Which didn’t fit him at all.
Then again, maybe she just didn’t know him as well as she thought she did.
He lowered the hand on the frame and followed the path of his tongue with his fingers. Lord, he was so sultry and sensual and sexy. She was already pounding for him again.
“Can you stay tonight?” His question came whisper soft. But he didn’t wait for an answer before he added pressure to her lower lip and drew her mouth open, then slipped his finger inside, and said, “Suck me.”
And another shock of heat cracked through her body.
She closed her lips around his finger, stroked it with her tongue. He tasted salty and musky, and the fire in his eyes created the same heat between her legs. When she pulled his finger free, he cupped her face, his grip firm. “Can you stay so I can have you all night? And wake you with my mouth?”
Her belly fluttered. Confusion clouded her mind. She couldn’t tell if he was sending mixed messages or if she was just receiving them that way. Either way, they kicked off a deeply ingrained self-preservation response.
“Your neighbors shouldn’t see me here. No telling who knows who, you know?”
She tried to keep it light, but the spark in his eyes dimmed and something in that look shot her mind back to that day of the walk-through. That look reminded her that no matter how good the sex was between them, no matter how much they liked each other or even respected each other, there were other forces at work. And as long as the bar was between them, they would be, essentially, enemies.
“Ethan,” she started, a chill stealing over her gut in fear of his answer, “what if . . . what’s going to happen if I decide to renovate the bar?”
His expression changed again. She couldn’t say how, exactly. Just a nuance she couldn’t label, but one that didn’t alleviate her concerns.
He pushed back, taking a lazy stance a foot away. And as he stared at her, thoughts and emotions passed through his eyes that seemed to thicken the air between them.
Then he turned away and sauntered toward his bed. The move created a physical shift in Delaney’s body. One that didn’t feel good, but one she knew they both needed. They were getting in way over their heads.
She waited to see if he still wanted her or if reality would crush their little fantasy world. And in those moments, Delaney realized that going forward in the renovation without Ethan’s affections to look forward to disappointed her in a way she hadn’t experienced since she’d left Wildwood a decade ago. And that was a serious warning sign, because she didn’t let herself get close enough to anyone to be disappointed.
Her logical side was battling to leave while her emotional side was mired in concrete. Before she’d built up enough rationalization to overcome her desire, he planted his hand on a post of the footboard, turned, and met her eyes with a new guard protecting his own. He heaved a troubled breath. “Let’s just deal with that if it happens.”
Now she felt guilty. Guilty for all the trouble she’d brought into his life by coming back to town. “I’m really not trying to—”
“Don’t apologize for taking care of yourself,” he said softly, his gaze thoughtful and serious. “Or for taking care of your family. That’s what you should do. That’s how families should act. No one’s family is perfect, but at the end of the day, they’re still your family. And I agree that family members should stand beside each other. But I’ve also learned something about family from you.”
She leaned her shoulder on the doorjamb. “Well, that can’t be good.”
“It’s very good. Good for me anyway. You’ve taught me that there’s a difference between family loyalty and abuse.”
She nodded, thinking of Avery and Chloe and her father. “Sometimes there’s a very fine line between the two.”
“Would you be angry with someone doing the same thing?”
“Taking care of their family?” Her gaze lifted to him again. “No. Never.”
His shoulders rose in slight shrug. “Neither would I.”
This. This was why he’d slipped past her barriers so quickly. This was why he stoked strange emotions in her chest.
He was different. So very different. Open-minded, nonjudgmental, and accepting.
He knew all her sides—good and bad. And he still wanted to be with her because he wanted to be with her. Sure, he wanted sex. But he didn’t want it as a notch on his bedpost.
“And right now, you are my grounding force,” he said, dropping to the side of the bed and leaning back on his elbows. “My reality.” His smile was slow and edged with awe and joy. “Delaney Hart is standing in my bedroom with nothing on under her dress. The only way life could get better is if she took it off.”
Delaney laughed.
Ethan’s smile slowly faded as he turned thoughtful again. “I want to watch you undress for me and memorize the sight.”
Those uncomfortable tugs moved from her stomach to her chest, and fear crowded in like soldiers going to battle. Her mind filled with excuses to leave, but Ethan grinned and started swinging his feet as he waited, like a kid on the playground. The sight was so adorable, her fear dissipated, and what remained was affection and desire.