Page 48 of A Certain Step (Midnights at Pemberley #1)

WILLA

W illa burst into tears. It couldn’t have been cute.

She was staring at a charming, shockingly large treehouse adorned in twinkle lights, with Ethan’s arms enfolding her from behind and his lips on her cheek.

What on earth was happening? It was his birthday! What was he doing? Christ, those tickets to the Stoic Badger concert and the custom Muppet Christmas Carol painting paled on all fronts.

She parted her lips to speak but cried instead. Sahar once joked that actually seeing a treehouse up close would make Willa pass out, and for a split second there, she thought she might. She was sure Ethan was holding her upright.

“Ethan, what is this?” she finally asked.

A delicious laugh rumbled from his throat. “It’s a treehouse.”

She turned to look at him more closely, her hands resting against his shoulders. “You’ve had a treehouse this whole time, and you’re just now telling me?”

He shook his head. “Remember that renovation project I briefly mentioned I’d been working on with my dad?”

Willa gaped at him. “Go on.”

“This was it,” he revealed, watching as she puckered her lips and teared up again.

He trailed his mouth along her face and kissed the tears away.

“He mentioned wanting to build one for my nephew, so when I learned how much you loved them, I went in on it with him and pushed to expedite the construction. We ran into a few issues in the beginning but still managed to finish on time.”

She was, quite literally and embarrassingly, speechless.

“I would have brought you here whether we got together or not so you could see it. It was finished about two months ago, so this conveniently worked out. The hardest part was keeping it a secret from you.”

She shook her head again, astonishment clouding her brain, happy tears blurring her vision.

Willa threw herself into his arms. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” she whispered in a frenzy.

“I love you more. Do you want to go up?”

She perked up like a little girl. “Can we?”

“Yeah, beautiful. It’s big enough to fit us,” he declared.

Her eyes widened suddenly. “Wait, is anyone else here?”

“No, my parents and siblings will get in tomorrow. I wanted us to have today to ourselves before everyone else joined.”

She placed a searing, scorching kiss against his lips. “How are you mine?”

How was he hers? How had she gone from genuinely believing and fearing that she’d never find someone who saw all of her to finding someone who’d turn the world upside down to ensure her happiness never faltered?

How was her best friend and the love of her life the same person?

How was she standing in front of a treehouse, the small, ordinary thing she always dreamed of?

“Okay, but hold on, this dress. I don’t want to ruin it,” she stated.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “But I really want to take it off you…up there,” he pointed out.

She arched her eyebrows, looked down at the dress, then up at the treehouse again, trying to decipher if she could manage without the fabric catching anywhere or ruining her ascent.

Willa folded the dress to her knees, took her hair band from her wrist, and tied it. It’d be a few seconds. She’d undo it when she got there so the spot wouldn’t crease. Ethan let her go first, then followed from behind. She thankfully climbed the steps without any complications and entered.

Inside, there were pillows scattered on the ground, blankets in a woven basket, a small treasure chest-looking stand as a coffee table, two chairs, and one large window.

She strolled toward the window, overlooking a quaint stream beyond the canopy of leaves. It was the most transfixing sight she’d ever seen, a close second to the man who’d just gone back down to grab a few things from his car.

Standing there, she closed her eyes momentarily and counted her blessings one by one.

She had daydreamed about this exact moment without ever realizing it.

Ethan returned with a picnic basket in his hand and set it down on the small chest near the entrance. She ambled back over to him, spotting Dr. Peppers and her favorite jam and cream biscuits from Marks she picked up the biscuits and stared at them. “Now I know you can’t order these online somewhere. How ?”

He beamed at her. “I’d asked Sahar’s sister to bring them in when she visited.”

She shook her head affectionately. “Ethan, I physically cannot take any more surprises today. Please tell me t here’s nothing else, or I might combust.”

He laughed at her. Openly, loudly, strikingly.

He put his hands up as if to surrender. “That’s all I’ve got,” he admitted.

And instantly, Willa drew closer, colliding her lips with his in open-mouthed, staggering kisses. His hands flew to her waist, and he tugged her body flush against his.

Ethan’s tongue voraciously darted forward, seizing hers in a chaotic dance they’d mastered in all forms.

