Page 33 of Cozy Girl Fall

He shrugged. “I’ll visit, and I can work from anywhere really.

” The water sloshed gently as she shifted in his lap and he stilled her with a hand to her hip.

“If you’re not careful you’re going to—” He sighed and looked down and she smothered a laugh when she felt him, hard against her ass. “Never mind.”

Her smile faded slowly as the real worry she’d been battling rose up. Unable to push it back down, she voiced it. “If I did want to stay here, in Magnolia Springs, does that make me a failure?”

“Baby.” Ethan rubbed her shoulder soothingly. “Not at all. You can only make the best decisions you can with the information you have. Yes, you left before but you achieved what you set out to do. Maybe it wasn’t what you hoped it would be, and that’s OK.”

She nodded, aware that she’d never told him what had happened to bring her back here.

“My boss was an ass,” she said, and began to explain the toxic work environment, the long hours and how it had left her no time to have any sort of social life.

“But really, the tipping point came a few months ago. My boss was being featured in some article and he was being interviewed in the restaurant so we could all hear the conversation as we were doing food prep in the back. Well, the journalist asked about this one dish, a salmon en croute with a beetroot jus, and as soon as I heard her ask about it I couldn’t help but listen in.

That was my dish. I’d worked for months to perfect it and couldn’t believe that she was going to specifically mention it in the article.

I thought it might finally be the break I’d been waiting for, my chance to actually get some real recognition for my work. ”

“Oh wow, that would have been amazing, Pen,” Ethan’s voice was low, but there was definitely a note of pride behind his words.

“Well, yeah, it would have been. But my asshole of a boss just flat-out lied. He claimed that it was his dish, that he’d worked for months perfecting it, not crediting me at all. When I heard … I just lost it.”

“Understandable.”

“I love to cook. Being here and cooking for myself again has reminded me why I love it so much. But working in that restaurant … I don’t know.

It’s not the same.” Her breath shuddered out of her as her secret hovered in the air between them.

“I just don’t want to let anyone down,” she whispered and he turned her around so he could kiss her, his mouth a little wet from the water and steam and the smell of lavender bubble bath rising up in the air around them.

“That’s not possible,” he said, the confidence in his voice bolstering her. “I think you are brilliant. Talented and punctual,” he teased, “kind, and a little kooky. But nothing you could choose would let me, or anyone else, down.”

Relief flooded her at his words and she knew, instinctively, that he was telling the truth.

Penny found herself swept up in a wave of emotion and, before she could stop herself, she rushed on, “You know, ever since I got home, I haven’t actually told anyone exactly what happened back in the city.

I’ve been so worried that people would judge me for it, would view me as a failure for quitting, so I’ve been skirting around the details whenever anyone asked.

” She paused, gulping down air to stem the tears that were threatening to spill over, before she went on.

“But with you it feels different, Ethan. It always has, and I hadn’t realized how much I was missing it until you came back into my life.

You’ll listen to me in a way no one else does, and I just know you’ll understand. I feel … I feel safe with you.”

“That’s all I want, Pen. You’re all I want.” He spoke softly, his words tender as he brushed a hand down her cheek. Her heart swelled with emotion as she held his gaze, knowing with a surprising certainty that this was something she couldn’t let go. He was something she couldn’t let go.

“Now we just have to convince your dad I’m worth your time,” she mused, breaking the tension that had hung between them, and Ethan chuckled.

“I’m a grown man, I don’t need my parents’ approval.”

“But it would be nice to have it,” she pointed out and he smiled.

“True. We’ll get there. He just wants us to be careful is all.”

“Well, my parents love you. Though, if you voted against my mom’s pie tonight, she might never forgive you.”

They laughed and she kissed him, putting all of the emotion she couldn’t quite voice into it.

He kissed her back just as firmly, and it quickly became molten, his hands exploring her body in the way he hadn’t been able to in the barn, her mouth tasting his skin in nips and licks and kisses before she pulled away, breathless.

