Harper gripped the edge of her seat as the cars whipped around the track, spraying gravel in their wake.

This race was only twenty laps and Ethan had been on the leader’s ass for the last six. There were only three to go.

His car was number twenty-one and had been painted bright yellow with what looked like waves done in blue down the sides. There were stickers in back of the front bumper that she couldn’t read because every time the cars zoomed past where she sat, it was all a blur.

The only reason she knew Ethan was number twenty-one was because his name was on a huge board that listed his stats every lap. The cars were going close to one hundred miles per hour and the noise of their engines was deafening.

Last lap flashed on the sign in big red letters.

The crowd was on its feet when the cars came around the last turn. Ethan and number eleven were bumper to bumper on the straightaway. Harper screamed along with the rest of the people, their excitement too contagious to ignore.

Ethan pulled ahead a little. Then a little more. When the cars flew past the finish line, he’d been half a car’s length in front. Harper sat down and pressed her hand to her chest. Under her fingers her heart pounded furiously.

Holy shit that was intense.

By the time she got her pulse under control, the bleachers had almost emptied out. She stood and made her way down. At the bottom she stopped. If she turned right, it would lead her out into the parking lot.

If she turned left, out toward the middle of the field where the drivers and their teams were now working, she would see Ethan.

Right it was. She started off, her heart sinking as she realized that this had been a bad idea. The depression and aching in her chest was worse than ever.

“Harper?”

Shit. He was walking up behind her. She turned to face him, an embarrassed smile on her face as she shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, I know I’m the last person you probably want to see right now.”

“Given the coincidences in the past few weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you’re here because you write a secret racing blog on the side.”

A sad laugh burst from her throat. “No such luck. I just came here to watch you. Congrats, by the way.”

His hand settled on her shoulder and even though he had gloves on, she felt the warmth. His hair was wet and hung over his face. He still had on a white racing jumpsuit but he’d unzipped it enough to pull it off his arms and it hung loose at his waist.

The dark grey t-shirt hugged his chest and she had a hard time looking away. He dropped his hand and tugged on the fingers of his gloves with his teeth until he could shove the pair into his pocket.

“You took off yesterday before we had a chance to really talk.” His gaze was steady and there was no sign of the anger that had flashed there in the courthouse.

Of course she wasn’t angry anymore either. “We didn’t say everything that needed saying?”

“Did we?” He tilted his head and stared at her, deep into her eyes. He was much more like the man she’d been with in Tahiti. There was heat in his gaze and it made her pulse pound in her neck.

“The world is a damned big place,” she said. “You could have been anyone…” She didn’t have to spell it out. He knew what she meant.

His eyes grew stormy. “But I wasn’t.”

She wasn’t able to take her eyes off him. He was so damned there, all hard muscle and confidence and it made her fingers itch to run along his strong jaw. Instead she clenched them at her side. Any other man in the entire world. That’s all he had to be.

Instead he was the single one that she needed to avoid. She really should go.

He reached out and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. Her lips parted on a gasp and his jaw hardened. Without the beard she could see every hard line of his face. His eyes had gone black and she could see the way his chest rose faster now.

“Fuck,” he growled. His hand slid back, curled around her neck and inch by torturous inch, he pulled her head closer. “This is the most epically fucked up thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I should go,” she whispered against his lips. If he kissed her, every last argument to leave would fly out the window.

Their fathers were enemies. Like, enemies to where either of them would truly like to see the other dead and buried.

This couldn't happen, she and Ethan were an impossibility in every sense of the word.

The heat in his stare pinned her to the where she stood.

“Probably,” he murmured.

The barest of touch whispered over her lips, but it might as well have been a thousand lightning bolts striking at once. Heat ignited in her gut and a low moan crawled out of her throat.

“I…I couldn’t resist seeing you,” she whispered softly.

“Christ, you’re killing me here, Harper.” his other hand settled at her waist and his finger stroked the sliver of exposed skin above the waistband of her shorts.

