a text or a missed call to let me know how her father was. Not a goddamn thing.

  I pulled myself to my feet and wiped my face off with a workout towel. She’ll calm down, realize I wouldn’t do that to her. I told myself that over and over, but I didn’t believe it. It was the way she’d glared at me, screamed at me. She hated me.

  I walked into my living room and plopped down on the couch. Every time my phone lit up I leaped at it and clutched it in my palms. It was all work stuff—emails, messages about meetings. Nothing from Jenny. What was I going to do?

  A light knock startled me and the door opened. Matt walked into the living room, looking around aimlessly until he spotted me on the couch.

  “What’s going on, bro? You never text me this late. That message was cryptic as hell.”

  I yanked on my hair. It’s what I did when I was frustrated. Matt knew this about me. He knew pretty much everything about me.

  He dropped onto the couch. He was in workout shorts and a cutoff T-shirt, his arms covered in a fine sheen of sweat like he’d just finished up at the gym.

  “I lied to her. I lied to you.” I sat up.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There wasn’t a date. I told her it was a client meeting.”

  Matt chuckled at first, but stopped when I shot him a pointed stare. “I’m guessing it didn’t go over too well?” His tone was half-joking, half-serious.

  I snickered a little. It’s why I’d texted him. I knew he’d come over and lighten the mood. “She ran from the restaurant.”

  He laughed again. “Really? She ran?”

  I nodded. “Quick style. Like boom, gone.”

  “What’d you do?”

  “Chased her down. I had to. She looked incredible, gorgeous. Didn’t think twice about it.”

  “And?”

  “Kissed her. Kissed her hard. Best kiss of my fucking life. Got hot and heavy in the car.”

  Matt looked around at the empty house. “I’m failing to see why you’re sitting there miserable. Where is she?”

  I clutched my face and did my hair-pull maneuver once more.

  “What did you do?” His eyes widened and he enunciated his syllables.

  “Her dad’s in the hospital. He’s sick. Like really sick. Dying sick.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “Neither did I, man. I mean, I knew he had medical issues. But he’s like terminally ill on hospice or something. I had Tim drop her at the hospital. She screamed at me. Told me to fuck off. That she didn’t want to see me again.”

  “Shit.” He stood up and scratched his head. It’s what he always did when he was thinking. After a few seconds his hand dropped to his side. “She has to know you didn’t mean for that to happen. Right? Like there’s no way you can predict something like that.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. She was distraught, sobbing. But it wasn’t like lying about a meeting helped matters.” I fell back into the couch, letting my head drop into the cold, soft leather. “Fuck, I’m such an idiot.”

  He walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. “This is true.” He smiled. “Just give it some time. Yeah, it was stupid as fuck and yes, you are a pussy for doing that.” He chuckled again. “It’ll pass though. She just needs some space and time with her family. Would be nice if she let you know he was okay.”

  “That’s the worst part. I have no idea. He could’ve died for all I know. I’m not about to text or call. She hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you, bro. She’s just upset. And chicks turn us into irrational idiots when we like them. And guess what?”

  I looked up at him. “What?”

  “They’re humans too. And I’m sure we do the same to them. It’s probably why she flipped the fuck out on you. She’s scared because she likes you too.” He let out a huge sigh. “I mean you two idiots are perfect for each other. Both stubborn as balls. Everyone can see it.”

  “Yeah, well, I took your advice and look what happened.” I pointed my thumbs in at my emotional state.

  “No, I told you to ask her out like a fucking normal person.” He laughed. “I didn’t say con her into a fake-meeting-date, spin doctor.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s why you pay me so well.”

  “Indeed it is.” He beamed at me like a proud parent. “But she’s not a deal you’re trying to make. You need to try and remember that shit.”

  “It’d be easier if she was.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it would be. General managers don’t have feelings. She does. Include that shit in your magic equation next time before you broker a fucking date with that girl.”

  “You should stop being logical. It scares me.”

  He grinned. “I gotta run. You good?”

  I stood from the couch and gave him a fist bump. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  Matt started for the front door.

  “Thanks, bro.”

  He waved a hand in the air. “Anytime.”

