Page 14

S queak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut. What the hell was that? She turned her head to the side and blood thundered through the vessels of her brain.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

She growled and pressed her palms against her ears.

A muffled snicker sounded from where the noise had come from.

She opened one heavy, dry eyelid and squinted.

Ethan sat in a chair, only a couple feet from the bed.

The chair rocked back and forth, squeaking with every movement.

A smirk lifted his lips, his eyes sparked mischievously.

She lifted her head off the pillow and her neck screamed at the sharp movement.

Her eyes narrowed on his smug grin. Annoyance curdled her stomach and heat warmed her face.

Everywhere she turned, he was there. Didn’t he have anything better to do?

His grin spread into a playful smile. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest. His large muscles stretched the thin material of his T-shirt.

He was so big. The rocking chair he’d taken from the corner of the room appeared child-sized with his enormous form filling it.

She deepened her scowl. “What are you doing here?”

A chortle sounded from his throat. “You don’t remember, do you?”

She pushed herself from her tummy to a sitting position, carefully bunching the blankets around her body.

Her legs were bare. Her throat constricted with that realization.

A glance down at her chest showed she wore an oversized T-shirt.

His T-shirt. He had to have slipped home this morning to change, because the memory of his bare chest snuggled against her back last night branded her brain.

Her mouth went dry as if she’d been sucking on cotton.

She licked her lips, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Did we uh—” her gazed flitted from his face to the floor and back again.

His smile widened.

Jerk.

“Sleep together?” He offered, his hand turned over, palm up.

She waited. Her brain raced a mile a minute.

She couldn’t think. Her breath came out in sharp puffs.

Oh god. How could she have been so stupid?

She didn’t trust herself to resist him while she was sober.

Drunk, she didn’t stand a chance. She met his gaze again, her fingers curled into the comforter on her lap.

“No, we didn’t.”

Her breath wheezed out of her lungs.

“Don’t look so relieved.” He pushed out of the chair and stood. Curled on the bed as she was, he towered over her. “I refrained, though you gave it your all.” He tossed her denim shorts to her, picked up one of the cups of coffee from the nightstand and handed one to her.

Her soul moaned. “You made coffee?”

“Yup. Just before you woke up.” He sat back down with his cup. She sipped the warm delicious, perfectly sweetened brew.

“Ah, thank you. I needed that.”

“Oh I know.”

Her brow furrowed. “What did you mean when you said you refrained though I gave it my all?” She took another greedy sip. The brew was a tad sweeter than she normally liked it, but it was caffeine and she was in no position to complain.

He crossed his ankle over his knee. “You really don’t remember?”

“Give me a break. I just woke up.”

He shook his head, and cleared his throat. “‘I need a distraction right now, Ethan,’” he whined. His voice pitched on the fake female tone. Heat rushed from her belly to her cheeks, leaving a burning ember in its wake.

Her cheeks tingled.

“I didn’t say that,” she breathed.

He nodded. “’Fraid so, darling.” He took another sip of his coffee. “I don’t sleep with drunken women. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have refused. But believe me, when we do sleep together, you can bet your ass you’re going to remember it.”

“Jerk.” Her heated cheeks flamed and embarrassment tingled all the way down to her toes.

Her lips threatened to pull into a smile but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of catching her blush.

She picked up her denim shorts and hurled them at him.

They hit him in the face, sloshing his coffee on his hand.

“Ouch.” He set his coffee down and wiped his hand with a napkin. “What did I say?”

“First of all, we won’t be sleeping together.

” It took all of her resolve to muster those words with conviction.

A small part of her wished he weren’t so noble and she could have gotten sex with Ethan out of her system last night.

But then, she wouldn’t have remembered it and what good would that do her?

“And secondly, don’t talk about my ass.”

“You just shot yourself in the foot. If you want your shorts you’re going to have to come and get them.” His eyes sparked at her as he folded her shorts over his knee.

She narrowed her eyes into slits. His lips hooked into a coy smile and she fought the spiraling of desire in her loins.

