Page 37 of A Certain Step (Midnights at Pemberley #1)

ETHAN

W illa skipped to his side after the curtain call and nestled herself in the crook of his arm.

He’d never get used to this—her nearness, her excitement.

It’d been a month since the cast found out about their relationship.

He and Willa had been closer than ever, together more often than they weren’t.

No more hiding. Out in the open, at least here in the theatre.

Most of the cast had plans to go to Sam’s show tonight, and Ethan looked forward to it, missing putting on solo concerts more than he thought.

Willa followed him into his dressing room where he was struggling not to gape at her.

She was back in the emerald bodysuit, the verdant hues bringing out the gold in her beguiling brown eyes.

He wanted desperately to pick her up, set her down on his vanity, and kiss her senselessly until her cheeks reddened into the same color as the crimson on her lips.

She’d said she didn’t want him to tiptoe around her, but he knew she wouldn’t be ready for some of the things he wanted.

He let his hands trail to her hips, steadying her, holding her gaze. Willa wrapped her arms around his ne ck. “You look like you’re plotting something,” she remarked.

“I am,” he drawled. “I want to pick you up and set you down on the vanity, then kiss you until you beg me to stop.”

A sly smirk landed on her lips. “Let me take off my makeup and change, and then I’m all yours.”

“I want you in that costume.”

“Do you also want to explain to Marla that you’re responsible for a jewel loosening or a tear somewhere?”

She had a point. Dammit . He was sure he was openly frowning. “No.”

“Then I’ll be back,” she noted.

Ethan burrowed his face into her neck and sighed. “Okay.”

Willa came back to his room a few minutes later, makeup off, black fitted cropped top on, and denim jeans hugging her hips.

He lifted her onto the counter and drew his hands to cup her ass.

Her legs enclosed around him, and he groaned with need, heat pulsing through his bloodstream. Christ, this was a bad idea.

She kissed him hard and fast, her fingers raking through his hair with recurring strokes.

He wasn’t sure of many things in life, but he knew that the moment he had more of Willa, he’d savor every second with her—preserve every curve of her body and the sounds she made into a sanctified space in his mind.

“Come to my place after you’ve showered, and we could go together. Your outfit is perfectly fine. You should wear it tonight,” she added.

“Sure,” he answered, his voice softer, lazier. He was at her disposal. He’d do whatever she wanted him to.

Her gaze was drawn out and searching. She traced the lines along his face, tipping his chin up to her . “You look like a kid whose parents took away his favorite toy. What’s wrong?”

“You changed out of the bodysuit,” he answered honestly.

A small laugh chirped out of her. “Wait, are you serious?”

He blinked once, twice, and nodded sincerely. He traced his hand along the rigid denim, angling his hands toward the outer parts of her thighs.

“Oh my God, you’re ridiculous,” she said, pressing her hands against his chest.

He let out a low grumble. “I miss your thighs. I haven’t touched them bare for weeks. You keep wearing jeans or sweats at home,” he confessed.

“That’s an exaggeration. I wore shorts to bed last week.”

“Yes, but you were on your period, and then you almost cried after dropping the Schmackary's cookie on the floor, so I kept my hands to myself.”

Grinning, she held his gaze. “Okay, you have a point there. It was cute how you tried to get it delivered for me, then realized it was too late and brought me more the next morning. But also, you realize that you wouldn’t be touching me bare, right, but three layers of pantyhose?”

She had a point. But it was the principle—the visibility of her irresistibly toned legs— her thighs . “Ssh,” he rasped into her neck, kissing her frantically.

Willa sighed in response, dropping her shoulders in a state of relief. “I have a mini skirt in mind I could wear tonight,” she proposed.

“Yes,” he groaned against her skin, trailing his lips back up to hers to take her in a searing, sweltering kiss.

Sahar opened the door when Ethan knocked. “Hi, hi. She’ll be out in a sec. She had a wardrobe malfunction with the top she wanted to wear.”

Ethan nodded. He joined Sahar on the couch, where she had reruns of The Golden Girls playing .

“Did you start playing Hades 2 yet?” he asked.