She sucked in a breath. Once again he’d barely even touched her and she was ready to climb his body and wrap her legs around his waist.

“You have to be the practical one.” Harper looked up and was so close to him that she could see the barest sliver of color around his pupil. There was a wildness building just under the surface and she could feel it by the way his muscles tensed when he pressed closer. His fingers tightened on her neck and a thrill shot down her back.

He barked out a laugh. “You don’t know me very well if you think I’m going to be the practical one,” he said.

“Well I sure as hell won’t be,” she gasped. “I can’t even think straight.”

He slid his arm all the way around her waist and pulled her against him. The hard bulge of his cock pressed against her stomach. All she could think about was how much she wanted him again, circumstances be damned.

She wasn’t her father and Ethan wasn’t his.

Harper wrapped her arms around his neck and arched her chest against him.

Ethan buried his face in her neck and sank his teeth into the flesh just under her ear. A sting of pain made her gasp, but then he ran his tongue soothingly over the spot. Her nipples tightened and ached when she slowly moved from side to side. One of his legs pressed between hers and suddenly, the friction that she craved was right there. She rocked her hips, needing more.

“You’re playing with fire, Harper,” he growled in her ear. “I’m already wound tight as fuck from the race. In about three seconds, I’m going to have my way with you.”

Bright light danced in her vision. Holy hell, she was so close to orgasm and his dirty words were going to push her over the top. She groaned so loud that it echoed around them. His entire body hardened and he swore under his breath. Then, he stood a foot away, his hands on her shoulders.

His chest rose and fell as he gulped in huge breaths.

It took him a minute to lift his head, to look into her eyes. The want that radiated from them almost made her knees buckle. She reached out and ran her fingers down his chest. This time he groaned, but he caught her hand and held it still.

Harper could feel his heart slamming into his ribs.

“You have the most amazing fuck me eyes and it’s killing me,” he said. After gulping in another breath, he eased his hand off hers. “But I’m not going to take you against the wall of concession stand in the middle of broad daylight. No matter how badly I want to.”

Harper blinked against the haze in her head. He was right. Anyone could walk by and if they were looking to get pictures of Ethan, they might get her too. And if her father saw them...

She nodded her head.

Tension eased from his body and though he still looked like he wanted to devour her, his face relaxed. The urgency inside her had dimmed but it wasn’t gone. She didn’t want to leave. Not yet.

“Will you stay while I help pack up? We can go back to my place after?” He stroked his thumb over her collarbone and she leaned into the touch.

“I’ll even help you pack your gear,” she said, grinning. “Maybe I can be your roadie for the day.”

He shook his head and laughed. “You have a lot to learn, Harper.”

They both knew this was a bad idea, but neither wanted to admit it.

She knew this wasn’t going anywhere except for Ethan’s bedroom. Their time together was limited and any chance of a real relationship was completely doomed.

Harper understood all of that, but she wasn’t going to stop until the whole thing went down in flames, as she knew it eventually must.

* * *

Ethan was silent almost the whole drive back to the city.

Harper had stood to the side while he helped his crew load up the car and when he’d come out of the small trailer in jeans and a t-shirt, his shoulders were tense and his stride a little too long.

After a few tries at conversation, Harper gave up. Something was off. Ethan’s leg had not stopped moving and his thumbs tapped on the steering wheel. He was on edge. Cagey. Maybe he was mad at her for coming to his race out of the blue. Or he’d remembered that they were enemies but felt bad admitting his change of heart.

But he pulled up at a high-rise in the city and helped her out, his hand at her elbow. They went inside and he guided her to the bank of elevators.

“Ethan?” she finally asked when the doors dinged closed.

He still had his sunglasses on and she couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel the weight of his stare.

“If you want me to go…” the elevator dinged at the forty first floor and he pushed away from the wall. Once again he guided her ahead of him along a brightly lit hall until he stopped in front of B304.

