could be sensual and desired without regret.
He pulled my back into his chest and kissed me behind my ear. I could feel my climax building, and my body went on high alert to prepare for the crash. I felt him growing firmer inside me, signaling that he was also near. Then, he reached around and rolled my nipple between his forefinger and thumb.
There was no going back. Ever. I just wasn’t sure what going forward meant for me and my relationship with Roderick. However, I had no current plans to let Ethan go.
I couldn’t let him go.
I released my lip and cried out as each pump of his pelvis met the soft curve of my ass. A heated surge shot between my legs like an arrow headed for its target. At that moment, I let go of everything: Roderick, my parents, my good girl image, everything…and focused on the electric, rippling orgasm tearing me apart from the inside out. I shattered as my climax arrived, and Ethan tugged me close to his body, his added warmth extending the feeling into a transcendental bliss. He kissed my jaw and my temple, and then pressed his forehead into the back of my head as I heard his grunting conclusion wash over him.
I knew that everything wouldn’t fall perfectly into place, and my decision to continue finding myself with my legs wrapped around him would almost certainly lead to disaster, but my current voice of reason was the size of a pea. I was going to have Ethan and no amount of regret, fear, or foreboding was going to stop me from doing just that.
Chapter Four
Alexandra
I broke out into a cold sweat as I unwrapped my Christmas present from Roderick. The gift was small, jewelry-box small, and he watched on with a sense of impatience that made me extremely uncomfortable. I was sitting in the middle of my parents’ two story colonial, muscles sore from several unapologetic rounds with Ethan the night before, and praying that there was not a ring box inside.
“You’re moving too slowly, Alexandra,” my father urged.
I looked around the room. Both my parents looked hopeful, but Eli and Gia looked the same as I did — like a deer caught in headlights in that last moment before it was unexpectedly struck on an isolated road. Kai was in the corner, preoccupied by her mountain of gifts, and Grandma Evelyn was upstairs sleeping off a headache.
“Do they know what’s in here?” I asked Roderick.
“No,” he answered. “Hurry up.”
I pulled away the wrapping paper until only the gift box was left. I lifted off the top and bile rose to the back of my throat when I saw a black, leathery square inside. A few months ago, my heart would have been pounding in anticipation for the day that I’d waited on for years. The day that meant that I was on the path to fulfilling the destiny that had been chosen for me. Now, all I could think was “please, no.”
I overturned the box so that the slightly smaller one inside fell into my palm. Gia groaned and locked a nervous vise-grip onto Eli’s leg. Roderick shot her a look and very discreetly, she flipped him off. His face flushed and he shook his head as though he’d just chastised a hoodlum.
I opened the cover.
Diamond studs. Earrings.
“Oh, how beautiful,” my mother gasped, moving over to sit on the floor next to me. Before she did, I noticed her eyes move in my father’s direction. He gave a curt nod, and then she situated herself beside me and tucked her legs underneath her body.
“I noticed that you’d been coveting these earrings for a few months now,” Roderick spoke up.
“Aren’t these the same ones that you’d called juvenile?” I asked, trying not to show too much relief that it was not an engagement ring.
“I will admit that I was wrong,” he answered. “At first, I did think that they were beneath us. Studs are for little girls. Pearls are for women. But the governor’s wife was wearing some the other day, so I realized that it would be okay for you to wear them too.”
I popped them in my ear. “Thank you, Rick. How do they look? Do you like them?”
“They will grow on me.”
“You look beautiful, Alle,” Eli offered.
I smiled.
“Well, it’s time for breakfast,” my mother announced, pushing up from the floor. “Come on, everybody.” She held out her hand. “Kai, come on.”
Kai skipped over and grabbed my mother’s