“Maybe if you’re lucky somebody will steal it.” Ethan is in a foul mood after his video conference and he doesn’t mean to take it out on Olivia but his tone upsets her.
“My dad left me that car. It was his pride and joy and the only thing I have left of his.”
Ethan feels horrible. She’s genuinely upset, and the look of disappointment on her face is something he would never like to see again. There should never be anything other than complete joy and happiness on her beautiful face and he wants desperately to be the source of her rapture. “Forgive me, Olivia. I’ll look after it.” He takes his cell phone out of his pocket and hits a number on the speed dial. “Hey it’s me. Do you have a mechanic in town?” He isn’t using the speaker so she can’t hear the conversation on the other end. “Do you trust him? Can you arrange for someone to come and tow Olivia’s car there? It’s off on the shoulder on the 410 North Highway just past the Sandalwood exit. Then call John, or that other guy, you know the one that looks like a sloth. Have him arrange for her to get one of the cars from the sales fleet. I want it dropped off at her house today if possible, no later than tomorrow morning. Yes, that’s fine… thanks.” He ends his call and Olivia is staring at him completely offended by his call and he picks up on her hostility. “What’s wrong?”
“So you think it’s ok to just take over and make decisions for other people?” She crosses her arms in front of her.
Ethan pulls out into traffic and looks at her confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I can’t afford to pay someone to fix my car?
He didn’t consider that actually, he just took control like he always does. “Olivia if you’re short of money then I’ll pay to get it fixed. I can’t stand the thought of you driving around in an unsafe vehicle. I won’t allow it. That car is a death trap.”
He won’t allow it? WTF? That only antagonizes her more. Not to mention that she knows from experience that financial dependence is just another way to control someone and she refuses to go through that again. “Well it’s not your job to look after me.” She snaps.
“Soon enough you’ll figure out that there is no point in arguing with me.” He says dismissing her anger.
She’s just about to lose it and on the verge of giving him the piece of her mind that she’s intended to several times since the first time she met him. “You know, just because you are the Senior Vice President of a successful company doesn’t mean you can snap your fingers and make your employees or anyone else jump anytime you want.”
Ethan is working hard at controlling his temper. His jaw clenches and his voice takes on a defensive tone. “I’m not sure why you’re so upset with me. I’m trying to do something nice for you.” His Irish accent becomes more defined as his anger escalates. No woman has ever raised her voice at Ethan O’Connell. He’s not quite sure how to handle it.
“You just called one of your employees on a Saturday and asked them to look after something that is personal business. MINE, I might add.” She yells at him.
“You are way too quick to judge me, Miss James.” He shakes his head annoyed.
“I could hear the conversation. I heard you order someone to look after getting my car fixed.” Furious, she turns her body and faces out the window.
Ethan scratches at his head, frustrated at her reaction. “What the…? Olivia, that was Scott. I didn’t call a staff member and give them orders on a Saturday. I called a friend and asked for help.” He glances over at her. “And just for the record… John, my ‘personal assistant’ is a 24/7 gig that “I” pay for, not the company. If he’s unhappy with the terms of his contract he’s free at any time to find another job.” Extremely annoyed at her accusations, his jaw stiffens as he glances at her. Bloody woman!
She looks at him over her shoulder. “Oh. I’m sorry.” Starting to feel a little motion sickness, she reaches into her purse for a something to settle her stomach and pulls out the handful of prescriptions that she’s supposed to get filled. Feeling embarrassed that she needs to ask for his help after what she just said, she holds them up to show him. “I need to get these filled.”
“No problem, I’ll take you.” He hesitates, not able to hide the agitation in his tone. “Or do I need to ask you if it’s ok first?”
She decides not to reply. It’s much safer for her to keep her mouth shut and rest her eyes for the rest of the drive.
