Authors: Cate Beauman
“I’m going to time you. Everyone’s waiting with their bubbles.”
“Start your watch,” she said as she closed the door again.
Morgan stood in front of her, fresh and beautiful. “I think I’m ready. Thank you so much for helping me. It’s been such a special day.”
Sarah pulled Morgan into a hug. “You’re absolutely welcome. I couldn’t be happier for you. I’ll take care of everything on this end. Have a great time. We’ll get together for lunch when you get back.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I know Ethan’s timing us, and we have three minutes left. Go put on comfortable clothes and come see me off.”
“I can wait.”
“No, you can’t. I can hear your feet screaming for help.”
Sarah nibbled her lip before she smiled. “Okay. I’ll be quick.” She grabbed her overnight bag, ran to the bathroom. She stepped out of her pumps and sighed. Reaching behind her back, she pulled her zipper down, tugged off her stockings, her garter belt, slid into comfy jeans and a pale blue sweater. “Much better,” she sighed again. She took an extra second to add a bit of blusher to her cheeks. Her time with Morgan and Ilene had soothed, ironing out most of the rough spots after her confrontation with Nicolette.
Ten minutes later, Morgan and Hunter’s white stretch limo drove down the long drive of the resort to bubbles and cheers. When the car was out of sight, Sarah went back to the suite she and Morgan had shared and gathered all of their things. With an armful, she retrieved her sedan from the parking lot, pulled up to the walkway the resort manager told her she could use to load Morgan and Hunter’s gifts.
She took the steps two at a time to the small room she’d locked herself in not even an hour before, began to organize boxes and bags, trying to figure out how she could manage it all in one trip. As she approached the door, loaded down with large packages, Ethan moved forward. “Let me get those.” He took the boxes from her, and their hands brushed. “I said I would help you with all of this.”
Nicolette stood behind him with her pencil-thin brow raised.
“I’ve got it, Ethan. You should take your date and go.” Sarah pulled the boxes back and made her way down the stairs. As she approached her car, she spotted Ethan’s Rover parked behind her. “Damn it.”
He came down behind her with an armful while Nicolette swung a small gift bag between two fingers. Sarah clenched her jaw as her temper began to stretch. Out of patience, she walked over to Ethan as he placed cheerfully wrapped presents in his trunk. It was time for him to be on his way with the witch. She wasn’t about to spend the next half hour fending off Nicolette’s nasty looks. “Ethan, I said I’ve got this. I don’t need any help. Just take Nicolette and go.”
Ethan stopped with a package halfway in the trunk and stared.
“I’m serious. Please, just go. There isn’t as much as I thought,” she lied. “I can get it all in one trip.” With that, she turned and made her way up for another pile.
Just as she was about to pick up the next stack, she was whirled around.
“What was that?” Ethan’s gray eyes snapped with temper. “I said I would help you.”
“Maybe I don’t want it. No matter what anyone thinks around here, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. This is my responsibility as Morgan’s Matron of Honor, so I’ve got it.”
“What are you talking about? I never said you couldn’t take care of yourself. If it wasn’t the middle of the night, I’d let you have at it, but I’m not about to leave you alone to deal with this when there’s a fucking rapist running around the Palisades. He’s attacked three women within a ten mile radius of your house.”
A chill ran down Sarah’s spine as she thought of how far back Hunter and Morgan’s home sat from the road, but Nicolette’s words still stung. “Then I’ll leave them in my car and take them over in the morning.”
He snagged her arm as she turned toward the table. “Goddamn, Sarah. What’s gotten into you? You’ve had more mood swings in the last twenty-four hours than...ever.”
“I don’t know, okay? But I want you to leave me alone. I—”
“Ethan, darling.” Nicolette stood in the doorway. “This is taking entirely too long. Are you ready?”
“No,” he said with heat.
Nicolette’s full lip turned in a pout. “Fine. I will just go.”
Ethan scrubbed his hands over his face as Nicolette stalked off. “Son of a bitch. Sarah, don’t you dare leave. Nicky,” he called as he went after his supermodel.
Incredibly confused and on the verge of tears, Sarah picked up the packages and took them to her vehicle. She came back with her third round, watched Ethan kiss Nicolette before opening a cab door for her. Surprised by the hurt, Sarah turned, more determined than ever to have the damn gifts situated by the time Ethan came back.
She almost succeeded. Only when she was bringing down the last stack of gifts did Ethan begin to climb the stairs. Sarah passed him without glancing in his direction.
