Run to You (10 page)

G
abby pulled open her front door to find Ethan standing there, his eyes haunted the way they'd been the night he'd come asking her to pose as his girlfriend. Her breath caught in her throat. “Dixie?”

“She's okay,” he said. “She had a rough afternoon, but she's asleep now.”

Dixie might be okay, but Ethan wasn't. She tugged him inside and closed the door behind him. “I'm sorry.”

He looked down at his hands. “I'm not ready to lose her.”

“Oh, Ethan.” The pain in his voice nearly brought her to tears. This badass, cocky man loved his grandma so much,
needed
her so much. She put her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his.

He sucked in a ragged breath, his arms closing around her waist. They stood like that for long seconds. So many emotions filled her, concern and compassion and sadness for what was happening to Dixie, but the longer she held on to Ethan, the more aware she became of his body against hers. His chest heaving, his heart pounding, his stubble tickling her cheek.

“Gabby.” His voice was raspy, thick with the same lust that pulsed through every inch of her body.

She turned her head, matching her lips to his. Sparks burst through her at the contact, shooting straight to her core, adding to the burning, aching need already building between her thighs.

His lips moved against hers, and she opened to him, devouring him. His tongue swept into her mouth, hot and demanding, dancing against hers until her toes curled inside her boots and she was up on her tiptoes, wanting more.

Needing more.

“You are the sexiest fucking thing,” he rasped, his hands tightening around her, pulling her flush against him. He gripped her butt as he kissed the daylights out of her.

She rocked her pelvis against his, and he groaned, clutching her tighter.
Oh God.
She was so turned on, she might come right here in her entranceway, fully clothed, just from kissing him, from feeling his arousal pressed firm and hard against her belly.

How was that even possible? It had been years,
years
, since a man had given her an orgasm, in any way, shape, or form. And here she was, ready to combust in Ethan's arms before he'd even undressed her.

“Gabby.” He clutched her against him, his chest heaving beneath her palms. “What are we doing here? Because this feels awfully damn real.”

“I don't know,” she whispered.

He groaned again, but this time the sound was heavy with regret. His hands, still clutching her hips, moved her back to a respectable distance. “When we do this,
if
we do this, I need you to be sure.”

She blinked. Wow. It had always,
always
, been up to her to be the voice of reason in a relationship when things got hot and heavy. She might not have resisted if Ethan had swept her off to her bedroom, but she almost certainly would have regretted it in the morning. And somehow, his restraint made her want him even more.

“Christ.” He looked away. “I want you so bad, Gabby. Let's go to dinner before I completely lose the ability to think straight.”

She just nodded, then grabbed her purse and followed him outside to his Jeep. The ugly truth was that she liked him, and wanted him, even more because he hadn't taken her to bed. In her experience, the fantasy was always better than the real thing.

And fantasizing about Ethan was the hottest thing she'd ever experienced.

She'd never been to Rowdy's, but it seemed like the perfect place for them tonight: crowded enough to force them to keep their hands to themselves but not so loud that they couldn't talk.

“Hi, Ethan,” a pretty blonde said as she strutted over with two menus. “Your usual?”

He nodded, then glanced over at her. “Gabby, what would you like to drink?”

“What do you recommend on tap?” she asked the waitress. “I like something light, not too hoppy.”

“Try the Shepherd's Golden. It's a local brew. I can bring you a sample if you'd like.”

“That would be great. Thank you.”

“No problem. I'll be right back with that. I'm Tina, by the way. I'll be taking care of you guys tonight.” Tina smiled, then headed back toward the bar.

“So you come here a lot,” Gabby said.

“Yeah. Good food. Good beer. And they always have the game on.” He glanced up at the TV over the bar. And while he obviously came here often enough to be on a first-name basis with his waitress, he hadn't looked at Tina with anything other than casual interest.

Nothing like the way he'd looked at Gabby earlier, like he wanted to taste every inch of her until she screamed with pleasure. Her cheeks heated. Her fantasies were
way
out of control.

