Shiver (18 page)

Chapter 23

E
aster dinner was wonderful, all things considered. Patrick was up and at the table for dinner before he grew tired and shuffled cautiously off to bed. Ethan proved he fit in with my entire family, playing with the boys, helping my mom with dishes, and falling into easy conversation with my dad. Steph and my sister whispered to each other conspiratorially and giggled throughout much of the evening, their eyes shifting between Ethan and me. I was still riding high from car sex, so I just laughed.

The following days continued in the same vein. We didn’t do much of anything except eat and drink and hang out. I could tell Ethan was getting antsy to be back at work by the time our flight rolled around. My mom dropped us off at the airport along with Steph and hugged us with a teary good-bye. We all made promises to see her soon, and she gave Ethan an extra hug, whispering something in his ear. He smiled and nodded, patting her on the shoulder. I watched them, my mom so polished in her flowered blouse, tailored jeans, and high heels; Ethan in all his tattooed glory with low-slung jeans, Chucks, and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He’d allowed himself to keep a scruffy jaw the whole trip, and I secretly loved it. He caught me staring and winked. Okay, not so secret.

I leaned into him as we walked to security. “What did my mom say?”

He shook his head. “It’s classified.”

“What?” I scoffed.

“Can’t say. But I will say that it’s possible she loves me more than you.”

I rolled my eyes and caught up to Steph.

The three of us flew home, the time passing quickly with all the fun we had. We talked about Steph’s and my upcoming twenty-first birthdays, Steph’s graduation in a couple of months, and Lawrence’s impending visit. Steph perked up especially at that part of the conversation.

After we dropped Steph at her house, we picked up Charlie on our way back to Ethan’s, and she was elated to see us, wagging her tail and leaping into the truck, settling her head on the center console so I could continue scratching her.

“Are you finished moving all your stuff over?” Ethan asked.

“Pretty much. I don’t really know what to do with the furniture. You don’t really need it, and I don’t want to pay for storage. I think I’ll just give it away to someone who needs it. What about dishes? Can we swap yours for mine? I like mine better.”

He shrugged. “Fine by me.”

“Do you think it’ll always be this easy to figure things out?” I waved between us.

He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly. “As long as you talk to me, yes.”

“You have to promise to talk too, you know.”

He smiled. “I promise.”

We were both quiet for a mile or so.

“You wanna do something tonight? Movie or something special for dinner?”

“I want to do you tonight,” he said emphatically, making me chuckle. “And nothing else. I’m so fucking tired of being cock blocked all week, I plan on taking you straight to bed, or the shower, or the couch, or the kitchen. I don’t care, but where ever it is, you’re not leaving.”

He rushed home and proceeded to actually do me in each of those places until I wasn’t sure I’d be able to ride a horse the next day.

Sure enough, I woke up the next morning stiff and sore and grumbling but secretly loving the feeling of being, well… well loved. Since our fly-apart the week before, we’d grown so much closer and more comfortable together. There was a sense of peace surrounding us that I’d never experienced to know what I was missing. We were so strong together.

“What’s swirling around in that crazy head of yours?” Ethan asked as we strolled down to the barn together.

I raised my shoulders. “Really, nothing important. Just how… nice everything is right now.”

“Nice?” He acted a little affronted.

“Yeah. Happy, easy… nice.”

Suddenly I was backed against a tree, pinned up against it by his hardness.

“Nice is too tame a word for what we have,” he said with a raised brow before diving in to kiss me, ravishing my mouth, his tongue coaxing my lips apart and taking my breath, making me squirm against him.

As he slowed his kiss, I smiled against his lips. “That was nice.”

He nipped my lower lip playfully and palmed my ass, pulling me closer. “Watch it, Lissa.”

I wound my arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “Nice does not mean boring or dispassionate or anything less than wonderful. Nice means I can breathe when I’m with you, and I can’t when I’m not.”

He kissed my nose. “That was good.”

“Nice?”

He laughed. “Yeah, even that.”

We rode all morning, keeping up our playful banter when we rode sets together and enjoying the peace and quiet when we were alone. Whitney’s name was on the schedule for later in the afternoon, and I rolled my eyes when I realized I was her instructor for the day.

Ethan swatted me from behind. “You got this, babe. She’s all yours from now on.”

“What?” I almost shrieked.

“Yep. She claims she wants to learn to ride; well, she needs to do it with you. If she’s rude to you, we ask her to leave. Simple as that.”

