Twenty-One

Ethan

If ever there was a time in my life for the entire universe to fucking conspire against me, it was now when I was trying to go after my woman. She’d finally picked up her phone but that had been three fucking days ago. And I wasn’t getting any younger. We should’ve already been together by now and we would be. Fucking universe. A quick meeting in New York had changed the plane’s route and engine trouble had us spending a few hours at Heathrow where I splurged on a few Duty-free items as the picture of the plane ride back home took shape in my mind.

It was late when we left London but Misha was still too damn far away so we took off, only to stop shy of my destination because there was a problem at one of my Australian newspapers. Any other time I could have gotten my staff to handle it, but General Counsel had called with concerns about possible legal violations which meant they needed the owner. That had eaten up three days where I could have been lounging on a beach with Misha. Making love under the stars. Lecturing her on her crap diet.

After landing in Christchurch, I tried to call Misha even though I knew with the way my luck had been going, she wouldn’t answer. Hell, she might have moved to another country altogether. But I was hopeful—or delusional—that she’d still be ‘near Christchurch,’ whatever the hell that meant. I got a rental, a Range Rover because Misha would definitely be off the beaten path, and began to drive towards the beach. On an island.

Might as well be looking for a fucking grain of sand.

She wasn’t in Christchurch but I wasn’t all that surprised. In fact, I would’ve been more shocked had she been there at all which was why I drove up to Amberley in hopes of connecting with her as I headed back south. But two days later I was still on my own with no clue where Misha could be. Damnit.

This hunting down my woman thing was hard work, especially when every call went straight to voicemail. So, I did what any self-respecting man would do when he was at his wit’s end with no hope. I called my brothers.

“Did you fix your shit yet?” Jax asked right away.

“I’m great Jax, thanks for asking. What a caring brother you are,” I deadpanned but he’d already started talking to Roc. “How are the numbers on the new place?”

Roc’s deep chuckle said he knew exactly what Jax was doing. Trying to piss me off. “Damn good. Bookings are higher than anticipated this time of year and all the hospitality rags are eager to do their own reviews. Abby is running herself ragged trying to hire event coordinators for this location.”

Jax laughed. “Because no woman wants to live in BFE in the prime of her life?”

“Hello? Not that I don’t give a damn but right now I have other things on my mind.”

Jax sighed heavily and I knew it was him because Roc tried hard to be patient and kind. Always. “So, you haven’t fixed things yet. What the hell are you waiting for?”

“It’s kind of hard to fix anything when I can’t fucking find her!” I didn’t mean to let my frustration get the better of me, but traveling across the globe was exhausting work and finding her might require more days on the road. “She said she was near Christchurch but that was days ago.”

“She couldn’t have gone that far,” Roc threw in, the constant voice of reason.

“It’s been four days, she could be halfway to Dunedin.”

“Maybe,” Jax offered. “Or maybe you should just stop at every surfing town along the way until you find her. If you really want to find her.”

“Do you, really want to find her?” Roc’s voice was gentle but it held that steel quality that said he knew how much I wanted to find Misha.

“Yes.”

“You heard him Jax. Keep driving Ethan, we’ll see what we can do from our end. Won’t we Jax?”

He sighed the way he did as a wayward teen and even threw in a groan. “Yeah, we will. I’ll let you know.” Jax disconnected and I grinned, knowing my brothers would move heaven and hell to help me out and loving them for it.

“Thanks Roc.”

“No problem. You have everything you need?”

I nodded as I blew out a breath and stared into the sea. “Yeah, everything except Misha.”

“Well she told you where she was and that’s a good thing. She could have just hung up the phone or given you a false location.”

“Like Christchurch?”

“Ethan,” he said full of impatience. “You hurt her, did you really think she’d give you an x-marks-the-spot map leading directly to her? Take the win and prove she means something to you by tracking her down.” Without another word my older brother hung up on me.

Take the win. Yeah, I could do that. I had to because I needed to find Misha. Talk to her.

Make it impossible for her not to forgive me.