Ethan scraped a hand over his face. “Don't look at me like that, Gabby.”

She sat up straighter. “What?”

He gave her a look. “You know what. You're thinking dirty thoughts.”

Her cheeks got even hotter. “How can you tell that?”

He winked. “Oh, I can tell.”

A couple of brunettes in tank tops and short shorts sidled up to their table. “Hi, Ethan,” one of them said.

He gave them a casual smile. “Hey, ladies. How's it going?”

“Just came by to say hi,” said the second girl, giving Gabby an assessing stare.

Ethan introduced them to her as Lisa and Amanda. Old friends, he said.

They said polite hellos, then returned their attention to Ethan. “So how's the new zip-line course coming? When can you take me out?” Amanda asked.

“Hoping to be open by the end of the month,” he said.

“It's sure to be a hit once people find out you're running the place,” Lisa said. “You should keep your medals in a case in the lobby. Imagine all the tourists that would come by just for a look?”

Ethan's smile faded. “My medals have nothing to do with Off-the-Grid. It's as much Mark's and Ryan's as it is mine.”

“Oh,” Amanda said. “Well, I've already seen them anyway.” With a wink and a good-bye, she and Lisa headed off toward the bar.

“Sorry about that,” Ethan said.

“No problem.” Gabby guessed this was what Dixie meant when she said a lot of the women in town still considered Ethan a local celebrity. And she was trying really hard not to wonder when Amanda had seen his medals, because Gabby had never seen them.

In fact, maybe she should ask to, as a perk of being his pretend girlfriend.

Tina returned with a sample of the Shepherd's Golden for Gabby to try. It was light, crisp, a little bit fruity. “This is good. I'll take one. Thank you.”

“Welcome. You guys ready to order?” Tina asked.

Gabby glanced down at her menu. She hadn't even looked at it, but Ethan had mentioned burgers earlier, and that sounded great.

“I'll have a Rowdy burger,” he said, “with fries.”

She glanced at the description of the Rowdy burger. Cheddar cheese. Bacon. Special sauce. “I'll have the same.”

“You got it. I'll be right back with your beer.” Tina collected their menus and walked off.

“So.” Ethan's blue eyes raked over her, leaving heat everywhere they touched. “Where were we?”

Ethan took a long drink from his beer, but hard as he tried, he couldn't take his eyes off the woman on the other side of the table. Things had gotten way too fucking complicated in the past month. He needed Gram to be okay. Needed Gabby to be dating him because she wanted to, not some bullshit pretend relationship.

To hell with it. He polished off his first beer and signaled to Tina for another.

“I'm taking Gram to the beach this weekend,” he said finally, when he had a fresh, cold beer in his hands.

“Oh.” Gabby sat up straighter. “That's nice.”

“It's something we do every summer. She asked…it's on her bucket list.” He shook his head. He was rambling like a damn fool. “We'll leave after the Town Council meeting on Friday and come home Monday afternoon.”

“It sounds wonderful.”

“We'd love it if you could come with us.” He looked up and met her eyes.

She twirled a lock of hair around her fingers. “I really shouldn't. This should be a special time for you and your grandmother.”

“It will be, whether or not you're there, but we'd both like you to come.”

“Um, I guess I could book a separate hotel room or something.” Gabby fiddled with her beer, avoiding his gaze.

“I rented the beach house she and I usually stay in. There are two bedrooms and a loft. She sleeps downstairs, and I sleep up. I could use the pull-out couch in the loft after she's asleep, and she'd never know the difference.” Or maybe they could just share the upstairs bedroom, and he could stop waking up every morning so hard he could barely see straight with no relief in sight.

But that had to be her decision. And she had to be sure about it.

“I do love the beach.” Her voice had gotten softer, and a shy smile played at her lips.

He reached out and took her hand across the table. “You go a lot?”

She shook her head. “I haven't been in a few years actually. I used to go with my friends during college.”

“So you'll come?” he asked.