When he pulls up in front of the drug store, Olivia gets out and heads for the door. Still tense from their conversation Ethan decides to stay in the car. As she passes around the front hood, he watches her, mumbling about difficult women in general, until he notices blood starting to soak through her track pants while she walks. He gets out of the car and jogs to catch up with her as she begins to feel dizzy and puts her hand against the side of the building to steady herself. Ethan reaches her just in time and braces her against his body.
“You ok?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She says embarrassed. “I guess it’s all the poking and prodding he did today.”
“It’s bleeding again.” He motions down to her track pants and she twists to look back at the blood that’s starting to show through.
“Great.” Seeing the blood makes her skin crawl and she shivers.
Making her way to the prescription counter, with a concerned Irishman hovering close by, she hands in her prescriptions and leans against the counter for support. “Will you be picking these up later?” The pharmacist asks.
Before she can open her mouth Ethan answers for her. “No, we’ll wait.”
She rolls her eyes at him and shakes her head as she makes her way over to a courtesy chair and sits down. When the pharmacist finally calls her name she wearily makes her way to the counter and listens as he takes the bottles one by one, explains the dosage and tosses them into a bag. When Ethan approaches from behind and listens in on the instructions, Olivia’s mood goes from annoyed to extremely grumpy. “Excuse me.” She says to him in an aggravated voice. “Are you at all familiar with the concept of personal space?”
He looks at her intently but doesn’t move. “YOU are in MY personal space bubble!” She uses exaggerated hand gestures to demonstrate the lack of space between them. When Ethan doesn’t back away, she gives up with a heavy sigh figuring that it’s a concept that he doesn’t grasp since he did the same thing yesterday at the coffee shop. When the pharmacist is done, Ethan puts a few other first-aid supplies onto the counter and hands the cashier his credit card.
“You don’t need to do that.” She objects.
He’s having a hard time ignoring her abhorrent mood and retaliates with sarcasm. “What? Let you pay so that you’ve got nothing to complain about?”
She sighs, wondering how they went so quickly from a playful morning to this. Considering car repairs are likely to set her savings back quite a bit and that she’s just too exhausted for any more arguments with him, she agrees.
”Fine, go ahead and pay. I was just surprised at your offer since you seem more like the kind of guy that would have his ‘personal assistant’ send flowers then take a general interest yourself.” There is a subtle hint of malice in her tone that she immediately wishes she could take back. She looks up at him nervously, knowing that she deserves whatever his reaction will be.
He glances at her sideways; his mouth is set in a grim line. “I’ll have my assistant send flowers to you another time, today you need band-aids.“ His patience is worn thin by today’s inquisition and the exhausting way she challenges him at every turn. He’s not used to a woman who would question his authority. Suddenly he wishes he had taken the advice from his friend, but he’s drawn to this particular woman and despite her censure he doubts he can stay away. “And since you are clearly not feeling well, I will forgive your contentious behavior today.”
He slides his credit card back into his wallet and stuffing it back into his pocket he establishes eye contact, warning her with an arctic glare. “Just so we
are clear, when I say I’m paying for something… it’s not up for discussion.”
Oh shit. He’s angry. She wilts a little with her sudden desire to avoid any conflict with him. Before getting back into the car, Olivia dumps her prescriptions out of the plastic bag and puts it down on the seat underneath her to guard the upholstery against her blood soaked pants. The onset of the fever consumes her quickly and she closes her eyes and lays her head back against the seat and says nothing the rest of the drive.
When they arrive at the house, she grabs her prescriptions and starts to get out of the car, deciding an apology is in order. “Thank you, Ethan. I’m sorry I was in a grumpy mood today. I really do appreciate you helping me out and not leaving me stranded.”
He gets out of the car and as she walks around the hood, she looks at him confused when he continues beside her towards the house.
“You don’t honestly think I’m going to leave until I make sure that is properly dressed.” He points down to the blood stain on her pants.
