“Get in,” he said as he closed the trunk and tipped the bellman. Ethan attempted to get in the front seat and frowned. “You don’t mind if I move the seat? There is no way my body is going to fit into that little space.”
“Not at all. Get your butt in here! It’s cold outside.”
He quickly adjusted the seat and got into the car and laughed as he had to adjust the seat some more. “You are one small woman.”
“I am not that small. You’re just a giant,” she said as he drove off.
About thirty minutes later, Ethan pulled her Pathfinder into his driveway. “I really didn’t expect you to have an SUV,” he admitted as he parked her car in front of the garage. “I was totally thinking you had a Mini Cooper or a cute little VW Bug with a flower.”
“Whatever!” she said, getting out of the car. He laughed heartily and grabbed her hand as they walked up the flower-lined path to his front door. He unlocked it and quickly disarmed the alarm.
“Come on up. I want to change.”
Mia followed him up the same stairs she had climbed a week ago. That time, it was just for a shower. Today, she would go to his bedroom … and have her way with him. She smiled at the thought.
They walked into his bedroom and the modern lines of the furniture and the natural browns and whites in the fabrics calmed her. The design was simple yet rich. His bed was large to accommodate him with a plush comforter. The only thing she didn’t like was the fact that his room was too clean. He’d probably flip out if he saw her studio. Maybe she should clean it when she got back …
Ethan went straight to his closet. “Need any help?” she offered.
“No, suga,” he chuckled. “I’m going to shave too. So just a little longer and then we can go out for some breakfast.”
“Okay,” Mia said, sitting down on the comfy reading chair by the window, resting her feet on the ottoman. She sighed, digging the relaxed feeling she had and closed her eyes, still tired from the night before. Partying, lots of sex, waking up somewhat early and then even more sex would do that.
She felt the cushion give from the weight of Ethan’s hands as he hovered above her and she smiled. He brushed his lips against hers and she couldn’t help but touch the smoothness of his freshly shaven face.
“Ready for breakfast?” he asked.
Her hands traveled down his chest and stopped at his waist. “Is that what you’re calling it?” Mia asked, her eyes on his as she undid his pants. Breakfast and a nap could wait. This couldn’t.
By the time Mia and Ethan finally left his house, it was well past breakfast and into the lunch hour, and the bagel place was pretty crowded. He ushered her in and led her to the back of the long line. Mia instantly felt the eyes of many of the customers on them. They knew Ethan.
He stood behind her, his hands resting on her waist. “What do you want?” he asked, looking up at the menu.
“Uh …” She quickly looked up at the board instead of focusing on the whispers and the looks of the patrons. “I’ll have a multi-grain bagel with peanut butter.”
“Mmm. That sounds good,” he said, squeezing her waist.
She leaned back into him. “I think you’ve been found out.”
“Nah, they’re whispering about you.”
“Uh, no, they’re not,” she said, shaking her head.
“Not now, but they will be,” he answered, kissing the top of her head.
“Can I help you?” asked the employee. Ethan guided them forward and ordered their bagels, along with some fruit, an orange juice for him, and a much needed large coffee for her.
Ethan found a corner table, somewhat secluded, giving them some privacy. He dug into his bagel while she savored her coffee, waiting for the caffeine to kick in. While he ate, Mia observed him. He definitely liked his food. She also noticed a little love bite on his shoulder near the base of his neck and that had her smiling, thinking of last night.
“So, what did you really think of last night’s show? Did you really have a good time or were you just saying that to be nice?” she asked curiously.
He picked up a piece of strawberry and held it up to her mouth. Mia smiled as she opened her mouth and he placed it between her teeth. “I had such a great time,” he answered. He leaned over and kissed her and she tasted the mingled flavors of strawberry and orange juice on his lips.
“You amazed me with your writing. I was so blown away by your lyrics. And watching you on stage was uh …” Ethan paused, looking a little uncomfortable.
“What?” she wondered as her index finger toyed with her lower lip.
“Such a turn on. You were so confident, yet so vulnerable,” he said, taking her hands in his and studying them. “I was also amazed at what these could do.”
Mia raised her eyebrows at that. Did he mean musically or later in the hotel room?
“You’re a perv!” he said, smiling knowingly at her. “But yeah … sort of right.”
“Haha! I knew it!” she exclaimed, squeezing his hand. He liked what her hands could do, then she looked at his—so big and strong, yet able to make her moan like never before.
“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking about,” he said, his gaze falling to her mouth. “Eat some food!”
She smiled widely and took a big bite of her bagel. He knew what was on her mind only because it was on his, too. Maybe if she followed the same line of thought, he’d like to be using those long fingers on her right now.
“So, when do you need to leave?”
“I have no set time. Tomorrow at some point. I have to go to work on Monday. Though, I really want to just quit my job. I hate that place.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Oh, I will when the record company actually contacts me, but until that happens, I need that income.”
“That’s very practical,” he said in fake seriousness, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.
“Very grown up! Way to go, me!”
Ethan put his hand up, waiting for a high-five and she chuckled as she hit his hand. “Ready?” he asked, gathering up the tray and gesturing towards the exit. She grabbed her coffee and purse and nodded.
