“Yes.”
“Fuck!” Without hesitation, Ethan gets his phone out of his pocket and searches for a locksmith online. “Hi, I need emergency service. Two new door locks. Whatever is the most secure. How soon can you be here?” There’s a pause in the conversation and Ethan looks at his watch. Feeling overwhelmed, Olivia moves towards him and presses into his body. His arm wraps securely around her, while he gives the locksmith her address. After tucking his phone back into his pocket, he lifts his hand to the back of her head, and tenderly presses it against his chest.
When the kettle whistles and he releases her. “Go sit down while I get us some tea.”
“I can do it.” She needs a distraction.
He waves her off. I’ve got it. You go find us something to watch while we wait for the locksmith.” Returning with two mugs, he finds her waiting on the couch, her eyes looking heavy. The moment he sits beside her she climbs onto his lap and snuggles against him, finding refuge in his strong arms. In a matter of moments, the anxiety has dissipated and the sleep that has eluded her for days comfortably settles in. She barely even stirs when Ethan lifts her off his lap and lays her on the couch so he can answer the door.
In less than an hour, both the front and back door locks are replaced with stronger and more effective deadbolts. Ethan feels a load of weight fall from his chest as he pays and walks the locksmith to the front door. While Olivia is still sleeping peacefully on the couch, he takes another moment to go room to room, checking to make sure windows are closed and locked and that there are no signs that someone has been in the house while they were gone.
When he returns to Olivia, she rolls onto her back and stretches, lazily opening her eyes to look up at him and smiles. She looks so beautiful in that moment that his breath sticks in his throat as he looks down at her. “We’re all secured now.” He holds out his hand for her. “Let’s go have a shower and then get to bed.”
Grabbing his gym bag, he holds Olivia’s hand and leads her up the stairs. Entering the bathroom, he turns on the taps, allowing the water to adjust to the right temperature while Olivia retrieves towels from the hall closet. He’s just stepping into the shower when she returns, stopping to admire the magnificent sight of his naked body. The dark ink of his tattoo is just as sexy on the back of his shoulder as it is from the front. She quickly slips out of her clothes, slides the curtain back, and climbs in with him. Stepping back, he allows her to get under the warm spray of the water, then picks up the body wash, squeezing some onto the cloth, and gently scrubs it across her body working up a soft bubbly lather. She breathes slow and deep, completely relaxing under his touch. She even moans at one point making him smile. “I love taking care of you.” He whispers. “There is no greater pleasure in my life then when you let me.”
Leaning back against him, she lets the water wash away the lather. His hands retrace his previous movements caressing her with tenderness. “When you’re like this with me... when you’re not trying to find ways to push me away, and you surrender, letting me in… I feel it right down to the furthest depths of my soul. It’s a gift. It gives me hope.”
Turning in his arms so they are chest to chest, she wipes the wet strands of hair from his forehead and then smoothes the drops of water from his face. She smiles as he leans his cheek into the palm of her hand wanting to prolong her touch. Standing on her tiptoes, she waits until he lowers his chin, bringing his lips closer to hers. Moved by his confession, she gives him another gift in the form of a sweet and sensual kiss. As her lips move from tenderness into a deeper, smoldering passion, Ethan pulls away.
“Stop.” He whispers. “This is not where I intended to lead you. We don’t have to go there tonight. I just want you to trust me, feel safe with me. I want to look after you in all things, not just in sex.”
She looks up into those beautiful green eyes, the warm spray of water on her back creating a mist around them. Damn him, saying those romantic things and confusing her, making her regret not telling him the words she spoke at the hotel. He gets her heart all mixed up in things that her head is clearly struggling to deny. She doesn’t say a word, just gazes at him and sighs. Reaching past her, he shuts off the water, then reaches for a towel and wraps it around her before helping her step out of the shower.
