Road Tripping (28 page)

Sioux
Falls, South Dakota – five years later

Ashley woke up thinking she was being
smothered.

Panicked, she
shifted her head automatically, even before she opened her eyes. It felt like a
suffocating weight was pressed mercilessly onto her face. Instinctively pushing
back against it, she was able to turn her head to the side and take several
urgent breaths. She realized after only a minute what had happened.

Ethan had ended
up on top of her again.

She remembered
very distinctly that he’d been spooning her from behind when they went to sleep
the night before. They’d had a silly conversation about how familiar this suite
was to them now, after coming here once a year since that first night at the
end of their road trip.

But both of
them moved around a lot in their sleep, and at some point, Ashley must have
rolled back over to face Ethan and somehow gotten halfway down his body.

It had been his
belly that had been pressed into her face and was still smashed up against her
cheek.

She assumed
that she had tried to roll onto her back some time during the night, and Ethan—as
was his unconscious habit—had rolled with her until he was lying pretty much on
top of her.

Now that she’d
figured it out and had gotten over the initial panic, she felt all right about
it. Ethan’s belly was warm and familiar—and just a touch softer now than it had
been when she’d first gotten to know it—so it wasn’t the worst thing to be
pressed up against.

She didn’t
bother moving away from him, even though she was sweating a little.

Adjusting her
position until she was more comfortable, she cuddled up against his body with
her head pillowed on his middle. He was still asleep—she could tell by his
deep, even breathing—so she amused herself for nearly twenty minutes by watching
the development of his growing erection.

The sheet had
slipped to the side hours ago, and Ethan had gone to sleep without any clothes
on.

She had been
gently stroking his lower belly, and her fingers tensed involuntarily when Ethan’s
voice startled her out of her bemusement.

“Watching the
show?”

“Yes.” She
started up her gentle caress once more, but never moved her hand lower than his
stomach. “You just got hard. I saw it happen.”

“How thrilling
for you.” Ethan’s voice was dry, and it made Ashley chuckle.

“It
was
a little thrilling.”

His hand moved
to brush through her hair. “How did you end up all the way down there?”

“I don’t know,”
she replied, rolling over so that she was looking up at his face. “You were on
top of me when I woke up. I had to roll you over onto your back so I didn’t
suffocate.”

“And so you
decided to retaliate by making my stomach your pillow?”

She grinned at
him in pleased languor and patted his side. “It’s a very nice pillow. I’m
enjoying it very much. Quite comfortable.”

Ethan snorted
in amusement. “I suppose that’s your subtle way of telling me I need to spend
some time working out.”

“Well, you
haven’t been getting much exercise lately, but I would hate for you to lose
these.” She gave his side a firm squeeze.

He rolled his
eyes. “Only you would think extra fat on me is a good thing. I do need to work
out more. But I’m so busy with work, and when I get home, I always want to
spend my energy...in a different way.”

“Don’t I know
it,” she complained. “It happens all the time. I just get cozy in bed and ready
to sleep, and there you are, wanting to make love again. After all this time, I
don’t know why I put up with it.”

“Poor thing,”
he said huskily, trying to get his hand around one of her breasts, which was
pressed up against his skin. “You always suffer through it so patiently in
silence.”

“Not usually in
silence. As you should know very well.” She pressed a kiss into the middle of
his belly and hauled herself up. She had been planning to pull up so she could
make out with him a little, but his hot, greedy expression made her pause as
she knelt beside him on the bed.

She glanced
down at herself to see what had sparked his interest. Nothing unusual. Just her
normal, mostly naked body. She sighed, “You’re not the only one who could stand
a few more workouts. I specifically need to do some squats and lunges.”

His brow
lowered. “What is that supposed to mean?” He sounded almost offended, although
she had been insulting herself.

Ashley craned
her neck in an attempt to see the back of her thighs. She figured it was some
universal grace that it was one part of the body that was almost impossible to
see without a mirror. “I’m talking about my thighs,” she grumbled, giving up
and flopping down beside him.

