Run to You (14 page)

“Gabby.” He thrust inside her. Nothing had ever felt this good, this right.

She met him thrust for thrust, her soft cries fueling his need. They were one, moving together, lost in each other. The ocean rocked around them as wave after wave pounded the shore, and he thrust inside her, harder and faster.

“Oh,” she gasped, her body clenching around him. “Oh!”

Her voice was soft, raspy, awestruck. He pumped faster, feeling his own release starting to gather at the base of his spine, tightening in his balls, pulsing in his dick. She gripped him again and again as she came, and as she screamed his name into the night, he groaned his own release.

“Oh God,” Gabby panted, rocking against him.

He thrust one last time, his orgasm taking him so hard that his knees buckled, and he barely caught them before they went under.

“Holy shit.” Gabby's arms and legs were wrapped around him, clinging to him.

Holy fucking shit indeed. He'd just had sex—unprotected sex—with Gabby. In the ocean. And it had been the hottest, most intense…most intimate thing he'd ever experienced.

Gabby awoke in her bed in the beach house, but she wasn't alone. Ethan lay beside her, naked. Gloriously naked. Once they'd gathered their things and come inside, they'd had sex again in the shower—with a condom this time.

He'd insisted.

And then they'd fallen asleep together.

Now, as she watched him sleep in the soft morning light, she knew she'd crossed a line last night. What they'd done had been so much more than just sex. She'd opened herself to him in every way, and he'd fulfilled every fantasy she'd ever had.

There'd been nothing awkward, nothing forced. No lack of chemistry, that was for sure.

Nothing like it had been with Brad.

With Ethan, she felt sexy and confident and in control. And he'd given her, without a doubt, the best sex of her life. It certainly seemed like it had been pretty good for him, too. Men, in her experience, didn't tend to fake things the way women sometimes did.

“Mornin',” he whispered against her neck.

“Good morning.” She smiled, still not quite over the fact that he was in her bed, the things they'd done, and how perfect it had all been.

Ethan's lips were nibbling under her jaw now, his fingers inching the sheet down her body.

She gripped it, bringing it back to her chin.

“I still haven't gotten a good look at you naked,” he said, and with a yank, the sheet hit the floor.

She felt totally exposed and vulnerable for about one second, but Ethan was looking at her like she was a goddess, and beneath his gaze, she felt beautiful. Also…he was naked, too. And
wow
. She ogled him as blatantly as he was ogling her, from his tanned, washboard abs, to the trail of chest hair that led straight down to his penis, which was already hard. Every inch of him was hard, lean, and muscular. So sexy.

She glimpsed the tattoo on his right shoulder and leaned in for a closer look. It was done all in black ink, the sun climbing over churning waves. “What does it mean?” she asked.

“Dawn,” he answered.

Ah, the sunrise. Dawn. But why?

“It was my mom's name,” he answered her silent question.

She traced her fingers over the tattoo, absorbing the ache of his loss. “That's beautiful.”

“It's just a tattoo.
You
are beautiful.” He turned to face her, and then they were tangled up in each other, kissing and touching until she was on fire for him, desperate to have him inside her. He reached for the bedside table and sheathed himself in a condom.

Later, as they lay panting and breathless in each other's arms, she knew this was no longer pretend. For her at least. This was as real as it got.

Ethan trailed his fingers down her back. “I don't think I can ever get enough of you.”

Did he mean that? He met her eyes, his gaze so full of warmth and affection. Her vision blurred as tears welled, slipping down her cheeks before she could stop them.

“What's wrong? Did I hurt you?” He reached out to wipe the tears from her face.

She shook her head. “No. The opposite of that.”

“What?” He frowned. “Talk to me, Gabby.”

“I just…I've had some bad experiences in the past. But this…with you…was different.”

Ethan stared at her for a long beat of silence. Something stirred in his eyes, something that looked an awful lot like fear. “You know this is just temporary, right?”

A painful lump rose in her throat. “I know,” she whispered.

“Okay.” He slipped out of bed and pulled on a pair of swim trunks. “I need to go for my morning swim. You go back to sleep.”

And with a quick kiss, he was gone.

