Ethan (Members From Money Book 37)

by Katie Dowe

  “Do you think she is ill?”

  “She did her annual checkup just the other day and everything is fine.”

  Faye leaned against the wall as she listened and closed her eyes wearily. She had been trying to appear normal as if everything was as they should be but they were noticing her. Francis had asked her several nights ago if she was okay and she had told him yes. He had reached for her and she had pretended that she had a headache. The truth was that she had fallen in love with a man that was not her husband, a man who wanted nothing more from her than sex whenever he was in town and she had no idea what to do!

  *****

  She was determined to let her fury propel her through the evening! She had armed herself with all the things she needed for the interview and had brushed her hair back deliberately giving the appearance of a professional demeanor. She was determined that it would be only the interview and nothing more! So why was her heart pounding so much? She wondered in despair.

  She rode the elevator up and as before noticed that the staff had already left. She knew he had chosen the time deliberately but she had always been strong and this was no different. He met her at the open door of his office, his dark blue eyes wandering over her face noticing with amusement the lack of any kind of makeup which certainly did not detract from her beauty. She would be beautiful in sackcloth, he mused. He stepped back and allowed her to pass him. He almost laughed as she stopped short and stared at the scene before her.

  “I hope you have not eaten,” he said casually as he walked past her and went to the table set in the middle of the room. “I asked the chef to prepare something I think you would love. We did not get to have dinner at my apartment that night so I am making up for it.” He lifted the cover and the aromatic and enticing smell of some sort of beef tickled her nostrils and almost had her drooling. She had not bothered to cook because she had been out all day doing her rounds.

  “I am not having dinner with you.” She told him stubbornly.

  “Suit yourself,” he pulled out a chair and sat, dishing out the meal. A wine was resting in a bucket and he took the bottle out and popped the cork. “It’s Chardonnay and a lovely blend.” He murmured as he poured. “Are you sure you won’t join me?” he asked as he sipped the wine and looked at her standing there.

  “No.” she said abruptly even though her stomach was protesting. “Let’s begin. The last time I was here we spoke-“

  “I am sorry darling but I have no intention of speaking with my mouth full. I was not brought up that way and besides I had only a sandwich for lunch and I am starving,” the seductive look he gave her left her in no doubt as to what he was starving for! Harper felt the fire starting in the pit of her stomach and had to will herself not to show what she was feeling or the effect he was having on her!

  “Fine,” she said furiously. “I will eat and then we do the interview.”

  “Good choice,” he got up from his chair and came around to pull hers out and she wished he had not done that. As she made to sit he bent and kissed the back of her neck causing her hands to clench into fists on the table, her body almost swaying. Everything he had done to her that night and the next morning came crashing back and she had to stifle the moan coming from her throat. “Stop,” she whispered.

  “I wish I could,” he murmured. She jerked against him as he bit her neck gently and then moved away. “But you did say this was only an interview.” She sent him a murderous look as he went around and took his seat. His eyes glittered with amusement and she wanted to upend the bottle of wine on top of his head.

  “I would not recommend it,” he drawled, guessing her intentions. “Then I would have to take off all my clothes and then what?”

  Harper dug into the tender meat savagely as she looked at him. “You think you have it all planned out, don’t you?”

  He shrugged a little bit. “Actually no. I just want us to have a nice dinner here. I have invited you to my apartment for that but due to the fact that we cannot keep our hands off each other I thought here would be the next best place. I am not sure that was such a good plan either because right now I am sitting here and all I can think about is getting you naked and taking you right there on that sofa.”

  “Is sex the only thing you can think about?” she asked him scathingly.

  “Sex with you is the only thing I can think about.” He told her in amusement. “But you are right. Let’s talk about something else. How have you been?”

  “Fantastic until now,” she told him.

  “Ask about me.”

  “No.”

  “I will tell you anyway. I have been miserable and unable to sleep. I have not been back to the apartment since we made love because I cannot be there without you. Even the bed at home seems empty. I keep reliving our wonderful time.”

  “I am sure you will get over it,” she tried to keep the fact that her hands were trembling but he noticed it.

  “I don’t think so. It gets worse each day and when I could not hear from you I felt like I had lost the will to live.”

  She looked at him wryly and he laughed. “Maybe that is not entirely true but I did feel as if I was on the verge of going crazy.”

  “Maybe you need to get back out there. I am sure Samantha is available still.” She said spitefully.

  The amusement left his face at the mention of the woman’s name. “So she is?”

  “It’s over between us but I did not handle the situation properly and she is still upset with me.”

  “You broke up with her over the phone?” Harper asked her curiously.

  “I would never do that. I asked her to dinner and told her that it was not working out.”

  “You asked her to dinner?” Harper shook her head. “You gave her hope and crushed her.”

  “I did it in a tasteful way and offered her a lovely bracelet.” He saw the look on her face and wished he could take it back!

  “You won’t have to offer me anything.” She said scathingly.