“Well, don’t,” Ethan
demanded impatiently, looking decidedly crabby. “Your thighs are perfect. I
love them.” To prove his point, he slid his hands down to squeeze just under
her butt. “Perfect,” he whispered, as she lowered her mouth to his for a kiss.

She sighed in
contentment when she finally pulled away and immediately forgot all about her
troubling cellulite. “I suppose that’s all that matters—that you don’t mind.
Since you’re the only man who sees me naked.”

“I’m the only
man who will
ever
see you naked,” he corrected, a possessive fire igniting
in his eyes.

It was her turn
to roll her eyes. “Yes, dear. No one but you will ever lay eyes on all this
glorious flesh.”

His thumb
brushed over one of her nipples. “Glorious is right.”

Ashley was
feeling drowsy and happy—which was about right since they were at the end of
their annual trek to Sioux Falls—so she enjoyed Ethan’s little touches for a
while, not feeling anything close to urgency yet.

After a few
minutes, she murmured, “You know, I guess I have to resign myself to being
old-fashioned after all.”

“Why’s that?”
he asked with a smile, his thumb moving to her lower lip.

Ashley was
tempted to bite his thumb, but that might interfere with her pleasant, dreamy
haze, so she just spoke around it instead. “Well, I was just thinking that
you’re probably the only man I will ever have sex with in my life. Doesn’t that
seem old-fashioned?”

He narrowed his
eyes. “It seems about right to me. And what is this about ‘probably’?”

She giggled at
his annoyed tone. “Well, just in case you die when I’m still in my prime. I
might have to move on to another man. I have certain needs, after all.”

He scowled at
her. “I’ll have to make sure you’re satisfied enough to hold out after I’m
gone.”

Her giggle
turned into a full-fledged laughter. “Does that mean we’re going to have even
more sex? How are we going to make the time in our busy schedules? You with
your job and me in medical school. We’ll have to stop sleeping altogether.”

Ethan joined
her in laughter, and then they kissed for another few minutes.

“God, Ethan,”
she gasped at last. “I love you so much.”

“Despite the
ruthless mockery, I happen to love you too.” He kissed her deeply and pushed
her over onto her back. Moved over her, his body covering hers perfectly, their
skin already clinging and damp.

His erection was
pressing against her insistently, and she felt her inner muscles clench in
response.

Then Ethan’s
phone rang.

He had left it
on the nightstand before they’d gone to bed last night. Instinctively, he
reached toward it and glanced at the caller.

Ashley saw his
face when he read who was calling. She relaxed back onto the pillow. “Go ahead
and take it,” she told him easily.

“It’ll be
important,” he explained, looking torn. “But…”

She waved him
away. “It’s fine, Ethan. We have plenty of time. But don’t forget that we have
lunch plans with Rick and Karen.”

He nodded and
flipped open his phone, getting off the bed, grabbing a pair of pants from the
floor, and making his way into the second room of the suite where he had set up
his work stuff.

He was
completely naked and still had an erection, but he didn’t seem to have noticed.

She chuckled
and admired his very fine ass as he walked out of the room.

She knew he’d
be a long time. She hadn’t seen who was calling, but he was working on a big
project that had some pressing deadlines. He was a structural engineer, as he’d
always wanted to be.

It hadn’t been
easy. He’d done well in college, but he was on the job market for a while
before he’d gotten his first entry-level job because of his record.  He’d been
doing fine since, though, and she thought his future would be good.

So she wasn’t
even annoyed by his departure. She just snuggled back into bed and dozed for
about an hour.

It was 10:30 in
the morning when she next looked at the clock. She’d have to take a shower and
get dressed soon—their lunch plans were for noon.

Ethan was still
on the phone. She could occasionally hear him when his voice got particularly
intense.

She started
feeling a little mushy—the sappiness had never fully gone away. She couldn’t
believe they had been together for so long, and she never questioned anymore
that they’d be together for the rest of their lives.