“No! I keep meaning to, but I’ve been in a shit mood, so I just started Tears of the Kingdom from the beginning again.”

He gave her a concerned expression. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You know what won’t be fine, though? The fact that I can’t share the review key for Dread Quest, the game Jay’s mate developed, because it’s so good, and I don’t have anyone to talk about it with. The animation on the zombies is wild.”

“When is it supposed to be released?”

“I think at the end of August? Or early September, I’ll have to double-check,” Sahar answered.

“It’s on my list. I tried starting Elden Ring , but either I’m getting old, or the lore is too dense for me.”

“Oh, I definitely don’t have the bandwidth for that one. I mentioned it to Dec the other day, too. Although, to be fair, my brain is mush by the time we get home from a show, so it could also be our exhaustion.”

“Yeah, I wondered if that was the case, too,” Ethan replied.

“Agreed. But you have to play Dread Quest when it’s out. You’re going to love it. Don’t wait.”

Ethan bobbed in his head. Knowing it was a frequent talking point for both of them, he was about to ask what she thought of the soundtrack when Willa came out of her bedroom.

She wore a short black skirt with a slit on the side and an oversized heather-grey T-shirt of sorts tied at the front. “Boots or trainers?” she asked Sahar.

Sahar roun ded her lips in thought. “Uh…boots. They’d dress up the outfit more.”

“Do you have an opinion?” Willa asked Ethan.

Her legs. Her taut calves. Her thighs. He couldn’t speak his opinion aloud, so he settled for a different version. “You look perfect,” he acknowledged.

“Cute, cute, cute. But a friendly reminder that I’m still in the room, and I’m not getting off this couch. You two can go elsewhere if need be,” Sahar added.

Shaking her head with a grin, Willa then shimmied her feet into her ankle boots. “You need to go change out of your sweats. Sam said he wanted us there at least half an hour early. We need to leave in ten minutes if we’re going to make it.”

Sahar bounced off the couch. “Oh shit. You’re right.”

Willa ambled over to where Ethan sat and snaked her arm around his neck.

She lowered herself onto his lap, legs folded together, likely to keep her skirt from rising too much.

His arm circled her waist, and his other hand dropped gradually against the top of her knee, moving higher with languid caresses.

He took in the hypnotizing scent of her perfume—reveled in her nearness. “This skirt is going to torture me all night, you know that?”

She raised her unoccupied hand to brush a strand of hair back from his forehead. “And that’s why you get a few minutes now to make up for me robbing you earlier.”

Ethan drew his fingers closer to her thigh. “So thoughtful. So unaware of how far gone I am that a few minutes will never be enough.”

She smiled indolently, lashes darting up and down. “Patience is a virtue.” Tipping his chin up, she pressed her mouth onto his, the gloss from her lips catching on.

He repeated the words she’d once spoken back to her. “No, patience is life’s most enraging plot device.”

Willa guff awed. “What if I tell you I have a surprise for you, and it’s one I know you’ll appreciate? Can you be patient, then?”

“Anything for you,” he croaked, his hand still roaming her legs, touching, kneading, and worshiping the parts that were bare to him.

Away from their respective houses and the theatre, he couldn’t show physical affection.

They had no idea how many fans would show up.

He had to get everything—or as much as he could—out of his system until they were back in close quarters again.

“Have you always been a thigh man?” she asked.

He squeezed her flesh demonstratively. “Never knew I was one until I touched yours.”

She shook her head, an adorable smile on full display for him. “What’s so special about them?”

He shut his eyes, fingers tucked in between her soft skin. “They’re yours,” he answered candidly.

She kissed his lips again, then wiped the lingering gloss off with the pad of her thumb. He stared at her, still in awe that she was his.

“Ready, lovebirds?” Sahar called out, popping out of her room.

Willa sighed against his arms and passed a look to him. “No,” she said in a voice so low he wasn’t sure he was meant to hear it. She lifted herself from his lap. Ethan rose afterward, taking her in his arms for a quick hug and a peck along the side of her temple.

Out there, they couldn’t be a couple. Out there, he had to master levels of control he wasn’t sure he possessed.