toward her. “Or we could stay in.”
She blew out a breath, looked around as if just realizing they were in her bedroom, and started pushing him out of the closet.
She said, “We’ll take the subway,” and he nodded. “Of course we will.”
The subway was crowded and they remained standing when they got in the car. Ethan wrapped his arm around her waist. She glared at him and he grinned at her. And kept his arm around her.
She leaned into him and said, “You’re just nervous about riding the subway.”
He nodded. “Absolutely. That guy over there is staring at me.”
She glanced where he was looking and saw three guys in suits. All of them reading.
She shook her head, but didn’t say anything else. They watched people getting on and off, and Ethan tried not to think about how he could feel her heat through her shirt and how she smelled like a mix of laundry soap and warm female. And really didn’t think about why the smell of laundry soap was messing with his libido.
He grabbed her hand when they exited and joined the mob climbing the stairs.
When they stepped into daylight, she tried to tug her hand free. He held tight and she looked down at their hands intertwined. “What are you doing?”
“Holding your hand.”
She looked back up, the alarm clear on her face. “Out here? Why?”
“Because you don’t have a ring wrapped around your finger and I’m feeling the need to lay my claim.”
She tried to pull her fingers away and he held on.
She said, “Lay your claim. You’re just trying to get me mad.”
“Actually, I’m just trying to distract you long enough to get you into a clothes store.”
She shook her head. “I will go shopping. But not with you.”
“Why not? I have fashion sense. And dressing you in short skirts and high heels sounds like fun.”
“That’s only one of the reasons why I’m not going shopping with you.”
“But we need to get rid of that muumuu. Maybe today.”
Honestly, a muumuu. She couldn’t broadcast any clearer that she was planning on getting through their six weeks together without getting naked. It would piss him off if he wasn’t enjoying the challenge so much.
He was enjoying the challenge, dammit.
She squinted her eyes at him. “Have you been talking to Cassandra?”
“I don’t need to. I’ve got eyes. And I don’t think that muumuu does what you want it to.”
“I want it to be comfortable.”
“I want to rip it off your body and throw it in the garbage.”
She jerked and he adjusted his hold on her hand. She said, “It makes me want to go to Hawaii.”
He cocked his head. “Where you will wear a bikini and high heels? Because I can take some time off.”
“I’m sensing a trend. Do you need to stock up on some late-night reading material?”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “No.”
“‘Cause if you need to take care of something, you should do it.”
He grumbled under his breath and dragged her into a jewelry store.
It was quiet and cool inside, and a few well-dressed customers were already being helped.
Ethan bent his head in to Mackenzie and indicated a woman looking at earrings. He said softly, “She doesn’t seem to have a problem with large rings.”
Mackenzie murmured, “I notice she doesn’t have any pockets, either.”
He nodded. “I think we’ve figured out it’s a pocket problem, not a jewelry problem. We could skip this store and go buy you some new clothes instead.”
“Why don’t we just skip all the stores and call it a day?”
“Only if you slip back into that muumuu when we get home.”
She turned her head away from him and saw Ellen and Christine coming in the door. She yanked her hand out of Ethan’s. “What in the world?”
He looked up. “I invited Mother and Grandma.”
Mackenzie let out a low groan. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“They like shopping. And they know jewelry.”
“You don’t bring your mother along when you’re buying an engagement ring.”
“I didn’t do such a bang-up job of picking out your first ring. And I thought you were probably right that we would never come to an agreement. I needed reinforcements.”
“I think we could have handled it between the two of us.”
His mother ignored Mackenzie to kiss Ethan on the cheek. “I thought you already got her a ring.”
“She didn’t like it.”
His mother sniffed. “I thought it was lovely.”
Ethan said, “She thinks it’s too big,” and Ellen chuckled. She said, “You keep him guessing, girlie.”
Shards of ice