The Apartment (Apartment #1) (33 page)

“Ungh! Fuck!” She yelled at the sudden change, her body beginning to tighten itself around him.

“Yes baby… that’s it!” he moaned, watching her cheeks becoming more flushed by the second. “Touch yourself for me. We’re both so close … I want to feel you come all over me.”

She complied quickly, sliding her hand down between their bodies until she was rubbing at her tightened bundle of nerves furiously in small circles. The added stimulation caused her to fall over the edge, her body squeezing and milking him as she found her release.

She only had enough sanity left at that point to look him in the eye and beg him, “Please! Come with me!”

She needn’t have worried, he was way ahead of her.

“Oh God!” he cried out. “You’re so fucking wet … so fucking tight … I can’t … I can’t get enough of you … Fuck!” And with one final thrust of his hips he emptied himself inside her, filling her to overflowing.

Lily collapsed against him then, every ounce of energy disappearing with her powerful orgasm, and her exhaustion began mixing with her alcohol intake. Ethan held her tightly, tucking her head under his chin as he stroked her back. He had no words that could come close to anything that he was feeling, so he simply squeezed her tighter and kissed her forehead, wishing that he could bottle that moment up to keep forever.

When he noticed that she was beginning to drift off to sleep he figured that he should get her into bed. No matter how much he loved the moment, he was willing to bet that she wouldn’t be thrilled to wake up in a ball on his lap at four in the morning with his limp dick all sticky inside her.

“Baby. Baby, wake up,” he whispered into her ear. She rubbed her eyes a few times before yawning loudly, and managed to open them only long enough to smile at him. “Baby, if you want me to take you anywhere other than home with me, you need to tell me right now.”

“Mmm,” she murmured with her eyes closed. “You, always you.”

Lifting her carefully, Ethan set her on the passenger seat next to him and did his best to adjust her clothing so that she was covered. Spying her panties still wadded up on the floor by her feet, he reached down and picked them up, using the small scrap of fabric to wipe gently between her legs before also cleaning himself up as good as he could manage and readjusting his own clothing. He shoved the panties into his jacket pocket, only to take it off a few seconds later and drape it over her sleeping form when he saw her shiver.

As he backed the Audi out of the gravel parking lot he thought to himself that no matter what else happened in his life, this would always be his favorite parking lot in the entire world.

* * *

Once he was back at the apartment, Ethan scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs, stopping only to fight with the key in the lock one-handed because he refused to put her down. When he sat her gently on the bed he somehow managed to whisper the right words to convince her to help him take her clothes off so that she could be more comfortable.

Watching her barely raise her arms above her head so that he could slip her top off had the strangest effect on him—it was such a trusting action, and for some reason he felt himself swallowing a lump in his throat at the thought of her letting him care for her. He’d never thought of himself as much of a nurturer or caregiver before, but he knew that if she got sick in the middle of the night he would be there in a heartbeat to hold her hair back for her.

When she was finally stripped bare, he laid her back on the sheets and covered her up with the fluffy blanket, only leaving the room long enough to grab the wastebasket and a glass of water from the bathroom. He set the can on the floor near her head in case she woke up sick and then woke her back up long enough to drink the water.

“C’mon, baby. You’ll feel a hell of a lot better in the morning if you get this in you now.” He cradled the back of her head until she had swallowed a few sips. Once he was fairly certain that it wasn’t going to come right back up, he laid her back down and removed his own clothes quickly, tossing them across the room in his rush to get back to her.

He hadn’t intended on cuddling with her. He had wanted to leave her as much room as she needed to get up in case she felt ill, but as soon as he climbed in beside her she rolled over and snuggled right up against his side with her head on his chest.

“Mm… thiz iz nize,” she mumbled against his skin, kissing him lightly on the chest.

“Yes it is,” he smiled into the darkness, rubbing his hand up and down her back slowly, stopping every once in a while to stroke her hair back from her face.