***

Fourteen hours later and I was a fucking wreck, but Jax had come through for me big time. I had a location and if I hurried I could make it there by sunset. Now that I would see her soon, my mind raced with how she’d receive me. Would she be happy to see me? Did that hint of emotion I heard during our last phone call mean that she found it hard to talk to me, and if so, why? Maybe she thought of me as a callous jerk who didn’t deserve anymore of her time.

Shit.

Uncertainty wasn’t a good look for me. I didn’t do uncertainty because it didn’t help anything. Only through figuring out the solution and deciding to put it in place could I get rid of that feeling and right now, I just couldn’t.

But somehow, as soon as I saw that sign welcoming me to Timaru, I felt a sense of rightness settle into my bones and I knew. This would all work out all right. It might take a while to get her to forgive me, but that sense of certainty took over and I knew that no matter how long it took, I would get her to forgive me.

Now I just had to find her.

Patiti Point, I was told by a grizzly looking old man at the service station, was the place for surfers with campers so that’s where I headed. If ever there was a place made for Misha, this place was it. I found a spot and began looking for her, happy I had casual clothes on because of the heat and the sand.

There was so much happening that I feared it would take all night to find her. The sun had begun to set which meant finding her would be more difficult in the dark, despite all the bonfires roaring, lights blazing. And of course, the ten thousand different songs playing all around me. I could’ve asked any of the people enjoying their night but I didn’t want to get sucked into a conversation when I needed to see Misha. To hold her. To look into those big green eyes.

Then I saw it in the distance. A woman seated on top of her camper and facing the sea. Before I could discern the wild tumble of blond waves the woman leaned back on her hands and drew my gaze to her chest. My body knew, even before my mind, that it was Misha.

My feet moved faster, dodging dancers, smokers and revelers in my rush to get to her. It felt like the faster I went, the further away she was. I broke into a flat out run, feet pounding the pavement as my heart raced. She looked at peace and I wondered if she even wanted to see me. But my feet refused to slow down or stop and Roc’s words reminded me that she told me where she was. Sort of. I stopped running just twenty feet shy of her trailer, slowing my breaths as I collected my thoughts.

This was it. “Ahoy up there!” It wasn’t original, but I was still working on getting my breathing under control. I couldn’t see her for the first time in weeks panting like an animal.

She didn’t say anything for a long beat then, “This isn’t a boat.”

I smiled. “I’m not sure what to say when asking to board an RV,” I called up and opted for knocking on the door. She rewarded me with a soft laugh and for the first time in weeks, my whole body sighed.

Movement sounded above and seconds later she walked around the camper to meet me. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I grinned, heart racing as her steps slowed but never stopped.

“What are you doing here?”

She didn’t sound happy, but she also didn’t sound unhappy. To me that was progress. “I came to see you. So we could talk.”

“Talk? About what?” Big green eyes blinked guilelessly at me and I had a moment of panic.

Had I gotten it all wrong? “About us, Misha.”

She gasped. “Us?”

I took a step closer, nodding. “Yeah, Misha. Us. You and me. That us.”

“Oh.” Her arms folded across her chest fell to her hips and she bit her lip as her face twisted in confusion. “But you said—”

“I know what I said.” I didn’t want to cut her off but I never wanted to hear her voice saying words I’d said to hurt her. “But I was a jackass.”

She smiled. “Your words.”

It was my turn to grin. “I know. I knew it almost instantly but I wasn’t ready to acknowledge it, never mind admit it. To myself or to you.” Her hands went to my chest but she didn’t push me away or pull me closer. They just laid over my chest, covering my heart. Searing me.

“Ethan,” she sighed and when I looked away from her hands on my chest, tears pooled in her eyes.

“Misha, I’m so damn sorry I sent you away.”

She shook her head, looking sorry and resigned. “No Ethan. I owe you an apology. It was wrong and unprofessional of me to sleep with you and look to you for…something more. I don’t regret it, but I shouldn’t have put that on you.”