She got in her car, turned the ignition over and drove off before he could reach the room and figure out it had been locked. When she was home she would pull into the garage, arm the security system Hunter and Ethan had installed years ago, and soak in a long bath. She wasn’t going to emerge from the fragrant bubbles until she could think straight again.
Sarah merged on Highway 1 and rolled down the window. The cool ocean breeze played with her hair. For the first time in several hours, her shoulders began to relax.
Within minutes, Ethan drove up beside her, rolled down his passenger side window. Her eyes met his in the reflection of a street lamp before she looked back at the road. The deep gray of his sparked with fury and her shoulders coiled tight. She’d seen him angry before, but this was a whole different level of pissed. As Nicolette’s words played like a mantra through her mind, she lifted her chin, rolled up her window, pressed her accelerator to the floor. A smile touched her lips when she pulled ahead, leaving Ethan in her dust. Ethan Cooke could go to Hell.
Chapter 4
E
THAN’S BLOOD ALL BUT BOILED by the time he pulled into Sarah’s drive. He would’ve been there twenty minutes before if he hadn’t gotten stuck behind a caravan of tractor trailers.
He pressed send on his cell phone—again— listening to Sarah’s line ring and go to voicemail. The lights blazed bright in her house, so she wasn’t in bed. Any fear that harm had come to her ended as he watched her silhouette pass one of the large picture windows in her living room.
Ethan got out of his Rover, slammed the door in frustration, walked up the lighted path to the entrance. He rang the bell. When she didn’t answer, he pounded. “Come on, Sarah, open the door.” The side of his fist hit glossy wood once more. “Screw this.”
It was time they talked. In the past twenty-four hours, Sarah had become a mystery. Their calm, steady friendship had all but vanished. He thought of the moment on the deck when he’d held her close, when their eyes had met and he’d fought the urge to kiss her. She’d tried to pull away, but not before he saw the flash of confused curiosity. Something had changed.
He took his phone from his pocket, dialed his office switchboard.
“Ethan Cooke Security, this is Mia.”
“Hey, Mia, this is Ethan Cooke. I need an override number for 555 Seacoast Drive, Pacific Palisades.”
“I’ll need your Identification number, Mr. Cooke.”
“884-echo-1-alpha-bravo.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cooke. Would you like me to override the system for you?”
“Yes, please.” The red light blinked twice before flashing green through the sheer curtain on Sarah’s front door.
“You should be all set, Mr. Cooke.”
“Yes, thank you. Re-arm the panel in thirty seconds, please.”
“Yes, Mr. Cooke.”
“Have a good night, Mia.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cooke.”
He hung up, slid his spare key in the door, walked into Sarah’s house. He waited for the double beep and blink of the red light on the panel before moving toward the sounds coming from the kitchen.
Ethan lost the train of his rant when he stopped in the doorway. The floral scent of Sarah surrounded him, knotting his stomach with desire. She moved about in a pale pink, spaghetti strapped nightshirt that skimmed the top of her firm thighs. Strands of hair escaped the loose bun piled high on her head. She hummed along with the radio as she placed a teabag in a mug and filled it.
Clearing his throat, Ethan stepped forward. Sarah whirled around with a muffled scream, and he caught her fist in his palm before it made contact with his face. The momentum sent him back a step, slamming him against the refrigerator. Sarah collided into his chest, and he grabbed her hips, steadying her.
“Jesus, Ethan, you scared me to death. What are you doing here?”
He moved his hands up, skimming her slim waist beneath soft, cotton fabric before he let her go. “We need to talk, and you wouldn’t answer your phone or the damn door.”
“I don’t want to talk. That’s
why
I didn’t answer my phone or the damn door.”
Silence filled the room as mutinous eyes stared into his. Her cheeks were flushed with rare temper, and he
wanted
her. He ground his teeth, turned away, fiddled with a chunky letter ‘A’ on the refrigerator.
With a miffed huff, Sarah stormed off toward her bedroom.
Ethan shut his eyes, rested his forehead against the cool white of the new appliance. What was he
doing
? When he heard her footsteps heading back in his direction, he turned.
She was tying the pale blue robe she wore the night before. “How did you get in here anyway? I locked the door and armed my system.”
“It helps when you have a key and own the security company protecting you. I called and had your system deactivated until I got inside.” Choosing to embellish his story, he continued, “Since you wouldn’t respond to any of my attempts, I figured you might be in trouble.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s pathetic, Ethan. You knew I was perfectly fine.”
“No, I didn’t. You haven’t been fine for the last two days. One minute you’re happy, the next you’re sad. Then you’re hugging me, and the next you’re angry. I can’t keep up.”
