Morning After (A Reynolds Security Novel) (5 page)

“Just hear me out, give me a chance.”

“You had your chance, and I don’t believe in second chances.”

“Bella…”

“The lady asked you to leave.”  The sound of Ethan’s voice made her heart
whomp in her chest. She hadn’t felt threatened by Marco, but suddenly she felt supremely safe. Marco swiveled to see who had spoken. Ethan was standing in her kitchen with a white plastic bag that presumably contained lunch. She didn’t know how he could look so masculine holding take out, but next to him Marco looked almost effeminate. Okay that was probably just her anger talking but since Ethan had a good four inches in both height and shoulder breadth he certainly made Marco look small.

“Who are you?” Marco asked. His voice lost all hint of the seductive quality he had been using on her.

“None of your business.” Ethan said coolly.  Marco glared at him then turned back toward her and smiled.

“Why don’t you come by the restaurant and will talk this out. Besides,” He hurried on before she could refuse, “Everyone misses you, and they would like to see you.” He was trying to guilt her into it, she knew it but she was tired of arguing with him.

“I’ll think about it,” she sighed. Marco grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles before she could pull back. Then he turned and strode out the front door without a backward glance. Rod continued installing the new lock as if he hadn’t seen or heard a thing.  Ethan watched Erica absently rub the back of her hand on her jeans and had to fight the urge to smile.

“I hope you’re hungry. I wasn’t sure what you might like so I got a lot.”

“It smells great, what is it?”

“Thai food.”

“I love Thai.” She grinned. 

“You made a lot of progress.” He praised as she took a bite of her noodles.

“Thanks.” She mumbled and he grinned.

“I got your car running.”

“You did?” She looked up surprised.

“Yeah, it wasn’t hard, the battery was disconnected.”

“It was?” She frowned.

“I moved it into the garage under my building until you are ready to pick it up. At least that way if anyone tampers with it they will be on camera.”

“Thank you.” Her mind took over as she tried to think of any justifiable reason for her battery to be disconnected. She couldn’t think of one.

“I guess we should go get my car,” she said when they were done. “I have to go to the bank and the cell store.” 

“No problem, I’ll drive you. Where do you bank?” She smirked at him and he stopped.

“What? Come on there was nothing take-charge about that.” He defended and she laughed and grabbed a spare purse and a jacket.

Chapter 6

Erica looked at the smart phone in her hand and sighed.

“Something wrong with it?” Ethan asked looking over her shoulder. He had been a constant at her side the whole time but rather than being annoying it was strangely comforting. Almost as if he had always been there.

“It’s so… empty.” She sighed again.

“Let me see it.” He held out his hand and she handed it over. She watched as he touched the screen but couldn’t tell what he was doing. “There, now it’s not empty.” He handed it back and she saw that he had added himself as a contact. Her stomach gave a little lurch and she smiled at him.  She quickly pushed down the quivery feeling and drew on her bravado instead.

“Come on, let’s go and I’ll buy you dinner with my new bank card.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t ask for ID.” He chuckled.

“I can’t believe they made me make an appointment for a test.” She grumbled.

“Well it was expired… for a year and a half.” He couldn’t hold back his laughter. She glared at him but couldn’t help but smile.

Ethan followed Erica's directions and ended up in the parking lot of somewhere he'd never been. One glance at the front window told him why. It read "This week's special, half off wheat grass shakes." Ethan suppressed a groan and looked at the woman beside him she smiled expectantly at him and he just smiled back. He would eat gravel if she wanted him to. He opened her door and she quickly hopped down and looked up at him.

"You really think I'd make you eat wheatgrass?" One side of his mouth lifted in a lazy half smile but he didn't admit that's what he'd been thinking.

"Please, I bet you have a saying... Something like I don't eat grass, I eat things that eat grass." His half smile bloomed into a full blown grin and she laughed.

"Come on." She led him down the sidewalk past the restaurant he thought they'd be eating at. On the other side was an older building that he wouldn't have pegged as a restaurant or really anything. Erica pulled open the door and it was like stepping into another dimension. Everything gleamed to a high shine. The floor was a black and white checkerboard pattern. Chrome winked at him from every surface and the place was packed.

"Welcome to Mac's." She looked up at him and grinned, "Hope you don't mind sitting at the counter."  They slid onto a couple of stools at the end of the counter. They were among the only empty seats in the house. An older woman with her hair up in an honest to god bee hive appeared in front of them. He barely kept his jaw from dropping.

