Still Into You
Page 7
No denying that. He groaned as she unfastened his jeans, sliding her hand inside and wrapping those beautiful, long fingers around his aching cock. He turned his head towards hers, regarding her through heavy-lidded eyes. She smiled lazily as she continued to move her hand.
“You’re doing a great job at teasing me.”
“No. I’m not,” she said, resting her head against his for a moment before releasing him.
Could’ve fooled me.
Fuck, he wanted her, wanted to slide inside of her and make her scream in ecstasy.
She seemed to be of the same mind. Standing up, Mia lost her pants and proceeded to straddle him. “Worst tease ever,” she said as she guided him inside her. Mindful of her hair, he held her face and kissed her, possessing her mouth.
Because of her fantastic teasing, he wasn’t going to last long, so he found the little nub of nerves between her legs and worked it—hard. It didn’t take her long before she was crying out, her perfect pussy tightening around him, milking his release from him.
Mia lay spent in his lap, both of them struggling to regain their breath. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms.
“I was right,” he said.
“About?” she asked, barely lifting her head from his shoulder.
“You losing control when we make out.”
She let out a puff of air against his neck and then giggled.
“How right you are!” she exclaimed as she moved off his lap and grabbed her pants.
“Maybe you should listen to me more often . . .”
“You think?” she said, jumping into the skin-tight fabric of her black jeans.
“I do. I know what’s best for you, suga. That body of yours . . . it’s mine.”
“Yes, Ethan,” she answered, leaning down and teasing his lips before she spoke again. “Always will be.”
If only that was the case, he thought.
After the show, Mia rushed off stage and ran straight into Ethan’s arms with enough force to knock him back against a wall.
“Ready to leave?” he asked, almost saying “Ready to head home,” but stopped himself because even though he still thought of his home as theirs, he didn’t think she did anymore. That realization hurt (what didn’t hurt these days?) and made him want to try even harder to convince her to stay with him.
Nodding at him while grabbing his hand, she pulled him towards her dressing room. She showered and got ready quickly, then she gathered her jacket and bag, and they were finally on their way home.
When they arrived, Ethan led her up to their bedroom. He’d waited months to have her back home, in their bed, her scent covering the sheets. He undressed her with great care, taking his time. Then he proceeded to make the sweetest love to her all night long.
It was emotional for them both. She clung to him as much as he did to her. Tears mingled. Words of love whispered. He would have labeled it perfect, except for one thing—the bittersweet cloud that hung over him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this could be it. That their time together was coming to an all-too-quick end.
When she woke the next morning, Mia was happier than he had seen her over the past few months. Her good morning smile to him reached her eyes. She then pulled him to her, kissed him and held him long after she ended the kiss.
They didn’t make love that morning, instead hurrying to get ready to head over to Luke’s for brunch to celebrate Kaitlyn’s birthday. It was just the four of them. Mia was so excited to see her. She didn’t want to share the little girl with anyone else.
After the meal, the girls sat on the family room floor. With a look of pure joy on her face, Mia folded her legs beneath her and just enjoyed her time with Kaitlyn, listening to her excitedly talk about everything: her BFF’s, her teachers, her voice lessons. Anything and everything. Kaitlyn asked about all the places Mia had been and Mia whipped out her digital camera and flipped through the pictures, explaining to the little girl what she was seeing. Mia had her enraptured, hanging on to each word out of Mia’s mouth. It was plain to see that she idolized Mia.
A couple hours later, Luke brought out a small cake with seven pink candles as Mia sang Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn. Her voice so beautiful, so pure, like this. This wasn’t for a show. Just for the birthday girl. The love Mia had for her was easy to hear as she sang.
Luke placed the cake in front of Kaitlyn, the girl grinning from ear to ear, then he turned to Mia. “You have such an awful voice. Stop singing,” Luke joked. She rolled her eyes at him and lightly elbowed him in the stomach. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on hers as Kaitlyn blew out the candles.
Ethan regarded the love on her face. He loved seeing her with Kaitlyn. She was so good with her. She would make a wonderful mother someday. At that thought, his breathing stopped and an ache grew in his heart, thinking about the five kids they talked about having and how that dream was falling away.
It left him empty.
He abruptly left the room and went quietly to the kitchen, not trusting his emotions at the moment. Once he reached the safety of the kitchen, he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He leaned back against the counter and exhaled loudly, staring off, trying to empty his mind of Mia in the future, mothering his children.
A constant thought lately had been how unfair all this was. All he wanted was to love her, protect her, support her. But the universe was making that close to impossible. It wasn’t providing any answers and neither was his brain.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up and was thankful that it was only Luke. He really needed some sort of advice.
“Hey, what’s up?” Luke said as he entered the room.
“Obviously, I’m having a moment.”
“About?”
“Who do you think?”
He smiled understandingly. “I guess you’re allowed one of those.”
Luke went to the fridge and grabbed a couple of beers. He returned to Ethan and handed one to him. “Gonna share?”