E
than swam until he couldn't swim anymore. Then he hauled his sorry ass out of the surf and walked back to the house. Gram sat on the deck, Kindle in hand.

“Have a seat,” she said, pointing at the chair next to her.

He grabbed a dry towel off the railing and sat.

“You and Gabby have a fight?” she asked.

“What? No.” He scrubbed the towel over his hair.

“Something's different. You look like a deer in the headlights.”

“We're fine.” But he couldn't shake the look in Gabby's eyes earlier. She'd looked at him like no woman ever had: like he meant more to her than just sex.

A whole fucking lot more.

“You're not fine.” Gram gave him a long look. “I've known you long enough to know when you're panicking. Things are starting to get serious, and you're ready to bolt.”

Ah, shit.
“I'm not.” He couldn't bolt out of a relationship that wasn't real. Except it
was
getting real, and he was not the man Gabby thought he was.

Dixie sighed. “You're not your father, Ethan.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and stared at the boards on the deck. His head echoed with his mother's screams. His father's whiskey-fueled fury. The dull thump of his fist into her cheek. The sickening crunch of her skull slamming into the corner of the countertop.

The memories were as vivid today as they'd been nineteen years ago. Even now, he had to swallow past the bile that had risen in his throat.

“I have his temper,” he said.

“You do not.” Gram's voice hardened. “Your father was a mean son of a bitch. He alienated your mother from me and the rest of her family. He beat her. He hit
you
when you were just a boy. He took my daughter from me, your mother from you.”

“I was there.” He stared into his hands. “You don't have to remind me.”

“I don't imagine you'll ever forget it. I know I won't.”

He forced himself to look into her eyes, to see her pain, the pain they had both carried all these years.
I'm terrified of becoming him.
“I've hit people, Gram.”

She scoffed. “A bar fight is
not
the same thing as domestic violence, and don't insult my intelligence—or yours—by pretending you don't know the difference.”

“You're my grandmother. You see me through rose-colored glasses.”

She leaned forward, her blue eyes blazing into his. “You're no saint. I know you raised whatever kind of hell you could when you were growing up. But your heart's always been in the right place. And I see the man you've become. Gabby is lucky to have you. Now go kiss and make up with her, you hear me?”

By the time the car pulled into her driveway on Monday afternoon, Gabby was ready to be home. The weekend had been a rollercoaster of emotions. Crazy highs and terrifying lows. Overall, though, it had been amazing. She wouldn't change a single moment of her time with Ethan, but it was time to get back to their regular lives now and see what happened.

Would they keep sleeping together? Would things go back to the way they'd been before the trip? She'd be smart to put a little distance back between them or at least have a conversation with him about redefining the rules. But she didn't. She just gave him a quick kiss good-bye and walked inside her house.

The rest of the day was a blur. She went to pick up Lance, washed a mountain of laundry, and spent several hours in her office catching up on work. It felt good to be home, to get back to her routine. This little house felt like home in a way no place ever had before. It was the first place she'd lived on her own. No parents, no boyfriend, no roommate.

Just Gabby.

She liked that. At dinnertime, she debated calling Ethan to see what he was up to, but decided she'd let him take the lead on whatever direction their relationship took now that they were back in Haven. So she threw together a salad and ate on the back deck with Lance.

Maybe she missed the ocean view and Ethan's sexy smile and the magic of the beach. And maybe she was a little bit disappointed he didn't call that night. But maybe he needed to get his head back on straight the same way she did.

On Tuesday, she barely came up for air. She started working at eight that morning and was still going as the sun sank below the mountains outside her window. She had one last string of code to test before she could call it a day.

A knock sounded at her front door. Lance hopped out of her lap and ran for the safety of the pantry. She shook her head.
That dog.

Her heart thumped faster as she walked toward the door, imagining Ethan on the other side. Suddenly it felt like forever since she'd seen him, even though it had only been a day. She smoothed her hands over the front of her skirt, then pulled the door open to find Ethan standing there, wearing a green T-shirt and his trademark khaki cargo shorts.

And her body went all warm and tingly at the sight.

“Hi,” he said, leaning against her doorjamb all nonchalant-like. But his eyes were intense. So intense they sent a sizzle of awareness down her spine.

Without thinking, she slid her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. “Hi, yourself.”