She finally looked up and met his eyes. “If you're sure it's what you want. I know you're trying to keep up appearances for your grandmother, but maybe this should be a time just for the two of you.”

“I'm sure. I'd really like you to come with us.”

She smiled. “Okay, then. I'll come.”

Relief loosened in his chest. It would mean a lot to Gram to have her there, and he would enjoy the extra time with Gabby. But seeing her in a swimsuit and sleeping under the same roof without sharing a bed might just drive him mad. “Thanks,” he said. “It should be a fun weekend.”

Their burgers arrived then, and the conversation slowed as they ate. Later, they strolled out to his Jeep hand in hand. Gabby gazed over at the town square with a dreamy expression on her face. “I really do like it here.”

“Sure you can't stay?”

She shook her head. “All my friends and family are in Charlotte. I've never lived anywhere else.”

“You're living here now,” he pointed out.

“I'm just visiting. I'm here to prove a point to myself, but to stay feels like a cop-out. I need to get back to the life I left behind.”

He shouldn't care that she was leaving at the end of the summer. He'd never dated a woman that long, not that he and Gabby were even truly dating. Maybe that was the difference. Maybe if she wasn't off limits, if he'd already slept with her, he'd be starting to put distance between them, the way he always did with women.

He drove her home and walked her to her front door, as much out of deeply ingrained manners as a need to make sure Brad wasn't lurking somewhere nearby, ready to hassle her again.

“Thanks for dinner. And for inviting me to the beach.” A twig snapped behind her, and Gabby lurched into his arms with a startled squeak as some kind of creature scuttled off into the woods. “What the hell was that?”

He chuckled. “Probably a deer.”

She shivered in his arms. “What if it was a bear? I'm not used to living where there are wild animals that like to munch on humans.”

“Bears hardly ever bother us, as long as we don't bother them.” His arms tightened around her, but it had nothing at all to do with her fear of bears.

“Let's go inside.” She tugged him after her as she unbolted the door and pushed them through it.

Somehow his arms were still around her as she slammed the door behind them, and he was powerless to let her go. Gabby stared at him for a long moment in silence, her eyes glazed with lust. She shifted her hips so that his dick pressed against the warmth of her body, and it took every ounce of self-control to hold himself still.

“I keep expecting you to…you know.” Her voice was low and husky, her eyes locked on his lips.

“To what, Gabby? You made the rules.”

“I really want to break them.” She wiggled against him, her mouth moving closer to his.

He sucked in a breath and held it. His heart pounded, every cell of his body focused on hers, on the way she pressed against him and the whisper of her breath on his lips.

And then she kissed him. Softly, tentatively, her eyes still locked on his. He slid his hands down to cup her ass, yanking her more firmly against him, and kissed her back. Slow and thorough, until she moaned deep in her throat, her body plastered against his.

His tongue thrust against hers while his hands roamed her body, touching, teasing. He slid a hand between her legs, touching her through her skirt. She whimpered.

“Be sure, Gabby,” he whispered against her lips.

He felt it, the slightest hesitation that tensed through her body at his words.

“Dammit.” He dragged his mouth from hers, resting his forehead against hers as he gasped for breath.

“I didn't mean—”

“It's okay. I understand.”

She bit her lip and looked away. “No, you don't.”

“Then tell me.”

“I just—what if the fantasy is better than the reality?”

He laughed softly. “Sweetheart, I promise you that won't be the case.”

Her gaze flicked to the side, and she looked…hurt.
Fuck.

His muscles tightened. “Did he hurt you, Gabby? Did he force you?”

Her eyes widened. “No! No, nothing like that. He just…it's nothing.”

“It's something. Tell me.”

She heaved a deep sigh. “It was just…this is so embarrassing. I didn't…it was all about him, okay?”

Ah, he thought he got it now, and his desire to deck the schmuck grew even stronger. “He didn't take care of you.”

She blushed, still not meeting his eyes. “It's not like I need…God, I can't talk about this with you.”