Ethans Fal (17 page)

“You’ve done enough.” I snap, but I’m not sure who I’m talking to. “Ada, really, you’ve done enough. Go home, get ready…or not, you look perfect as is. Just make sure you come back.” My stern voice brooks no discussion.

“You’d be crazy not to come back, Ada. Ethan’s parties are legendary.” Jakes assertion only causes Ada to give a derisive snort.

“I don’t doubt that for a moment.” She pushes Jake out the door and flashes her bright, soul-stirring smile back my way. I want to keep that smile right there, on her face, looking at me.

“YOU CAN STAY
with me tonight, Ada.” Sky’s flirtatious tone is full of mischief as she sashays over to me. I have showered and borrowed one of her more modest dresses. It covers a lot of skin but it moulds to my body; a spaghetti-strapped, halter neck, black maxi dress. I don’t have a huge supply of party outfits and this is both comfortable and a little glam. Sky is wearing a nude mesh vest over a gold lamé slip; it’s almost a dress but very sexy. She looks stunning. “We could have a little cosy night with…well with whoever we can drag back.” She purrs sensually and then we both burst out laughing. “All right, maybe not. But you are welcome to crash here all the same, I just can’t guarantee you’ll get much sleep.” She tips her mass of tight natural blonde curls upside down and does a good impression of a fan at a metal concert. One final shake and it looks like we are ready to go. I grab my sleeping bag ruck sack.

“You know, as kind as that offer is I’ll take a pass.”

“Joking aside, I hate it that you sleep out there. I know I don’t have much room, but what I have is yours. You know that, right?” Her expression is filled with concern and it melts my heart.

“I know that, Sky, and I impose enough. Any more and I’d feel like a mooch. Besides, on a night like this…have you seen those stars? Even a night in a fancy hotel would be hard pressed to top that view.” She narrows her eyes like she doesn’t believe me, but it really isn’t a big deal. With my winter accommodation at Joan’s, and sofa hopping at friends throughout the summer months, I probably don’t spend much more than two weeks combined sleeping outside and I know I am damn lucky it’s not much longer.

“Okay, sweetie, your decision. Now, let’s go cause some chaos.” She grabs her keys and hands me the bottle of Jack.

It’s near eleven o’clock when we arrive at Ethan’s and there is absolutely no space. Bodies are crammed, music is thumping, and I feel for old Burt next door. I hold my bag as some sort of protective barrier. It’s big enough with my change of clothes, pillow, and sleeping bag to be an effective shield. Ethan appears from nowhere just as Sky vanishes into the swell of people with my bottle.

“Are you moving in? It’s a little fast but–” He nods to my bag and raises an amused brow.

“You’re funny.” I say without humour. “I’m staying at a friends and needed to bring my stuff, that’s all. Is there somewhere safe I can put it?”

“My bedroom; you do remember where that is, don’t you?” He doesn’t have to lean so close, he could just shout over the music but I shiver, because his cool mint and mojito breath warm my neck.

“I said safe.” I try to lean away but he mirrors my retreat and his lips carve a delicious, sinful look across his face.

“The spare room then.” He grabs my hand and with a firm grip that sends a tightening sensation in my tummy, he leads me through the crowd and straight into his spare bedroom. The door closes and the noise from the party is now muffled, but all I can hear is the blood pulsing through my veins. I am holding my bag like a life raft, clinging for its safety. He tugs the loose handle, and tries again, much harder, before I let go. His eyes widen, his pupils dark and dangerous. Shit. “Wow! Ada you look…good enough to eat.” I can’t deny the draw, the tension, and desire coursing through me, but I can deny doing anything about it while a hundred people or so are just outside the door.

“Ethan, this must be the classy gentleman side of your personality I have yet to experience. Or as host do you always disappear to fuck strangers at your parties.” I get an unpleasant twinge at that thought and even more so at his unashamed grin.

“I don’t think we qualify as strangers anymore.” He steps closer and I step to the side and turn away from him, my hand on the door knob.

“And I don’t think
you
qualify as a gentleman.” I quickly escape back into the main room. Did I just accuse him of ungentlemanly behaviour, when I was just as guilty for my lack of self-restraint and decorum in the library. Oh, and in here for that matter. I glance around his living area, with a flashback, instant recall heating my face–yes and in here too. He may be no gentleman but I get a little spike of pleasure knowing that I’m no
lady
either, at least in everything bar my birth name. I wriggle my way and try to lose myself in the thick mess of heaving party people.

I don’t think it was a conscious decision as such, or just an unnerving need for self-preservation, but in the middle of the mayhem I get a much needed moment of clarity. I have to stay away from Ethan. I can’t seem to summon any will to deny him, to resist his lure, and his innate promise of unbridled pleasure he’s so ready to lavish on my wanton self. The effects he has on my body…I have never experienced anything like that kind of high. It’s intoxicating, it’s seductive, and it seriously clouds my judgement. I have to step back and put
it
in its rightful box. It’s just amazing, ‘almost’ sex. But even uncomplicated, close-encounter sex is a complication I don’t need–and Ethan feels a lot like a
huge
complication.

