“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Milla shouted out of nowhere. “I finally did it!” she cried, bent over with her ass in the air, closing the zipper of her suitcase completely. She hopped down from her perch and swung her arms around Ethan's neck. She kissed him on the cheek then started wheeling the luggage toward the front door with a triumphant grin on her face.
And in that moment, Ethan decided that unless Milla wanted to get naked and swing her arms around him like that again, it was the perfect time for a pizza run. He deserved a reward for the torture he'd endured, and since he couldn't have the reward he wanted, he'd have to settle for pizza.
“I'll be back, Milla. I'm gonna go get us some food,” he spoke quickly, heading past Milla at the door, and he was on the front porch and down the steps to his car in a flash.
Milla knew she was acting a little high-strung lately. OK, maybe even a little crazy—or a lot. But, after so many years of devoting every spare moment to her future career, it was difficult to let go of that overzealous, meticulous mentality—even if she was currently in the middle of packing for a victory vacation with her best friends. But apparently, this last lapse into crazy had sent Ethan running out the door for escape. It might definitely be time to rein in the crazy. “Mental note to self: no more arguing with luggage,” she teased silently.
She quickly wandered through the house, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything for tomorrow's departure—not that anything else was going to fit into that evil contraction of a suitcase. Fortunately, she'd forgotten nothing. And with nothing left to do, and Ethan out on a food run, she figured she could sneak in a shower before he returned.
She was in the bathroom, clothes off within ten seconds and she was stepping into the shower before they hit the ground. The warm water cascading over her skin felt like heaven. She soaped up methodically, but as her hands grazed over her nipples, they hardened in response to the stimulation instantly and sent the stirrings of arousal coursing through her body.
“Jeez,” Rachel thought incredulously. “I really have taken leave of my senses, haven't I?” she queried to herself.
Even so, she cupped her breasts in her hands, running her thumbs back and forth across her nipples, feeling the arousal within her increase and settle between her legs.
“OK, that's enough. Get a grip, Milla,” she chastised herself sternly, only afterwards realizing the pun in her words.
She leaned forward to turn off the water, grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower. It had been years since she'd been involved in an intimate relationship, but with never a free moment to spare during the past few years, she hadn't even bothered worrying about taking care of her own sexual needs. There just wasn't any time for them. By the time she got home most nights, she was too tired to do anything more than flop onto her bed. Forcing herself to stay awake long enough to bring herself to orgasm seemed like far too much effort for the small payoff. But why her body was suddenly hyper-aware, she wasn't sure.
Shaking her head to banish the topic from her mind for the moment, she reached over to grab fresh clothes from the rack on the wall. And then realized that in her haste to jump in the shower, she had forgotten to grab them from her room on the way. Milla wrapped a tiny towel around her torso, and then listened intently for a moment. She didn't hear any noise coming from anywhere else in the house, so she darted out into the hall—and ran straight into Ethan's chest.
He had just placed the pizza on the dining room table and gone in search of Milla, not hearing her move about the house when he entered the front door. And, boy was he regretting opting for the pizza place just around the corner now. If he had gone to his regular place—a ten minute drive away—he'd still be waiting for his order right now. Instead, here he was, with the most beautiful woman he knew, wrapped in a towel that barely covered the places he longed to explore, and her wet, scantily-clad body pressed up against him. He couldn't stop a groan from escaping his lips, and Milla looked up fast in response, thinking she'd done some sort of damage.
“Oh, Ethan. I'm so sorry. I was just trying to get clothes in a hurry—I forgot to grab them before I jumped in the shower. You see, I'd been fighting with that luggage. And since you had run out for pizza, I thought it would be the perfect time to get cleaned up. But then, I guess I was in such a hurry, I forgot to grab clothes on the way...” Emma trailed off.
She had absolutely no idea why she was suddenly talking a mile a minute. Or why, looking up into Ethan's eyes, feeling his hard, muscular chest against her soft skin, she so desperately wanted an excuse to stay there longer. The arousal that had meandered through her body in the shower, now coursed through her in full force.
It took Ethan a moment to find his voice as he desperately fought to keep his hands by his sides. “It's alright, Milla,” he assured her huskily, but he knew that he was slowly losing the battle. He was already rock hard, and if Milla moved just an inch or two closer, she'd easily feel his hard shaft press against her stomach through his jeans.
But maybe that was what he wanted. If she knew what she did to him, maybe it would be enough to peek her interest and see him as something other than her best buddy Ethan. His mind clouded by arousal made the idea seem like the best one he'd had in a while. He released his arms from where he had kept them confined at his sides, and his hands came up of their own volition to rest gently on her hips. He began, ever so slowly, to let his body move forward, to press firmly against her. There were just millimeters separating them, Milla stood still, gazing up into his eyes.
“What's going on here?” a voice called from the end of the hallway.
The abrupt interruption startled them. Ethan dropped his hands from Milla's hips and she moved back quickly. She'd recognize that voice anywhere; it was her other best friend, Jared, who would be joining them in St. Lucia. And imagining how the scene must appear to him, a blush crept across Milla's cheeks. She turned away and headed for the stairs to her room in a hurry.
