Forbidden Fling (Wildwood Book 1) (14 page)

“Stop.” He swore he held a boulder in his gut. A boulder that had to come out. “It’s more my fault than yours.” Her eyes glistened with a telltale shine. He couldn’t stand her beating herself up over this anymore. And he still hadn’t gotten over his self-hatred for not being there to stop the whole thing. “I knew they’d hit on you. That’s why I refused to go.”

Her lips parted, but nothing came out.

“I’d been watching you from a distance. I couldn’t get up the nerve to talk to you, because I knew you only went for certain guys, guys that didn’t go to our school, guys that didn’t live in town, guys who were always in trouble. Rough guys. Older guys. Everyone knew.

“It became a challenge among the popular guys and the jocks—the guys who got any girl they wanted—to get you into bed. When that didn’t happen, they brought the challenge down to getting a date. Getting a kiss. Copping a feel. When you kept brushing them off, it turned into a game of how long they could engage you in conversation. Ten seconds, five seconds, two?”

Her brow furrowed, her gaze searching his, yet distant, as if scanning the past as well.

“I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t a jock, and I sure as hell wasn’t your type, so I just sat on the sidelines and took it all in. I saw you differently than they did. I think it’s because I was so, I don’t know, infatuated I guess, that I actually
watched
you while they were caught up in themselves. And I discovered how much you can learn about a person’s true nature from the things they do when they think no one is watching.

“So when Ian and the others started mouthing off about being the ones to finally ‘win’ at this stupid game with you that night, I dug in my heels. I’d been away at school. I’d started dating some different women. I didn’t want to backslide by seeing you, and I wasn’t going to just sit there while they harassed you. And if I’m being totally honest, I couldn’t face the thought of you saying yes to one of them. I know it’s immature, insecure, stupid, whatever. I was twenty-two years old, and tired of all Ian, Adam, and Austin’s bullshit. So I told them we were done for the night. And when I wouldn’t go to The Bad Seed, they went without me.”

Ethan braced for her reaction, clueless how she might respond. In that moment he experienced a profound sense of guilt and humility. He was human. He’d made a mistake. It had contributed to the loss of a family member, changed his entire life, and changed him as a person.

But in the years since Ian’s death, he’d also come to understand he wasn’t
solely
responsible. And he’d come to resent those who continued to make him feel as if he were.

“Oh my God,” Delaney whispered and tented her hands over her nose and mouth. She closed her eyes, and tears trickled over her lashes.

Ethan’s heart snapped. He stepped in and closed his arms around her. When she didn’t push away, he held her tighter and buried his face in her hair.

The flowery scent mixed with dust and sweat and turned him on in the most unique and powerful way. A way that made him ravenous. Her breath warmed his skin through his shirt, and her body felt delicious against his. But this whole situation also created an unease somewhere inside him. He couldn’t remember the last woman he’d ever wanted to see after they’d parted ways in the morning.

Her arms snaked around his waist, surprising him and fitting all her curves against all his planes. She fisted her hands in his shirt and pressed her face to his chest. “I’m
so
sorry.”

Sweet Jesus
, something shifted inside him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block the emotions. Trying to focus on the reason she was here, on easing her distress. Not the way she felt in his arms. Not the way her lower belly rubbed his cock. But all he could do was clasp her face between his hands and tilt it up so he could kiss her.

She kissed him back without hesitation, which pushed the simmer in his body toward a full rolling boil. And, of course, one kiss wasn’t enough. So he took another. And another. And another. Until her mouth licked and sucked and ate at his with the same fierce hunger. Until her arms were wrapped around his neck, her body stretched against his, her fingers threaded into his hair.

The passion between them flared so fast and so hot it dragged him under until Ethan couldn’t breathe for wanting her so badly.

He slid his hands down her body and pushed her tank up her back. The second skin touched skin, Ethan groaned into her mouth, and his mind darted toward any place in the warehouse he could lay her down, pull off some clothes, and ease this ache. As usual, the place was a mess, every workbench cluttered, supplies stacked on the single sofa.

