Falling for Sarah (15 page)

“What was the nightmare about?”

“Mr. Ruff got eaten by Goldie, Hailey’s fish.”

“That’s some pretty serious stuff,” Ethan said solemnly.

“Yes, it is. Goldie grew pointy teeth and ate him all up.”

“Traumatic.” He bit his cheek, trying not to smile.

She took his chin in her hand. “You’re laughing.”

“No.” A grin split his lips. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I just see this little goldfish swimming around, and then, wham, he opens his mouth full of shark teeth and poor, unsuspecting Mr. Ruff gets it.”

Sarah’s smile turned into a laugh as she hugged him, kissed him.

He brushed his fingers through her hair. “I should probably say goodnight. If you don’t go to bed, you’re going to sleep through your massage tomorrow instead of enjoy it.”

“Are you sure?”

He knew what she was offering, and it was tempting, but he didn’t want to make love to Sarah for the first time with her guilty and worrying about Kylee. “Yeah.”

“I’m not tired.” She took his hand. “We can watch a movie.”

The purple smudges under her eyes told him different. He reached under the pillows, pulled the covers back. He bent down, grabbed her pajama top from the floor, handed it to her. “Call me when you’re finished tomorrow, and we’ll do something.”

She grabbed the remote from the bedside table and flipped through the channels. “Oh look, one of those action flicks you like. Stay and watch it with me.”

“You don’t like action movies.”

“This one isn’t so bad.” She winced as a building blew up on screen and a gunman lost an arm.

His brow arched. “Sarah, what’s up?”

“I feel silly admitting this, but I’ve been pretty creeped out at night.”

If only she knew the direction the case was taking. “That’s not silly, Sarah. I would be concerned if you weren’t.”

“It’s been such a comfort having Austin around…”

“Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes,” she said immediately.

Ethan smiled. “Do you want a second to think about that?”

She smiled back. “No.”

“All you had to do was ask.”

“I’m asking for tomorrow night then too. Will you stay here with me tomorrow night?”

“Absolutely.”

Sarah pulled her top on and crawled under the covers. Ethan slid out of his slacks, got in on his side, and turned off the light. The moonlight filtered through the curtains, illuminating the bed. He rested against the pillow, turning his head to look at her.

She smiled. “Thanks.”

“Get some sleep.”

She hesitated before sliding over.

He lifted his arm, inviting her.

Sarah snuggled close, resting her cheek against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist. She looked up and kissed him. “Night, King Ethan.”

He chuckled and kissed her hair, content with where they were going. “This is good, Sarah. I think this is going to be good.”

Chapter 10

T
HE SUN’S RAYS HAD REPLACED moonlight when Sarah opened her eyes again.

She looked over at Ethan sleeping on his stomach. His arm lay hooked across her waist, pinning her to the mattress, and she smiled.

As she snuggled against him during the night, guilt snuck through, threatening her peace and newfound happiness. It was the first time she’d been in a man’s arms intimately since Jake.

She couldn’t deny her want for Ethan—on so many levels. When his eyes had burned into hers, she’d been ready to give him what she never planned to share again. Her body had burst into a flame of need as he touched her. It had been so long since she’d felt that kind of desire. Her experience with Ethan was so different from what she’d had with Jake. Where Jake had always been sweet, Ethan was…intense.

She was eager for the heat, eager to see where they would go. Ethan was right; things were good between them—always had been.

Sarah moved her hand to her necklace, to the ring Jake placed on her finger years before. She wanted to believe—no,
needed
to believe—he would be okay with this. She stared at Ethan’s handsome face, no less arresting in sleep, and brushed her fingers through his hair.

He was a good man; tough, but with so many soft spots. He’d always been so gentle and patient with Kylee, taking on a role in her life not many men would. He’d been there for both of them, just as he promised, and she’d never had to ask.

Ethan had come with her, holding her hand and the baby, when Kylee received her first series of immunizations. When Kylee spiked her first fever, he’d rushed right over, concerned. He’d stayed so many times, helping her through the endless nights of teething, taking turns walking a fussy baby up and down the hall.