"Hiya Honey." she said and leaned across the counter to kiss Erica's cheek.

"Hi Mabel."
Erica said and Ethan nearly choked holding back his laughter.

"The usual?"

"For me yes but my friend here needs a menu."

"Actually," he interrupted, "Surprise me."

"Okay make it two."

"So you trust me to order for you?" she asked after Mabel walked away.

"Hey I was willing to eat wheatgrass, remember? You can't possibly do any worse." Erica laughed and odd warmth spread through him. He itched to touch her, to reach out and take her hand. It was only by sheer force of will that he didn't.

"So since you picked the place does that make this a date?"

"No." Erica replied immediately.

"No?"

"No, if this was a date I'd be wearing makeup and heels not dirty jeans."

I like you in dirty jeans or even better in nothing at all.

Before he could rephrase that thought into something less forward Mabel returned with two chocolate shakes and accompanying tins.  Erica snatched the cherry off the top of her shake and popped it in her mouth pulling off the stem and twirling it in her fingertips.

"If this was a date I would try to impress you by telling you that I can tie this stem into a knot using only my tongue."

"Really?" He smiled and offered her his cherry which she took. "And would I be impressed by that?"

"Of course you would. You would ask for a demonstration and you would say that it was hot."

"But this isn't a date." 

"Nope, so you'll just have to take my word for it." She smiled and he laughed.

Mabel arrived with their plates Ethan was impressed; Erica's usual was a half-pound bacon cheeseburger and a pile of fries.

"I've decided," he popped a fry in his mouth, "You can surprise me anytime."

Erica paced the quiet stillness of her apartment. Ethan had dropped her off a couple hours before. It was late, she should be in bed but she couldn't bring herself to climb in her bed and sleep.  Turning off the lights and climbing in bed made her vulnerable and for the first time since the robbery she actually felt it. Initially she had distracted herself by calling Zoe.
It was good to hear her voice. Her father's surgery had been postponed due to swelling so he wasn't out of the woods yet. She wanted to tell her about Ethan, she wanted to agonize over every detail and tell Zoe about all the confusing feelings she was experiencing but she couldn't. She told herself it was because Zoe had enough to deal with. But deep inside she knew that wasn't the reason. Zoe was her best friend. She would listen and offer advice anytime. No, Erica knew she wasn't talking about Ethan because she couldn't hear the words, hearing them saying them, made all of this real. She wasn't ready for real. She had never felt anything this intense, it was scary.

After checking her new deadbolt for the hundredth time she finally crawled into bed. As she lay there trying to sleep, she thought about the previous night curled up on Ethan's couch whispering in the dark. Before she could talk herself out of it she grabbed her new phone plugged in on the nightstand and texted Ethan.

"Are you awake?"  It was less than a minute before she received a reply.

"Yep."
  She took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding just from reading his text. This was getting ridiculous. "What's the matter can't sleep?" He asked and it made her smile.

"Not for lack of trying." She replied.

"I am sure sleepy time tea is out. Try warm milk?"

"Tried hot chocolate, didn't work."

"Bath?"

"Yes."

"I only know one other sure cure for insomnia."

"And that is?"

"...nevermind." Erica stared at the word a blush creeping up her cheeks as the meaning of the comment settled on her. He had been a perfect gentleman he hadn't even come close to trying to kiss her at the end of their non-date. She was relieved and oddly disappointed at the same time.

"
lol." It was as close to standard text lingo as she ever got. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I was waiting for you to call me."  Erica caught her breath at the rush of pleasure reading those words gave her.

"You could call me." She typed, holding her breath. She didn't have to wait long but her phone didn't ring with a telephone call, instead it chimed with a video chat request.

Video! As in he'll be able to see me! Decline!

Her finger didn't respond to her panic and pressed accept instead.

"I said you could call, this is not the same thing." Even as she said the words her lips curled up in to a smile of pure pleasure at the sight of his face.

"I know but this is better." His voice was husky, as if he'd been asleep and she could see he was in bed.

"
Ohmigod, I woke you up." She gasped.

"Nah, I'm awake." He smiled. He was so sexy it made her dizzy. She was glad he wasn't there in person.

"I've never done this before."

