Ethan (Alluring Indulgence #5)(90)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“If I’m not wrong, I’m the one waiting on you right now,” Beau said on a laugh.

Ethan tossed his bag at Beau, and he caught it easily before turning back to the truck while Ethan locked the front door.

Once they were inside, Beau flipped the key and the powerful engine roared to life.

“This piece of shit gonna make it to Houston?” Ethan asked, looking serious.

Beau’s laugh rumbled through the truck, rivaling the sound of the engine. “Don’t doubt the mechanic in me,” he answered when he caught his breath.

Glancing over before backing out of the driveway, Beau noticed Ethan’s smile was bright enough to rival the afternoon sun. Right then and there, he made a point to make Ethan smile as many times as he possibly could over the next couple of days. This laid-back version of Ethan was rare, and although he wasn’t willing to question the personality overhaul, he knew not to take it for granted.

Neither of them spoke much until they hit the highway that would lead to their destination, but once they were on the open road, Beau glanced over at Ethan. Should he risk it? Asking questions? At the moment, he couldn’t see what he had to lose because Ethan didn’t have the choice of running. At least not until they stopped somewhere.

“Is there a meaning behind the tattoo?” he asked, using the steering wheel controls to turn down the radio.

Beau felt Ethan’s eyes on him momentarily, but there was no response. When he looked over, he noticed Ethan had returned to staring out the window as the trees passed by rapidly.

“Yeah,” Ethan finally said but didn’t elaborate.

“When did you get it?” Beau was going for the easy questions first.

“I had just turned twenty-one.”

Beau chuckled, frustrated by Ethan’s lack of answers, but fully expecting them. He felt the full brunt of Ethan’s gaze on him a moment later, and Beau glanced over, shifting his attention between Ethan and the road repeatedly, waiting to see what he would say.

“Give me some time, all right?” Ethan asked, his voice low and gravelly.

“Time?” Beau was confused.

“I’ll tell you the story, but not right now.”

Beau nodded as he swallowed hard. He was strangely pleased by Ethan’s response. The fact that he intended to open up to him was more than he expected. It was proof that what was happening between them wasn’t just one-sided. Ethan was feeling it too.

They drove in silence for about twenty miles, the radio the only sound apart from the road noise from the tires. Beau settled into his seat, propping his arm on the console. He brushed Ethan’s fingers on accident and looked down to see Ethan mirroring his posture, and he had the sudden urge to hold his hand.

He refrained because he didn’t want to set Ethan off, but a minute later, the warmth of Ethan’s fingers as they linked with his had his heart thumping triple time in his chest.

“Surprised?” Ethan asked as Beau white knuckled the steering wheel with one hand and focused on not squeezing Ethan’s fingers too hard.

“A little, yeah,” he admitted.

“I’m not making any promises for the future,” Ethan went on to say. “But for now, I’m good with this.”

Beau was good with it too. More than good actually. It almost seemed too easy. Getting Ethan to break out of that steel lined shell hadn’t seemed like an easy task, but the more time they spent together, the easier it seemed to get.

Too bad Beau knew that there wasn’t anything easy about Ethan. And this was probably too good to last.

For now though, he’d take what he could get.

Chapter Twenty Eight

So it would seem that Beau wasn’t the only one experiencing firsts these days.

Ethan had never held a man’s hand like this when they weren’t intimately joined in other ways. He’d never taken a road trip with a lover, never cared to spend this much time alone with one guy in particular. There was just something about Beau that felt… right. Like this was meant to be.

Was he going crazy? Maybe. Was he being stupid with his decisions? Probably.

He seemed to be led by his emotions, not his dick at the moment, and for Ethan, that was a drastic change. No intimacy had always been his motto. He didn’t invite lovers to stay over, he didn’t stay over anywhere else. It wasn’t that he had many lovers because safety had always been his top priority, but the few he’d had didn’t hold a candle to what he was feeling when he was with Beau.

As he watched the scenery fly by at seventy miles an hour, Ethan tried to remember the first time he noticed Beau. Had to have been shortly after Zane and V got together.