But Delaney broke the kiss so suddenly, she left Ethan’s head spinning. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. This isn’t why I came.”

“Don’t ever apologize for kissing me.” He kept a hand at the small of her back, holding her hips against his where his cock felt like a burning steel rod. “Or touching me. Or wanting me. You’re all I’ve been able to think about all week. Going over to see you when I’m here after work is all I want to do.”

She heaved a sigh, dropped her hand, and lifted her gaze to his. The want reflected there pulled at him like a magnet, and even though everything in his mind was screaming,
Don’t go there
, everything in his body and soul was telling him,
She’s your only path to sanity.

“I’ve been doing the same thing,” she admitted in a soft voice.

His breath left him on a heavy exhale of mixed shock and relief. He couldn’t help himself; he kissed her again. And the way she kissed him back signaled they were now on the same page.

“Want you,” he said between kisses. “So bad.”

She pushed his T-shirt out of the way, her fingers sliding against his belly. The button of his jeans popped open, and, as if that were the trigger, everything inside Ethan released. All his frustration, all his regret, all his pain drained, making room for the lust, the affection, the desire. He walked her back toward the nearest wall. When her back pressed the metal, Ethan sank against her, kissing her deep.

Her fingers burned his belly as she unfastened his jeans.

Yes, yes, yes. God, yes.

Their hands bumped as they fought to undress each other enough to answer this wild need. But there was no flirtation, no humor, no teasing tonight. Just raw emotion and sharp lust.

Just as Ethan got her shorts unzipped, Delaney grabbed his wrists and went completely still. When Ethan managed to focus on her face, he found her staring at the door with alarm.

His stomach took a free fall to his feet. When he darted a look that direction, no one was there, but through the glass he spotted headlights. “
Fuck.
Who in the hell—”

“It’s okay.” Her hands buttoned and zipped her shorts, while Ethan did the same to his jeans. “I shouldn’t—”

“It’s absolutely
not
okay.”
Goddammit.
“Don’t go. Come home with me—”

“No.”
She had that shit-what-have-I-done look of regret on her pretty face. “Ethan—”

The door swung open, and Ethan cut another quick look that way. Caleb strode in. The surprised look on his face told Ethan his friend had witnessed way too much.

Ethan turned back to Delaney without greeting Caleb. Lowering his voice for her ears only, he stroked his hands down her biceps in an attempt to calm the spark of panic in her eyes. “We have something. Don’t shut down. Let’s talk it out.”

“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Caleb said.

Ethan ground his teeth and turned to look at him, one hand still on Delaney’s arm. “If you meant that, you’d still be outside in your truck.”

A grin spread across Caleb’s face. “I wasn’t apologizing to you, asshole. Where’s my order?” Then he looked at Delaney and continued forward. “Hey, girl. It’s been too long.”

“Hey, Caleb.” She strolled toward him. “You look great. Marriage agrees with you.”

They hugged, but Caleb was looking at Ethan with a what-the-hell-
you
-
dog
look on his face. To Delaney he said, “Shannon takes good care of me.” Pulling back, Caleb held her biceps and smiled down at her. “She’s excited you’re back in town. Wants to see you, but she’s in the middle of a crazy catering gig right now.”

“No problem. I’ll give her a few days, then hunt her down.”

“She’ll be thrilled.”

Delaney’s smile softened. “It’s really good to see you.” Then she turned for the door. “Tell Shannon I’ll try to catch her at the market next week.”

“Delaney—” Ethan started.

“I’m clear on the building permit procedures, Inspector. I’m not even sure I’ll need one at this point, but thanks for the information.” She pulled the door open, then turned before she walked out. “Oh, by the way, your setup would be more efficient if you moved your keg washer into that wasted space beside the sinks, and put your chemical containment center where the keg washer is. Probably save you at least half an hour of work every time you brew.”

Then she disappeared into the night, and Ethan ran a hand over his face.

“Dude,”
Caleb said, his voice filled with shock and awe—and not over Delaney’s astute space-planning suggestion.

Ethan opened his eyes. “Don’t start.”