He took a deep breath. “Listen, if all this with us is going to work—you and me and a business together—we’re going to deal with her brand of skank all the time. Sometimes it’ll be aimed at you, sometimes it’ll be aimed at me. And sometimes we’ll need to use it to our advantage. As long as we’re on the same page, it doesn’t matter to me. No one is allowed to be disrespectful of you though, or of José. He told me a bit of what was going on when I wasn’t looking, and I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t want her around if she’s causing anyone problems or, worse, gets anyone hurt.”

I just looked at him, a little dumbstruck.

“Anyway, if you really want nothing to do with her, we’ll ask her to leave right now. But if you think you can handle it, she keeps Ben’s owner happy and provides extra cash flow.”

I pursed my lips and cocked my head at him. “I can handle her crazy as long as I have you at my back.”

“It’s one of my favorite places to be.” He winked.

The skank in question arrived on time, polished and shiny. I was irrationally excited at the thought of her riding through the summer and melting in the upcoming heat. But for now, I greeted her politely and walked to meet her in the ring.

“What’s Ethan doing today?” she asked.

“He’s riding,” I said with finality.

“Oh, so he’s here. Why isn’t he teaching me?”

“I’ll be teaching you from now on, Heather. We think it’ll be the best thing for furthering your riding.”

She started to huff and pout.

“Heather, I’m curious what your issue is with me.”

“Pardon?” She looked at me, shocked.

“Yes. You are here to learn to ride, am I correct? I’ve watched you ride with Ethan. You spend more time standing around talking about your evening plans than you do even trying to ride. I don’t get it.”

She blinked at me. “I simply enjoy Ethan’s teaching style more. It suits me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ethan and I have the exact same riding philosophy. Now, he is choosing not to teach you anymore because he feels you are too distracted when he’s around. So I repeat—if you would like riding lessons at this farm, it will be with me.”

She took a deep breath and looked at me haughtily. “I’ll give it a try.”

“Great.”

I stood in the center of the ring and worked with her on her position and balance, talking her through the movements and the reasons behind everything. I had to give her credit, she was actually trying. When I could tell she was truly tired, I instructed her to walk and pat the horse.

“That was good, Heather. How did that feel?”

She nodded. “It was fine.” And walked out of the ring.

“Fine,” I mouthed, shaking my head.

I tidied up the ring, putting poles away and shutting gates since we were finished for the day. Stretching my arms high above my head and yawning, I walked down the gravel lane back to the barn. As I brought my head back down, I saw Ethan walking my direction. I took off at a run and jumped playfully into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist, careful not to jab him with my spurs. He grasped my hips as I gripped his hair in my hands, tugging him to me in a hard kiss. We broke away, grinning at one another.

“Are we done for the day?” I asked.

“We are. Let’s get out of here.”

He turned to keep walking, still holding me while I teased his neck and whispered my thoughts into his ear. I pulled back, startled, when I heard the crunch of gravel and saw Heather speed away out of the corner of my eye.

“She’s still here?” I was surprised.

“Well, not anymore. She hung around to talk about her lesson schedule. She made a halfhearted attempt to get me to teach her, but from the little I saw, I actually think she did better with you today. And I think she knows that. You know, you have the advantage of being a woman. If I tell a woman to stick her tits or ass out, I’ll get sued. You can do it and it’s all okay.”

“I wouldn’t sue you,” I mumbled into his neck.

He slapped me on the ass. “Yeah, we’ve established your feelings on sexual harassment already.”

“I do love sexual harassment.”

“Me too, baby. Me too.”

Chapter 24

T
he next morning dawned bright and sunny, and I was bouncing around because Lawrence was coming to see the horses go. We’d stayed in touch via text the past couple of months, but I was looking forward to seeing him. I was also looking forward to dinner with him and Steph. I felt like playing matchmaker.

“You know, some guys might be feeling insecure with how excited you are about, you know, another man coming to visit.”

We were standing in the bathroom, brushing our teeth side by side, wrapped in towels. I looked at him in the mirror, ogling his naked torso, and smiled around my toothbrush. I rinsed my mouth and turned around to sit on the counter. Wrapping my legs around his hips, I dragged him over to me. He leaned over and rinsed his mouth as well, then bent down to kiss me.

“Well, I sure am glad you aren’t another man.”

He grabbed under my legs and hoisted me up, carrying me out of the bathroom.

“Ethan!” I squeaked. “We have to go!”

“Shhhh, I’ll be quick,” he whispered.

I chuckled. “No you won’t. You’ll make us late for the entire day.”

He leered at me as he tossed me on the bed, throwing my towel aside.