Lacing his fingers through hers, he slowly led them back to his truck. Something as simple as holding her hand had her falling for Ethan and boy, was she ever falling for him! No doubt about it. He was so wonderful, everything she wanted and then some.
He stopped by the passenger side of the truck. “So,” he said as she rested against the door. He leaned down, his head hovering above hers. “Since you don’t have to be back until tomorrow, I was thinking that you could stay with me tonight.”
His compelling eyes held hers, making her heart hammer wildly. “I like that idea,” she answered, her gaze falling to his parted lips, knowing exactly what his invitation entailed. “I could leave tomorrow afternoon sometime.”
“You do realize that you’ll probably be in bed until then, right?”
“Ha! I’m counting on it,” she replied right before pulling his head down to hers. Parting her lips, Mia raised herself on her tip-toes to kiss him. She slowly explored him, her tongue seeking his out, teasing, toying, enjoying. His fingers touched her side, leaving her with shivers and wanting to go back to his place.
She broke the kiss. “Bed time?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Before the bed stuff, would you like to go see a movie?” Ethan asked, resting his forehead against hers.
“You’re asking a lot from me, you do realize that?”
His mouth curved into an amused smile. “I do. Let’s go.”
Mia
Mia looked up at the movies board, her face full of indecision. The choices were between three different scary movies or a kid’s movie. What the hell happened to date movies? She didn’t want to be scared out of her pants. She wanted to be romanced out of them.
“So, no scary movies?” Ethan asked.
“Nope.”
“Okay, so our choices now are Underworld: Evolution
or The Shaggy Dog which I veto.”
“So, I guess we see the Underworld one then,” she said, laughing as he paid for the tickets. The attendant gave him the two tickets and directed them to the left side of the theater. Ethan grasped her elbow and led her to the concession stand.
“What do you like to have with your movie?”
A side of you, she thought, then shook her head. “Uh, usually popcorn and Milk Duds.”
“Anything to drink?”
“Something with caffeine please.”
“Did I keep you up late?” he asked, his toffee eyes full of mischief. She felt the warm blush cover her cheeks, remembering last night.
Ethan walked up to the counter, his laughter floating up from his throat. He smiled at the worker and ordered. “Hi, a large popcorn, Milk Duds, Twizzlers and a large Coke.”
He paid for their snacks. He handed her the Coke, slipped the candies in his jacket, and took the popcorn himself. He popped a few kernels in his mouth as they made their way to the theater. Mia pushed the straw in the top and drank away, hoping this would keep her awake. She needed a nap—desperately.
They made their way up the dimly lit hallway to the main theater. From the sound of it, the movie previews were already playing. Damn! She liked watching them. Rounding the curve, Mia saw that the theater was empty.
“Looks like we have our pick of wherever we want to sit,” he remarked.
“Let’s go up,” she said, trekking up the steps towards the top. With about three rows left, she went down a row and stopped in the middle. “Is this okay?”
“It’s fine,” he said, putting the snacks down. After they took their seats, Ethan draped his arm over her shoulders, his fingers caressing her arm dangerously close to her breast while he focused on the big screen ahead of them.
The soft touch sent sparks of excitement through her body.
“Are you trying to cop a feel?” she asked boldly.
“Will you be mad if I do?”
“I’ll be mad if you don’t,” she exclaimed, causing him to laugh. “I’m serious!”
She grabbed his large hand and placed it on her breast. She then rested her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. “Keep it there,” she ordered.
“You’re bossy,” he observed.
She smiled knowingly and snacked on the popcorn. His thumb slowly moved over her nipple as she went to feed him a piece of popcorn. Her eyes closed as a small tremor rolled over her.
“Ahh … she likes,” he said, kissing her head and removing his hand from her breast. “Time for the movie to start.”
Mia kept her eyes shut and enjoyed just being close to him, letting his heart beat lull her to sleep. With one ear half-listening to the movie, she knew it had started but was fine where she was. She popped an interested eye open when she heard a loud action sequence. Flaming bodies were turning into werewolves. She was confused, but Ethan seemed to like it.
She stayed as she was, but decided to open both eyes to watch the movie. About a third of the way into the movie, she sat up, a little excited.
“Vampire sex!” Mia exclaimed, nodding her head in satisfaction. “We picked a porn movie!”
“Shh!” Ethan said laughingly. “Have you ever seen porn? This is not porn.”
“But guy butt, boobs …”
“Yours are much nicer,” he said, looking down at hers.
“Speaking of porn …” she said, placing her hand on the firm muscle of his thigh. He took the hint. Dipping his head, he possessed her mouth, kissing her hard and fierce, his tongue probing, challenging hers. She accepted it, enjoying the play. Making out like this made her feel like a teenager.
“Later,” he said after breaking the kiss.
“Just a little more?” she begged, pulling at his shoulder. “I haven’t made out in a movie theater in like ten years.”
Ethan complied, but this kiss was much slower. He took his time, building a fire deep inside of her. He tugged at her lower lip, forcing a soft groan from her before possessing her mouth again, his tongue seeking hers, teasing every single surface of her mouth. The kiss was over before she knew it and she was left grasping his sweater and her breath.