“What was that!?!” she thought to herself incredulously. She had no idea what had happened down there. She must be positively certifiable! First the shower, and now Ethan, maybe she should have her head examined.
She'd never really noticed how tall he was before. He stood at least half a foot taller than her. And since when was every inch of her best friend covered in sinewy, sexy muscle? She wondered for a moment if maybe he'd been hitting the gym more lately. But thinking back, she realized that he'd looked the same ever since she met him on their first day in med school. She always did have a thing for guys with dark hair and dark eyes, but before today, she had never realized that Ethan's eyes were a perfect shade of dark, stormy blue.
But, that was enough thinking about the gorgeous man downstairs. Jeez, he was one of her best friends. There was no point in entertaining any crazy thoughts about him. Milla turned her attention to the wardrobe in front of her, and slipped on a pair of shorts and a form-fitting tee. She feared putting on too many layers would have her heading back into the shower in no time—and she wasn't ready for a repeat of this evening's performance just yet.
Ethan didn't move for a moment after Milla's hasty departure. He certainly wasn't in any condition to turn around to greet his friend. And he really wasn't in any hurry regardless, Jared would definitely demand an explanation for what he saw. And Ethan wasn't sure he'd be easily convinced that it was an innocent accident. Ethan's thoughts at the moment sure as hell weren't innocent.
Slowly, he turned as Jared approached, and tried to feign the most casual look he could muster.
“Hey, Jared,” Ethan called in greeting.
“So, did I miss anything?” Jared asked, obvious that he was trying to appear calm and cool—and not like he'd just walked in to see Milla and Ethan in far too intimate a position for his comfort level.
In truth, Ethan wasn't the only one with a thing for Milla. They didn't talk about it often, but each was aware of the other's feeling for their gorgeous best friend. Unfortunately, Ethan and Jared had been good friends e
ven longer than they'd been friends with Milla, and neither one felt good about jeopardizing their friendship, even if it was over someone as incredible as her.
“Nothing to see here. Just a traffic jam,” he assured Jared, lying through his teeth.
His friend eyed him warily, but there wasn't anything he could use to argue the subject, so he let it go for now.
“There's pizza on the table. What do you say we grab some plates?” Ethan proposed.
Jared nodded vigorously. He'd been busy all afternoon, stuck helping his sister and her boyfriend move into a new apartment, and he hadn't stopped for a bite to eat since that morning.
Jared turned and started back down the hall to the dining room at a near running pace, while Ethan followed slowly behind, trying to erase his recent encounter with Milla from his mind. But, damn! He could have sworn he saw arousal in her eyes, felt it radiating from her body. That was absolutely crazy. They'd been alone together dozens of times, researching for a paper or prepping for an exam, but he'd never seen her respond like that. It must have been in his head.
He tried to shake it off, grabbing a plate from the cupboard and a slice of pizza from the table. It really wasn't food he was hungry for at the moment, but it would have to do. He carried his dinner into the living room and plopped down at one end of Milla's sofa. She never minded anyone eating in her living room, but she had a strict rule about no feet on the coffee table so he kept his feet planted firmly on the ground.
Jared was already there, seated at the opposite end of the only piece of furniture in the room, heartily digging into his pizza like it was the first morsel of food he'd had in days. They ate in comfortable silence for a moment until Milla came bounding down the stairs. It seemed as if she'd recovered from their encounter. She grabbed a slice of pizza and turned to join her friends on the couch.
But as she looked up at the sofa, seeing her friends casually reclined and enjoying their meal, an incredibly naughty image flashed through her mind; Ethan and Jared naked, and enjoying every inch of her body. The contrast was absolutely delicious; Ethan, tall, dark and heavily muscled compared to Jared's blond hair and lankier, runner's build. Jared was definitely attractive, but not as much as Ethan. If she had to choose which one she'd spend most of her time exploring...“Oh! No, no, no, no, no!” she chastised herself silently. She had no idea what was wrong with her, but images like that were only going to cause chaos.
Ethan watched as the expression on Milla's face changed from relaxed to heated, to suddenly pained, and he would have given just about anything to have been able to see inside her head at that moment. She sat down tentatively in between them and dug into her pizza, keeping her eyes fixated straight ahead.
“So, are we all set for tomorrow?” Jared piped up in between mouthfuls.
“Yup. Ready as we'll ever be,” Ethan replied while Milla nodded her agreement, neither one of them feeling the need to share Milla's little conniption fit earlier today.
“Great. What do you say to an all-evening channel-surfing fest?” He would have proposed a movie fest, but Milla didn't own a single DVD—she never had time for them, she reasoned, so why clutter up the house.
With two nods of approval, Jared grabbed the remote and started clicking through the channels. Milla sat back, feeling a little more comfortable now that their easy camaraderie seemed to have resumed.