“Help me dry off?”

“Absolutely,” he said, grinning as he stood up and offered her a hand as they stepped out of the bath together and let the water drain away.

“Ethan?” The words were soft as he wrapped her in a large towel and scrubbed his hands over the fabric to dry her off, making her feel small, precious.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

His grin was instant and blinding. “I love you too.”

He took his time drying her after wrapping another towel around his waist. The soft towel brushed over her skin, chasing stray droplets of water, and he gestured for her to tip her hair over so he could wrap it up in a smaller towel.

When she was upright once more, he took the towel from her and opened a drawer under the sink and pulled out a tub of body butter.

“Can I?”

She nodded, a flush working its way across her skin as he dipped his fingers into the tub and scooped out some cream that smelled faintly like chocolate.

It was cool against her skin as he rubbed it into her chest, lifting her breasts to stroke their undersides, and raising each of her arms to massage the cream into her pale skin.

Those long, warm fingers worked their way down her stomach, curving around her hips and over her ass as they moved up her back to work her shoulders. She relaxed into his hands and leant her head back as he stroked her muscles into mush.

His towel dipped as he lowered to the floor and she watched with intrigue, only a little disappointed when it remained in place.

More cream slid up across her calves, across the backs of her knees and rounding the inside of her thighs.

His gaze was intent, completely focused on the task of taking care of her, and when he’d finished with the cream he stood up and reached back inside the drawer for the deodorant and brush she’d taken to leaving at his place, along with a few other essentials.

She reached for them and hesitated when he drew back and gestured for her to lift her arms, rolling the cool liquid onto her feverish skin and dotting her face with the moisturizer she liked to use, smoothing it on. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced.

When he was done, he took her hand and led her out of the bathroom. The towel around his waist fell to the floor and she bit her lip, admiring the taut muscles of his body and the dimples by his spine as he rummaged in his drawers inside the bedroom for some low-slung pajama bottoms.

That sight alone would be enough to tempt a nun. She followed him over and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. “Do you really need to get dressed so soon?” she murmured, voice husky, and was pleased when he halted his movements. “I want to make you feel good.”

His legs smoothly moved apart until his thighs were spread wide and her nipples hardened against his back when he groaned at the first touch of her hand. The familiar, warm taste of his skin was intoxicating as she pressed kisses to his neck while stroking his cock.

When she stopped, he mumbled a protest until she gently encouraged him to turn around, sank to her knees and looked up at him, following the path of her hand with her eyes as it stroked up toward his abs.

His throat worked hard as he swallowed, the strong column begging for her mouth again, but she wanted to take him like this, to feel him let go under her tongue.

The veins in his arms stood out as he battled for control, leaning against the dresser and clasping the wooden top with white knuckles.

“Ethan.” Her voice was silky, but he responded instantly, eyes flashing open from where they’d fluttered closed. “Can I taste you?”

His nostrils flared and his jaw worked, like it was an effort not to come from her request alone.

“Yes.” The words were a guttural growl and she remained where she was, stroking her hands up his damp calves, over his thighs, until her hand reached his dick again.

“ Yes ,” he repeated when she tightened her grip and lifted up so she could brush her mouth along his head.

“Beautiful,” he rasped, unraveling the towel on her head and gathering her wet hair up in his hands, and groaning when her mouth closed around him.

“You are”—he gasped—“more than anything I ever could have dreamed up. Better than any fantasy. Penny. ”

He was close, she knew. His hips moved of their own accord and his eyes had slid nearly closed, watching her through thin slits until she pulled back and pumped him in her hand.

“Tell me what you want, baby,” she rasped and his eyes burned when they locked onto hers. “Do you want to come?”

He nodded and then hesitated before shaking his head. “Not yet.”

She tasted him one more time, letting her tongue swirl around his head and humming with pleasure when he gasped. “Then what do you want, Ethan?”

“You. Always, you.”

The words made her breathing quicken and when he reached down to pull her up from the ground, she moaned into his kiss.