  Matt had been that way since we were kids. If I was down, he picked me up and vice versa. I still wasn’t convinced she’d give me the time of day, but somehow a little bit of the weight lifted off my shoulders and I didn’t feel like it was pressing me down into the earth.

  While I felt better at that moment, I knew it wouldn’t last. I wasn’t good at sitting around and waiting. I liked to take action. I’d fucked up and hurt Jenny, albeit on accident, but I’d hurt her all the same.

  I knew her last name and the hospital we’d dropped them off at. I could call or do some investigating to make sure her dad was okay. But what if she found out somehow? It was too risky. She didn’t want anything to do with me.

  Fuck.

  I had to give her some space, no matter how hard it was for me. When she wants me in her business, she’ll let me in.

  Chapter 13

  Jenny Jackson

  “I’m fine. Will you stop fussing over me? I’m trying to watch the game, J.J.” Dad grimaced as he sat up in his hospital bed. We were back home after a brief scare in the ER. His blood pressure had dropped to scary levels and there was fluid built up, causing digestive problems.

  A few days had passed since the big blowup with Ethan. I’d analyzed the situation from every possible angle, and come to the conclusion that I was maybe a bit harsh. At the same time, Ethan needed to understand that I was irrational with everything that was going on. I mean, Dad had been taken to the hospital, I didn’t know what was happening, if he was okay—if he was alive. I didn’t know what to think of him lying about the client meeting. It was such junior high, schoolboy antics. We were supposed to be adults.

  If he wanted to go on a date with me, why didn’t he just ask? He’d have had to work for it, but I’d have been lying to myself if I said I would’ve turned him down. And holy shit, that kiss, and the back of the car—wow.

  “Would you just talk to him already?”

  I turned to Dad with a blank stare. “Huh?”

  “You’ve been staring at anything but the games all day. You keep pulling out your phone then putting it away. Just call the guy.” He snickered.

  “I can’t. It’s been too long.”

  “Oh, what the fuck ever.” Kelsey walked through the door, grinning.

  “There’s my other favorite daughter.”

  Kelsey leaned over Dad’s hospital bed, which hospice had brought in, and pecked him on the cheek. His face tightened and his frail arm quivered as he reached up and put a hand on her cheek. “Would you talk some sense into that one.” His index finger turned slightly in my direction.

  Kelsey l
aughed. “Oh, no. That one does what that one wants.”

  His arm dropped back to the bed. “Don’t I fucking know it.”

  They both laughed and I couldn’t help but do the same. This—this right here was my life. Everything in the world that I needed was in that room, now threatened by a timer that counted down the minutes like a bomb that couldn’t be defused.

  Dad was a fighter, always had been. Proof positive was that he had to raise a daughter on his own. No matter how frail he appeared, his voice didn’t change. The doctors said he had months at best.

  “J.J., you see where the Red Sox got Dunn?”

  I stared blankly, my mind still racing a million miles an hour. “Huh?”

  He grinned at Kelsey. “Will you tell her ass to call the guy? It’s like she ain’t even here.”

  Kelsey shot me a stare. “Seriously. He doesn’t even know if your dad is okay.”

  “I’m not calling him, texting him, or showing my face in that building ever again.” It was an overreaction, but it felt good to say it. The fact was we needed the money and I knew deep down that I’d have to return to work.

  I whipped out my laptop and flipped the lid open so that it faced Dad. There was a big fantasy league champion 2015 sticker on the top.

  “Still rubbing that in my face, huh? We’ll see. Your head ain’t in it this year.”

  I didn’t look up from my computer. “Second place will look good on you once again.”

  “Pfft.” He turned his head back to the game on the television. “In your dreams, princess.”

  It got a laugh out of me while I logged into my bank account.

  “I’m going to head out then.” Kelsey wrapped her arms around Dad and squeezed and then walked over and put a hand on each of my shoulders. “Text him.” Her long hair fell over the screen, forcing me to look up at her eyes.

  I gritted my teeth. “Fine.”

  She rose, taking her hair with her. “Good! Catch you guys later.”

  I saw my first paycheck from Mason and Associates in the account. I’d been working remotely and hadn’t been denied access, so I assumed I still had my job. There hadn’t been any messages suggesting I’d been terminated.