Ethans Fal (14 page)

“I will sort this out, Ada. I will speak to your father tomorrow.” Joan's determined, somber tone left me with no doubt she would do exactly that. I slept for the first time that night, peaceful dreams filled with joy and a giggling baby girl, but had I known I wouldn’t see Joan again, I probably would have, at the very least, thanked her for believing me. I took my breakfast in the summer room; Joan had secured me a degree of freedom and always joined me for breakfast. I knew I had a problem when her chair was still empty by the time I had finished. I even smiled when the plates were cleared and one of the least pleasant auxiliary nurses commented that he hoped I’d made the most of the view. I didn’t even falter when I heard another patient say they were shocked Dr. Burrows had left without saying goodbye. That they were surprised that Dr. Smith was taking charge again.

I wasn’t surprised.

‘
Never underestimate the lengths I will go to’
, my father’s words echo and condemn me to this prison. Not today. I slipped into the kitchen and worked my way to the back, hoping there would be staff lockers. I took a jacket and a ladies bag, then walked out the back door, through the walled herb garden, and into the woods. I didn’t stop until I reached the sea.

“
Well, well, I thought Buddy was taking the piss when he said I’d find you in the library.” Ethan’s voice whispers across my neck as he has crouched down so quietly I hadn’t heard him at all; I feel him now though.

I quickly click to minimise the screen, hiding its contents from his curious eyes, and tightly respond, “Is that because the women you know don’t read? Because that would explain a great deal. I mean they obviously have poor judgement but–”

He interrupts, letting out a slow warm burst of air that dances across my skin. “Now, Ada, I don’t like it when women disparage themselves. I am surprised you do, after all I was successful with you, wasn’t I? And here you are all learning and stuff. I couldn’t be more turned on.” His breath kisses spark to life and I get a full on body tingle of complimentary goosebumps. I also get an ache between my legs that has me pinching my thighs together. “Hmm, you know that isn’t going to help, but I know what will.” His hands reach around the chair and me, and he rests his palms flat on my thighs, strumming his fingers in a hypnotic rhythm. My breath might be caught, momentarily distracted, but I manage to slap my hand over my precious pictures and slide them into my purse. “What was that, Ada? What are you hiding?” I swear his lips skim my neck and I shudder with a delicious chill. It takes more strength than I have, but I let out an exasperating breath, irritated by his effect on me. I attempt to lean away from his all-consuming nearness.

“Oh, Ethan, why don’t you pull up a chair and I will tell you
all
about it.” I pat the empty chair beside me and to my surprise, he takes it. He also takes the arms of my chair and spins me so I am facing him. He clamps his thighs on either side of mine and traps me between his muscular legs.

“You know, I find that sarcasm is beneath me. And talking about beneath me, I believe we have an imbalance to redress.” He tugs on my sweater and tips me closer to his lips. “You said you pay your debts, and you definitely
owe
me.” His eyes drift to the sizeable bulge in his shorts.
Jesus, we are in the library!

“I owe you a few hours of cleaning, but don’t think I owe you anything else. My private life has fuck all to do with you and I intend to keep it that way. Don’t go thinking you’re something special because you have a cute smile and…and–” He interrupts my hesitation.

“And I can make you come like a train.” The deep, rough rumble of his words, and the truth behind them, makes my toes curl. I have to hold myself rigid, or I’m likely to get banned for public indecency.

“Yes and that.” My words are so breathy, I don’t recognise my own voice, but I don’t know this wanton creature emerging from my shell, either; she’s a little terrifying. His eyes bore straight through me, his undiluted desire makes me tremble, and the palpable lust is a raw energy that I feel in my soul. He stands suddenly, knocking his chair over, then grabs my hand and pulls me from my seat. He steps with complete confidence and determination, leading me through to the back of the small main room, where the tiny reference room is. He pulls the stiff handle of the glass door with barely contained violence and calls to Pat to watch my things. I look back to a confused Pat. I don’t have any ‘things’; all my belongings are in my locker at Ethan’s bar. It’s just me, gripping my purse with white knuckle strength, and my burning, uncomfortable desire for what Ethan can give me.

