Bad in Bed (11 page)

“She’s hot.”

“I said it’s not going to happen,” Ethan said
between gritted teeth. “Go find your own woman.”

“I want yours.”

Damn, but Marco could be an asshole when he
wanted to be. Ethan sucked in a breath and reminded himself that Marco was
winding him up. He bit down on the bile rising in his throat. “Fucking let it
rest.”

Laughter in his eyes, Marco held fast to
Ethan’s menacing gaze. “She likes me.”

Slowly, Ethan put down his glass. “You want to
feel my fist connect with your nose, my friend? You keep this up.”

Marco gave one last grin, shrugged, and then
sipped his beer.

Ethan knew the sparring was over. He felt his
insides relax, but couldn’t resist one last glare at his friend. When Marco
looked over his shoulder and signalled with his glass, Ethan knew Amber was on
her way back to their table. “Keep your hands to yourself,” Ethan warned again
as he started to turn towards Amber. “Unless you’re in the market for cosmetic
surgery on that pretty boy face.”

Before Ethan could shift into her place, Amber
settled between them again. He ignored Marco’s surreptitious grin but Amber, it
seemed, had caught it.

“What?” she asked, looking from one to the
other. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” Ethan’s clipped response had her looking
at him, her big green eyes full of question. “He’s just being a jerk.”

Amber gave him a speculative look, then swung
her attention back to the group opposite who had engaged her in conversation.

* * * *

Having enjoyed herself, Amber was sorry when
the evening came to an end a little before midnight.

Ethan’s friends were good company and since
they had welcomed her at Marco’s party the night before and again tonight, she
almost felt part of their group.

As they said their goodbyes, Ethan’s hand came
around her waist. He tightened his grip when Marco came over, cursing softly
when his friend swept her into a theatrical dip and planted a kiss on her
cheek.

Amber laughed, but as Marco swung her upright
again, she couldn’t help notice how Ethan’s eyebrows drew together in a dark scowl.

His frown remained until Marco said his
goodbyes.

As they walked alone back along the promenade
to Ethan’s SUV, Amber thought about Ethan’s reaction and the look the two men had
exchanged when she’d returned from the cloakroom earlier that evening. She
couldn’t shake the feeling they’d been talking about her.

As much as she hated considering it, she
wondered if Marco had questioned Ethan about her scars. She hadn’t wanted to
take her jacket off, but Ethan had seemed so adamant that she did. Perhaps Marco
was turned off by her appearance and had said as much to Ethan. Hadn’t he said
that Marco was being a jerk?

She shivered a little at the thought and Ethan
put his arm around her shoulders as they walked. “Cold?”

“No. Just thinking.”

“And thinking makes you shiver?”

She leaned into him, loving the warmth of his
body, the heady masculine scent that was pure male and pure Ethan. “I was
thinking about Marco.”

He said nothing and looked away.

“Did he say anything?” she persisted. “When I’d
gone to the cloakroom, did he say I wasn’t your type or something?”

He turned back to face her, a puzzled
expression softening the hard look of a few moments ago. “Why would you think
that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that I wondered if he mentioned
my arm. People are always surprised when they first see my scars. It’s natural
enough they want to know what happened.”

“But that’s not what you think Marco wanted to
know, is it?” He leaned closer, his masculine scent mingling with the salty
air. “You want to know if he thought it made you less attractive in some way.”

There was an edge to his voice she hadn’t heard
before, which made her even more certain that the men had exchanged words.
“No.”

“Damn right it is. What would you say if I told
you he wanted to fuck you? Asked me outright if we could do the threesome thing?”

Her stomach fluttered. Whether at the notion of
Marco’s suggestion or the biting tone of Ethan’s voice, she couldn’t be sure.
 
“He did?”

It wasn’t that she wanted to have sex with
Marco, but it was a heady thought to know he found her attractive enough to
want to have sex with
her
. First
Ethan, now him. If two fabulously hunky men wanted to bed her, she couldn’t be
that repulsive to men, could she? The possibility of that being true would put
Trevor’s nasty remarks forever on the scrapheap.

But it didn’t matter about Marco. She had
Ethan. Apparently, he wasn’t remotely bothered about her physical blemishes. If
anything, he always seemed genuinely surprised when she brought it into the
conversation, as if it wasn’t even worth mentioning because it mattered so
little to him.

“Marco was only winding me up.”

Ethan’s statement put the proverbial pin in her
sudden and rapidly inflating balloon of sexual confidence. Not that it really
mattered, since Ethan found her attractive and he was the one who counted. He
always wanted—and boy, did he always seem to want—to have sex with her. He took
every opportunity to tell her she was beautiful and to make her feel as if she
were the sexiest, most desirable woman he’d ever bedded.

She stopped and turned to him, bringing her
hand to his cheek. She let her palm rest there for a moment, then brushed her
fingers over the frown lines on his forehead. “You’re scowling again.”

“Because Marco’s a prick.”

She glanced around, checking for people, and then
smiled wickedly as she brought her fingers to his mouth and ran her thumb along
his lower lip. “It’s not Marco’s prick I’m thinking of right now.”

Like magic, the frown disappeared and lust lit
his beautiful eyes.

She drew her hand down his throat, along the
front of his shirt feeling the hard sheath of muscle beneath, then down to the
bulge in his trousers. With her eyes on his, she began a slow, steady stroke
over his erection.

His eyes darkened, eyelids hooded as he watched
her but said nothing.

She licked her lips, loving her newfound feminine
power as she slowly pulled down his zip. Her fingers delved inside the opening
of his fly and found him hard, thick, and hot.

He jerked against her hand as she gripped his
cock and gave a low, desperate groan.