  Chapter 11

  “You will not need a parting gift from me Harper,” a slight note of irritation was in his deep voice and Harper realized that discussing the woman he had dumped was a sore point for him. If she played it up he might just stop making sexual innuendoes that had the power to make her weak! “I will get you gifts but only to show how much I appreciate and care for you.”

  “How soon did those stop coming Samantha’s way?” she asked him spitefully.

  His fingers tightened on the stem of his glass before it relaxed slowly. “Why are we talking about my past?”

  “Because she just became your past a few weeks ago. Tell me something Ethan: How soon will I become your past? Or am I the special one and will probably last a little longer than Samantha. A year perhaps?” She was baiting him and they both knew it but she had to do something to stop him from getting beneath her skin.

  He pushed back his chair and Harper felt her heart pounding inside her chest as she watched him drained the wine before putting the glass onto the table. He made his way over to her and without ceremony he pulled her up into his arms, his hands like steel bands around her waist. “How about a lifetime?” he asked her softly. His dark blue eyes scanned her face and lingered on her mouth. “I know exactly what you are doing Harper and I will not let you get under my skin that way. I know you are trying to make me angry so that I can forget about the desire between us. It did not work.”

  She pushed against him but he did not budge and she bit off an irritated sigh. “We have an interview to do.”

  “Do we?” his voice had dropped to a whisper and Harper panicked as she felt the change in the air. “What are you going to write about? Me touching you here?” he punctuated his words with light kisses along her cheek. “Or here?” the tip of his tongue snaked out and touched her lip causing the shiver to start deep down inside her. “Or maybe here?” When he nipped her lip she could not stop the moan from escaping her lips. “How about here? “He ran his tongue over her lip before
darting it inside her mouth. The kiss was light and without much pressure but harper felt as if his tongue was all the way down her throat! Her hands tightened on his crisp white cotton shirt and she could feel the heat invading her body. She opened her mouth beneath his, her movements hungry and frantic. But to her frustration he ended the kiss and put her away from him. “But you did say we have an interview to do.” He stood there looking at her. Harper wanted to lash out at him. She was rife with sexual frustration and she knew she was not going to be satisfied until he made love to her. Damn him!

  “I will get my notepad.” she had to clench her hands and take several deep breaths and even then she could not move.

  “How long are you going to deny what you are feeling?” he asked her silkily as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I am standing here hard for you and I am pretty sure that if I checked you are dripping wet. What do you want to do about it Harper? Are you going to go over there and start talking about something that does not give a damn right now instead of letting me strip off your clothes and letting me slide into you and make love to you. What do you want to do Harper? The ball is in your court.”

  Harper stood there staring at him. The practical thing to do was to do the interview and get the hell out of his office and never see him again! But practicality had flown out the window the minute he had kissed her at that party and everything else had disappeared when he made love to her at his apartment. Ever since then she could not stop thinking about him. She had told herself that she was a professional and could deal with him in that way even after what they had been to each other. But how wrong she was!

  “I want you,” she whispered. “I admit it that I want you but I am realist and you are not my type. You use women and I am too valuable to be used. “She closed her eyes briefly. “I will not be at your beck and call and I don’t want any trinkets from you. This is sex and maybe something more but I will certainly not be asking you for more.” She took a deep breath. “There I have said it.”

  “You certainly have,” a glint of amusement was in his dark blue eyes as he looked at her. He realized how hard it had been for her to admit what she was feeling. “I am not going to use you.” He added quietly. He held up a hand to stop her as she opened her mouth to speak. “Hear me out. I had a lot of women in the past because I could and I can. I like women and I did not hold back from taking what they offered. With you, it is different and you know it. You will not ask for more but I will be giving you more and in time you will come to realize that I am not jerking you around.” He closed the space between them and pulled her into his arms, his grip tight around her waist. “I am not going to stop wanting you over and over again.” He whispered as he took her lips with his in a kiss that stopped her breath!

  *****

  “You can always talk to me,” Francis told his wife quietly as they sat in the living room drinking wine after they had finished the meal. “There is nothing you can say to me that will make me stop loving you. What is it my dear?”

  Faye stared at her husband for a few seconds before getting to her feet to pour herself some more wine. She had been with Joshua again even though she had told herself that she was going to break it off with him. “We have been married for so long,” she murmured as she came back to sit next to him.

  “We have,” Francis looked at her frowningly. “It is a good thing my dear. Most of the people we know are divorced or heading there.”

  “We don’t have sex much.”

  He cleared his throat and looked away from her. “I know that you are a very beautiful woman and I can assure you that you are the most desirable woman I know but the medication for my blood pressure makes it hard for me--” he spread his hands helplessly.

  “I know it is not your fault Francis,” she told him hastily. “But I have needs and I cannot help them.”

  “What are you saying?” he asked her with a frown.

  “I met someone.”

  “What?” he looked at her in shock. “What does that mean?”