“You should think about that next time you wrap naked legs around me. It’s not my fault. I’m just the victim here.” He sighed. He stripped his towel off, letting it fall to the floor, and my eyes raked his body hungrily. He climbed over me but I pushed his shoulder, rolling him over and climbing on top. He thrust his hips up as I slid him into me with a long sigh.

“That’s one of my favorite parts.” My eyelids fluttered shut as I started to move.

His hands cupped my breasts, teasing my nipples before one hand traveled downward to where our bodies were joined. “I thought this was your favorite part,” he said, a smile in his voice.

“That too,” I panted.

I started moving faster, the muscles in my thighs straining to keep the rhythm I needed while Ethan’s fingers worked their magic. My nails raked his chest as I screamed out my release. I collapsed forward, but he rolled me over, pounding into me until he growled out his own climax. We lay together briefly before he popped up, kissed me quickly, and pinched my butt.

“Come on. We gotta go.”

I lay sated with my arm flung over my face and groaned. “Not fair.”

He laughed and headed to the closet, grabbing a pair of navy cargo pants and a white, long-sleeved button-down. I lazily watched him dress, and he threw a pair of navy breeches and a white, long-sleeved schooling shirt at me along with a sports bra.

I raised an eyebrow, looking down at the shirt. “Are we matching today?”

“We’re putting on a show today, sweetheart. Remember?”

“Just Lawrence. He doesn’t really count.”

“Nope. His father is coming too.”

“Ooh. Why didn’t I know this?”

He shrugged. “The idea came up the day you went to Texas. I didn’t think about it after that.”

“Yeah, that was a bad day,” I conceded.

He snorted. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I threw my clothes on and grabbed an apple as we headed out the door with Charlie at our heels. I finished it by the time we reached the barn and gave the core to the first available horse, giving him a pat.

We spent the morning riding a few sets and then helping José get all the young horses ready to show to their owner. When they were all polished up and looking gorgeous, we sat back to wait for the Brookses to show up. I put on another pot of coffee, knowing Lawrence would be wanting some pretty badly by the time he got there.

The crunch of gravel signaled the arrival of their rig, and I walked out to greet them. Lawrence caught me up in a bear hug, swinging me around as Ethan strode out.

“Hands off, cowboy.” He grinned, reaching forward to shake hands.

Lawrence greeted him cheerfully with an arm still around me. Ethan snaked an arm around my hips, directing me to his side.

Lawrence just winked at me. “How’s he treating you, darlin’?”

“Pretty good.” I smirked as Ethan pinched my side.

A handsome, older gentleman walked around the back of the trailer. He was a bit shorter than Lawrence, with silver hair and the same twinkling blue eyes. He greeted us warmly, insisting we call him Bill. It was easy to see where his son got his charm and friendly demeanor from.

We walked together into the barn and began taking horses out one by one, showing off their gaits, including a small gallop, and their wonderful ground manners. Each horse stood quietly when asked to on the lead or when I was riding them. For such young and spirited animals, they behaved impeccably.

I could tell Bill was impressed with the program we’d developed for them, and I had a warm and fuzzy sense of pride showing them off.

It took a few hours to show all the horses, and then we were finished and needed to start getting ready for the early and upscale dinner Bill had insisted on taking us to, including Steph, which I found interesting. Lawrence had clearly been talking about her. We parted ways in the barn as they went to unhook their trailer, and Ethan and I walked up to the house.

We took turns showering quickly, knowing that if we did it together we’d be late. I dried my hair and swept my makeup on while he got dressed, then he sat watching me as I finished up. I sifted through our now-shared closet and settled on a long, light pink sundress with spaghetti straps and an open back, because I knew how much Ethan loved that look. His eyes darkened when I put it on and he walked over to drop a kiss on my shoulder. His fingers left goose bumps in their wake as they lightly caressed my back. He started to trace a design with one finger, and I looked over my shoulder at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Drawing,” he said quietly.

I waited until he was finished before turning around. “What did you draw?”

“I have an idea of a tattoo for you, right here.” He pressed his palm to my ribcage.

I looked at him questioningly. “You want to draw out my first tattoo?”

He nodded. “If you’ll let me.” Then he grinned. “You know I have all this deep-seated creativity. I need an outlet.”

I smiled and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him sweetly. “I’d love to be your outlet.”

He shook his head. “So easy.”

I laughed as I walked to the front door. “Only for you, baby.”