When Kylee vomited all over his brand new Armani on a visit to his office, he hadn’t batted an eye. The day in the park when she toddled up to him, arms open for a hug, calling him ‘Dada’, he’d hugged her and smiled, never mentioning it.

It crossed her mind on occasion that Kylee had always been more Ethan’s than Jake’s. Jake didn’t get the chance to be a part of Kylee. He’d been back in Afghanistan before the pregnancy test turned blue.

It had been Ethan who’d been there every second after conception. He’d been her comfort during the wonder and agony of birth with Jake watching from thousands of miles away. They’d both been great.

“Oh, oh, here comes another one. I have to push.”

“Then go ahead and push,” Ethan said next to her ear as she leaned her back against his chest, her hands gripping his.

“Come on, Sarah, you can do it,” Jake said from the laptop screen the hospital staff set up beside the bed.

Pain radiated through her rock-hard stomach as she bore down against the need to free her baby. Groaning loudly, she gave it her all, clutching Ethan’s fingers, listening to his quiet encouragement while Jake cheered her on.

She took a breath and pushed again, unable to stop. “It burns, it burns so much,” she cried.

“It’s almost over, Sarah. You’re almost there,” Ethan said with excitement. “Look, in the mirror. You can see the top of her head. Touch her, Sarah. That’s what you’re working for.”

She panted through the pain and reached down, touching her baby’s hair. “My baby.”

“Yes, your baby.” He grinned at her when she glanced up, breathing fast and deep.

Her mother held the camera close. “Jake, do you see your daughter?”

“Yes. Oh, my God, Sarah. Come on, honey, you can do this. She’s coming.”

“I need to—”

Sarah couldn’t finish her thought through the overwhelming power to try again. She wanted to stop and somehow avoid the pain, but her body knew what to do. Ethan clutched her closer as she tensed up, crying out as Kylee’s head was born.

“Breathe, Sarah. Breathe,” he encouraged, voice calm. “She’s almost here. She’s almost here.”

She heard Jake and her mother in the background, but focused on Ethan’s strong hands locked with hers, on his murmurs of confidence against her ear. He was her beacon of calm.

With her next push, Kylee was born.

Sarah reached forward and grabbed her baby, pulling her to her chest as Kylee screamed out her protest. “She’s here, Jake, she’s here.”

“She’s perfect, honey.”

As she grinned up into her husband’s awestruck eyes, Ethan brushed his fingers over her daughter’s back, his hand bigger than most of Kylee’s tiny body.

She glanced up into Ethan’s swimming gray eyes as he sniffed. “You did it, Sarah. She’s amazing.”

“Yes, she is. Thank you, Ethan, for everything. I wouldn’t have gotten through this without you.”

He kissed her forehead before she turned back to her baby girl and Jake, still resting her body against Ethan’s.

Sarah smiled, remembering the best moment of her life, glanced at Ethan once more before she turned her head, looking at the bedside clock. She had fifteen minutes to get over to the spa. Wiggling out from under Ethan’s arm, she dressed.

While she brushed her hair, Sarah stared at her necklace in the mirror. She reached behind, feeling for the clasp, freed it. The ring swung back and forth on the chain. “It’s time, Jake. I hope you can understand. I need for you to understand. I love you. I’ll always love you, but I have to give this a try.” She kissed the diamond ring given to her in love, accepted in love, placed it in her small jewelry case, tucking it deep in her makeup bag.

She opened the door, looking back at Ethan still asleep, and left.

After three blissfully relaxing treatments, Sarah and Morgan wandered back toward their rooms, stopping off at the small, complimentary breakfast buffet first.

“We need to make this an annual event, but next year I’m paying my own way,” Sarah said as she scooped fresh fruit from a large serving bowl.

“You tipped the ladies for our services today.”

“Which was a drop in the bucket compared to the price of the treatments.”

They sat at a table overlooking the rocky cliffs.