Wow! He can’t seem to go more than half an hour without saying something to make her angry. She can’t believe how overbearing he is. She doesn’t want his help, she certainly didn’t ask for it. “What makes you think that I’m letting you into my house?”
“I saw your face the night it happened and again when you got out of the car. I’m thinking you’re not entirely comfortable dealing with the blood.” Confident that she’ll give in, he follows her towards the door.
The thought makes her woozy. “Especially my own.” She concedes, as she puts her key in the lock and scowls when it pops open with no difficulty at all this time. “Still you can’t just assume you’re welcome in my house and that you can bully me into doing things your way.”
“Is that what I’m doing? Bullying you?” He’s amused.
She shrugs, trying to gauge his mood. “Well kind of.”
“Ok, so I’ll come in and make sure that this is bandaged properly.” He runs his hand gently up her thigh and then holds her hip. “And then I promise I’ll leave, if that’s what you want.”
Oh no he doesn’t! He’s not going to distract her with those little sensual touches and that boyish grin that says ‘trust me I’m a good guy’. She has seen a side of him today that proves that she was right about there being something dangerous in those eyes. She’s not falling for dark and mysterious ever again.
He begins to grin at her hesitation, already knowing that she’s going to give in. She finds herself looking at his lips and the sexy way they curl at the corners. His eyes have softened and that controlling look that was there just a short while ago is gone. He squeezes her hip, gently reminding her that he’s still touching her, patiently waiting while she considers his offer. As if she would refuse him. Ridiculous!
Olivia would like to send him on his way and never see him again, but he’s right, there is no way that she can look after changing the bandages herself. And she’s fairly certain that she’s not going to ask Noah over again. She pries his hand off her hip, giving him a defiant look and stands aside to let him in. “Let’s get this over with.” She’s not falling for his charm today; she just wants to get into bed and go to sleep. Alone!
Ethan lays out the things he needs on the table and when he returns from washing his hands he kneels down beside her. “Ok then, take your pants off.”
“What?’ She’s startled at his request and her heartbeat kicks up a notch.
“Take your pants off.” He smiles knowing that he’s caught her off guard. “Unless you’d like me to put the bandages on the outside of your pants?”
She feels silly now. “Of course not.” She ponders the events of the past few days and snickers. “This is the second time this week I’ve taken off my pants for someone in this living room.” She says casually, as if it was a common occurrence.
Ethan looks up at her and raises his eyebrows. “Really now? That’s interesting. And who else have you taken your pants off for?”
“Noah. He came over and looked after it the night it happened.”
Not feeling bashful at all in her fevered state, she hooks her thumbs on the waist band of her track pants and yanks them down off her hips, lowering them further until she reaches the spot where dried blood has stuck them to her leg and against the wound. Searing pain pulls at her skin. “Ow!”
Ethan reacts quickly. “Wait, wait, wait!”
She lets go and puts her hands over her face as he runs his finger around the pant leg and gently pries the blood stiffened fabric off her leg. Easing them down the rest of the way, he’s careful not to brush against the raw flesh of her thigh. “There. Are you ok?”
She looks down to see a trail of fresh blood running down her leg and becomes frantic. “NO! I’m not ok! Get the blood off me, Ethan. Hurry!” Her hands start to tremble.
“It’s ok, Olivia. Relax. There was just one little spot where the pants were stuck and it has already stopped bleeding. Your Doctor did a horrible job of dressing this.” He tries to comfort her as he wipes the blood off her leg as quickly and gently as possible.
He decides she needs a little distraction. “Nice panties.” Lingering a little longer while wiping the tender bit of skin where her thigh meets her butt cheek, he looks up to meet her eyes with a teasing smile. “Pink is my favorite color. Were you thinking about me when you put these on this morning?”
She’s certain there is no blood anywhere near where he’s currently cleaning and it stirs, deep inside her, a different kind of tension. Her stomach muscles tighten as his hand caresses tenderly across her inner thigh. “Odd as it seems, Ireland, I don’t think about you when I’m putting my panties on.” She looks away, finding the gaze of his green eyes and his Irish charm just a little too potent in her weakened state.