“Hey, you never told me what you wanted to talk about,” he whispered, chuckling lightly as he wondered if it had all been only a tipsy attempt at seduction. If so, it was certainly successful.

“Mmm…” she rubbed her eyes without opening them and yawned again, resting her hand back down on his chest and patting it lightly. “Wanted to talk … tell you … love you.” She yawned once more before giving in to the dead weight of sleep. “Night, night.” And with that, she was out.

Ethan lay there for a long time after that, doing nothing but staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes.

The next morning was slightly awkward, but from what Ethan could tell she didn’t seem to remember saying anything out of the ordinary before she fell asleep. She’d been startled to find herself waking up next to him, and had blushed terribly when the night’s events came back to her, but it had only looked like typical “morning after” embarrassment to him.

He offered to pick her up some breakfast and coffee, but she insisted that she was fine and only wanted to go home so that she could shower properly and lay back down in her own bed. He didn’t want to let her go when she told him that she thought it would be best if she walked home, but he settled for a compromise, sending her off in an old pair of sweats and a pullover. He also tried really hard to keep from thinking about just how perfect she looked in his baggy, oversized clothes.

Before leaving, she thanked him for being so sweet to her and gave him a hug, kissing him gently before pulling away. As she was opening the door she stopped one more time and turned to look back at him, another blush coloring her cheeks. When he asked her what was wrong, she simply shook her head and said it was nothing, closing the door behind her.

For the next hour, Ethan took the longest, most introspective shower of his life. He kept seeing her bright blush before she left, wondering what she’d been thinking. Had she finally remembered what she had told him last night? If she had, had she meant it?

He told himself that she couldn’t have meant it. She’d probably just said it out of habit. She was drunk and cuddling with a warm body—who knew who she was thinking of when she said it.

The thought of her saying that to him while thinking of that muscle-bound asshole made him so angry that he threw the bar of soap he was holding, and it shot over the top of the shower curtain, making a loud crack as it slammed into the mirror over the sink.

“Shit!” he yelled, not sure if he was angrier with his thoughts or the broken mirror.

He stood under the spray of hot water, thinking back to earlier in the evening. He had been so damn surprised to see her there, but what a way to end the night. She had been just as desperate for him as he’d been for her, and even the mere thought of her climbing on top of him had him stroking himself furiously within seconds.

He kept seeing her eyes, how determined she’d been to fuck him senseless in a parking lot full of cars, in the front seat of a shitty rental, no less, fulfilling one of his fantasies. And she’d felt so good. So fucking good.

He gripped his shaft harder, bracing himself against the shower wall with his other hand, squeezing himself as tightly as her body had the night before. When he bit his lip and closed his eyes, he was back in that car, listening to her moaning and panting as she rode his cock. The harder he stroked, the better he could hear her groans and cries for more.

Yes … please … harder … so good … ungh … yes … right there … love you … love you … love you

“Fuck!” he cried, erupting violently over his fingers with thick spurts of fluid.

His orgasm was so powerful that he instantly felt weak in the knees, and he leaned forward until his forehead was braced between his hands against the wall, warm water trailing down the taut muscles of his back. He was so shaken that he didn’t move for a while, hearing those same words repeated over and over again in his mind.

… love you … love you … love you

Squeezing his eyes shut tightly, as if it would make the words any less true, he finally allowed his own reply to slip through his gritted teeth in a harsh whisper.

“I think I love you, too.”

* * *

Hours later, after Ethan had finally dragged himself out of the shower and forced himself to move on with his day and stop dwelling on things that he had no control over at the moment, he pulled into his family’s driveway for dinner.

Walking into the house, he was comforted to hear the typical chitter chatter of his mother and sisters in the kitchen. Rather than stop in there first and to be fussed over by his mother, he instead hunted out Eric, following the loud yelling in the family room—a clear sign that he was battling Brandon in another round of video games. He walked in and sat down on the couch, trying not to be resentful of the playful back-and-forth between the two men who were clearly as close as real brothers.