Morgan popped a glossy green grape in her mouth. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

She grinned. “How could I not?”

“Then don’t worry about it.” Morgan pushed her chair closer to Sarah’s. “So, now that I have you all to myself, I’ll expect some details.”

Sarah frowned. “We had the same treatments.”

“When I left my room this morning, a sleepy-eyed Ethan was leaving yours—without a shirt on. He didn’t have much to say.”

Sarah chewed her bite of sweet strawberry, stalling. Morgan’s pretty green eyes never left hers.

“He stayed with me last night. This creepy rose business gets to me after dark.”

Morgan raised her brow. “Austin stays with you too. Do you kiss him the way I saw you kissing Ethan in the pool?”

Because Morgan smiled, her question didn’t sting. “You saw that, huh?”

“It was hard to miss. I’m just glad it was me and not Hunter.”

Sarah winced, thinking of what a messy scene that would’ve been. “We’re not sneaking around. This is all so new. It just sort of happened. One night we were fighting—right after your wedding, in fact—and the next, he was kissing me. It took me by complete surprise.”

Morgan sipped at her water with a twinkle in her eye. “So how was it?”

Sarah laughed. “Pretty darn great.”

“And the sex? I have my ideas about the sex. You can’t look like that man and not be good at it.”

“We haven’t gotten that far.” She leaned in closer, whispering, heart pounding with the thrill of the memory. “But we came pretty close. It felt so good to be
touched
like that. He definitely knows all the right places, and we were just getting started. My mom called. Kylee had a nightmare. Things pretty much fizzled from there.”

Morgan’s brows shot up. “Really. Well, I’ll expect details, lots and lots of details, when you two decide to finish things up.”

Sarah smiled again, but it faded when she thought of her wedding ring. “Is this okay, Morgan? What I’m doing? What I’m feeling? Am I letting Jake down? Because I feel like I am. I took off my ring this morning for the first time in over five and a half years. It feels like I’m betraying him.”

Morgan took her hand. “Did he love you, Sarah, really love you?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then wouldn’t he want you to be happy? Wouldn’t he want to know that you and Kylee are well loved and provided for? Isn’t that what love is all about?”

Touched by Morgan’s words, Sarah’s eyes filled. “Yes, I guess so. You’re right. I never thought about it like that.”

“All kidding aside with the sex—make sure you take your time, honey. This is a big adjustment for you both.”

Worry took over again. “What about Hunter? He, Jake, and Ethan were so close. How do you think he’s going to take this?”

“You let me worry about that. Ultimately, he wants you happy. He loves you so much. He might need a little time, but he’ll come around.”

“Excuse me,” a deep voice said.

Sarah put her hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun. “Yes?”

“Sarah, is that you?”

When he moved forward, blocking the blazing glare, she recognized the man. “Neil Harris?” She stood, grinning. “How are you?”

“I’m okay. I’m sorry if I’m interrupting.”

“No, no, not at all. Neil, this is my good friend Morgan Phillips. Neil and his wife, Tracey, went to USC with me.”

Morgan held out her hand and shook. “It’s nice to meet you. Let me leave you two to catch up. I’ll see you back at the rooms later.” She gave Sarah a quick hug.

“It was nice meeting you, Morgan,” Neil said as Morgan walked off.

“You too.”

Sarah looked around and over Neil’s shoulder. “So, where’s Tracey? I would love to see her. It seems like so long.”

Neil’s eyes watered. “She-she passed away, Sarah.”

“Oh my God, Neil.” She took his hand. “I’m so incredibly sorry. Come, sit down.”

“I’d rather walk. Would you like to walk with me on the beach?”

“Of course.” Still holding his hand, they made their way to the water.

Where was she? She’d finished her massage two hours ago. Ethan knocked on Morgan and Hunter’s door as worry set in. Morgan opened the door dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

“Hey, is Sarah with you?”

Morgan frowned. “No. She’s not back yet? She ran into an old friend from college. I left her at the little breakfast bar quite awhile ago.” She shrugged. “She’s probably still catching up.”