And that was
the thought that pushed her to do it. She jumped out of the bed and ran over to
the dresser, where she had left her purse the previous evening. She unzipped
the small inner pocket and pulled out a ring. It was exquisite, tasteful, and
cost more money than Ethan should have spent.

An intricate
platinum band with one large diamond in the center of the setting.

Ethan had
offered it to her—with a proposal of marriage—two weeks ago. It had been a
little awkward, since she always had in mind that they’d get married when she finished
with medical school. He’d known that was what she’d been thinking, but he’d
proposed early anyway.

She’d been rather
rattled by the surprise. Both of them had been rather hurt by the discussion
that had followed. She had finally accepted the ring with the promise to wear
it when she was ready to become engaged.

She knew why
she hadn’t been able to say yes to Ethan then—it was the same reason she hadn’t
moved in with him until after she had graduated from college—but it had been so
hard to explain it to Ethan.

He had simply
thought that she didn’t want to marry him. Which wasn’t the case at all.

She did want to
marry him. And it was silly to hesitate just because their relationship still
wasn’t perfect.

He was still
working on not being controlling. And she was still trying to get over that safe,
secure good-girl fantasy where everything fell in place exactly as she
intended.

But they were
doing really well. Both of them were better than they’d been five years ago,
and they were even better together. She slipped Ethan’s engagement ring onto
her finger. Really liked how it looked on her hand.

“Sorry,” Ethan
said, coming into the room at last. “I didn’t think it would last that long.”

“No problem,”
she replied quietly, standing in her underwear in front of the dresser.

“What are you
doing over there?” he asked curiously, coming over to stand behind her.

Now that the
time was here, Ashley felt oddly embarrassed, liked she wasn’t sure how to
bring it up. So she decided that she’d just wait until Ethan noticed the ring
on his own. “Trying to get up the energy to start getting ready.”

He met her eyes
in the mirror above the dresser. “So I suppose it’s too late to follow through
with what we began before,” Ethan murmured, draping his arm around her waist.

Ashley sighed
in disappointment. “We should probably start getting ready for lunch. We only
see Rick and Karen once a year.”

Neither Rick
Smith nor Ethan were involved in moonshine anymore, but they’d kept in touch,
and they all got together during their annual visits.

“We can make up
for lost time later this afternoon,” she added.

Ethan gave her
a hot look. “You better believe it.”

So they started
to shower and get dressed, going through their normal routine at a slower pace,
and they were ready in plenty of time to go to lunch.

Ethan still
hadn’t noticed the ring.

***

It was evening when they
returned to their suite. Ashley threw her shopping bag and purse onto a chair,
feeling tired, frustrated, and annoyed.

Annoyed with Ethan.

She’d been
wearing Ethan’s ring all day—except for the two hours at lunch, not wanting one
of their friends to point it out before Ethan realized it himself. They’d been
together all day. Her hand had been in plain sight for a good portion of the
time.

And Ethan
hadn’t even had the courtesy to notice that they were now officially engaged to
be married.

It had gone on
for so long now that it had become a point of pride for her not to bring it to
his attention herself. As she kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the
loveseat, she wondered how many weeks it would be before Ethan finally got
around to glancing at her left hand.

Ethan set down
the basket of goodies that Karen had baked for them and shook his head at her.
“Would you like to tell me what you’ve been pouting about for the last three
hours?”

 “I haven’t
been pouting. And I’d appreciate if you’d use a different word. When you’re
annoyed by something, you seem to think it’s somehow justified, but when I’m
annoyed, you call it ‘pouting’ or ‘whining.’ I hope you realize the
double-standard in that.”

Rolling his
eyes, he sat down in a chair next to her. “I don’t think you’re being childish.
I do think you’re upset about something and not telling me what it is. So would
you please tell me why you’ve been less than happy with me this afternoon? Is
that a more appropriately worded question?”