Chapter 18 - Ethan
Dusk is settling into night as I throw another pebble into the river. I’m here to meet Zoe and I’m a little early, but even the serenity of the forest and the flow of the river has failed to calm me down. My heart is thumping, and every sound makes me turn towards the path where Zoe will walk to meet me.
Finally, after an eternity, I hear light footsteps and her graceful figure comes into view. She raises a hand towards me and I step into the path. I open my arms and she gives me a hug, resting her head on my chest and sighing.
“Long day?” I ask.
“I think little Hailey’s birth may have tired me out more than I thought,” she replies, resting her chin against my chest and staring at me with her sparkling sapphire eyes.
“I hear you. I had to go do an extra round to the campsites this afternoon and then I was falling asleep at my desk. I have a feeling it wasn’t Hailey’s birth that tired me out, though.”
Zoe blushes and smacks my chest lightly. She disengages from me and takes a deep breath, staring at the river beside us.
“How was your drive up to the lookout with Bryan?”
She tilts her head to the side, not taking her eyes off the river.
“Informative,” she answers.
I snort. “That doesn’t sound like Bryan. Was he telling you about the legend of the Lang Creek ghost?”
She glances at me and her eyes glimmer. Her lip curls up in a grin. “Is he the one who burned down the hotel?”
My heart skips a beat and my mouth goes dry, but I cover my discomfort with a laugh. I hate that I lied to her. “Maybe he did,” I answer.
She slips her hand into mine and we start walking down the path towards the town. We don’t say a word to each other, but it feels almost electric between us. Her fingers are intertwined in mine, and I can feel her arm brushing against mine. My whole body feels drawn to her, and all I want to do is wrap my arms around her and crush my lips against hers.
She squeezes my hand as if she’s reading my mind. I do some quick mental calculations to see how quickly I can get her back to my place and do all the things I’ve been dreaming about for the past twenty-four hours. She looks up at me just as I’m imagining what her body looks like when it’s on top of mine.
“What are you thinking about?”
“The way you look when you orgasm,” I answer without thinking. She lets out a laugh and elbows me.
“Ethan!”
“What!” I laugh. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.”
She looks at me again, this time frowning. She opens her mouth as if she’s about to say something, and then changes her mind. We walk in silence, and then Zoe stops. I turn to face her, my eyebrows inching together. I’m about to ask her why she stopped when she puts her hand on my chest and slides it up to my neck. She presses her chest against mine and heat floods my veins.
Her tongue darts out to lick her lips and a vibration passes through me. The golden light of evening makes her eyes shine and her lips glisten. I slide my arm around to her lower back and pull her a bit closer.
“What are we doing, Ethan?” She whispers.
“Who cares,” I answer, dropping my chin and crushing my lips against hers. Her hand slides around my neck and pulls my nape down towards her.
It’s more than a kiss. Where yesterday was explosive desire, tonight her kiss tastes like the fire of pure passion. Every time she moves her hand over my body it leaves a trail of scorched skin in its path. She runs her fingers through my hair and pulls me closer as I squeeze her waist with my arms. My hands drop to her ass and a moan escapes her lips.
I can’t wait any longer. I hook my arms around her thighs and lift her up over my shoulder. She yelps and laughs, drumming her hands on my ass.
“What are you doing!” She exclaims, laughing.
“I’m taking you back to my place and I’m giving you the best orgasm of your life,” I grunt. My cock is heavy and my whole body feels like it’s on edge. It’s like my skin is suddenly ten times as sensitive as usual, and every cell in my body is focused on Zoe.
“Ethan,” she says, her voice muffled in my back. I pause, setting her down gently and running my hands up her sides until they rest on her waist. She runs her fingers up my arms and hooks her hands around my neck. I search her face and then touch my forehead to hers.
“Unless you’d rather go home?”
“The last thing I want to do right now is go home,” she breathes. “But we work together, and…”
She stops talking when my lips cover hers, and I feel her melt into me. When I pull away, we’re both panting. “We’re not at work,” I growl. “No one has to know.”
Zoe grins. “I’ve only been here a couple days, but I can tell you that everyone will know.”
I laugh, and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. My finger drifts down her cheek and I use it to tilt her head up towards me.
“You want to know a secret?”
She nods.
“I don’t care what they say. I don’t care that we work together. I don’t care that you have a daughter and a life in Seattle. I don’t care about any of that, because all I can think about is getting you back to my place and doing a thousand things to make you scream.”
I tilt my head closer to her and brush my lips against the soft skin behind her ear. “I want to see that face again,” I growl. “That face you make when you let go, and the orgasm ripples through your body.”
She whimpers, and I lay a soft kiss on her neck. “I want to feel your legs shake and I want to hear your screaming my name.”
Her hand tightens on my neck as her fingernails dig into me.
“You drive me wild, Zoe,” I say, breathing in the smell of her. When I pull away, her eyes are shining and her lips are parted. Her chest is heaving up and down, and she looks at me with a fiery, burning passion in her eyes.
Zoe drops her hand to my crotch, feeling my hard length through the thick denim of my jeans. I groan, watching her through half-closed eyes. She runs her hand back and forth, and finally shivers, hooking her fingers into my waistband.
“I want you so damn much, Ethan Clarke,” she says with a husky voice that sends another shiver through my body. “Take me home.”