He swings me into the room, pulling me hard against his solid frame. One hand secured in my hair, he holds my gaze. Oh…I’m in so much trouble. He draws his teeth along his bottom lip and the most sensual smile curls and transforms his face into a picture of salaciousness. “You know, I’m in a giving mood, so how about I make you come twice in here and you can return the favour back at my place. I’m not above corrupting you in a public place, but Buddy says you come here every day, so I wouldn’t want you to get a permanent ban.”

“Ethan,” I place my hand on his chest, my thumb absently stroking the curve of his tight peck under his light knit jumper, greedily grabbing its own enjoyment at the contact, even as my brain is fighting for some sense to prevail. We’re in a goddamned library. “I don’t think–”

“See, there you go thinking and learning, or other secret shit, when really you should be coming. Don’t you want to
come,
Ada, hmmm?” My hand is now trapped between our bodies, his nose is trailing from my ear down my neck, inhaling. His lips punctuate each word with the softest kiss, like he is scared to frighten me away. I couldn’t move if I wanted to, and all I crave is for him to do exactly what he knows I yearn for. “Don’t you want to come for me?” He drops his embrace from around my waist, and steps instantly back. The coolness of the break in contact is stark and shocking. But I didn’t hear the door open, so I didn’t have the warning Ethan had.

“Ethan Cates, it’s not often we see you in here, young man. Don’t you have fancy enough resources of your own?” Pat casts a parental glance of concern my way over the rim of her half-moon glasses, and I must flush seven shades of red.

“I don’t have the local history you have here, and Ada had expressed a need to come”–I close my eyes at the mortifying pause Ethan takes delight in drawing out–“and learn all about the local history. Isn’t that right, Ada? You can’t wait to get started?” He isn’t even smirking; he is deadly serious. I catch the slightest wiggle of his fingers and I can almost feel their intimate electric touch.

“Oh, Ada, you never said,” Pat interrupts, oblivious to the sexual tension building in the small room. “No one ever comes in here but me, and the odd tourist on a rainy day. I would be happy–”

“–I’m going to be the one to give Ada what she needs. We will call you if we need anything. That won’t happen, by the way.” Ethan’s dismissal is curt and seems to irritate Pat.

“I should really supervise any persons in the reference section.” She frowns and grumbles. Ethan hasn’t taken his eyes from me. “But there is no one to cover the front desk.” Pat is talking to herself, when she turns to face me. “I suppose, since it’s you, Ada,” she muses, and flashes a quick scowl at Ethan. “If you need clarification, Ada, I will be right outside.” She focuses on me, and whispers, “If you can’t get my attention, just scream.” Pat’s shoulders are shaking with laughter at her own attempt at humour .She closes the door and I release a breath I had been holding.

“There, you even have permission to scream. What could be better?” Ethan’s smile is breathtaking and deviant at the same time.

I look around nervously; the room is dimly lit but the door we just came through is part of a glass wall partition, which separates the main part of the library from the temperature controlled silence of the room we are in. There is a waist height bank of bookshelves that divide the room and it is behind those that Ethan leads me. He spins me first to face him, tipping my chin so I meet his hooded eyes.

“I am going to make you come so fucking hard, and I am not going to stop no matter who enters this room. Now, it’s up to you who enters this room. So unless you would like an audience or a police record, you will have to save the screaming for later, understand?” His stern voice and gravelly delivery, leaves me speechless. “Good girl.”

He spins me away from him and pushes me so I am slightly bent over the bookshelf–more of an extended lean. He roughly pulls at the buttons on my jeans and drags them, and my panties, down to my feet
. Oh, shit, I thought he would at least leave them around my knees.
He taps my feet with his foot and I lift my naked legs free. He then kicks my feet apart and parts them wider. “Good girl. You know, I’ve never tasted anything like you before–liquid sunrise and untamed ocean. Sweetest fucking taste ever! I think you might be addictive.” He crouches behind me and I swallow a squeal, which still comes out as a strangled squeak. He grabs the cheeks of my bottom and strokes reverently before slipping his fingers down my crack and pulling me apart enough to put his mouth to my core. His thumbs are massaging my slickness and his tongue takes long sweeps, dipping inside but not enough. Then circling my clit with teasing feather-light strokes. My hips roll, pushing against his mouth.