The door opened, she stepped inside and it closed behind her. The place was beautiful. She could see the river out of a wall of windows straight ahead.

“This is…” She turned to tell him it was stunning, but he’d taken his sunglasses off and his eyes were smoldering.

He took a step toward her, then another. Some primal instinct rose up and screamed for her to run. That she was the prey and he the predator. The back of her knees hit some piece of furniture and she had to stop.

His gaze roved over her body and left her breathless. He looked like he wanted to devour her.

“Take off your clothes, Harper,” he gritted out.

Her breath caught in her throat when he reached behind his head and pulled his shirt up and over. Her imagination had not tried to trick her after all. The tanned muscles that she remembered, that delicious dip on the side of his hips, had not just been in her imagination.

He toed off his shoes and flicked the button on his jeans open.

Not once had his stare strayed from her face. His jaw hardened, and the tension that had been radiating from him since the track, now she knew what it was. Her skin tightened and her pulse leapt.

“Clothes. Off.” The deep command sank into her bones and she forgot how to think for a second.

The zipper on his jeans came down and he shoved them over his hips, standing in only a pair of black boxer briefs. And holy shit, if she had any doubt at all whether he wanted her, there wasn’t any now. His cock was rigid, pushing against the thin cotton.

“Time’s up.” He stalked the few feet between them, dipped down and lifted her off her feet. When she tried to squirm from his hold, he smacked her ass.

“What are you doing,” she squeaked, and then she was on her back in his bed.

“I already told you I was wound up from the race,” he said, setting a knee on the bed and reaching for her shorts.

Harper groaned out loud as he slid her shorts and panties down her legs.

Before she could scoot back, he grabbed her ankles, tugged her to the edge of the bed and sank down to his knees on the floor. Holding her thighs wide, he wasted no time. His hot mouth closed over her clit and he sucked.

“Oh my god.” She arched her hips and dug her fingers into the blanket. His tongue stroked over the hard nub while he kept it pulled between his lips. He dragged his fingers down her thighs until his thumbs ran along the outside of her pussy. He pushed up, opening her even more, holding her exposed so that he could stroke his tongue over her clit again and again.

The pressure started to build and Harper drove her hands into his hair, holding his mouth against her as she rocked her hips. Tension grew, her stomach clenched and it felt like it was all too much.

Ethan shifted and slid two fingers inside her, pumped them once, twice and the pressure burst apart, sending her spiraling over the edge. Light exploded behind her eyelids. She lifted off the bed, cried out so loud that it echoed off the walls.

Nothing in his expression had changed. If anything, he looked even more feral, his eyes almost glowing.

She watched as he fisted his cock and her sex clenched. God that was hot. The bed dipped and he slid his arms under the back of her knees. Once more he held her open and leaned forward, pressing into her inch by agonizingly slow inch. He had her pinned, unable to lift her hips to take him faster, deeper.

“Ethan,” she groaned low and long.

His dark chuckle sent shivers up her spine. When he was finally buried deep, he hovered, her body bent so that her knees were only her shoulder and his lips only inches from hers. His face was hard, teeth clenched so hard his jaw was rigid. His eyes were black as he stared down at her.

Need crawled through her veins.

She needed him to move but he didn’t. He held himself still and she clenched around him. A low growl escaped from between his tight lips. He pulled back until just the tip was in her, then without breaking eye contact, thrust back inside hard enough to rock the bed.

“Fuck,” she hissed. Her hips were still pinned and she fought to move, to make him do that again. The smile that curled his lip up filled with hunger.

“What do you want? This?” He pulled back and rocked into her again.

“Yes,” she cried out, tightening around him. “God yes.”

“Fuck,” he hissed. “You better hold on tight, cause I’ve been thinking about this for weeks.”

Before she could reply, he slid one arm under her shoulders and wrapped the fingers of the other around the back of her neck. Holding her in place, he started thrusting fast and deep.

