Coldhearted Boss(68)

I pass the row of tents and wonder if he’s inside one of them. I could go over and see, but I’d be mortified if I stumbled upon one of the couples instead. So, I follow the trail down to the lake and freeze when I spot a low fire burning through the trees.

Everyone went to bed a while ago. I’m not sure who was in charge of dousing the campfire, but I worry they might have forgotten until I continue down the path and spot Ethan sitting on a blanket, alone, with the lake at his back.

He’s lost in thought, his arms wrapped around his knees and a beer seemingly forgotten in his hands.

I walk until I’m on the other side of the fire and when he looks up, I realize he must have spotted me a while back because he doesn’t look surprised. His possessive gaze eats me up from head to toe as if he’s saying, Those legs belong to me, so why are you standing all the way over there?

“Couldn’t sleep?” I ask gently, unsure of what we are now. Friends? Enemies? Should I back away slowly or step around this fire?

“I was waiting,” he says, and the words aren’t teasing or seductive. They’re heartfelt and earnest. “For you,” he continues, shaking his head and finishing off his beer before setting it down on the grass beside the blanket.

My stomach flips as I tip my head to the side and smile.

“We were together all day, you know.”

His attention is on the fire now. When he speaks again, he sounds as if he’s speaking straight from the heart. “No. You were off in your own world.”

“And you were with Camille.”

There. The jealousy has been given a voice, and it feels good to let him know—so good, in fact, I continue, “You smiled at her so much today.”

“Smiled?”

I wrap my arms around my waist self-consciously. “Yes. You enjoyed yourself, something that doesn’t happen very often when you’re in my company.”

He grins, then a soft chuckle escapes him. “If you think I haven’t enjoyed the last few weeks, you’re wrong.” His gaze flicks back to my shirt. “Dead wrong.”

The fire crackles between us, but it’s dying down. Soon, it’ll be nothing but embers.

I frown down at my loose t-shirt, wishing I’d planned my outfit a little better, but when I glance up from beneath my lashes, Ethan doesn’t seem to give a damn about what I’m wearing.

His eyes are stormy black and his jaw is locked tight.

“Did you mean what you said earlier?” I ask, finally picking up where he left off, wanting answers once and for all.

He frowns at the fire. “If you’re just hoping I’ll repeat it again for your amusement, I won’t.”

“I was hoping you’d repeat it again for my pleasure,” I reply, a wicked little smile on my lips.

Tension sparks between us as our gazes catch. We stare so long, my heart hammers in my chest and my stomach clenches tight. I look away first, back down at the ground.

“Y’know, it’s funny,” he begins. “I knew why Tanner was all over you today and yet I couldn’t seem to rationalize how angry it made me. Maybe it’s because I know there are a million men just like him, swarming around you for reasons that have nothing to do with making another woman jealous.” His eyes meet mine. “I won’t stand in line, waiting for my turn.”

I wet my lips and wait for words, but words don’t seem good enough anymore. He made the first move earlier, so it’s my turn now. I won’t let this rare confessional lead to another dead end. I won’t wake up frustrated and hot in that cabin, alone and angry about it.

I walk around the fire as he watches me and when I reach the edge of his blanket, I kick off my sandals and continue up onto the soft fabric until I’m standing right in front of him. With the fire behind me, I cast him in shadow.

I’ve come to him willingly, all but on hands and knees, and I know from the smolder in his gaze that he’s going to reward me for it. His hand reaches out and wraps around my left ankle then he slowly drags his palm up around my calf, behind my knee, and then higher, spanning the back of my thigh. Goose bumps bloom across my skin. I reach down to trace the contours of his jaw and cheek, letting my fingers glide into his thick hair just as his catch on the outer edge of my panties.

His thumb hooks inside them and he tugs them higher, revealing the bottom curve of my butt before he smooths his hand around and across my hip bone. Again, the material of my panties bunches up under his firm grasp, but he leaves it there, hiked up so it covers me—barely—as he continues his exploration of my body.

He gathers my t-shirt like a drape and pushes it up, revealing my taut stomach, which is quivering under his heavy gaze. I will myself to calm down, to stop shaking, but he’s seeing so much of me, even more as he pushes my shirt higher and reveals the bottom curves of my full breasts.

There’s too much to feel at once: the warmth of the fire behind me, the cool breeze blowing off the lake, the rough possessive way his hands heat my skin.

We’re still in a safe zone. Nothing has been revealed beyond what he’d see if I were in a skimpy bikini, but I’m scared of where we’ll go from here, scared to be on display so openly while he’s still cloaked in shadow. That’s when I realize he’s staying down there on purpose, as if kneeling before me, showing me rather than telling me he’s surrendering.