“Hey, you know I like her, man. Always have. But your parents are going to go apeshit when they find out that you—”

“That I
nothing
. They’re going to find out nothing because there’s
nothing
to find out. Got it?”

He checked the burner’s temperature and moved to the bottling station to set up rows of clean bottles while his blood burned with lust and his heart ached with disappointment.

“I’m not
blind
. You were all over her before I walked in. You might be fulfilling a high school fantasy, but the cost could be chaos in your already-screwed-up family.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” He blurted the denial, angry it was half-true. Sex with Delaney was a fantasy that had stayed with him since high school. But this—whatever
this
was between them—was totally different from anything he’d ever imagined. “Drop it, Caleb. It’s been a long, shitty day. And you just ruined the only good thing that’s happened to me today.”

“I’m not dropping it,” he said, leaning against a workbench and crossing his arms, his expression serious now. “I’m your friend, and I’m not going to watch you walk right into the shredder without warning you. You have enough shit to deal with without adding a fling with Delaney. Dude, she ruined your life. She may not have meant to, but doesn’t it even bother you a little to think of how different things would be for you now if she hadn’t started that fight? You’d be running some department at Lawrence Livermore Lab or heading up a special ops unit for the Department of Defense, not repaying favors for your father and dicking around in a warehouse brewery. I mean, sure she’s hot enough to forget all about grudges while you’re doing her, but—”

“She didn’t start that fight.” The bark cut off his friend and echoed through the unit. “Anyone with any common sense knows that. And I’m not holding grudges, because she didn’t ruin my life. The decision not to go to the bar with them that night was
mine
. The decision to stay home from school to pick up the pieces of my family was
mine
. She didn’t have anything to do with it. Why does everyone around here see things with a smoke screen when it’s all so damn clear?”

“Clear? Really? If it’s all so damn clear, why haven’t
you
ever let go of the guilt, huh? Why are you still in this rinky-dink town? Why are you still doing a goddamned job where your father makes you jump like a schoolgirl playing hopscotch?”

“Because I’m working toward a goal. Because if I throw away my chance at this brewery, at this chance to give Pops even a fraction of the support he’s given me, my Dad’s won. Then where am I? And where does that leave Pops?” Ethan remembered how his father had talked to him at the dinner table. How he’d ordered him around as if Ethan had no will of his own, no thoughts of his own, no feelings. And the familiar burn of resentment built in his chest. “No. That fucker’s not taking this from me.”

“For a smart guy, you can be
so fucking stupid
when it comes to relationships. If you screw this up, he may not have to take it from you. Your uncle might do that for him. Or the city manager. Hell, you might just do it to yourself.” Caleb bent to grab a case of beer on the shelf designated for Finley’s Market. When he straightened, he met Ethan’s eyes directly. “Let me clear a little of that sexual haze floating around your brain. If your family discovers you’re wandering off the reservation, it’ll blow those already-rocky relationships wide-open. And you can bet having your father and the mayor as an enemy when you’re planning on opening a business in his town will be all it takes for you to ruin your own future.

“Which brings up another—and possibly even bigger—problem. Messing around with Delaney would be a huge, and I mean
huge
, conflict of interest for your job if she decides to renovate that bar. And if she decides to renovate that bar, it would screw your whole plan for—”

“
I know
, goddammit.” He didn’t want to be angry, but this situation was so screwed, he couldn’t control it. “Stop lecturing me. Take your beer and get out.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head with a huff. “Man, I heard all the rumors about her back in high school. Sorta always believed it was a bunch of biker bullshit. But now . . . she must be one hell of a blockbuster in bed to make you risk everything—”

“Caleb.”
Ethan hoisted another case of beer, then met his gaze head-on. “You’re my friend, and we’ve been through a lot together, but if you say anything like that again, you’re going to need a crap-ton of new dental work.
Got it?
”

Ethan tossed the case of beer into his friend’s truck, and it landed with a hollow metal thud.

Caleb dropped his case on the tailgate and shoved it into the bed, then turned to face Ethan with a hand at his hip and a stupid grin on his face.