“Mandy, stop!”
But she didn’t stop. Running blindly around corner after corner, she tried to locate the stairs that would lead her downstairs. It wasn’t like she knew where the heck she would go. She couldn’t walk back to the main road and she certainly couldn’t hail a cab from this lonely area. She was trapped in this massive house with Ethan, a man who she desired above all others yet couldn’t…wouldn’t…give into. She’d felt his dormant fire crackle when she’d slapped him, but she had also seen the incredible pain beneath the flames. She had hurt him, not just physically but deeper…burned him to the core when she refused him again and again, luring him in, teasing him, making him think that she wanted him only to turn on him time after time.
She could hear him coming after her. He was going to find her no matter where she ran. She became almost dizzy with panic, crashing through doorways and ending up in another strange part of the house. Just how big was this house anyway? No matter how far she ran, she never seemed to get to the end of it.
“Mandy!” Ethan called, and Mandy couldn’t be sure if it was anger or impatience she heard in his voice. She knew it had been childish to run. What had she been afraid he’d do, hit her back? Mandy was sure deep down that he wouldn’t hurt her. She wasn’t really afraid of him. No, she was more scared of herself, of the things he pushed her to feel and want. Things she’d never dreamed she’d know how to want. Just like when he’d described the different ways he could take her; ways she could give herself to him. She still shivered now at the images he’d evoked in her mind’s eye.
Breathless and confused, she found an unlocked door and pushed it open. It looked like a guest room that wasn’t finished; the polished dark wood floor was bare and the windows held no curtains. She didn’t switch on the light but saw the moonbeams shining through the windows, lighting up the surroundings with almost gothic luminosity.
She leaned against the wall and panted for air. She heard heavy footsteps and her heartbeat accelerated. Quickly, she backed away from the door and ended up stumbling over a crate, which crashed noisily to the floor. Mandy lost her balance and toppled backwards, landing heavily on her ass.
“Oh God!” she cried out before she could stop herself.
But he’d already been alerted to her whereabouts by the noise of the falling crate. Seconds later, Ethan was tearing into the room.
“Mandy, are you all right?” he asked, snapping on the lights before rushing to where she was trying to struggle to her feet. He caught her and helped her up easily, his face creased with concern.
She winced as she tried to settle her weight on her right foot and found she’d twisted it when she fell. She couldn’t stand on it properly.
“I’m…I’m okay,” she replied, staring up at his face and seeing the dark flush where she’d slapped him, the deep color beginning to fade. Unthinkingly, she lifted a hand to rest it gently against his cheek. The concern in his eyes darkened into something she couldn’t describe.
He turned his face in her palm and made her shiver from the bristle of his shadowy beard. “Damn, Mandy. I didn’t mean to scare you. You don’t ever have to be afraid of me. You know that…don’t you?”
“Yes,” she replied softly, her eyes not moving from his face. “I’m sorry I hit you.”
He sighed raggedly, spearing her with his blue gaze again. “I’m the one who needs to apologize. I should never have tried anything, not after what happened yesterday. I didn’t plan this at all… it just happened because I wanted to spend more and more time with you. And with you so close to me, I find it so damn hard to think about anything but being with you. But I get it. You don’t want this as much as I do and I need to back off.”
“I do want you,” Mandy blurted out, unable to stop herself. “Just as much, if not more. But I’m not sure that I can give into something that I don’t really understand. I’m afraid of just how far I’ll fall before it would be too late to find my way back.”
Ethan’s answer was to embrace her tightly, his arms like a safe haven she never wanted to escape from. Not anymore.
He began to draw away reluctantly, his sigh deep and heavy. “I’ll take you home now, if you like,” he said. But then he stiffened when Mandy’s arms didn’t pull away from around his neck. He looked into her eyes and his breath caught. “Mandy?”
Mandy wasn’t sure who kissed whom first. Didn’t know who moved that single needed inch that brought their lips slowly, ever so slowly together. Mandy didn’t turn away when his lips closed almost experimentally over hers. Her heart thudded faintly in her ears. She closed her eyes instantly and blocked out every other thing but the deliciously soft texture of Ethan’s firm lips. When the kiss got bolder and deeper, still Mandy didn’t push away or protest. He raked past her teeth with his tongue and slicked the insides of her mouth hungrily. Mandy was gasping as she kissed him back just as hard.