Falling for Sarah (30 page)

This cruel slap only highlighted how foolish she’d been to think they shared something special. As she watched Ethan talk to Nicolette, she realized in a humbling moment that she had been nothing more than one of Ethan Cooke’s Flavors of the Month.

“Nicolette, we need to get started. You and Ethan can talk about what you’ll do with his hands later.”

His gaze narrowed, meeting hers, before she walked off to get the day over with.

As the sun set, Sarah shoved her equipment bag in the back seat of the SUV.

Ethan opened her door and she hesitated. “Why don’t I ride with Hunter? I’ve hardly seen Morgan in days with both of our busy schedules. I would love to catch up, find out how she’s doing, especially now that they’ll be going home tomorrow.”

“Get in the car, Sarah. You can catch up at home.”

She pulled her seatbelt in place as Ethan slammed her door. He hadn’t exactly been friendly since her snide comment on the beach earlier that morning.

He slammed his door as well, shot the key into the ignition. He brought the engine to life before shutting it off, staring at her, eyes blazing. “I saw Nicky at an event I was invited to in Berlin. Nothing—”

Her cell phone rang. She yanked her purse from her lap, holding it up like a shield. “Phone.” She didn’t want to talk about what he did with Nicolette. Sarah checked the readout and signaled for one minute. “Sorry. It’s my mother. I have to take this.”

“No, you don’t. I’m trying—”

Ignoring him, Sarah pressed ‘talk’. “Mom, how are you?”

Eyes narrowing, Ethan turned over the ignition again, put the Rover in first gear, and shot from the parking lot. “We’re going to talk about this, Sarah.”

Several minutes later, as they pulled up in front of his house, she squeezed every last drop from her conversation, stalling. She was almost there.

“It was lovely talking to you, Sarah, but I really must go. You’ve been so chatty and your father’s waiting for me.”

“Oh, okay. Love you, Mom.”

“You too, honey.”

The Rover rolled to a stop as Sarah ended the call. She reached for the door handle, and Ethan snagged her arm. “Let’s talk about this. I—”

The front door opened. Kylee came running to the vehicle with Hailey close behind.

Relieved and happy to see her daughter, Sarah smiled and waved as Ethan slammed his hands against the steering wheel.

“God fucking damn it! We’re going to have a conversation, Sarah.”

“It’ll have to wait.” She opened the door, grabbed Kylee up in a hug. “Hi, sweet girl. How was your day?”

“Dood. Let’s swim!”

“We’ll have some dinner, then we can go for a swim.” She glanced behind her, into Ethan’s smoldering eyes, before she walked off snuggling her little girl.

A knock sounded at Ethan’s bedroom door and Sarah tensed.

Morgan stuck her head in. “Mind if I come in?”

She relaxed instantly, smiled, motioning Morgan forward with a wave of her hand. “I just finished reading to Kylee.”

Morgan glanced at Kylee asleep, snuggled under the covers. “So I see. Does she ever make it to the end of a story?”

“Not after six-thirty p.m.”

“You look like you barely made it through yourself.”

“I’m a little tired.” She could hardly keep her eyes open.

“Since Hunter and I are going home tomorrow, I thought I’d come by and chat. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

Sarah yawned. “It’s been awhile.”

“Why don’t we take a rain check? You need to rest.”
“I’m okay. Let’s talk.” Sarah pulled back the covers she’d cozied herself under. “We’re both so busy. Are you settling in at the Bureau?”

Morgan sat on the edge of the bed. “Slowly. There’s a lot of transition yet, but I’m managing. If I could put this damn mining investigation behind me, I might make it into the office on a regular basis.”

Sarah yawned again, fighting the urge to close her eyes.

“Pull those covers back up, Sarah. I want you to get some sleep. Tell me one thing first. Are you okay? Did everything go all right today?” Morgan’s brow rose, mirroring Sarah’s. “Kind of a loaded question, huh?”

Sarah shrugged with a casualness she didn’t feel. “You could say that.”

“Let’s start with your health.”

Sarah wanted to tell Morgan about the baby, to talk it all through, but she couldn’t, not yet. She still needed time to absorb the news herself. “I’m fine; just a little rundown with everything going on.”

Morgan folded her in a hug. “You had me worried.”

She held on, treasuring the comfort of a friend. “I’ll be good-to-go before you know it. Promise.”

Morgan eased back. “Are you and Ethan okay?”

Sarah stared down at the soft, cream-colored covers. “Ethan and I weren’t meant to be anything more than friends.” Saying it out loud hurt.

Morgan took her hand. “Oh, honey, what happened?”

“It’s such a long story. I don’t even know where to start. I’ll summarize. He changed his mind.”

“Is that what he said?”

Her eyes watered as she remembered the awkward drive to the doctors. “He would’ve, but I told him to leave it alone.”

Morgan sat on the edge of the bed, huffing out a breath. “Ethan Cooke, you’re an idiot.”

Sarah chuckled. Only Morgan could make her laugh at a time like this. She yanked a tissue from the box on the side table and blew her nose. “I’ll agree with you, but it doesn’t change anything.”

“I really thought things were different this time. Maybe you should talk to him.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She didn’t know if she could handle some polite ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ conversation.

Morgan stood. “I’m going to let you get some rest.” She wrapped Sarah in another long hug. “Do yourself a favor, Sarah: leave a glimmer of hope in your heart. Everything will work out.” She stepped away, smiled. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Morgan shut the door behind her.