“She’s going to be a fantastic mom one day,” he stated, scratching his forehead in frustration. “That vision I had of her being the mother of my children is quickly fading away and there really is nothing I can do to stop it. I love her, Luke, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help her. I don’t even know what I’m up against. Something from her past. But I know next to nothing about it. That’s the way she obviously wanted it. I know I could help her if only I knew what it was that hurt her. I’m blind. Dammit!”
“She hasn’t said anything to me other than she has some things to work through. How do you know it involves her past?”
Ethan opened his mouth to answer, but Mia took that moment to enter the kitchen. “I wonder what your daddy and Uncle Ethan are talking about?” Mia said as she came into the room, holding Kaitlyn, the squirt’s legs wrapped around her waist. Ethan ignored her inquiry and held out his arms for that adorable seven-year-old. He lifted her effortlessly from Mia.
“I can’t believe you’re seven years old now. You make me feel old,” he commented, kissing the young girl’s forehead. Kaitlyn had grabbed a hold of his heart as easily as Mia had. He loved that little girl and wouldn’t hold it against her that she was a reminder of what he could have with Mia.
“That’s because you are,” she said matter-of-factly.
Wait. What?
“I am?” he exclaimed.
“But not as old as Daddy. He’s really old!” she said, her eyes wide.
He regarded Mia, her lips pressed together as she tried not to laugh. She didn’t do that good of a job because even though no sound came out of her mouth, her body was shaking.
“Hey, Kaitlyn! Uncle Ethan is the same age as I am,” Luke said.
“No way!” she said incredulously. She looked back and forth between the two men.
“Yes way!” he said, tickling his daughter. She cackled loudly, squirming in Ethan’s arms. Luke took her from him and continued to tickle her as he walked back into the family room.
“Do I look like an old man?” he asked, eyeing her.
She ran her thumb over her lips, looking at him. “Uh, definitely not,” she replied, her dark eyes traveling down his chest. He loved seeing her turned on, the way her eyes darkened and her eyelids drooped lower, and especially the way her mouth reacted with the slight upturn of her lips.
“When do you have to be at the arena?” he asked, needing to be with her again. After the show, she was heading back on the tour bus. This was his last chance.
She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and checked. “Five thirty.” She then quirked a dark eyebrow in a silent question, yet there was a slight twinkle in her eyes that told him she knew exactly what he was asking. He touched her cheek with the knuckle of his bent index finger.
“Do you have to be ready by then?” he asked.
“Why? What are you thinking?” she asked, regarding him suspiciously.
“Well, it’s four o’clock now and it takes about thirty minutes to get downtown. I was thinking about a quick stop,” he explained, his own eyebrows raised and a smile played with his mouth. “You interested?”
The smile she returned was soft and accompanied by a gentle brush of her lips on his chin. “I am.”
His fingers wrapped around her forearm and he guided her to the family room so they could say their goodbyes to Luke and Kaitlyn. The little girl teared up saying goodbye. Mia steeled herself against the emotion of saying goodbye to Kaitlyn when the little girl threw her arms around Mia’s waist in a fierce hug. Her eyes closed as the girl cried out that she didn’t want Mia to leave.
After a few moments, Mia disengaged herself from the squirt’s tight grip and dropped to her knees, lifting the girl’s chin with a closed hand.
“Remember—Disney World this summer, okay?” Mia consoled.
Kaitlyn sniffed sadly. “Okay.”
“I love you, squirt,” she said, pulling the girl into her arms and hugging her.
“I love you, Mia,” Kaitlyn said with a sniffle.
As Mia stood up, she took a deep breath, turned to Luke, and let him wrap her in his arms. He kissed her forehead. “You take care of yourself, sweets. I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” she said, her lips brushing against his cheek as she spoke again. “I love you.”
“I know,” he said, smiling down at her. “I love you, too.”
He then whispered something in her ear. Ethan couldn’t make it out, but it made her smile, and for that, he was thankful.
She followed him into the study to get their coats and her bag. He went straight for their coats, but stopped at Mia’s clearing of her throat. Turning around, he watched in amazement as she put her hands up and under her skirt and pulled down her tiny, red panties. She smiled at him and stuffed the underwear in her pocket.
Mia literally wiped his mind of any intelligence he ever had with her sudden disrobing. Ethan couldn’t think. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. All he kept seeing was his hand sliding up her skirt, feeling the heat he knew would be there.
When he finally broke through her spell, he grabbed her bag and their coats with one hand and her wrist with the other and stalked out of the house towards his car. He eventually slid his hand down and entwined his fingers with hers. In response she gave his hand a sympathetic squeeze. She knew exactly how he felt. He unlocked the car and threw the bag in the backseat when what he really wanted to do was to throw her back there and fuck the smile right off her face.
He needed to calm himself down or he’d take her with no finesse. “I want you, Mia. Here and now.”
“And this is a problem how?” she asked innocently.
Grrr . . .
“Get in the car,” he ordered.
“Seriously?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement.
“No way, Mia,” he answered. God, her obvious want just increased the desire to throw her in the backseat and fuck her.