“Oh, God,” she moaned.
“That’s right,” he said, pulling her into him. “Now, focus on the movie instead of torturing yourself.”
“Are you talking to me or yourself?”
“Hush you!” he said, causing them both to laugh.
They watched the rest of the movie without any further distractions. Mia ate way too much popcorn to keep herself from thinking of his kisses. It didn’t work. Each and every kiss replayed like the movie in front of her as she committed them to memory.
As the credits started to roll, Ethan took her hand and led her silently from the theater and directly to his truck. He opened the door to let her in and quickly went to the other side and entered. He looked at her, the intensity of his gaze sending a delicious shudder through her body. Then he reached over, pulled her to him and attacked her lips, the force of the kiss delightfully surprising her. His wonderful lips moved to her jaw, trailing along her neck to the swell of her breasts, causing her to moan.
About a centimeter from her hard nipple, he suddenly stopped, sat back in his seat, and started the truck. Mia sat there in shock, staring at him. He smiled over at her, like nothing happened.
“What do you want for dinner?” he asked her.
“What?” she answered, stunned. It took her a moment to shift her focus from his lips on her to dinner.
“Dinner?”
“Uh, some kind of delivery,” she replied, wanting to be alone with him.
“Pizza?”
Mia nodded, still feeling the burn of his lips on her mouth and skin. She stared out the window, her thumb gliding over her still moist lips, remembering his kiss, wishing it wasn’t over and wanting this truck to be back at his house so they could continue it. Ethan had her senses on high alert. She wanted him all the time. Hell, she wanted to go straight to his bed and never leave.
But as they entered the house, Ethan laced his fingers through hers and led her down to the basement and to his bar, not his bedroom. He grabbed a couple beers from the fridge, handing her one, and then turned on the television.
She took a healthy swig, a little confused by his actions. Didn’t he want her? If the kiss in the truck was any indicator, he did but why were they down in his man cave and not up in his bedroom?
She watched him as he ordered the pizza, trying to discern if there was a lack of interest or if he was upset. She grimaced, thinking about her earlier behavior in the movie theater. Maybe that put him off in some way.
But when Mia caught his gaze, she saw hunger there. His stomach may be hungry for pizza but he was hungry for her. That sweet knowledge made her happy and just a little more turned on.
Ethan ended the call and circled the bar, sitting on the stool next to her.
“About thirty minutes. What do you want to do?”
Take off my clothes and have you make love to me, she thought to herself.
That’s what she wanted to say, but instead, she wimped out and said, “Pool?”
“Pool it is then,” he said, taking his beer from the bar and heading over to the pool table.
They played a couple games while they waited for their dinner to arrive. He was good but she didn’t let all her time in bars and clubs go to waste either. Mia was pretty good herself and she surprised him by winning the first game and even though he won the second game, she was damn close to winning. She probably would have won if he hadn’t been staring at her cleavage when she bent over the table to take her winning shot, which she missed because she angled her cleavage for optimal viewing.
She should have realized he was competitive. Duh, football player. At least he didn’t play dirty … well, not too dirty, she thought, thinking of the cleavage watching.
The pizza finally arrived and he ran off to go get it. Mia returned to the bar and nur
sed her second beer while she waited. Her stomach grumbled at the smell of the pizza wafting down the stairs.
“That smells like sausage and green peppers!”
“It is!” Ethan said, setting the large pizza box on the bar. “Luke got me hooked on it.”
He opened the box and they dug in. While eating, he asked her about how she knew how to play pool so well and that led him to ask about how often she had shows.
“We mainly play on the weekends. All of us have other jobs besides our music. I work at the newspaper; Todd does something with real estate; Clark is a computer genius and Marty is a lawyer.”
“A lawyer?”
“Yeah. He’ll be taking care of all the contract stuff.”
“I’m sure he won’t appreciate you calling it stuff.”
“Well to me it is. That’s why we keep him around for all this lawyery business,” Mia said, finishing her last piece of pizza. Ethan chuckled as he closed up the box. He walked behind the bar and put the pizza into the full-sized fridge with a see-through door.
“Do you need anything from your car?” he asked, cleaning up the countertop.
“I don’t know, do I?” she retorted. He tossed the rag in the sink then walked around the bar to her. He smiled and took her hand, helping her from the stool.
“Not right now,” he replied, leading her to the stairs.
“Where are we going?”
“My bedroom,” he said with a smile.
“Finally!” she exclaimed happily.
Ethan
Ethan couldn’t get enough of Mia. He made love to her after dinner. Then in the middle of the night and again in the morning just as the sun started to peek through his windows.
Here they were again. This time, the blame, if there was blame to be laid, would rest on her slender shoulders that he was now absently caressing. He held her close, her hand resting above his heart and his shoulder pillowing her head.
“Ethan …” she started as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. “How is this between you and me going to work? Because I’ll be totally honest with you, I don’t want it to be over.”
He stared into the chocolate depths of her eyes and then kissed her tenderly. “Oh, this is far from over,” he said, making her grin. He didn’t want it to end either. A long distance relationship would suck. But the alternative was not having her in his life and that was definitely not an option.
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