She couldn’t move and it heightened every single stroke inside her. Helpless, she could only lay there while every drive of his cock sent her closer to the edge. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced and she was going to come. Again.

“Ethan.” His name wrenched from her throat as the spasms slammed into her body.

His hips jerked faster and a long low growl erupted from between his teeth, then he froze. His entire body stiffened. She felt his cock pulsing inside her and she squeezed herself around him, stroking him the only way that she could until his hold loosened and he slid his arms from under her.

She slid her arms around him, running her fingers along his slick back. They were both breathing heavy as his weight pushed down over her before he rolled onto his side, bringing her with him.

His heart thundered under her ear.

Her hair stuck to her sweat slicked skin and she exhaled loudly. “That was…”

Ethan glanced over, his eyes half closed, and grinned. “Fucking awesome?”

Harper laughed. That was an understatement. Despite everything that hung between them, the sex was out of this world. Too bad that was the last time. Even so, she wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

She rolled onto her side and ran her hand along the ridges of his chest.

“Hold that thought,” he said, sitting up and sliding his legs off the bed.

The view as he walked into the bathroom, that tight butt and broad shoulders, made her sigh out loud.

“I know you’re checking out my ass,” he said without even looking. “It’s a good thing I love being objectified for my rockin body.”

“I was looking at the view out those windows, not your ass,” she argued. Yes the view outside from the 41st floor was pretty amazing, but the view inside, that’s what she’d like to stare at for a few more hours.

Not that she’d ever tell him that.

He came out and left the room, then came back with a couple of bottles of Perrier. She took one gratefully and tipped the bottle back, letting it wash down her parched throat. The chilled liquid hit her stomach and…

“Oh crap.” Harper bolted from the bed and rushed to the bathroom, making it just in time to empty her stomach into the toilet. After a few more dry heaves she sat back. This stomach thing was getting damned inconvenient.

“Shit, everything okay?” Ethan asked, standing behind her.

“Sorry. Had this bug thing for about a week and just when I think I’m good…” She waved her hand at the toilet before pushing to her feet and flushing. Ethan ran a washcloth under the faucet and handed it to her.

Embarrassment crawled up her neck. Nothing like throwing up to show your appreciation for mind-blowing sex.

“Have you seen a doctor? A week is quite a while to be sick.” Ethan’s face was drawn with concern. “I wouldn’t have been so rough if I knew you weren’t feeling well.”

“God no. It was perfect. Seriously, it comes and goes. I’ve been fine all day. I think it’s because I didn’t eat before I went to the track and it was hot and the water was really cold.”

“There an on call doctor. You want me to call him?”

He was being so sweet, so concerned, but it was nothing. It hadn’t gotten worse or better, it just was. “I’m really okay. Do you have a spare toothbrush though?”

He opened the drawer and handed her a wrapped brush. He watched her brush her teeth and the intimacy of it made her blush harder. He guided her into the living room and helped her sit on the couch. Really, she was feeling much better.

He reached out and brushed her hair off her forehead.

“Please, just let the on site doctor take a look at you. You’re here. It’s an amenity. If you’ve been sick for a week, then obviously something could be wrong. What if you have Ebola or something? What if you end up patient zero and they quarantine us?” His grin made her shake her head. “What if all we can do is stay inside and have sex all day? The horror.”

She burst out laughing. “I don’t have Ebola.” She ran her finger over his stomach. “Unfortunately.”

He grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips, where he bit her fingertips. Heat pooled in her stomach.

“Prove it,” he said against the palm of her hand.

The fact that he could turn her on while suggesting she see a doctor was a pretty amazing feat. She had to give him credit where it was due.

Harper sighed. “Fine. Just to show you that I don’t have some horrific disease, you can call them. But when they say I’m fine, you owe me dinner.” She wasn’t sure why that was the first thing she thought of. They couldn’t see each other anymore. Not when the trial was starting soon. But it didn’t stop her from wanting to.