  Faye put the glass away and turned to face him. “I love you Francis. You gave me everything and I will always love you for that but I need more.”

  “You want to leave?” he asked her, his body trembling.

  “No!” she cried. “I have been with another man and I have hurt you and I cannot bear it.”

  “Who is this bastard?” he thundered as he got to his feet.

  “It does not matter.” She said with a weary sigh. “It was just sex. He is married and he is not going to leave his family for me and I am married.”

  He stared at her in startling understanding. “If he was not married and was free you would break up our family and go to him.”

  She shook her head and then stopped as she realized that he was right! “I am sorry.”

  “So am I,” Francis told her coldly. “When I wanted to marry you I was told that you were a gold digging woman only looking for a meal ticket out of your miserable life. I ignored the comments and told them that even if you were I would not care. I loved you and wanted you in my life. I would do anything for you and no matter what it cost me I wanted to make you happy. Now you have told me that you would go away with a man you just met. You would throw away our marriage for pleasures of the flesh.” There was pain on his face and a look of defeat that she felt so sorry for putting it there. “I will be sleeping in our daughter’s room from now on. You can do whatever you please.” He started to turn away and she sprang up and clutched his arm.

  “I love you Francis.” She cried.

  “Somehow I find it very hard to believe. Good night my dear.” With that he turned and walked from the room leaving her standing there!

  *****

  “I have to go,” Harper stirred against him.

  “Not yet,” his lips nuzzled her neck as his hand tightened around her waist. Their clothes were strewn all over the carpeted floor of his office and the unfinished meal was there on the table. Their lovemaking had been frantic and frenzied and they had ended up on the floor before he had picked her up and brought her over to the sofa where he had spent some time with his mouth on her body. She was weak and wrung dry.

  She struggled against him. “What will the guard downstairs say? I have been up here since eight and it’s now--” she looked at the watch on her wrist and saw that it was almost ten. “Ethan let me up.”

  He slid over her and pinned her with his body, his dark blue eyes taking in the parted lisp and the tousled hair that his fingers had combed through over and over again. “Come home with me.”

  “No.” she tried moving against him but moaned as she felt his penis between her legs. “I have not done the interview. What am I going to write?” she moved her head away as his descended and his lips grazed her cheek. “I will shoot something to your email.” He murmured as he used his fingers to grasp her chin. “I don’t want to think about that now.” His lips met hers and she sank into the kiss, her arms going around his neck. He lifted his head and looked down at her. “Come back to the apartment with me,” his tone was very persuasive and she felt herself getting weaker.

  “You are not dictating what I write and I am not going to the apartment with you.” She told him firmly even though she wanted to say yes.

  “We could stay here,” he murmured, his eyes wandering over her face. “I have clothes I could shower and change into for the next day. You could sneak out here very early before anyone sees you.”

  She pushed at him but he would not budge and Harper curled her fingers into his chest in frustration. “Ethan, please let me up.”

  “I love when you beg,” he whispered as he reached between them and guided his semi erect penis inside her. “And the way you say my name in that sultry voice of yours.” His breath stirred her lips as he brought her legs to lap around his waist. “I need so much more of you Harper.” He told her as he started moving inside her. With a helpless moan she moved with him!

  *****

  “Mother, is everything okay?
” Her voice sounded breathless as she pushed the door to her apartment open and let herself in. It was almost midnight and she had had to be firm before Ethan would let her go. She had forced herself not to wonder what the guard was thinking as he opened the doors for her to leave. “I saw several missed calls from you and realize that my phone was on silent. “Is Daddy okay?”

  “I messed things up with your father darling,” she sounded as if she was crying. Harper shrugged out of her coat and sat on the sofa to remove her boots.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have driven him away from me.”

  “Mother what is going on?” she asked patiently.

  “I cheated on him.”

  Harper sat back against the cushions and closed her eyes briefly.

  “Darling, are you still there?”

  “Mother, I am sure you can hear me breathing so you know I am still on the line.” Her voice had cooled drastically. “When did this happen?”

  “I met him at the masquerade ball.”

  “That was two months ago! You have been seeing this man for two months? Who is he Mother?”

  “Not someone you know darling,” she said hastily. “I broke it off with him two days ago. He is married.”

  “Good God Mother! Are you serious?”

  “I was lonely and your father and I have not been having sex--”

  “I don’t want to hear that. Where is Daddy?”

  “He is in your old room darling and I have never seen him so hurt. What should I do?”

  “You should have thought of that before you decided to sleep with someone who is not your husband,” Harper said coldly feeling the disillusionment staining her entire body. “Daddy has always been a very good husband to you but I supposed that was not enough. Tell me Mother? Was this man rich?”

  The silence told her all she wanted to know. “So what Daddy has been giving you was not enough. You wanted more and you did not care who you hurt to get it.”

  “You don’t understand--”

  “I understand perfectly!” Harper told her. “Daddy is not rich enough for you so you had to go outside and find someone who is. Why did you call me Mother?”