“I’m allowed to be off on occasion. You don’t get to own the title of ‘Brood King’.”
“See, like that. You’ve been taking pot shots at me all weekend. What the hell is up?”
“I don’t
know
. I really don’t.” She tried to push past him, but he moved to stand in her way. “Move, Ethan.”
“Not until we figure this out. In a matter of two days, everything’s changed. Somehow, something’s different between us, and I don’t like it.”
“Do you think I don’t know that? That’s why I want you to go away. I need to
think
. I can’t
think
when you won’t give me five blessed seconds.”
She started past him again, and he put his hands on her shoulders. “What do you—” His cell began to ring. “Son of a bitch.” He yanked the phone from his pocket as Sarah turned and gripped the edge of the countertop. “Ethan Cooke,” he snapped into the receiver.
“Ethan, where are you?”
“Nicky.” He closed his eyes. “This isn’t a good time.” He didn’t miss the hiss of breath Sarah blew out before she whirled and left the room. “Hold on,” he said. He swore under his breath when Sarah kept walking down the hall toward her bedroom.
“Okay,” Nicolette said.
“No, not you.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Nicky, I’m going to have to call you back.”
“You keep me waiting and waiting, darling.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Maybe we should take a rain check for tonight.”
“Non, I will wait for you.”
He wasn’t interested in her waiting. “No, Nicky—” The phone beeped; she’d disconnected. “God fucking damn it.”
Ethan shoved the phone in his pocket and walked to Sarah’s bedroom. The room was dark but for two candles flickering in the windows. The French doors to her small outside sitting area were open to the salty breeze pouring in. He stepped on the polished, smooth stones of the patio, stared at the moon on its descent into morning.
“I thought you left,” Sarah said without any heat as she looked at the sky.
He didn’t say anything as she glided back and forth on the wicker swing. As she swung forward, the front of her robe lifted slightly, giving him a peek at smooth thigh. He let out a long sigh, determined to get them back on an even keel. “Are you going to bite my head off if I sit with you?”
She still hadn’t looked at him. “No.”
He sat next to her. They might as well have been strangers. The calm, easy feelings of friendship were absent. Tension built again when neither of them spoke. He didn’t know what to say. The distance between them was so new, so strange; he wasn’t sure how to fix it. Perhaps that was where they needed to start. “Sarah, what’s happening here?” He waited so long for her answer, he thought she wouldn’t.
“I’ve asked myself the same question a thousand times, and I don’t know.” She looked at him then.
“I’m not leaving here until we do. You’re too important to me.”
A smile touched her lips, and he put his arm around her shoulders, needing to touch her.
They lapped into silence again.
“Do I depend on you too much when it comes to Kylee? I’ve had some time to think, and I wonder if I’ve been selfish. Kylee’s my daughter, my responsibility. I don’t ever want you thinking I don’t know that.”
Shocked, he sat up straight. “Where the hell is this coming from? I love her like crazy. When I help you with Kylee, it’s because I want to and enjoy doing so.”
He heard her small sigh and moved closer, looking her in the eye. “Is that what all of this about?”
“Some of it, yes.”
“Well, this isn’t so hard to fix after all.” Relaxing, he pulled her to him until her cheek rested against his shoulder. “I don’t ever want you thinking those bullshit thoughts again. We’ve been through too much together.”
She relaxed against him, and her foot began to rock the swing again. “You’ve always been here, so I never thought about it until Nicolette said…” Her eyes widened and she stopped, trying to pull away.
He tightened his arm around her, trapping her as his voice grew cold. “Until Nicolette said what?”
She moved to get up again, but he held her still. “It was nothing, Ethan. She saw us dancing on the deck and it upset her. I can’t blame her really…”
“What did she say, Sarah?”
“I don’t think she appreciated you dancing with Kylee or me tonight. That’s all.”
There was more to it, but he knew she wouldn’t say. “I don’t care what Nicolette appreciates.”
She put her hand on his cheek. “I don’t want to be the cause of problems between the two of you.”
As her exotic eyes pleaded with his, thoughts of Nicolette vanished. He became aware of her firm breasts pressed against his side, of her breath teasing his lips. He glanced at her full mouth, wanting to taste, needing to see if the feelings that had constantly disturbed and confused over the last several months meant anything.
Risking everything, he moved forward, never taking his eyes from hers as his mouth brushed hers. He saw a flash of surprise before it vanished into something else. When she didn’t push him away, he moved in again, adding more pressure. Sarah’s fingers curled into the shoulder of his shirt as her eyes closed and her lips parted. Slowly, gently, his tongue sought hers, gliding, tangling.