“Deal.” He jumped up and grabbed the phone. After a minute he came back. “Ten minutes. Enough time for you to put some clothes on.” He slid his fingers over her bare shoulder. “Not that I mind you exactly like you are. At all.”

His lips were hot against her skin and she leaned into his kiss.

It was going to suck having to end this.

“If you keep doing that, the doctor is going to walk in on a lot more than just my bare skin. Not that you’re hard on the eyes.”

He threw his hand over his heart and staggered back. “You only like me for my body.”

Her gaze roved up and down the dip and hard curves, stopping to admire the way his cock was already jutting out. God he had amazing stamina. Another check in the pro column.

“If you keep looking at my dick like that, I’m going to put it to good use,” he growled.

“You’re the one who insisted on calling the doctor,” she said, pushing up off the couch. “We could be playing doctor right this minute, you know, taking my temperature…orally.” She wrapped her fingers around his hard length and slid them slowly back and forth. He groaned and moved his hips. “But now I have to get dressed. Oh well.”

She let him go with one last squeeze and sauntered past him. He spun around and smacked her ass and she yelped before running into the bedroom, laughter spilling from her lips.

“I really do feel fine.” She pulled on her panties and found her bra behind the nightstand.

He stepped behind her and reached around to cup her breasts, to roll her nipples into hard little peaks. “Fine? You feel fucking amazing.”

She groaned and pushed her ass back, loving the feel of his velvety cock sliding up and down her lower back. It shouldn’t be this fun, this easy. Not when they were supposed to be enemies.

Once again, the unfairness of everything settled in her gut.

He started tugging her panties down. “I can be quick,” he murmured in her ear.

“Not really a selling point,” she gasped, rolling her hips when his hand slid down her stomach and between her legs. He ran one finger along the wetness then moved higher, stroking slowly across her clit.

He brought her higher and she widened her legs, rocked back and forth on his hand.

“God you are so fucking wet, Harper. Do you have any idea how much that turns me on?” His finger dipped back inside, gathered more of her desire, then he was circling her slit again.

A knock came at the door and she froze. Ethan didn’t.

“I know you’re close. I’m not stopping until you come.” Harsh hot breath washed over her neck and she groaned.

‘You have to answer the door,” she panted.

“You have to come,” he growled in her ear.

Ethan reached down and hooked her leg under his arm, spreading her wide open and balanced on one leg. Another knock. He drove two fingers into her and pressed his thumb on her now throbbing clit.

Pleasure spiraled inside her, growing hotter and tighter. “Oh god,” she whispered when the tension pulled tight. His fingers went deeper, harder.

“That’s it.”

She balanced on the edge, so close to falling over. Ethan pressed his lips to her neck, drew the sensitive skin between his teeth and bit down.

Light exploded behind her eyes and she clamped her teeth together so she wouldn’t cry out. His arm tightened like a vise and he held her immobile against his chest. She bucked, her body trembled and quaked and the leg that she balanced on shook.

His fingers slowed, turned caressing as she came down.

Another knock. Harder this time. “Hello. This is Dr. Rosario.”

Harper leaned her head back against Ethan’s shoulder and took a shaky breath in. He lowered her legs, held onto her waist to keep her anchored against him. His kiss on her shoulder was softer now.

“You take my breath away, you know that?”

With one last kiss her carefully took his hands away and she stood on wobbly legs. Ethan groaned when he tugged his jeans on and she watched as he tucked his still hard cock into them. He winced when he zipped up and then let out a sigh of relief when it was done.

He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head.

“I’ll let him in and let him know you’ll be right out.” He started to leave, then crossed the room in three strides and cupped her face. His eyes burned. He looked like he was going to say something, but after a second, he softly kissed her then he was gone, closing the door behind him.