Sarah settled back against her pillow, replaying Morgan’s words. As much as she loved Morgan, she wasn’t sure she could take her advice. She looked at her daughter, brushed her fingers over the new life growing inside her. She didn’t have much time to spend on hope; her hands were full with reality.

Chapter 21

T
HE SCENT OF KYLEE’S BABY shampoo followed Ethan down the long upstairs hallway. If she’d had her bath, her bedtime routine was close to an end. It was the perfect time to snag Sarah before she could find a way to avoid him—like she had for the last two days.

Surprised by the lack of happy chatter coming from the room, he peeked in. Hailey sat on the bed, legs crossed at the ankles, typing away on her laptop. Kylee lay against her pillow, asleep. “Hailey, where’s Sarah?”

Her eyes flew up to meet his. “Um, she’s down in her office. She’s really busy going through the pictures from the shoot. We should probably let her be tonight. She has a lot of work to do. A lot.”

Getting the none-too-subtle hint, Ethan tried a friendly smile. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll catch her in the morning. Goodnight.”

“Night.” Hailey looked down and began to type again.

He took the stairs in twos. Like hell he’d wait till morning. This was finally his chance. They had a lot to discuss. He couldn’t stop thinking about the ride to the doctor’s office two days before. He’d watched her knuckles whiten as her hands pressed together, had heard her struggle with tears, had seen her shattered eyes when she told him it was better to forget the whole thing. He didn’t want to forget the whole thing. It was important she understand why he made the choice he did.

He stopped in her office doorway and a fist of desire sucker punched him in the gut. Shiny blonde hair piled high on her head exposed her long, smooth neck. Her tank top, cut low, showed off swells of creamy breasts while her left arm hooked around the leg that joined her in her chair. Bright blue eyes glanced up from her monitor, covered in black-framed reading glasses squared at the edges. He’d never been able to resist Sarah in her glasses. She looked like every man’s image of a very naughty librarian.

“Is there something you need?”

He stepped in and closed the door. “Yeah, I need to talk to you.”

She glanced back at her screen. “This isn’t a good time. I’m on a deadline. Lisa needs the first set of proofs by early next week.”

“Well, when would be a good time?”

“Let’s see… I have more outdoor shots next week, proofs to run the week after that, then Lisa and I get to start running through ideas for the
Celebrity
Bikini Ball. She wants behind the scenes pictures for the magazine’s month-end edition. So let’s pencil something in for…” She ran her finger over the calendar pinned to the wall, stopped on a date. “…a month from now. Will that Tuesday work for you?”

He knew she had a temper, but it had never been directed at him. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to check my book, or I can have my people call your people.” Out of patience, he pressed his palms to her desk. “Damn it, Sarah, I just want to straighten this out.”

She removed her glasses, pinched the bridge of her nose, blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m tired, stressed out, and I really want nothing more than to go to bed right now, but I have hours of work yet. How about tomorrow night?”

“Fine. You look like you’re feeling better tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m good. It’s usually just in the mornings…“ Wide eyed, she met his before she popped her glasses on and directed her attention to her screen. “So we’ll talk tomorrow night. I should get back to work.”

Confused by the direction of their conversation and her reaction to it, Ethan opened the door, walked to his own office. Hunter and Morgan had called it an early night, so he would wait for Sarah to head upstairs.

He sat in his seat, booted up his computer, watched her work across the hall for a long time. Eventually he glanced down at his screen and read an e-mail from Detective Tucker Campbell.

Ethan,

May have something on our guy. It’s small but it’s something. Call me at home in the morning.

-Tucker

It was about damn time. Ethan flagged the e-mail, closed his laptop. He took a deep breath and began to attack the mountains of paperwork from his month away, losing track of time.

Later, he rubbed at his tired eyes and looked up. Sarah was gone. Rushing to his feet, he moved forward. Where the hell did she go? He hadn’t been
that
captivated by the fifty applicants Austin and Hunter had narrowed down for the new positions.

The light was still on in her office. Brows furrowed, he stepped into the room. She hadn’t gone anywhere. She lay asleep at her desk, her head resting against folded arms. The glasses he adored slanted diagonally across her face. The screensaver cycled through a slideshow of Kylee. He glanced at the red digits on the clock at her elbow and realized why he was so tired. It was after one.

Ethan trailed his hand over the smooth skin of her arm, torturing himself. “Sarah.”

She didn’t move.

He tried again, skimming his knuckles against her cheek. “Sarah, it’s time to go to bed.”

Still nothing.

He scooped her from her chair and she nestled her head on his shoulder, never opening her eyes. Breathing her in, feeling her soft skin against his, he stayed where he was for a moment. He didn’t foresee himself holding her like this again.

He moved down the hall and up the stairs, using his shoulder to open the bedroom door that had been left ajar. Staring into her sleep-softened face, he pressed a kiss to her forehead before laying her down on the bed. He covered her and fixed Kylee’s blanket before he moved into the bathroom. He was running low on the supplies he had transferred to the guest bath.

Ethan opened the medicine cabinet, pulled out a cartridge of razors. He dropped the case on the hard marble counter and a blade flew free. In his rush to grab it before it hit the floor, he cut himself against the sharp steel. “Well, shit.”

He closed the door and turned on the dim light while blood oozed down his finger. Ethan placed his wound under the water, winced at the sting. After several seconds, he shut off the faucet. Blood bloomed again. “That’s not working.”

He walked over to the towels, grabbing one at random. As he pulled the soft cotton free, a small box fell to the floor. “What the hell?” If he kept this up, he was going to wake Kylee and Sarah for sure. He bent forward and froze as he read the pale purple label.
Be Sure: Home Pregnancy Test
.