He stopped for a beat, hands splayed along her waist, gazing at her like she was indeed his bloody gift. Like those words he had said were real and not some frivolous declaration. “This dress, Willa. It’s my favorite thing you’ve ever worn,” he acknowledged through panting rasps.

“More than the emerald costume?”

He groaned and pulled her close again. “You’d make a trash bag look stunning. Everything about you is my favorite.”

“Oof, now that’s a compliment. Thanks a million, babe,” she returned.

Willa kissed him again and then turned, taking his hand in hers, she guided them back toward the window.

There, Ethan circled his arms around her belly and pressed his lips to her shoulder. A tiny moan escaped her from contact.

She marveled at the sunset. He bestowed all his attention on her.

“You’re distracting me,” she rebutted.

His laugh vibrated through her. “That’s the point.”

She tilted her head back, giving him more access.

Ethan kissed his way up her neck, her jaw.

He tipped her chin to face him, then seized her lips slowly, yet with an eagerness that made her knees buck.

“I promise I’ll let you watch the sunset tomorrow when I’m forced to behave myself if you let me have my way with you tonight. ”

She giggled. “So, we’re bargaining now?”

“It’s my one birthday wish,” he claimed, nipping at her ear.

“Finally pulling the birthday card.” She took his face in her hand. “How could I say no to that when it’s what I’ve been trying to get you to do all day.”

He gleamed, a smile more transcendent than the sun’s routine behind them.

“Whatever you do, I need you to take off this dress as carefully as you’d remove a costume. I want to wear it again tomorrow,” Willa added.

He concurred, turning her with one swift move. It dawned on her again how absurd it was to once upon a time be so against dating someone in the same profession. Her reasoning made sense to a degree, but she fully understood now why everything clicked so faultlessly into place with Ethan.

He wasn’t delicate or even all that graceful in the traditional sense—yet he was deliberate and soft. Magnetic. Electric.

Ethan moved her hair forward and then kissed the nape of her neck. He traced her spine, lowering his fingers with tender caresses until he reached the zipper. He pulled it down carefully, then one strap after another.

His fingers grazed her skin as he slid the fabric down and helped her step out of it.

Lowering himself, Ethan pressed a dizzying kiss to the back of her thigh, one after another, then stood back up.

She peeled off her adhesive bra and set it aside with her dress before turning to face him. She heard him catch a breath.

“How are you so perfect?” he asked.

She smiled and placed her hands underneath his shirt. “You’re overdressed,” she mused, skating it over his head and off his body.

She placed it with her dress and kissed him languidly, fingers spread against his chest. “Happy birthday,” she drawled.

“The happiest,” he rasped, winding his fingers underneath the curve of her ass.

She looked toward the sheets tucked near the pillows. “We’re going to wash these sheets tonight and replace everything,” she said in between kisses.

Ethan lifted her and pushed up against the thick bark of wood surrounding them. “Yes, ma’am,” he affirmed.

She wrapped her legs around him, kissing him back hard. His fingers charged up and down her thighs. A man obsessed, and she knew it. She could feel it.

Willa almost laughed, momentarily thinking back at how upset she was when their relationship had been exposed to the public. People had been so fixed on the way his hand hovered over her face, but no one could see the fingers he had saddled to her thighs.

Sliding her legs down onto the floor, she moved her hands along the button on his jeans. She unzipped rapidly, brought them down, grabbed a pillow for comfort, and kneeled.

“Wills, you don’t have to,” he protested.

She looked up at him, his face flushed and gorgeous. Willa would take this image over a sunset any day. “Ssh, I’m tired of reminding you what day it is,” she countered, then yanked his boxer briefs down.

He tipped her chin up. “I know exactly what day it is. And as much as I want your pretty lips on me, I’d much rather be in between your thighs.”

She laughed. She couldn’t make this up. Willa put her mouth around him and was rewarded with a delicious groan catapulting from his throat. It was music to her ears, a surrender from his stubbornness.

Good .

She picked up her pace .

“I had different plans,” he rasped.

“What plans?” she asked after finishing him off.

Breathlessly, he answered. “As I said before, that’s between me and your thighs.”

He dropped down to his knees.

She laughed as his feverish lips inched up against her legs, gasping at the bites and licks and kisses that ruptured into something warm and enticing inside of her.