Two hours and a multitude of channels later, Milla's eyes began to droop. And as she drifted off to sleep to some ridiculous fight-fest the guys had agreed on, her body slumped against Jared's chest. And suddenly Ethan knew the jealousy Jared had felt walking into the scene earlier in the hall. Jared, not believing Ethan's “traffic jam” story, smirked at him in triumph.
That was, until a few moments later when she moved fitfully in slumber, stretching her legs and extending her slightly parted thighs across Ethan's lap. Ethan returned Jared's triumphant smirk, but a wicked idea began formulating in Ethan's mind. He had absolutely no idea how he would pull it off, but if he had been right about Milla's response earlier, his plan might just let him have what he wanted without jeopardizing his friendship with Jared. He'd think about it more later, but in that moment, he figured it would be best to sleep, to try to ignore the long, smooth legs stretched across him, parted just enough that he could easily slide his hand up her shorts where his fingers would be free to explore her pussy. He gritted his teeth once again, closed his eyes and did his damnedest to focus on baseball.
Morning came quickly and Milla awoke just as the sun was beginning to lighten the sky. A quick glance at the clock perched on the television told her she had just over an hour to be ready to leave for the airport, so she'd best get her butt moving. And then she realized where she was; her head cradled in Jared's lap and her body strewn out across Ethan with her shorts riding up and leaving little to the imagination. She quickly and carefully tried to extricate herself from her position, slowly rolling off the sofa and onto the floor.
But the movement woke Ethan just in time for him to see Milla on her hands and knees, trying to crawl past Jared's outstretched legs. Jared woke a second later, and his eyes followed Milla's ass until she stood, having made it past the sofa and out onto the open floor. “Hell of a way to start the day,” both men thought in tandem. The morning passed in a flurry of activity; washing, dressing and loading up the car. And then it was time to leave for the airport for a vacation none of them would ever forget.
The plane took off along the runway and within moments they were airborne and on their way to St. Lucia.
“Did I mention I've never been on an airplane before?” Milla asked, clutching the arms of her seat and turning a chalky shade of white.
She thought she'd be a natural flier—she didn't mind climbing a ladder, and could ride the roller coasters at the amusement park without losing her lunch, so she just presumed that riding in an airplane would be a breeze. Unfortunately, as the plane's wheels left the runway and Milla found herself soaring through the sky in an elaborate tin can, she realized too late that air travel was not for her.
“Oh, I'm not sure this is going to work for me guys,” Milla worried aloud.
“It's OK, Milla. Just take a deep breath,” Ethan soothed. He gently pulled her against his chest, wrapping an arm around her and using his free hand to brush the hair back from her forehead. You'll do just fine.”
Milla remained in that position for the entire length of the flight, and she was eternally grateful to the pilot when he announced that they had landed safely. With her friends' assistance, she got her legs under her and was on solid ground.
“I guess I'm going to have to find a place to live here because I'm not getting back on that flying tin can,” she asserted, thinking that life in a tropical paradise didn't sound so bad. Ethan and Jared both chuckled.
A taxi at the airport took them straight to their hotel room. They had opted to share a suite, which was absolutely beautiful—and enormous; an open-concept area with three walls and an open-air view of St. Lucia's Piton Mountains. Extending from the un-walled side of the suite was an infinity pool, designed to give the illusion that it stretched out into the Caribbean Sea. Milla walked around the suite, checked out the over-sized bathroom and then stared out past the pool at the gorgeous mountain and sea view. “Breathtaking,” she said in awe.
Jared and Ethan standing behind her, watching her wonderment, thought the same thing of the view in front of them. And then, out of the blue, she jumped into the pool.
“I always wanted to do that,” she exclaimed when she resurfaced from beneath the water.
The guys laughed at her enthusiasm, until she reached the edge and climbed out of the water. Milla's clothes clung to her, outlining every curve of her body. Both men swallowed hard.
“Not yet,” Ethan cautioned himself silently.
But he also saw the opportunity to be sure his plan was a good idea. He walked slowly toward her, picking up a towel along the way. Milla looked up at Ethan and the heat in his ey
es stopped her mid-laugh. He was right in front of her, looking down at her, watching the same heat in her eyes; he could feel it radiate from her body just like before. He brought his arms around her and draped the towel over her shoulders. Holding the ends of the towel, he let his fingers trail down in between her collar bones to the neckline of her dress. He slowly tied the towel ends there, staring in her eyes the whole time.
He dropped his hands to his sides, forced himself to turn away and as casually as he could, “What do you say we take that bottle of champagne on the coffee table, grab some food and hit the beach for a makeshift picnic?”
Ten minutes later they were walking out together, food and champagne in hand and a tote full of beach towels and sunscreen. Ethan darted off for a moment as Milla and Jared made their way out the hotel's front door, but he caught up with them a moment later.
“I checked with the concierge and he let me know about a great stretch of beach not far from here. Just a ten minute walk that way,” he informed them, pointing down the sandy stretch to the left of them. It also happened to be a relatively secluded section of the beach.
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