Page 40 of Enemies Under One Roof

She picked it up and brought it to her nose, traces of his scent remaining, and before she could second-guess herself, she put it on. She’d wear it now, to keep her warm until she got to her own room. Tomorrow she’d launder and return it to his clean clothes pile; he had plenty of others, so he wouldn’t miss it. Decision made, she exited his room, never to return. Her eyes smarted, from the cold, she assured herself, nothing else.

* * *

The click of a closing door roused Ethan from sleep as he groggily tried to orientate himself via the moonlight shining through the windows.

He was in his bedroom at WillowGlen.

Why had he gone to bed with his curtains open?

Then he remembered and vaulted upright before twisting to see the other side of the bed, empty. He reached out a hand, empty but still warm.

He twisted the other way and switched on the bedside lamp, flooding the room with light. He was alone. No Ivy in his bed or the room.

Was that what had woken him? Ivy leaving? Sneaking out at—he checked his watch—just after 10:00 p.m.?

Abandoning him, never to return.

A flash of outrage and hurt blended together, squeezing his chest until he remembered that’s what they’d agreed on. Once.

But technically it had been more than once; they’d pleasured each other before their official first time.

He didn’t need to remember that and flopped back down. But it was a mistake, as Ivy’s scent permeated his pillow, his bedding, him.

Yet it wasn’t Ivy who’d been with him.

It had been Annie who’d cried out his name.

Annie, who’d cradled his face so tenderly when they were finally joined together, that he’d thought he might cry.

Annie, who’d unleashed something in him beyond anything he’d ever experienced. She’d had him trembling and begging before she’d catapulted him into a realm he didn’t know existed.

He shook his head and ran a shaky hand over his face, trying to halt the images, yet they persisted, even though there was no place in his life for someone who lived theirs so differently from him, was so guarded.

He threw back the sheets and duvet he didn’t recall pulling up and shot to his feet.

Sleep would be impossible, so he’d grab a mega pot of coffee and obliterate the taste of her lingering on his tongue, in his bloodstream. Then he’d plan how to proceed, because this couldn’t continue, as much as he wanted it to. Too much was at risk. When he saw her tomorrow, he’d have this reasoned out, because there had to be some logic as to why she’d made him respond like he had. Made him completely insatiable…for her.

He spotted his jeans at the foot of the bed, but a quick scan failed to find his jumper, nor Ivy’s shirt and trousers.

A glint of sparkles drew his gaze to the tallboy, where her bra had landed after he’d discovered the diamante front clasp and released it.

He scrunched his eyes closed and took a series of deep breaths, before opening them and heading for his wardrobe, but soon stopped dead. Her panties were on the rug, where he’d flung them after slowly edging them down her long legs until she’d been completely, gloriously naked.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Hard.

Not. Helping.

Stepping over them, he grabbed a clean pair of jeans, hoodie and thick woollen socks and dressed in record time before heading to the kitchen, convinced a gallon of super-strong coffee would knock some sense back into him, because surely his memories were playing tricks on him.

Had hunger, from skipping dinner, made him hallucinate? But his churning stomach told a different story. He wasn’t hungry…for food, anyway.

He growled in disbelief. What they’d shared had been incredible sex, nothing more. His feelings were nothing deeper or more profound. And despite the fact he’d been with Annie, not Ivy, she still wasn’t for him, never for him. She had too many walls up, and he could never be with someone he didn’t trust fully. He could never, ever put himself through that again.

He flung open the kitchen door and ground to a halt.

Annie, sleepy, tousled and far too alluring, sat at the kitchen table.

She launched to her feet, her chair falling backwards. Her hair, wild and free from any constraints, tumbled around her shoulders and down her back. Her puffy lips opened in an O of surprise, shock.