This woman. She was as selfless as she was beautiful. As graceful as she was smart, and I didn’t fucking deserve her. Not one bit. I wanted to say so much to her, tell her everything I’d crossed the globe to say. Instead, I slipped my hands into her long, soft hair and held her head, slanting my mouth across hers, licking her lips, around her lips until she opened for me. We kissed right there, beside her camper with the stars twinkling bright above us. Our tongues collided in a frenzied mix of energy and desire, licking and tasting each other until she clung to me, her sexy moans traveling down my throat and settling somewhere deep in my soul.

Her hands fisted in my hair to draw me closer and I went willingly, dipping my head to capture her sweet plump cherry mouth. It was all I could feel and taste, all I wanted as her fingertips dug into my scalp and she wrapped a leg around me until our bodies were nearly perfectly aligned. Nearly. But goddamn it felt like I was already right where I needed to be. Then Misha jumped up and wrapped her other leg around me, perfectly aligning our bodies. So fucking perfectly my cock grew stiffer than it had ever been as she rocked against me, head tossed back, completely confident that I wouldn’t let her fall.

“Ethan,” she breathed out as I pressed open mouth kisses down the center of her chest while she rode my denim covered cock. Her voice was smooth, thick like warm honey being spread all over me and I fought the urge to strip us both bare and fuck her right up against this camper while the world went on around us. “Please.”

I smiled against her neck. “Please, what? Tell me what you want Misha.”

She laughed and showed incredible core strength to face me with a sexy, well-loved smile. “I want a lot, Ethan. Right now, I just need you.”

This felt easy. Too fucking easy but I’d been too long without her and I needed her. I needed to taste her sweet skin, to feel those tight buds between my fingers, feel her hot pussy clench around me. “That’s just what I need.”

“The bedroom is right through there.” Her big green eyes went to the door of her camper and back to me, waiting for me to decide.

“You’re not making this easy on me, Misha.” I wanted her. I wanted her more than I wanted anything for the foreseeable future, in my life and my bed. My heart. But right now, my body was in control and it wanted to be wrapped around the tiny blonde in my arms. Thrusting deep inside her.

That was enough to get my feet moving, up two metal steps and into the smallest fucking camper in the world. “Very cozy,” I told her as I tried to maneuver to the door in the back, careful of tables and counters but it was hard. Damn hard with her licking my neck and nibbling my ears. “You’re killing me, Misha.”

“No, I’m just heating you up, Ethan. I’ve missed you. So,” she slicked her tongue across my bottom lip, curling at the corner, “so,” she did the same to the top and bit into my bottom lip, “much.”

To hell with her knickknacks, I needed to get to that bed and I prayed like hell that it would be big enough for the both of us. I had to sit her down because there was no way we’d both fit through the door. She slid slowly down my body, backing up and removing her clothes just slow enough to keep me interested. “You, Mr. Mahoney, are wearing far too many clothes.”

“Mr. Mahoney?” She nodded and closed the distance between us, resting her hands deep in my waistband. “I like it when you get all proper like that, especially with your wild hair and bee stung lips. Say it again.”

She opened the fly and pulled down my zipper, fisting my cock inside my boxers. “My what a hard cock you have, Mr. Mahoney.”

My gaze darkened and I pushed her down on the bed with a grin. “The better to slide deep inside your sexy little body.” She arched and purred at my words and it was the hottest fucking thing, turning my cock to steel in an instant.

“God, yes!”

She looked like a fucking wet dream, wearing nothing but a tiny pink thong, hard rosebud nipples pointing towards the heavens. “You ready for me, Misha?”

She said nothing, head jerking from side to side and I hadn’t even touched her yet. But she nodded with a sultry grin for me. “Ethan,” she managed to get out as I knelt on the bed beside her legs. “Ethan.”

I was done talking, completely beyond words at the sight of her writhing and moaning as my hands slid slowly up the length of her body. Everything felt so fucking good. So fucking right. Here in this shoebox bedroom under the New Zealand sky, was right where we belonged. My mouth traveled every inch of her body, licking and kissing, biting and lighting a trail of fire that streaked across her belly, her legs, starting an inferno right at her core. Nothing had ever felt as good or as right as me and Misha in that moment.