He eyed the front seat, a silent order for her to get in. Mia scrambled and got herself in the car. Closing her door, Ethan then hurriedly got in himself. When he finally pulled into his driveway, Ethan let himself breathe. He opened the garage and pulled his car inside. Shifting the car to park, he turned off the engine.
“We’re here,” he announced.
“We are,” she said calmly as she undid her seatbelt. Then all hell broke loose.
Fuck finesse.
Yanking her onto his lap, he captured her mouth in a possessive kiss. He pushed the seat back while she tugged on his pants, freeing his hard cock. With her skirt bunched up at her waist, she took him in her hand. He moaned, thrilled to have her touch upon him again. He held her dark eyes as she lowered herself onto him. His eyes shuttered closed when he felt how tight and warm she was.
Oh, sweet heaven.
He wanted to come right then and there. He needed to refocus, distract himself so he wouldn’t appear to be a horny teenager having sex for the first time.
Stopping her, he took off his shirt and unbuttoned hers. He needed to feel her breasts against him. But before that, he had other business to attend to. He placed his hand beneath her breast, holding it like a prize. And it was. His prize.
He leaned in and placed his lips on the swollen mound, letting them travel all over before covering her nipple with his mouth, sucking on the sweet, pointed peak. He held her hips as she rocked back and forth. He thrust up, matching her movements. He saw it in her face. She was close. Time to pick up the pace.
Ethan moved harder, faster, until she screamed his name with her release. She clamped down on him, sending him over, filling her as he let everything he had flow into her.
Her breathing was heavy as she held him to her. She kept adjusting her grip, tighter and tighter. He smiled because he quite enjoyed her death grip on him. She didn’t want to let go. That gave him a little bit of hope, more than he’d had over the past month.
“Ethan, I, uh,” she stuttered softly, her long, graceful fingers caressing the back of his neck. “I don’t have to leave tonight. I actually don’t have to be in Detroit until Thursday. And, in the meantime, I was actually just going to head back to Chicago.”
Internally, he did a happy dance. Thank God! She wanted to stay. He wanted to ask her to stay, but he said not a word. He wanted her to take this step, tell him what she wanted.
“Uh . . . so,” she spoke, her hands sliding down his back to his hips where she toyed with the waist of his jeans, “Would you mind if I stayed a little longer?”
He rested his forehead against hers, kissing the tip of her nose. She did it and it made him so happy.
“I definitely wouldn’t mind that. But—”
“But?” she asked, clearly surprised and her voice carried some uncertainty in it.
“But, you will have to cook me at least one meal.”
She shook her head and let out a soft chuckle. “I can totally do that for you. Maybe even more.”
“I like that answer,” he replied, very pleased by this turn of events. He wouldn’t be saying goodbye today after all.
The next morning, Ethan woke up to a feast, courtesy of Mia. The kitchen table was covered in food: French toast, eggs, sausage, and grilled potatoes with onions and peppers. There was even cut up fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice. He didn’t know how she did it. He was pretty sure he didn’t have half of that food in his house last night.
He could tell she enjoyed cooking. Though having her sit on the counter while he ate and having her exclaim, “God, I miss being in a kitchen,” would have clued him into that as well.
Later in the afternoon, they went grocery shopping and filled his car with food. When they returned home, she set about preparing food for their next several meals.
After lunch, she took a break from all her cooking and sat with h
im in the family room to watch a movie. About halfway through, she fell asleep against him, her head on his shoulder. Instead of leaving her there to sleep on the sofa, he chanced carrying her up to their bed.
She didn’t wake when he placed her on the bed. Nor did she wake when he took off her shoes. No, she woke at the best time, when he curled behind her and nuzzled her neck. She whimpered in pleasure when his fingers skimmed her breasts before he covered them with his hands.
He made love to her nice and slow. They savored each other. There was a whole new level of intimacy between them, the difference being the vulnerability she could no longer hide. It transferred to their lovemaking. She was more open, less guarded towards him, more emotional. When they were in bed together, things were wonderful. But outside of the bedroom, it was a different story entirely.
Things were strained. Maybe that’s one reason she wanted him to make love to her so often. She just had to feel him, not think about things.
Around the house that he considered theirs, she seemed uncomfortable. He wanted to yell at her, remind her that this was her house too. That she wasn’t a guest. Yeah, he knew the discomfort didn’t come from that. It was a lot bigger than that. Something that he was having a hard time accepting.
Something was eating at her. He saw it at weird times. Well, not really weird, just anything that involved them being a couple. Like the time he caught her standing outside of his study, staring at the pictures of them.
Another example: when they arrived back late Sunday night after her final Indy show, he’d put her suitcases in the closet right by her side of the room, the space with all her clothes still hanging there, expecting her to unpack.
She hadn’t. He knew she was leaving in a few days for her shows, but his ultimate goal was to have her return to their house afterwards. And a step in that direction would have been for her to unpack.
Tuesday morning, Ethan woke up and panicked when he noticed Mia wasn’t next to him in bed. He raised himself up on his elbows and scanned the room. There she sat on the chaise lounge, her knees bent, writing in her notebook.