Addicted (Ethan Frost 2)

He might be Brandon’s brother, but he’s nothing like him. Ethan does these things for me because he wants to, not because he expects something in return. I know that, can feel it every time he holds me, every time his lips brush over my hair, my skin, the spot directly over my heart.

Ethan nibbles at my lower lip and my arms go around his neck in an effort to pull him closer. Then his tongue is licking over my lips, sweeping inside to tangle with my own, and—

“Ugh, God! Get a room! Or, better yet, your room is like fifteen feet in that direction!” Tori squawks, pointing down the hallway. “Find it!”

“Good idea.” I start to pull Ethan toward my bedroom. “You might want to turn some music on in here. Or an action movie. You know, because—”

One of the throw pillows off the sofa hits me square in the back. “Nobody likes a show-off, Chloe!”

“Oh, I don’t know. Ethan has never—”

A loud, authoritative knock sounds at the door, interrupting my teasing.

“You expecting anyone?” I ask Tori as I switch direction and head for the door.

“No.”

That’s all Ethan needs to hear before he’s stepping in front of me. “Let me get it.”

“Why?” I try to bump him aside with my hip, but he’s not budging. “It’s probably just one of the neighbors stopping by to talk to Tori. Happens all the time.”

“Well, then they can meet me and then talk to Tori. Surely they’re curious about your new boyfriend.”

“I just moved in. They’re not curious about any—”

“What he actually means is he’s such a hot commodity that it could be the press on the other side of the door, in which case, he doesn’t want you to have to deal with it.”

Ethan shoots Tori an approving look. “Exactly.”

“Come on, Chloe.” She pats the spot next to her on the couch as the knock sounds again. “Let’s watch the show.”

I roll my eyes but I cross to her as Ethan unchains the door. “How exactly are you so good at knowing what he’s thinking?” I demand.

“I told you, caveman speak.”

Ethan chooses that moment to open the door and before I can even see who it is, a fist flashes over the threshold and nails my boyfriend right in the nose.

“Huh,” Tori says right before she takes another bite of her apple. “Even for one fluent in caveman speak, I didn’t see that coming.”

Chapter Thirteen

“What the hell!” Ethan staggers under the force of the punch, but he doesn’t go down. Instead, he grabs the guy on the other side of the door and drags him inside by the neck, shoving his head down and bending him in half as he does.

I brace myself for it to be Brandon here, at my apartment—who else would just punch Ethan like that—but in the end I couldn’t be more wrong. Because it’s not his brother in the middle of our foyer, bent over at the waist and swearing like a sailor.

It’s mine.

“Miles!” I demand, leaping off the couch. “What are you doing here? Let him go, Ethan!”

“He’s the one who sucker punched me.” Ethan wipes a trickle of blood away from his nose. “How am I the one getting yelled at?”

“Believe me, I’ll yell at him, too. After I figure out what he’s doing here. But let him go, please.”

He releases my brother reluctantly, but I can tell by the way he’s holding his body that he’s ready for another attack. I know Miles, though—he’s an inventor not a fighter and unless things have changed drastically in the three years since I came to San Diego for school, that punch was pretty much all he has in him. I’m shocked my absentminded, nerdy brother had even that much, to be honest.

“Miles! What were you thinking—”

To my surprise and horror, he launches himself at Ethan a second time. And this time, Ethan shoves back,