With a towel wrapped around his waist, he follows her into the bedroom to dry off and then pull on clean boxers and a pair of athletic shorts. Olivia puts on her favorite pink pajama pants and a t-shirt while watching him from the corner of her eye. Ethan tosses his stuff back in his bag and when he straightens, she’s standing, frozen at the side of her bed. Her calm relaxed body now brittle and tense. He presses up against her from behind and wraps his arms around her middle, rubbing his check against hers from the side. “You ok?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think I can stay in here tonight.” She takes a few sharp breaths in.
“Ok, we can go back to my place.” He offers, waiting out her long pause.
“No.” She says taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. “It’s ok. I can do this. I’m just being stupid.”
Ethan spins her around so he can see her face. “You are NOT stupid. You’ve had a very stressful week ending in one hell of an anxiety attack. Maybe tonight is not the right night to take on the demons in this room. Yeah? How about tonight we stay in the spare room instead?” Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he lingers there until she relaxes in his arms and takes a calming breath. “I think I can handle that.”
Leading her down the hall to the spare room, he waits for her to get under the covers before turning off the lights and sliding in beside her. “Liv??”
“Hmmm” She replies sleepily.
“You Ok? You’re still awfully tense.”
“Yes, I’m ok. I’m sorry.” She regrets that her past still haunts her. It’s just not fair to Ethan.
“Can I ask you a question?” He has to ask. He needs to know.
She feels him tense slightly and braces herself for what’s about to come. “Yes.”
“Is it being in the bed or being with me in the bed that freaks you out?”
She knew eventually that they would have to have this conversation. The tension in her body is overwhelming and she realizes that the only liberating factor is probably admission. Taking a deep breath, she indulges him as he tightens his grip around her waist and rubs his cheek against her temple.
“Both actually.” She’s glad for the fact that he can’t see her face. “I’ve not been with anyone since Sam, so being in this situation is a little unnerving on its own, but sometimes sleeping in a bed, even alone brings back horrible memories.”
“You were ok at the hotel.” He tries to work through the logic of her reactions.
“Yes, it would have appeared so, until I had the nightmare.”
“Good point.” He acknowledges.
“Sometimes I have to take things ONE NIGHT at a time. Other times I have to take them ONE HOUR at a time. Things are getting better for me but truthfully, Ethan, sleeping in that bed frightens me at the best of times. The thought of anyone else sleeping in it with me absolutely terrifies me.”
Ethan thinks about the scars on her scalp and the look on her face when Brad described the man looking for her. He has to know what happened. He needs to hear it from her. Before he can talk himself out of it the questions is out of his mouth. “What happened with you and Sam? How did you end up where you did?”
“Ethan…” She tries to stop him.
“I need to know, you’ve told me that you don’t want to be in a committed relationship with me. If I have to comply with that rule then I need to know why it exists.”
She adjusts her position uncomfortably and takes in a breath. “I’m not sure where to start?”
“Did he break your heart?” He moves closer behind her so that his muscular chest is against her back and rests his chin against her shoulder.
“No, not really. I thought I loved him in the beginning. What has Rach
el told you? And don’t lie to me and say nothing.”
“She only told me that he hurt you. That you were in the hospital for several days.” He’s glad that she remains facing away from him. She would have known for sure that he was lying if she could see his face.
“Well I guess that’s the short version of the story but you’re obviously not satisfied with that.”
“No I’m not.”
She sighs. “Ethan, when I first met Sam I had just been dumped by the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was feeling very vulnerable. Sam was strong and in control. I found that very attractive for all the wrong reasons.”
“So it was a rebound? An innocent, heartbroken girl falling for the bad boy?”
“Yes, sort of, but I was far from innocent... and I wasn’t heartbroken… just broken.” She pauses, choosing her words very carefully and keeping her back to him, feeling that it affords her a small sliver of anonymity. “It was with Sam that I discovered how much I was aroused by a dominant man. I wanted to find true freedom in my submission.” She’s almost embarrassed to say it aloud. This is going to be difficult to say and she wonders how he’ll react. “But Sam, he liked it a little too rough sometimes.”
