Chapter 8

She licked her lips and forced herself to meet his eyes again. He was watching her with another indecipherable look.

Still, whatever he said, she knew that wasn’t Ethan’s normal modus operandi. She just shook her head in answer and said, “I’m a little worried about this whole playacting thing.”

“It’s not all an act now is it?”

She didn’t want to talk about that at this particular moment. “I mean this new thing…I don’t think I’m going to be able to respond naturally to the possessive boyfriend type. It’s likely to embarrass and maybe even annoy me and I don’t know if I can hide that.”

“Don’t bother trying. Both reactions will just make you appear more real to the perp.”

“I don’t know…”

“Trust me, Sunshine. I know what I’m talking about. The possessive boyfriend bit is going to explain your job changes, too…all of them.”

“How?”

“We’ve been together for two years-the closer we stick to the truth, the easier the deception will be to carry out-and you quit your job investment counseling to take a position that gave you more time with me. Now I want you to move across country with me, so I can explore my artistic muse on the West Coast. In this scenario, I like the idea of you working part-time because it makes you even more accessible.”

Turning to face Ethan, she slipped off her shoes and then curled her feet under her on the sofa. “Any woman who puts up with that sort of possessiveness needs a lesson in assertiveness.”

“Are you saying you’d never compromise your lifestyle for someone you love?”

“Would you?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “I plan to play the annoying, in your face, needy boyfriend who hides that need behind arrogance. And no, I wouldn’t normally be that way. But I believe that there are a lot of relationships that would do better if one or both people learned to compromise.”

“Did your parents…for each other?”

“All the time. They still do. And they taught us all to compromise for the family. It isn’t always easy, but it works and we may live several states apart, but we’re still close.”

“I like that.” In fact, to her way of thinking, it sounded like Heaven.

“They’d like you, too, Beth. Mama especially. She likes a feisty woman.”

“You think I’m feisty?”

“A total firecracker. You try to hide it with your quiet ways, but you’re damn good at getting your way and you don’t play emotionally manipulative games to do it either.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve known you for two years.”

“You’ve worked with me, that’s not the same as knowing me.”

“I’ve watched you, baby. I know you.”

He was starting with the “baby” thing again. She wasn’t going to survive it. Or at least, her good intentions weren’t. “If you knew me so well, why didn’t you know it was going to seriously peeve me if you made allusions to last night in front of Alan and my dad?”

“You want to hide our relationship while you keep Alan dangling?” he asked instead of answering.

“No. I want my private life to stay that way and we don’t have a relationship.”

“You can say that after last night?” He hadn’t moved a muscle and yet she felt not exactly threatened…but sort of intimidated. How did he do that?

She wasn’t backing down though. “It was phone sex.” Even if she couldn’t believe she’d done that with him and had never, ever, ever, ever considered doing anything like that with another man. “It wasn’t the bonding moment of the twenty-first century.”

He sat up and put his wineglass down on the table in one fluid movement, his green eyes hot with purpose. “It was incredible and tonight is going to be mind blowing.”

He wasn’t leaning forward, but he felt entirely too close.

She leaned back, into the sofa, with no noticeable improvement and took a hasty sip of wine. “I’m not so sure about tonight.”

He removed her wineglass from her hand with deliberate movements. “You said you were. The time for waffling is over, baby.”

“You said you wouldn’t push me,” she said in a breathy voice she barely recognized. She was not a breathy-type person. She was practical. Certain. Responsible. But he made her feel breathless, undecided, and reckless.

Not good.

“I didn’t push you, Beth. You’re the one that suggested we make love last night, not me.” He was leaning forward now, his solid pecs too close to her chest.

If she breathed in too deeply her nipples would brush against him. The temptation to do so was almost too strong to deny. “We didn’t make love. You’ve never even kissed me.”

“We definitely did make love and I can take care of the kissing thing right now.”

She jumped backward and toppled off the couch before he could pull her into his arms. Scrambling to her feet, she demanded, “Answer a question for me first.”

He stood and came around the table, giving no regard whatsoever to her obvious bid to increase her personal space. Gently curling his fingers around her upper arms, he held her in front of him. And the worst part was she didn’t mind. At least her body didn’t. It craved the physical closeness.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Are you trying to establish a sexual relationship with me for the sake of the case?”

“That damn Hyatt. He planted the idea in your head, didn’t he?”

“Actually, no. I may be inexperienced compared to your other women, but I’m not naïve, nor am I stupid. It occurred to me this morning. You’ve known me for two years and never so much as asked me to coffee and then all of the sudden, you want access to my panties.”

“I like your panties,” he said with a feral grin.

“Ethan! Be serious.” Even though said undergarments were safely hidden behind a pair of black slacks, she was acutely aware of their skimpy nature all of a sudden. “I…um…I asked you a question and I’d appreciate an honest answer.”

He drew her in, just like a fish on a line, and she let him until their bodies were just touching. Electric jolts surged through her body until it was all she could do not to rub herself all over him like a feline looking for comfort.

“And if I was doing it just for the sake of the case, could you turn me down?” he asked softly, his lips a breath from hers, but not quite touching.

She wanted that touch. She wanted the kiss he’d offered. And she wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything. Considering the kind of desires she’d known since meeting him, that was saying a lot.

He’d said a lot, too…in the way he’d worded his question. Not would you, but could you. He knew how much she wanted him and was not above capitalizing on the fact because he had taken her words and their encounter on the phone last night very seriously.

In many ways, that was a good thing…it made a strong statement about his own integrity, but she wanted to take back last night and the commitment she’d made to share her body with him. Didn’t she?

“I don’t know if I could say no,” she admitted. “I doubt I could have turned you down last night, even if you’d pushed it. But I do know that whatever happens between us, I’d rather go forward without a blindfold.”

“We can have a lot of fun with blindfolds.”

She rolled her eyes, while her body throbbed in reaction to his words. “No doubt.”

He sighed and stepped back, letting go of her arms. “I won’t deny that the timing has something to do with the case, but I’ve always wanted you, Sunshine.”

“Always? I don’t think so.”

“You think I can fake the kind of hard-ons you gave me last night?”

“You’re a professional. I’d say you know how to fake sexual interest, yes.”

He ran his fingers through his sandy hair. “You’re right. I do, but damn it…that kind of thing doesn’t give me erections hard enough to drill through rock. Only you do that.”

She didn’t know if she could believe him. “Would you lie for a case?”