Kiss Me at Midnight(13)
Author: Diane Alberts

“Fucking hell, Ashley,” he gasped, lifting her up, then lowering her onto his cock. He impaled her with one smooth thrust, sliding inside easily.

He gripped her hips, guiding her in the perfect rhythm that sent her spiraling over the edge again. What the hell? She’d never come so much and so often as she did with him.

She dug her nails into his chest, crying out in surprise at the ambush orgasm, then threw her head back. He pumped his hips up harder, moving her faster, and then joined her. Spent, he collapsed against his seat.

The urge to lie down on his chest and cuddle for a second was strong, but the truck wasn’t exactly conducive to that. Plus he’d made it pretty clear this was just sex. He’d be gone in a couple of days, and she’d be here. But even so, the urge was there.

He reached up, curled his hand around the back of her neck, and pulled her onto his chest. Something warm and soft closed around her heart, squeezing tight. He closed his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head with a sigh.

After a few moments of silence, he chuckled and played with her hair. “You weren’t kidding about not waiting.”

“Nope.” She snuggled closer. “It’s your fault for making me want you so badly.”

He took a shuddering breath and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah, I know that feeling all too well.”

Her heart raced faster than a Nascar car on the final lap. If she was reading between the lines properly, then he was saying he felt the same way about her as she did about him. The problem was she had no idea exactly how she felt or what it meant.

All she knew was right now, she was happy.

…

Ethan tightened his arms around Ashley, more than content to hold her in his arms like this for another minute or two. When he’d asked her why she had come tonight, he’d loved her reply. She seemed to be as caught off guard by this…this…thing blazing between them as he was. Neither of them knew what the hell was going on, but there was no denying the strong attraction between the two of them.

“You’re being awfully quiet.” She lifted her head and scanned his face. “I thought you might have fallen asleep on me.”

“Nah.” He grinned and smoothed her hair back from her face. “I was just lost in thought, is all.”

“We should probably go back to my place before Sheriff Holt comes and finds us. That’s the last thing either of us needs. ‘Local doctor found naked in a truck, tonight at five.’”

He snorted. “That would be a story to tell.”

“For you, maybe. You’re leaving.” She sat up and crawled off his lap and collected her clothes from the truck floor. He watched her go, equally enthralled by the picture she presented while being upset by her not being pressed against him. “I have to stay here and be a doctor for God only knows how long.”

Something hit him hard, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Was it…disappointment? Nah. That couldn’t be it. He’d known going into this that she was staying, and he was leaving. What the hell was there to be disappointed about?

He had a plan, and it didn’t involve love or marriage or kids. Only he fully knew what he had been through as a kid with the teasing and bullying. It had been bad enough going through it first hand, but having to watch one of his own kids experience that kind of torture and not be able to fix it…

No. He wouldn’t do it.

He’d finally found his freedom from his past. And now that he’d finally made amends with Ashley—hell, had even fulfilled his high school fantasy of having sex with her—it was time to leave the past in the past and move forward for good. No more looking back.

He cleared his throat and carefully removed the condom, grabbing a plastic bag from the back seat to put it in. He straightened his jeans and buckled his seatbelt, and waited for her to situate herself. When she didn’t buckle up, he shot her a look. “Do you ever use a seat belt?”

“I live a few blocks down the road.” He simply stared at her until she sighed and buckled up. “There. Happy?”

“Ecstatic,” he said dryly. “Now I’ll take you home.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You’re not staying.”

It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement. She already knew the answer, but sought confirmation. The second he spent the night in her arms was the second he wouldn’t want to leave her. It just seemed far too…intimate. He didn’t do intimate. Even with Ashley.

Nothing was keeping him in this godforsaken town.

“Right.” He nodded, his hands tightening on the wheel. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“Totally.”

He nodded again, oddly not at peace despite her assurances she didn’t want anything else from him. It didn’t make any sense. “Want to walk on the beach for a little bit first, though?” he asked.

He didn’t know where the thought had come from, or why he’d gone and asked that, but he knew one thing…

He wasn’t ready to say goodnight yet.

Chapter Seven

Ashley blinked at him, as taken by surprise by his suggestion of walking on the beach as she’d been by his bowling invitation. Every time he pushed her away, he seemed to follow up by pulling her a little closer, too. It made her wonder if he was fighting an internal battle.

“Yeah, sure.” She smiled at him. “That would be nice.”

He cleared his throat and turned down a road that led away from her condo, but toward the boardwalk. “So, how do you like owning your own practice?”

She looked out the window, staring at the moon. It was really bright and full tonight, casting shadows over the tops of the buildings and houses. “It’s a little bit scary, to be honest,” she admitted, still focused out the window. “It’s not at all what I planned to do with my medical degree. I was going to live in the city. Kick some ass and take names while doing it. But then Dad died, and it all kind of…” She turned back to him. “Shifted, you know?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

“Have you ever had that happen? Had something completely change what you thought you wanted before you even knew it happened?” She crinkled her nose. “Did that even make sense?”

He laughed, his chin dimple peeking out for a second. Wow. She’d forgotten all about that dimple. It wasn’t overly obvious. Just when he smiled in a certain way. “It did. And no, I can’t say I have. I mean, all my life, I knew I was going to leave Rehoboth because I hated it here. I did it, and I haven’t regretted a second of it. I love California. Love being free from any ties that used to hold me down.”