Ethan’s jaw clenches against her shoulder, but he says nothing. “We were happy at first. It wasn’t long before he told me he loved me and then something changed in him. He became quiet, withdrawn. The more unhappy he became, the more he drank. The more he drank… the more violent he became.” Olivia’s voice becomes callous as she forces herself to remain free of emotion. Best to just get it all out in the open now.
“Over time it escalated until I couldn’t hide the bruises anymore and I knew that I had to break it off. That was the day he crossed the line.”
“He hit you?” The thought of that makes Ethan really angry. He can’t stand the thought of any man laying his hands on her. Then he thinks about his problems in Ireland and he worries, now more than ever, that when Olivia finds out he’ll lose her forever.
“Ethan… he hit me on a regular basis, but that night… he beat the shit out of me and left me barely able to breathe, choking on my own blood.” Her voice is calm and cold, barely acknowledging the horrific nature of what happened. “Sometimes, I’m sure that he didn’t intend to leave me alive that day.”
“Jesus Christ, Olivia.” He feels like he’s just taken a sharp knife to the heart. What can he say? There is nothing he can say to make things right. He will kill the bastard when he finds him, and if he’s back in town, he fully intends to find him. Taking several calming breaths he gently caresses his hands across her skin and realizes that he’s doing it more to soothe himself than her. “I know you didn’t press charges but what happened to him after?”
“He was apparently seeing another girl at the same time and while I was still in the hospital they left town together. I haven’t seen or heard from him since. I don’t know where they went or where they are now.”
There is silence between them for a moment and as hard as she tries not to, she starts to become upset. “Ethan, I don’t want to talk about it anymore today. Ok?”
Pressing his lips against her shoulder, he nuzzles his face into her neck. His hands rub and squeeze along her upper arm. “Ok baby, we’ll table it.”
Her heart starts to race and she feels a shiver of fear wash over her. “Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“I need you to hold me.” On the edge of tears, she lay in the dark facing the wall. Her body so tense that her muscles are starting to ache. Ethan reaches his arm over her and adjusts his position. “Come here.” Pulling her backwards and rolling her to face him, his hand sweeps through her hair as she tucks her head in under his chin. Wrapping her arms around him, she holds him tight. She stops the tears from falling but he can still feel her pain in the rigid muscles of her body and her shallow breaths.
They fall asleep that way. Olivia held safe in his loving embrace not moving or waking the entire night. It was the most peaceful rest she’s had in three years.
Olivia is pulled from sleep by the vibrating of her cell phone. Reaching for it blindly in the muted light of the sunrise filtering through the window, she finally finds it. “Hello?” She whispers into it trying not to disturb Ethan.
“Hey baby sister!” Megan says, with love and warmth in her voice.
“Hi Meg!” She’s amazed at how tuned in her sister has always been to her emotions, even from the Atlantic Coast. Gently prying herself out of Ethan’s arms, she rolls to her side away from him trying not to wake him. Despite her efforts he senses the moment she leaves his arms. Opening his eyes, he stretches beside her listening for a moment to her whispering into the phone before he gets up to use the bathroom.
“Is everything ok?” Megan asks trying not to sound suspicious.
“Everything is fine. How are the kids?” She sounds so much more settled now.
“They’re a handful but I couldn’t imagine my life without them.”
The bathroom door opens and having rid himself of both his shorts and his boxers, Ethan climbs back into bed, sliding under the covers and rolling over so that he’s at Olivia’s back.
“Well that’s a good thing since you can’t return them.” She teases, her breath hitching at the feel of his warmth moving in closer.
Kissing her shoulder, he works his way up to her neck. His lips linger just behind her ear, so close that he can hear her call. “Whoa!” She says under breath as she feels his naked body melt into her, pressing his hips forward and rubbing his dick along the seam of her ass.
“Well I can always send them to live with their Aunt Olivia.” Megan says laughing.
