Playing For Her Heart - Megan Erickson Page 0,13

bite the tender skin at her shoulder as he came inside of her.

When Chloe opened her eyes, there was water sloshed out on the floor all around the tub, and the remaining water had cooled.

She laughed to herself, thinking that while that had been a poor substitute for the man, it’d been the best self-love session she’d ever had. “Thanks for that, Breck,” she muttered as she stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel.

In her bedroom, she was dressing in a pair of loose gaucho pants and a large T-shirt, because she sure as heck wasn’t going out in public, when the doorbell rang.

With a towel wrapped around her head, she made her way to the front door and peered through the peephole. As suspected, her brother stood at the door, holding a white paper bag, staring expectantly at the doorknob.

She thunked her head on the door, making a note to buy a secret cabin somewhere no one could find her, and then opened it. Ethan brushed past her, eyes scanning the apartment. He sniffed the air as he placed the paper bag on her kitchen counter. “What smells so good?”

“Sausage tortellini soup.” He made an eager face and she rolled her eyes. “Yes, you can have some.”

Ethan smiled, and Chloe thought that she’d make that soup every day of Ethan’s life if she got a smile like that out of him. He didn’t do it nearly as often anymore, which sucked because he used to be the fun one of the three of them, the carefree daredevil. He teased Chloe, and joked with her and Samantha about boys.

And then the accident happened, Samantha died, and it was like Ethan had a personality transplant. And because she loved him, she let him fret over her like a mother hen, knowing he felt like he had a debt to repay. Taking care of the sister who was still alive was the way he coped, and although it was unhealthy, it was the only mechanism he had. He’d refused to go to counseling, and she couldn’t fix him, even through she’d tried. So she avoided any topics that would make him anxious, did everything she could to keep him happy, and let him fuss and dote, as long as it made him feel better.

Which was exhausting, to be honest.

He gestured to the bag. “I brought you some of those chocolate chip sugar cakes you like.”

That got her feet moving. In a flash she was at the counter, peering into the bag. “Really? You didn’t have to do that.” She took out a sugar cake and bit into it immediately. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. Sugar cakes were like a large cookie but softer, more like a dense cake. And the top layer had the perfect sprinkle of sugar that had melted and cracked in the oven so there was just the slightest bit of crispness. She moaned. “You’re my favorite brother ever.”

His smile didn’t fade, and she beamed at him. He was a handsome man, beyond handsome. Every single one of Chloe’s and Samantha’s friends had crushed on star baseball pitcher Ethan Talley.

Despite the visible scars, he was just as handsome in Chloe’s mind, even if he didn’t think so.

“I’m having dinner with my new business partner, Grant. He was a friend of mine in college.”

She vaguely remembered the name. “Okay.”

“I’d like you to come.”

The sugar cake didn’t taste so good anymore. She moved to the fridge to pour herself a glass of milk, buying time. She hated saying no to Ethan. “Why do you want me to come?” She’d never gone on any business dinners before. Ethan had his hands in a lot of pies, always had. He’d gotten rich quick in college by commentating while playing video games and uploading the videos to YouTube. He had the personality and the skill to cultivate a huge following, which turned into a huge source of income from advertising revenue. Turned out, that money was more of a curse than a blessing, at least in Chloe’s mind. She wasn’t sure how Ethan felt. He’d only seemed to have gotten richer since then, although he wasn’t reckless anymore, and didn’t flaunt it. His car and his house were his only visible splurges.

Okay, he had some great clothes, too. And that watch looked new.

“I think it’d be good to get you out of the house.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ethan, you don’t have to spend so much effort getting me to be social. I