I weave my way to the kitchen and fill a plastic cup with tap water, I put in some ice and a slice of cucumber. It looks at least like a Gin and Tonic, and I won’t have to explain why I’m not drinking in a town where there are no designated drivers because everyone has walked here. There are a lot of people here I don’t recognise, but that’s what happens when you have an open house invitation in a holiday town. There are enough that I do know though, and I gravitate toward them: Jake, Buddy, Sky, Sandy and Carla, other waitresses at the bar standing in a semi-circle with Jax, Trunk, and Nik, Jake’s surfing buddies.

I haven’t seen Ethan for over an hour and everyone is getting increasingly drunk and silly, but the music is awesome and I start to dance a little more freely on the edge of the room. Sky pulls me into a small clearing and with back-to-back Niki Minaj and Pussy Cat Dolls, I slip into some long forgotten sluttier routines. Oblivious and just enjoying the sensual beat throbbing through my body, I happily drop the odd provocative move, safe in the comfort of the corner surrounded by my closest friends. Tove Lo’s
Talking Body
erotic beat blends seamlessly and I feel a shift in the air around me. Everyone is dancing just the same, the noise is just as deafening but I feel him. My breath hitches and a moment in time suspends with pure erotic tension. His large hands slide around my waist from behind, his palm flat, hot on my tummy, which flutters so much I’m sure he can feel it. I tense at first but my body relaxes of its own volition, and I don’t fight it. He pulls my back against his front and swings his body with mine. It’s a natural, easy rhythm, not a clumsy attempt at a sexy bump and grind, but in an actual sexy, sensual sway. He spins me with confidence and moves my body in what feels like a well-rehearsed dance sequence.

He can move; God, there’s possibly nothing more sexy that a man who can lead on the dance floor. His eyes light with a blaze of intensity when my body responds to his nonverbal command. Tight sharp dips and spins, I fit perfectly against his solid frame, every bend is easy and fluid against him and I can feel my temperature rise, but not from the exertion of the dance. His leg wedges between mine, the extent of the penetration prohibited by the full length maxi dress. The material does have enough stretch that I can feel the hotness of his muscular thigh against my own raging heat. He drops the hold on my forearm, allowing me to succumb to gravity and slide down the length of his leg. A sharp jerk and pull lifts me clear off the floor, and he twists me around his body. His fingertips grip a little harder than necessary into the flesh of my bottom before he removes one hand and expertly dips me back. He follows my arched body, backward dip almost to the floor. He pulls back slightly and drags his other hand down the centre of my chest, scorching a path with his touch and causing a howl of wolf whistles and cheering. He scoops me up, my legs would normally and naturally want to wrap around his trim waist but thankfully my dress prevents it. There would be no hiding how turned on I am if I were flush against him in such an intimate hold. As it is we are pressed together so tight, I can feel his heart beating a strong staccato under my fingertips. His breath is on my lips and every part of me trembles. My body is silently screaming, ‘
This isn’t a complication, this is a necessity’
.

“You know what you are, Ada?” His eyes bore through me with pure fire just waiting to consume me…make me burn. I swallow thickly; my mouth is so dry and my heart is fiercely shaking my body from the inside. I can’t answer. I try but nothing comes out. I shake my head in response. His lips curl in a sexy, tender smile but his next words crush me. “Mine.” His lips possess mine, his body engulfs me, and his embrace is so secure, I crumble. When he pulls back, even the slight distance, I feel as if it were a Continent keeping us apart. My chest tightens; my skin flushes with desire and pure panic. I am gasping for air and some distance. I can’t breathe and I can’t think.

Sky helps, a timely and perfect interruption. She bumps up behind me, wraps her arms around my waist, and holds on to Ethan’s button down shirt at the side, gripping fistfuls of material. Her attempt to encourage a three way grind is all wrong, but it does ease all the burgeoning tension and gives me the opportunity to wriggle out and leave them together in an awkward semi-embrace. Ethan’s posture is noticeably more statuesque and I can feel his glare on me the entire time I work my way back to his spare room.

I don’t bother changing, just slip one of my many layers on because I need to leave. I just don’t trust myself and I can’t risk getting involved with anyone. I stuff Sky’s fancy shoes in the bag and sling my large sweatshirt over my arm, as Ethan’s apartment is too hot to wear it right now. I hunch low and pick myself an exit route but before I can open the front door, Buddy stops me.

“Let me walk you.” His voice drops to this level when he is serious.

“I’m fine, Buddy. You don’t have to do that. I haven’t been drinking, so I think I can find my way to the b–” I stop myself because Ethan is now at Buddy’s shoulder, shooting heated daggers at me.

“You’re not sleeping on the–”

“Buddy!” I shout my interruption, my wide eyes and angry expression make him bite his words back but he still looks mad.

“I won’t have to
say
anything if you let me walk you home.” I hear his latent threat loud and clear. I don’t want Ethan to know where I’m sleeping any more than Buddy wants me sleeping on the beach.

“Buddy, I’m not having this discussion now. You never get to party and I’m not having you cut it short for me.” I try to place a soothing hand on his arm. “Why is this suddenly a problem for you now? I’ll be fine.”