Chapter 2

Whatever sense of satisfaction I’d gained was short-lived, though, for I knew his retaliation would come quickly and without warning. Seconds counted, so turning, I moved toward the door, my intent…to gain my freedom from the room before he could put into action what was coming.

I’d made it to the opening when he struck. His fingers wrapped around my ankle and he gave it a jerk, causing me to stumble. Off-balance, a small scream escaped my lips as the floor rushed up to meet me, then after smacking the unforgiving hardness of the dusty boards of the floor, I lay sprawled out like a broken puppet next to Ethan’s still heaving figure.

As I lay, stunned and unmoving, Ethan struggled upward from his prone position, then breath still wheezing through his lips like a tea kettle, he gained a kneeling position and tossed a leg across my middle, straddling my hips. Sitting on top of me, he jerked my arms up and around my head, cradling it in their curve as he pinned me to the floor.

With a low hiss, I bucked my hips, twisting, and turning, trying to throw him off my midsection. “Get the hell off me,” I grunted out, before raising my head, I head-butted him in the face. I was not beyond using the opportunity he’d presented me, as to keep me in place he’d had to remain knelt over me.

As I wiggled and squirmed beneath him, I could feel his knees squeezing my ribs as he fought to remain in place during our impromptu rodeo. Several more seconds of his ride continued before releasing a harsh breath, and as if having had enough, he snapped, “Goddammit, Nicole… Stop!”

With a grumble, I stilled and lay immobile; however, my eyes flashed my anger.

Finally releasing my wrists from his iron grip, Ethan eased off me and over until he was once again lying on his side.

The moon, choosing that moment to stab a finger through the recently uncovered window, highlighted him within its bright beams, the thoughtful action allowing me to watch his movements within the illumination.

Propped on one elbow, he sucked in several unsteady breaths, groaning, “Holy…fuck! It feels like you kicked my nuts into my goddamn stomach.”

A snort escaped my lips, and reaching out with a quick swipe, I knocked his arm out from under his head—not feeling the least guilty when it bounced on the hard floor with a resounding thump.

Afterward, scrambling to put some distance between us, I lashed out again with my foot, feeling it slam into his chest. The action didn’t go without consequence though, as grasping me around the waist, he hauled me backward, pinning me beneath him again.

“You little she-bitch—what the hell’s got into you?” he barked.

I’d played an endless loop in my head of what I would say to Mr. Asshole. How I would act when I could face him with my pain, my anger.

Now that the opportunity had arisen, all I could muster was a tiny, hurt hiss and a shake of my head. “No, don’t even pretend you don’t know.”

Glaring at him, and in little doubt he knew what had me upset, I waited, then waited more. I wanted an answer to take away all the anguish I’d been feeling over the past month—especially this last week when he’d graduated from jerk to ass. My wait continued though, stretching out between us as his silence grew arms and began crawling through me.

Within my mind, I begged him to give me something…. Anything that would change the anger, the pain I’d been plagued with for weeks now. I waited for him to give me something to take away the humiliation holding me immersed beneath its depths: something that would bring back the peace within me. Instead, he was leaving me dissected—uncertain in further insecurities his silence was bringing about within me.

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t gone over this past month in every freaking direction I could. Not wondered if I was overreacting, reading more into it than was there, all the same, it was now being instilled in me, I hadn’t; his hatefulness, the rants, the rudeness, really had increased over the last seven days, and the truth I hadn’t wanted to admit, ripped wide open within his silence. As a result, bewilderment swamped me. Why? I couldn’t help but wonder. Why had he been treating me as he had? What had I done so badly, or that reflected so unfavorably on my work, he’d taken offense to it? I sure as shit didn’t know; I had no clue what would have turned him into a royal prick, and as if to further the truth of his less than stellar personality shift, he hadn’t even had the decency to talk to me about the problem in private. No, instead, he’d broadcast his displeasure in front of the whole freaking team, and he’d done it in the form of treating me like a smear of dog shit he’d wanted to wipe off the bottom of his boot. Then, yesterday, when I’d thought the time had come and I’d finally get the chance to talk to him, to ask him what the hell his problem was, our unit’s chief had called him into his office before I could voice my question. Thus, when I’d walked out the doors of the bureau yesterday evening, I’d walked out without an answer: going home to lick my festering wounds again. Wounds weeks of his constant mental abuse had manifested within me.

Over the past weeks, I’d tried several times to get him alone, to discuss the problem. However, it had turned into mission impossible. It seemed, he’d been deliberately avoiding being alone with me, that was until now. The anger I’d carried all these weeks erupted and reaching out, I grabbed a handful of hair, and wrapping the shoulder-length strands between my fingers, I jerked, not giving a shit I was anything but gentle doing it.

With a grunt, Ethan grabbed my hands, working to disentangle my fingers, but when I clung tightly like a baby to it’s mother, his eyes narrowed, and with a tiny mind exclamation of, oh, I found myself sucking in a startled breath and stilling as he shifted above me to gain a better grip.

“Oh, my fucking God… Is that…is that…?” my inner voice gasped.

“Yes, yes, it is,” I inwardly replied. "That is indeed one big-ass fucking dick poking me and saying hello.

A sudden shudder ripped through me, and though I was still furious with him, awareness flushed throughout my system. Heat pooled between my legs, and I became ripe with hunger, my naughty goddess rising to the surface and pounding her fists against her chest.

Tugging again at the hair still wrapped around my fingers, I pulled Ethan’s face to mine and then flicked my tongue across the soft curve of his bottom lip.

Like a match being set to kindle, a hiss erupted from him and he surged forward, grinding against the softness between my legs as, his lips covering mine, he devoured my mouth in bone-melting possession. Tiny pinpricks of need flushed throughout my system, and I whimpered. My breasts swelled, and my nipples hardened before without warning, he lifted his body from mine, taking his mind stealing tongue and lips with him.

As he hovered above me, a moan of protest escaped my lips, and at the needy sound, he gave a deep-throated groan, then resettling against me, he began rocking his hips, driving me wild with a slow pumping which brought forth an eddy of sensations. Yet, the action wasn’t enough. “No, not even close to enough,” my naughty goddess agreed.

The denim of our clothing prevented the contact my body wanted—skin against skin—and panting I reached out, pulling at the hem of his shirt and urging him to lift his upper body so I could tug it off.

Stilling, his breathing harsh, Ethan drew back, staring down into my face, then after a brief second, he jumped to his feet, as giving a low muttered hiss of, “Shit,” he turned and sprinted from the room.