Ethan's hands fisted in her hair as he kissed her back, slow and thorough until hunger burned inside her and her heart thumped against his. “You weren't answering your phone,” he said finally when they'd come up for air.

“Sorry, I've been working. I must have left it in the bedroom.”

His hands slid to her waist, anchoring her against him. “Want to get dinner?”

Her stomach growled in answer. “I'd love to. I just need to finish up one last thing I was working on.”

He kissed her again. “Take your time. I can wait.”

“Um. Okay.” She backed out of his arms reluctantly, her body already missing the contact with his. “Make yourself at home,” she said as she walked back to the office.

“Will do.” He turned toward the kitchen.

She rushed back to her desk, completely distracted as she tested her coding. What was Ethan doing? She imagined him lounging on her couch or searching for something manly to eat in her kitchen. He'd likely be disappointed there.

She stifled a giggle.

Thankfully her code checked out on the first try so she sent it through to be approved by the software architect, then hurried into the bedroom to freshen up her makeup. It had been half an hour since Ethan arrived by the time she made it back into the living room.

He wasn't there. Disappointment flopped in her belly that he might have changed his mind and left after all. But a sound drew her toward the kitchen, where she found Ethan sitting on the floor, a package of pepperoni in his left hand, his right extended toward the pantry.

“So tell me,” he said in a conversational voice, and
goodness
, he must have been talking to Lance. She stayed back for a moment to watch, mesmerized. “What do you and Gabby do all day? Do you get to sit in her lap? I might be a little jealous about that, bro.”

And to her complete surprise, Lance trotted out of the pantry, snatched the pepperoni slice from Ethan's hand, then trotted back inside. Ethan took out another slice and popped it in his mouth, then held his hand out toward her dog again.

Gabby stepped into the kitchen, doing her best to swallow the silly grin that had taken hold of her lips.

Ethan looked up at her with an answering grin. “Your dog is weird.”

“I know.”

He stood and tugged her up against him. “You finished with work?”

She nodded.

“What are you thinking tonight? Burgers? Pizza? Something fancier?”

“I ate healthy yesterday. A burger sounds perfect.”

Ten minutes later, they walked into Rowdy's. They both ordered Rowdy burgers, just like they had last time, and Gabby felt herself blushing.

“What?” he asked.

“I was just thinking about the last time we came here.”

His lips curved in a wicked smile. “I seem to remember we were having a hard time keeping our hands to ourselves that night.”

“Yeah.” She picked up her beer and took a sip, but it didn't cool the heat of his gaze.

He leaned forward until his mouth was just inches from hers. “Gotta say, I'm feeling the same way tonight.”

So he did want to keep sleeping with her.
Good.
“Me, too.”

He gave her a look that melted her from the inside out, then his gaze turned serious. “You okay with this? Breaking the rules here in Haven?”

Damn him for always being so thoughtful and considerate. “For now.”

He slid around to her side of the table so that his thigh bumped hers as he leaned in close. “Because you know I can't keep this up long term.”

He kept reminding her of that fact, as though she could forget. And maybe that was the problem, because she
wanted
to forget. “I know.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure we were still on the same page.”

She remembered what he'd said in Emerald Isle, about how if they'd been dating for real the whole time, his interest probably would have already fizzled. “Is it starting to fade for you now that we've slept together?”

“No. Fuck, no.” Maybe he should have tried to play it cool, but the truth was, he wanted her even more now than he had before. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since they'd gotten home from the beach.

He'd stayed away for a day, hoping it would help set him straight, but it had only made him miserable. For right now, today, he needed to be with her. To hell with anything else.

Gabby sipped from her beer. “So we'll just keep doing what we started in Emerald Isle, until…”

Until Gram died.

She didn't say it. Didn't have to.

“Yeah.” He took a long drink from his beer.

Their burgers arrived then. They didn't talk much while they ate, but the mood had shifted, and that pissed him off. So he leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I'm imagining my hands inside your panties right now.”

She blushed. “You wish.”

Oh, he did. He really did. And by the time he drove her home after supper, it was all he could think about. He pressed her up against the wall in the entranceway and kissed her until all the chaos in his brain had stopped.

This. This was what he needed.

He needed Gabby.