“Ah, only when you take them off then.” He smirks as he generously applies the antibiotic cream on the gauze square, sticks it to her leg and reaches for the waterproof tape. She stares straight ahead, strategically NOT saying aloud all the things that she would like to say to him right now. However, the change of direction in the conversation is extremely welcome, considering the angry tension that’s been between them for the past hour and a half.
He knows that a few well placed pieces of tape are not going to hold the gauze. He’s going to have to wrap it completely around the thigh. “Open your legs.” He demands as he gently nudges them, prying them far enough apart to apply the adhesive. Her heart starts to race and she shifts her weight, giving him a little more space to work. As he wraps it around her leg he slides his free hand against her inner thigh and smoothes the tape down making sure it sticks. His mouth is only a few inches away from the throbbing between her legs. Inhaling deeply, she holds her breath and tries to deny the feelings starting to coil tighter in her stomach. The ones that are making her want to thrust his hips forward, against his lips and encourage him to take action.
“Brilliant! I knew you were the kind of girl who does what she’s told.” His licentious Irish accent is delivered in the warmth of his breath across the skin of her inner thigh. He’s dangerously close to being extremely intimate with her and discovering that her pink panties are now very wet. Feeling dizzy, she’s certain that it’s not the fever. It’s Ethan. She’s afraid to speak for fear that he’ll sense the burning ache that he’s ignited deep inside her. As if he would miss the way that her body reacts to him. It’s anything but subtle.
Standing up, he takes a good long look at her body on the way, showing his appreciation with a dirty little smirk. “All done. You can put your pants back on. Or leave them off if you like. I don’t mind.”
“Nice Try. You’re done?” She hides her disappointment as his hands move away from her body leaving her feeling almost abandoned.
“Why are you surprised?” Walking into the washroom, he cleans his hands.
“Well, because it hurt a lot when Noah did it.” She walks over to the laundry basket on the couch and grabs another pair of track pants from the top of the pi
le.
Returning to the room drying his hand on a small towel, he stands completely still, admiring one last look of her pink panties. “I can guarantee that I have a much better bedside manner than your friend Noah.” Watching her from across the room, stepping into her pants and pulling them up over her hips, he becomes aroused. He has to fight the urge to bound across the room, grab her, tug them back down and get between her legs. Brilliant idea! He’d like to get between those legs for pleasure this time, both hers and his. He feels need start to grow deep inside him and tightness in his groin as he thinks about his mouth on her, exploring every inch of her pussy and imagining just how sweet she’ll taste on his tongue. He’ll learn to recognize the little sounds that she makes when he’s doing something she likes, and then he’ll do those things to her until she screams his name, coming harder than any other man has ever made her come before. His body responds by sending all the blood in his body straight to his dick.
“But then you’ve likely had more practice playing doctor with all your girls.” Oh crap! She didn’t mean to say that aloud. She turns away from him pretending to fold laundry in an effort to avoid eye contact.
Her comment ruins his little fantasy and makes him shake his head. Staring at her, knowing that this is her insecurity talking again, he moves across the room towards her. It amused him at first but now he’s offended at her continual suggestion that he’s some kind of playboy. He’s not like that anymore. “Olivia, there are no other girls.” He says with a stern tone as he moves in behind her. She senses him there and her spine straightens, unable to turn and face him. Closing any space between them, he nuzzles his forehead against her temple and whispers in her ear. “Do you want me to stay and play doctor with you?”
Scorching heat pumps through her veins as she feels his hot breath in her ear and his firm chest pressed up against her back. He senses his effect on her as he holds her hips and squeezes them with his hands, holding her in place while he gently sways with her, rubbing his growing erection against the crease at the top of her buttocks. “I could give you a very….thorough… examination.” He whispers in a low rough voice.
Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series Page 9