We pulled up thirty minutes later to an old stone house that had been converted into one of the nicer restaurants in the area. Walking arm in arm, we saw our party sitting on the patio, sipping wine. Steph was talking animatedly to Bill while Lawrence watched affectionately. She was a knockout in a dramatic floral-print maxi dress, her dark curly hair untamed and natural. All the men were wearing light suits and collared shirts and looked ridiculously handsome. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Ethan, picturing all his lean muscles and tattoos hidden beneath his conservative jacket.

“Stop staring at me like that,” he whispered as we walk closer.

“Like what?” I asked innocently.

“You know what. And if you keep it up, I’m gonna throw your dress up over your head right behind that oak tree.” He nodded in the direction of a huge old tree.

I laughed. “I can’t help it. You’re like my dirty little secret.”

He scoffed. “I’m afraid to ask.”

“I mean, you look all polished and gentlemanly”—I poked his chest—“but I know what’s underneath all that.”

“I’m not sure I’ve ever been called someone’s dirty secret before. I think I like it.” He waggled his brows at me.

“At least not to your face.” I winked at him.

We greeted everyone when we reached the table, and Ethan helped seat me. We settled into easy conversation as we waited for our food.

Bill took a thoughtful sip from his wineglass and leaned back in his chair. “I have to say, Ethan, I’m extremely happy with the job you’ve done on our horses. I’d like to offer you a contract to break all our horses at the start of their two-year-old year. I’m prepared to sign a five-year contract on the deal and make sure it’s worth your while. What do you say?”

Ethan looked to me with a raised brow and squeezed my hand under the table. “Thank you, sir. First, I’d like to say that a lot of the credit with the horses goes to Lissa. I couldn’t have done any of it without her, and I need her in the future to continue the program. As long as she’s willing, then we’d love to accept your offer.”

“Excellent. I brought some paperwork, hoping you’d sign. We can go over it tomorrow morning before we leave.” They shook hands, and then Bill surprised me by extending a hand to me as well. “But that’s enough business for the evening!” he declared, then proceeded to spend the rest of dinner regaling us with embarrassing stories about Lawrence and his sisters. We laughed so much and were so entertained that the evening flew by and we were soon in the car and headed home.

I leaned my head on the seat back and closed my eyes. “Fun evening.”

“Great evening,” Ethan responded. “I had no idea what nice people the Brookses would turn out to be. And a five-year contract? I never even dreamed of that.”

I smiled at his enthusiasm and reached for his hand. “It’s so great, babe. I’m glad I could be a part of it.”

“You’re more than just a part of it, Lissa. You’re pretty much the reason it happened. Thank you for all your hard work.” He grinned at me. “I’m definitely going to be working regular massages into your part of the contract.”

“My part? What’s my part?”

“I told you and I told Bill. None of this works without you. You will be very much written into the contract.”

“Wow, you’re really gonna be stuck with me now.”

He startled me by suddenly pulling off onto a dirt road, bouncing through the trees, and winding up on an incline. I steadied myself on the door while the truck jerked back and forth, and I stared at Ethan’s serious face with eyebrows raised until we ended up in a clearing at the top of a mountain. There was a bench and large binoculars and telescopes set on posts around giant rock formations. The view overlooked miles and miles of streams and pastures, stone walls and trees, the land dotted with houses and barns here and there. It was absolutely stunning in the waning daylight.

Ethan parked and got out, coming over to my side of the truck to help me out while I looked at him with a confused expression.

“What are we doing?”

“Just come here.”

He led me over to the rocks and held tightly to my hand as I kicked off my heels to climb onto the biggest boulder. We sat, my back to his front, with his legs on either side of me. I leaned into him as his arms wrapped around me. We watched in silence as the sun started to set, and my mind buzzed.

His lips caressed my neck and I sighed into him, enjoying our closeness. His arms tightened around me, and I looked down to his hands, just noticing there was something in them. I gasped as he opened a small box to reveal a stunning solitaire diamond on a simple gold band. I stared, my eyes welling up with tears of disbelief.

“Lissa”—he breathed the words into my ear—“I’ve been carrying this around, waiting for the right moment. I talked to your dad; I talked to your mom. I want to be stuck with you. Forever. I can’t think of anything better. Will you marry me? Will you be my wife?”

I absorbed his words, biting my lip to control my tears. I nodded my head as I reached to his hands and he pulled out the ring. I heard the smile in his voice as he asked, “Yes or no?”

I laughed. “Yes! Of course yes.”

He slid the ring on my finger and I turned in his arms, laughing and crying and kissing all over his face before settling on his mouth.

I felt his smile against my lips. “You ready to be all mine?”

I smiled back. “I already am.”