He groans and the vibrations feel amazing–he feels amazing. My hands grip the top of the bookcase, the sweat from my fingertips makes little half-moon imprints in the wood. My tummy clenches and a deep, swirling, intense pressure is making it hard to hold still. I find myself pitching up on my toes to try and evade the extreme pleasure. Ethan growls and uses both his hands to secure me firmly against his mouth. His lips move with his tongue, sucking and grinding lightly, building a delicious ache that I can feel in the base of my spine, firing through every little hair on my skin. Oh, God…I close my eyes and drop my head with a thud. The tension in my legs is acute and they start to shake, but the door opens suddenly and I clamp my legs tight around Ethan’s head. His hands just wedge me back apart and his tongue resumes its tortuous ministrations, fervidly drawing my pleasure in waves I can feel begin to crest.

“Where’s Ethan?” Pat asks and I swallow thickly. Think, Ada.
I can’t think…I’m so close…so unbelievably close, I can’t…can’t.
Pat steps further into the room. It’s a simple question. Just answer something and she’ll leave. I need her to go away. Just speak for Christ’s sake, and try not to pant like the wanton bitch in heat you appear to be.

“He is…um…” The words escape and I choke back a cry of frustration.

“Just getting this.” Ethan slams a large dusty volume of maps of the Cornish coast and pats it with self-satisfaction, grinning and wiping a wide smile onto his face with the back of his hand. He bites my flavour off his lips, and a whimper escapes the back of my throat. “Actually, you know, Pat, I think you would be much better placed to talk Ada through the history of coastal erosion. I mean, I would love to but I have a party to get ready for.” He discreetly pulls my long sweater back to where it hangs close to my knees, and even pats my bottom.

“Ethan?” My voice is laced more with disbelief than it is with anger. But it quickly morphs into focused hostility when Ethan strides out of the Reference room, leaving me clinging half naked to a book shelf. Not to mention an over-eager historian, desperate to share her local knowledge. I smile weakly at Pat’s enthusiastic expression. I just pray she stays on that side of the bookcase.

Forty five minutes I stood with my jeans crumpled by my feet, waiting for Pat to leave her mini lecture long enough for me to get dressed and pull myself together. It was no reflection of Pat’s impassioned talk about the devastating effect of ferocious waves on the delicate rocks that give Cornwall its dramatically rugged and wild coastline, that I was too distracted to engage. When she did leave to answer the bell at the front desk, I quickly slipped my clothes back on, and made my excuses. The sexual frustration had ebbed, but I was fucking furious that Ethan had now cost me more hours of potential income. Not only that, but he had eaten into precious research time. I have to steady my stride when my body gives an involuntary shiver. Trust my body to vividly recall my research time with Ethan, when I’m trying to stay mad. It’s nearly noon when I reach the bar to change. The sun is high and the mid-morning heat is fierce in the clear blue sky. For the first time since I walked into this town, I feel unsettled. More so now that I’m outside the staff entrance to the bar: a place that has become my second home, a place of refuge from the elements, and somewhere to get my hug fix. I have always felt welcome, and now I’m not so sure. I don’t work here anymore, and I can’t afford to stay as a paying customer.

“Hey, sweetheart. What are do doing hanging out here? Come, give me some sugar!” Buddy swings the back door wide, almost as wide as his welcoming outstretched arms. My response is automatic and I step inside to be enveloped in his meaty strong arms. His squeeze is just on the too tight ‘You didn’t need that last bit of breath’ type of embrace, but it is perfect for this morning. I hold just a little longer. “Hey, what’s up?” He pulls me back and I’m surprised when I can feel a tingle pinch behind my nose, and I think I might cry. I don’t know what has got me so sensitive. I shake my head because as emotional, confusing, and abnormal as this morning was, it is nothing to cry about.

“Nothing, just tired, and I didn’t get as much time at the library as I needed.” I shrug off my excuses.

“I take it Ethan found you then?” He raises a brow and his smile falters when I shift out of his hold and can’t meet his eyes. “Ah, shit! Look, Ada…Ethan is a good friend–one of my best friends actually and he’s a good guy–but you really don’t want to….” He looks really torn with split loyalties. “It’s just, he isn’t the commitment type. He loves women, he’s just never going to–”

“–and they all love him,” I repeat a phrase that is quickly becoming a little irritating. “I get it, Buddy, but that isn’t me. I am probably the only one in this town who thinks he’s a massive prick. You don’t need to worry about me, I’m safe.” He purses his lips, and runs his hand through his hair.