When he tried to yank her hand away, she held
fast. “Remember that shop doorway?” She waited until he nodded. “Well, that was
all you doing to me. I want my turn, so just stuff your hands in your pockets,
lover, and let me return the favor.”

“They’re not going in my pockets, green eyes.”
He ran his fingers up the sides of her waist and cupped them under her breasts.
“But go ahead and return the favor all you like.”

Amber tried to focus on giving him pleasure as
she stroked his throbbing erection, but he made it damn hard with the way he
flicked his thumbs over her nipples. She caught his rhythm and rubbed him in
slow, steady strokes, feeling him pulsate beneath her hand.

“Okay,” he said between breaths. “We’d better
move this someplace else.” Now he did remove her hand and zipped up his
trousers. “Let’s go.”

He pulled her along so that she had to
virtually run to keep up with him, and in heeled shoes negotiating pebbled footpaths
was no easy task. When they reached the car park, he yanked open the door to
his SUV and all but shoved her inside.

Amber laughed as her foot caught and she fell
facedown on the back seat. Her laugh turned into a giggle as Ethan popped a
lever and the back of the seat fell away. She started to turn, but Ethan
crawled on top of her. She heard the beep of the doors engaging as he locked
them.

Her pulse sped up when she realized his
intentions and she tried, unsuccessfully, to turn over again. “I’m not sure
this is a good idea, Ethan. It’s a public car park.”

“There’s only a handful of cars left,” he said
as he caught her earlobe between his teeth. “Chances are, they’re parked
overnight. Besides, don’t you want to live a little dangerously?”

As if on cue, sounds of girly laughter
accompanied by the click of heels across the tarmac, reached them. The
footsteps got closer and closer.

“That’s Ethan’s car.” The feminine voice was
full of interest. “He must still be back at the bar.”

Mortified that they might be caught, Amber
squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face into the seat’s upholstery. Ethan’s
response was to run his hand over her ass. She wanted to chastise him, but knew
they had to keep quiet. Apparently, Ethan didn’t have the same inhibitions she
had and she wondered in that moment if he wouldn’t relish getting caught.

“No.” Another female answered the first. “I saw
him leave. Kept trying to get his attention all evening, but it was virtually
impossible. He seemed besotted with that girl.”

“Yeah. Who is she anyway?”

The women had stopped right at the back of the
SUV and seemed in no particular hurry to depart.

Amber held her breath and hoped to goodness the
back windows didn’t start steaming up, alerting the women to their presence
inside the car.

“She was with him at Marco’s party the other
night. Must be his latest squeeze.”

“Well, I noticed she had Marco’s attention at
one stage tonight. Perhaps they’re into that threesome thing again. Wish to
heaven they’d invite me into their little ménage games. Not sure I’d be able to
resist.”

The other woman laughed. “She’s not Marco’s
type. He likes them perfectly formed. Did you see her arm?”

Amber’s breath caught in her throat and above
her she felt Ethan tense.

 
“Yeah.
Poor thing. I was in the cloakroom when she came in. Tried not to look but,
hell, it’s hideous. I’d have to have something done about it, but whatever else
I certainly wouldn’t go without full length sleeves to cover it up.”

Heat pierced Amber’s face and her throat closed
up. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed her face harder against the seat.
Ethan’s hand closed over hers and he squeezed her fingers. In support, she
realised, but it didn’t stop the stabbing hurt in her heart.

“Doesn’t seem to bother Ethan. He couldn’t stop
touching her.”

“But then he’s a nice guy. Not like Marco. Mr.
Perfectionist. Do you know, Lisa went out with Marco once. She said they had
great sex and yet he didn’t call her after. She was really…”
  

The sound of their voices faded as they moved
away and the click of their heels indicated they were heading over to the far
side of the car park.

Ethan drew in a breath as he squeezed her hand
again. “They don’t know shit.”

For a moment, Amber wasn’t sure she could
speak. Her throat burned and her breath had backed up in her lungs.

Ethan touched her shoulder and eased her around
to face him.

There wasn’t much light, and she was glad of
it. She felt mortified, embarrassed as hell, and so bloody hurt she wanted to
find a hole to crawl into and just weep. “They were only speaking their mind.”

“And like I said, they don’t know shit.”

Despite how she felt, she gave him a shaky
smile. “Thanks.” Her voice trembled.

Ethan pulled her into a sitting position and
drew her across his lap.

Her eyes moistened at the tender way he held
her, and she pulled her jacket closed, holding it tight to her chest.

“You don’t have to do that.” Ethan’s voice was
low, almost menacing, but his eyes held only tenderness and concern.

“Not everyone’s like you, which has just been
painfully acknowledged. My appearance doesn’t seem to matter to you, but it
does to other people.”

“Then they’re shallow,” he grated. “Why the
hell would you let them get to you?”

She took a breath, let it out on a shaky sigh.
“Because it’s hard not to believe that Trevor was right, that people, men
mostly, were repulsed by my appearance. That he was repulsed by it. He said he
couldn’t enjoy sex with me anymore because I was…disfigured.”

Ethan pushed her roughly back so he could look
at her. “We’ve already established that Trevor is a fucking idiot. As we’ve
also established that I think you’re the hottest woman I’ve had. Being a man,
that puts me in idiot Trevor’s ‘men mostly’ category, and I can vouch for the
fact that you are fucking beautiful. Period. Plus, I threatened to put my fist
in Marco’s face tonight because he wouldn’t keep his hands to himself.”

She touched his cheek. “Marco was winding you
up. You said so yourself.”

“He’s wound me up before with women, but never
told me he wanted another threesome.”

Amber smiled, but her heart wasn’t in it. She
couldn’t even begin to believe that what Ethan said was anything but an attempt
to make her feel better. How could she after hearing that Marco was a
perfectionist and liked his women blemish free.