“Ethan, please.”

Her seductive pleas, passionate cries did wild things to my body but I couldn’t give in. Not yet. Tonight, wasn’t just about sex. It was about claiming her as mine. Making love. We kissed for an eternity but I reluctantly pulled away, to taste the sweet berry tips that made my mouth water. She made sounds that could keep a man rock hard for days and I pressed it against her, feeling my chest puff out at her moan.

“Ethan!” Her fingers tangled in my hair and she panted as my tongue invaded her pussy, licking and sucking her trembling body as her sweet, tangy flavor exploded on my tongue. She ground against me, pulling me closer as she drew closer, fucking my face and rubbing her juices all over me.

I growled against her, vibrating her body as she continued to rub up against me. When I cupped her ass and held her perched above the bed in my hands as I loved her with my mouth, she flew apart into a million pieces. Her body shattered and broke apart with my name on her lips, body begging me to keep up the slow and steady licks that had driven her over the edge. Looking up at her, her body flush with orgasm and skin overheated from exertion, I had never seen a more beautiful sight in my life.

“You know just how to make me feel good.”

She purred the words and my heart pinched because we both knew I also knew how to make her feel bad. “Just think, we’re only getting started.”

Her lips curled into a saucy grin and she sighed with deep satisfaction. “That sounds like a nice way to spend the rest of the night.”

“Nice? Did you say that spending all night in bed with me is nice ?” She nodded and it turned to laughter when I pulled her into my arms and kissed her neck.

“Nice. Sweet. Gentle.”

I growled again and turned us over so I was poised on top of her, hips cradled between her thighs as my cock brushed against her wet heat. “I’ll show you nice and sweet and gentle.”

“Promises, promises,” she chuckled, running her hands up and down my back, squeezing my ass. “Yes.” She hissed out a breath when I slid inside. Not too deep but enough that we both felt it. Everywhere.

“More. I need all of you Ethan.”

Fuck, that’s exactly what I wanted to give her. Everything. All of me. The good, the bad and the arrogant. “You have me, babe.” I moved my hips until my balls rested right against her lush, round ass, so deep I could feel every move she made. Every breath, every swallow, my cock felt it and sent the message to the rest of me. “All of me.”

Misha’s legs wrapped around my waist, holding me close and then our hips moved as one—long, deep strokes filled with intense need. Longing and desire filled us as we stared in wonder at each other, both of us unable to believe the intense connection we shared. The heat, the raw, gritty passion. The slow sensual haze that filled the room. It all combined for an intoxicating moment that topped any sexual encounter I had ever had. “Ethan, yes. So good.”

“Damn good.”

I poured it all into her, into those last strokes that filled her up and made her eyes roll back in her head, her back arched and her voice scream out my name. I thrust faster, deeper and harder into her body, skin tingled at the feel of her hands clutching my biceps. Her words were incoherent but I got the gist, pleasure. “I’m coming, Ethan.”

“Yes, you are.” Even though I wasn’t near done with her, I did my best to drive her right out of her mind and her body. I kept up steady strokes, rubbing furious circles on her clit until she flew completely apart, body convulsing while I drove deeper and deeper.

“Oh, god, yes! Yes! Yes! Ethan!”

I grinned. “That’s number two,” I told her with a cocky grin and kept my hips moving, holding her legs wide apart as I worked with a single-minded focus to bring her more pleasure.

“Yes, there!”

I held the back of her thighs wide open so she was exposed to me in the dim camper, stroking to hit that spot over and over until her body froze, convulsed and then shattered again. Longer and harder, and with a long keening wail. Her last orgasm triggered my own, hard deep thrusts allowing me to empty my body into hers. “Oh fuck, Misha! Baby,” I groaned and let my body collapse onto hers.

“Why was that so good?” She froze as though she’d realized the answer a moment too late and I knew that we couldn’t put off the talk any longer.

“Because it’s us,” I whispered and kissed her neck. “Does this place have a shower or are we having shower sex in the ocean?”