Ethan knew that if he was going to stay around much longer, he was going to have to get to know Brandon better. He seemed nice enough, and it wasn’t Brandon’s fault that Ethan was jealous of his relationship with his brother.

“Hey, Pud!” Eric called to him when he noticed him on the couch. Brandon waved somewhat nervously from the opposite side of the room where he was positioned for the next round of bowling.

“Fucker,” Ethan said in greeting, then nodded back to Brandon with a smile. There wasn’t much else said between them until the game was over and Brandon went to join the ladies in the kitchen, giving the brothers a moment of privacy.

As soon as the room was clear, Eric turned to him in frustration. “So what the hell was up last night, you douche nozzle?”

“What do you mean?” Ethan attempted to play dumb.

“Don’t bullshit me, man. I can’t believe you didn’t show. Would it have really killed you to break yourself out of your pity cocoon for one night? I know you’ve never really hung out with us like that, but I think you would have had a really great time.”

“Eric,” he sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I swear I was going to go. I was running late, I know, I got sidetracked on a painting, but I actually physically went there. It’s just that—well, I wasn’t lying when I said something suddenly came up.” He gave him a stern look before adding, “And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

“Holy shit! Mystery girl really did show up, didn’t she?”

“Eric!” Ethan hushed him, looking around the room to make sure they were still alone. “I said that was all I was going to say.”

“Dude, I’m not gonna push for particulars, but isn’t this the ass that you’ve been getting on a fairly regular basis lately?”

“What’s your point?”

“My point, pudwhacker, is that you might have been able to keep it in your pants for one night to spend time with your family! Or God forbid, invite her in with you.”

“You know I can’t do that. Besides… I don’t know how to say this right so that it makes sense, but it wasn’t about not wanting to hang with you guys. It’s just
her
—she has this power over me. When she’s around, I can’t focus on anything else. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

Eric closed the distance between them swiftly and slapped him upside the head.

“Ow! What the fuck was that for?”

Eric crouched down in front of him so that they were at eye level with each other. “That, my darling idiot brother, was reality slapping you into consciousness. Wake the fuck up! Those strange tingly feelings you’re getting in your no-no zone for this chick? It’s called love, you fucking idiot. That’s how people feel when it first sets in. Some people are lucky enough to always feel it, like me and Maggie. Now do yourself a favor and tell this phantom no-name woman that you want to spend forever with her doing the mommy and daddy dance.”

Ethan dropped his head in his hands and swallowed a thick lump. When he looked back up, Eric could see that his eyes were damp. “It’s not that easy! I’m willing to admit that I have feelings for her, but she’s fucking engaged, Eric!”

Eric stood up, dragging Ethan up with him as he went. He patted his shoulder a few times before speaking again. “You know what? Engagements can be broken. Fuck, marriages can be broken pretty easily these days. It’s not the end of the world. If she’s what you want, you owe it to yourself to try.”

“But she doesn’t want me. She’s had plenty of time to end her engagement and she hasn’t. There are times that I think she feels something too, but then it’s gone as quickly as it appeared. And what if she did end it? What kind of life could I give her? I have no permanent home, no steady income, and she would be throwing away everything she knows to gamble on me. Me, who’s done nothing but make the wrong choices his entire life.”

“But what if she’s the right choice for you?”

“And what if I’m the wrong choice for her?”

“Shit, man. You sure know how to bring down any conversation,” Eric sighed. “You know what I think? I think you should just focus on getting her out of this engagement for now. Work your Foster magic, man. Get her single, and give yourselves a chance to grow into something more. Nobody said you have to run off and elope tomorrow. Get to know her first. Start by asking her name!”

“You make it sound so easy! I know deep down, that’s exactly what my heart wants to do. But whenever I think about it too much, my head gets in the way. I start feeling caged in and panicky, like I’m just going to fuck it all up again and end up with another Rachel. Or I’m going to make this poor girl resent me so badly for taking her away from the only life that she knows. I can’t stand this pressure, feeling like I have to jump off a cliff right now or forever be miserable.”