"You're a video chat virgin?" He grinned and she laughed.

"You know I would not have chosen to make my video chat debut in my jammies."

"You're beautiful."  The words and the husky voice made the hair on her arms stand up.

"Where are your jammies?" she asked before she fully realized what she was saying.

"I don't wear
jammies." He chuckled and she felt her cheeks heat.

"
Ohmigod." She groaned and covered her face and he laughed harder.

"Don't worry, I'll keep the phone pointed up here, you can just tell yourself I have bottoms on."  She groaned again and he laughed harder.  She propped up the phone against the pillow next to her and sighed.

"I am really sorry I woke you up."

"I'm not." The laughter was gone from his voice now. "It's okay to be uncomfortable after what happened."

"I took this self-defense class in college. I thought I was prepared but when... when he grabbed me... I couldn't remember anything I was supposed to do. I drew a total blank."

"That's normal, Erica. There are plenty of guys that go into combat after all the training that Uncle Sam provides and still freeze up." She sighed but didn't respond. "I can teach you. I happen to know some self-defense."

"Ethan," she sighed, "Aren't you tired of coming to my rescue?"  The sound of her sighing his name caused a reaction all the way to his bones. He opened his mouth to respond and had to try twice before sound came out.

"I don't mind, really. Don't think of it as me coming to your rescue, I'm just..."

"Being a good friend?" she supplied.

"Right, being a good friend." He said, though the word felt wrong in his mouth.

"Is that a tattoo?"

"What? Oh yeah it is." Grateful for the distraction he moved his arm forward so she could see the tattoo on his upper left biceps in the small video screen.   

"Oh it's a bulldog, that's so cute."

"It's a devil dog, and it's not supposed to be cute."

"Sorry, it's very manly." she laughed.

"It's a Marine Corps tat. It is manly." The indignant tone of his voice made her laugh again.

"Do you have any others?"

"I thought you didn't want to know about the parts you couldn't see." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed again. It felt good, her earlier apprehension completely forgotten.  "No that's the only one. On my eighteenth birthday I got the tattoo and I enlisted.

"How long were you in for?"

"Eight years. I fully intended to do twenty."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Got shot."

"Really?"
Erica gasped.

"Yep, lost my spleen."
He moved the phone so she could see the scar on his side and she couldn't help but notice the sculpted chest and abs on the way down. She had never spent much time mooning over the male body but his was impressive enough to make the warmth in her stomach turn into a full tingle.

Ethan barely concealed his nervousness as he waited for her to answer the door. He couldn't hide the smile when she opened it. She was wearing a white shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, her hair was pulled up into a pony tail. She was completely makeup free and absolutely beautiful.

"Ethan." There was a question in her voice even as she held the door open to admit him.

"I am concerned about your conscience."

"My conscience?"

"Yeah, you're worried that I am doing too many favors for you. So I have come up with one you can do for me."

"Does it involve that outfit?" She asked eyeing his baseball pants and
untucked jersey.

"It does as a matter of fact. I need a cheerleader."

"I hate to break it to you but I was never a cheerleader." she laughed, "If you need a girls fast pitch softball catcher, I'm your girl. But I'm not a cheerleader."

"Ah come on it's not like you have to actually lead any cheers. My buddy Jace is the first baseman on our team and he has a personal cheering squad, I catch a ration of shit from him after every game."

"So you want me to come and cheer for you?"

"Yep."

"Are you any good?" She crossed her arms and cocked an eye brow.

"Nope, I hope you have some acting skills."

"All right, let me change and put some makeup on."

"No time. Besides you look perfect, beautiful. Let's go."

Erica fidgeted restlessly in the truck on the way to the park. She was more nervous about being around his friends than she had been about being alone with him.

"Tell me about the team."

"It is a coed team, made up mostly of people who work for my company, there are also some spouses and friends. We're not very good." He laughed. "Which is why we need all the cheering we can get." He laughed.

He wasn't kidding when he said she didn't have time to change. The game was about to start when they got there. He grabbed a bag of gear out of the back of the truck and she headed for the bleachers. She felt a little odd not knowing anyone but it was nice to have a reason to stare at Ethan. He was certainly a fine specimen. He had talked to her and kept her laughing until she could barely keep her eyes open. Once they finally got off
the phone she fell into a deep sleep, her apprehension about being alone forgotten.