Olivia’s body starts to respond to his hot breath against her ear. Sliding his hands around her, he slips under her shirt and caresses the warm bare skin of her breasts. When he lowers his mouth, gliding his tongue across the skin on her neck, she’s speechless for a moment.
“Tell Ethan I said good morning.”
Olivia is shocked. “Oh my God! How did you know he was here?
“Are you kidding me? You’re practically moaning into the phone.”
Ethan laughs against her neck and then brings his mouth back up to her ear. “Good morning, Megan.” He’s loud enough for her to hear. Olivia tips the phone slightly so that the speaker is between them.
“You better be looking after my little sister.” She warns.
Ethan grins and gives Olivia’s sensitive nipple a firm tug, making her clench and press back against him. “I’m doing my very best.” He says. “But your sister is extremely stubborn.”
Meghan scoffs. “Ha! That’s an understatement.”
“Hey!” Olivia protests. “No fair ganging up on me.”
“I’m sorry, baby. Let me make it up to you.” Sliding his hand from her breast, down the sensitive twitching nerves of her stomach, he gets underneath the waistband of her pajama pants. Yanking them down to her hips, he finds her already wet and ready for him.
“Oh my!” Olivia squirms, trying to press her swollen clit against the palm of his hand and encourages him into an erection that’s so hard it could drill through cement.
“Ummmm. I think that’s my cue to say good-bye.” Megan says uncomfortably.
Olivia has to concentrate hard to find her voice. “Ok Meg. I love you.” Ethan hits just the right spot making her moan into the phone. “I’ll talk to you later.” She says through panted breaths.
“Geez, thanks you guys! Now I’m all worked up, I’m going to have to go wake up Rick, and he won’t know what hit him. If I get pregnant again I’m going to kill you both.” She threatens as she hangs up.
Olivia lets her phone drop out of her hand and Ethan flips her onto her back, out of her pants and is pushing her legs apart with his knee before it even hits the floor.
“I can’t wait… need to be inside you.” He mutters as he lowers himself on top of her, entering her with one smooth movement and making her gasp with his thick penet
ration. He stills for a moment, taking a breath, and withdraws leaving only the swollen head of his cock inside her. Despite his own urgency, he has the presence of mind to make sure that he’s not hurting her. Sliding back in slowly, he tests her acceptance and waits for her reaction. When he’s certain that she’s able to take him, he begins to thrust into her with an insurmountable desire.
Olivia groans, helpless against his sudden rough possession. Feeling heat pulse straight to her core, the tension coils low in her belly already aching for release. Jesus, what the man does to her. Thrusting steadily upwards, he repeatedly hits the right spot with a heavy pounding pressure. She’s shocked at how quickly she starts to unravel, calling out his name as pleasure blooms inside her and spreads outwards. Her body shudders, as she tightens around him, squeezing his cock. Driving into her one last time, his hips jerk forward as he comes, the feel of his pelvis slamming hard against her making him moan with the gratification of his own hard release. For the longest time afterwards, Ethan stays inside her, rolling to his side he takes her with him, relieving the heavy weight of his body on hers. He pants against her throat, trying to calm his breath.
“Well, somebody’s eager this morning.” She laughs.
Smiling, Ethan brings his lips to hers for a kiss. “I’m eager for every morning that begins with me hard as stone and deep inside you.”
“I think I could get used to waking up like that.” She says sighing against his neck.
Moving away slowly, he makes her protest the emptiness she feels with his withdrawal. Kissing down her throat, he slides his body down her. Lifting the edge of her t-shirt to expose her skin, he licks his way down her stomach, making her lift her hips and pressing her skin harder against his mouth. Stopping at the sight of the bruise on her belly, he gently runs his fingertips over it, sweeping them across to her opposite hip where he can still see the faint marks from his teeth.
Ethan’s shoulders tense. “Am I too rough with you, princess?”
“No Ethan, I’d say from the mind numbing orgasms and how quickly you make me come that you are just rough enough.”
Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series Page 53