Harper gathered her clothes and held them against her chest. Her pulse still pounded through her veins. The bathroom tile was cold against her feet and helped to ground her a little. She could hear voices through the door and cleaned up as best she could with just water. A few minutes later, with her hair under some semblance of control, she left the bathroom and made her way to where the doctor was waiting.

She felt fine.

Whatever bug she’d gotten wasn’t that bad.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Rosario,” the older white haired man said when she stepped into the room. “Are you my patient today?” His smile was warm and Harper immediately felt comfortable with him. The doctor motioned for her to sit on the couch. His bag was on the coffee table.

Ethan sat in a chair next to the couch.

“So tell me what’s wrong,” the doctor said, sitting next to her with a blood pressure cuff.

“It’s nothing really. A stomach bug I think.”

He wrapped her arm and lifted his stethoscope to his ears.

“How long has it been going on?” he asked, pumping the bulb until the cuff squeezed her arm.

“A week maybe? It’s not constant and I feel fine most of the time, but every once in awhile, I get sick. I thought it was something I ate the first couple of times.”

“Blood pressure is good. Let’s take a listen. Deep breath in.”

Harper sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Again.”

After a couple more breaths, he sat back. “Lungs sound clear.” He slid his fingers around her neck, under her throat and felt around. “Nothing swollen. Let’s check your temperature.”

She closed her lips around the thermometer and it beeped a minute later.

“A little elevated, but nothing that worries me. And the last time you were sick?”

“About twenty minutes ago,” Ethan said. “We were..well yeah..anyway..she stood up and went a little green and ran into the bathroom. That’s when I called you.”

“Just a few more questions. Have you recently been out of the country?”

“Yes. Tahiti. About a month ago.” Her gaze strayed to Ethan. Never knowing she’d run into her hot hookup when she got back. A smile tilted up her lips and he grinned at her in return.

“You should probably have a few tests run to rule out anything, but you can do that with your regular doctor. Did you get any shots before you traveled? Sometimes they can cause side effects.”

“I was up to date with everything.”

The doctor jotted something down on his chart, checked of a few boxes on the form.

“Date of last menstrual cycle,” he said, his pen poised above the paper.

“Three or four months ago, I think.” When the doctor glanced up in surprise she gave him a smile. “It’s normal for me. I’m very irregular and have been working with my primary for years trying to get things straightened out.”

“Birth control?” he asked.

“Nothing right now. We tried the shot about a year ago, but it made my moods too weird.”

The doctor set his pen down and glanced at her. “So I have to ask. Is there a chance you could be pregnant?”

A laugh bubbled up in her throat and the denial was right there on her lips. Except Ethan sat up and when she looked at him, his eyes were wide. His face a little pale. A slow sinking feeling started in her stomach and the nausea returned.

“Tahiti,” Ethan croaked, his voice breaking on the last syllable. “We didn’t use anything.”

“But…” She couldn’t say anything around the lump in her throat. How? She hadn’t had a period in such a long time.

But it made sense. The throwing up. The way her breast had gotten super sensitive all of a sudden.

It hit her out of nowhere.

She was pregnant.

Today was supposed to be the last time with Ethan, had to be because of everything in the outside world that demanded it.

He was a Wentworth, for God’s sake. As far as her parents were concerned, he might as well have been the son of Saddam Hussein. And surely Ethan’s father would think even less of her, were he to ever find out about all of this.

She covered her face with her hands. This couldn’t be happening.

Why had she been so impulsive, so careless and irresponsible?

Maybe it runs in the family, she thought.

She wanted to look at Ethan, wanted to see in his eyes that he would help her, stand by her, take care of her during all of this. But she knew that he wouldn’t.

This was the same guy who’d disappeared after their one night together, leaving a scrawled apology behind to cushion the blow.

Harper swallowed hard and tried not to sob. She was going to have to be strong now, because decisions needed to be made. And she had no idea what to do next.