“And for the record,” he spoke evenly, amusement still glinted his eyes. “If you don’t want anyone talking about your ass, maybe you should sleep with pants on. I had to cover that ass of yours about three times since I woke up, because you kept kicking the covers off.”

If her face had been warm before, now it was on fire. She often slept best when half-covered with blankets. He was telling the truth. The constant drumming inside her head grew deafening.

“You—”

“Asshole, I know.” His smile waned. “You already expressed your dislike for me last night.” He stood and dropped the shorts on the bed next to her. “Why don’t you get dressed so we can talk? I’m missing leg day.”

The reference to his gym workout made her stifle an eye roll.

But a fizzle of unease settled in her belly.

Had she told him she disliked him? Well, maybe her drunken attitude was a blessing.

She could have said something much worse—like the awful things he did to her insides when he smiled at her.

Or the way her skin tingled every time he touched her.

With his back to her, she eased off the bed and wiggled into her shorts.

Her knees wobbled beneath her. She grasped the nightstand for support, straightened the shirt, and then looked down. Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. She wore no bra. And she’d been talking to him for the last ten minutes like that. She squeezed her eyes shut and fisted her hand in her hair.

“You done?”

Her eyes opened and landed on the breadth of his back.

Even though he stood across the room, he was still only a few feet away.

She needed a shower. Her tongue ran over her teeth.

Gross. Her breath probably reeked. Dammit.

Had he noticed? What did it matter? She was a hot mess and it was probably for the best that he saw her like this.

Maybe it would diffuse that heated look in his eyes.

Then again, this was Ethan. With her luck, it would probably turn him on.

“You can turn around.” Hastily, she folded her arms over her chest to shield her nipples from his view. “What are you doing here anyway?”

He turned, coffee still in hand, and sipped. “You were pretty messed up last night, Riley. I wasn’t going to leave you here by yourself.”

“No, why did you follow me in the first place? I can’t see you wanting to party on the beach.”

His eyes shifted away. Her gaze sharpened on him. His free hand rested on the back of his neck. “I—”

Her breath sucked in. “You came to spy on me, didn’t you?” She’d had a feeling, but seeing him stumble over his words confirmed it. “Why would you do that?” She hissed. “That’s creepy, Ethan.”

He frowned at her. His gaze shot to hers.

“Creepy? You know what’s creepy? Watching you take shots from a stranger.

That’s creepy. You were about to go home with him, dammit.

And the sooner we talk about what’s really going on here, the better.

You’re endangering yourself and I want to know why.

” His hand opened and closed at his side.

The smooth lines of his face turned to stone. His eyes flashed at her.

Oh no. She wasn’t having this conversation with him. He knew about Hanna, she read it in the steely determination on his face. It didn’t matter. This was the exact distraction she couldn’t tolerate. Some macho guy butting into her life thinking she needed protecting.

“There’s nothing for us to talk about. I don’t care who told you I was at the party, nor do I care about what you think you know about me.

” She took a step closer to him. Anger vibrated down to her toes, but she kept it in check.

“I’m going to shower. You can let yourself out.

” She turned on her heel, entered the bathroom, and shut the door.

“You have a lot of nerve,” he called. His words hit her back. She ignored him, and locked herself in the bathroom.

She turned the shower on the hottest setting, and rested her hands against the sink. What had happened last night? Her eyes raked over the bathroom, then zeroed in on the toilet.

Oh god. She slammed her palm against her forehead.

She had puked… twice. And dammit, he had watched her.

The memory of his warm touch on her bare back singed her.

Her toothbrush rested beside the sink. At least she had brushed her teeth after getting sick.

But what had happened after that? She turned away from the vanity and pulled a towel off the rack.

She tugged the shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. It landed next to her black bikini top.

Her breath sucked in. Had she stripped in front of him? Steam swirled around her like the fog of her brain. No, no. She wouldn’t have done that.

Would she have? She swallowed. Ethan’s roguish, and slightly pained smile flashed though her mind.