“Ethan…” My voice barely exists.
His mouth moves to my neck, my collarbone, drawing a soft sound from me.
“Summer,” he breathes, strained.“You have no idea how much I want you.”
Fire races through me.
Need. Longing. This wild, overwhelming pull to be closer, closer, closer.
His hand finds the zipper of my jumpsuit… then stops.
He looks at me with a question in his eyes, gentle and patient.
And a tiny, broken voice inside me, the one shaped by Kevin’s cruelty, flares to life.
“Ethan…”
I step back.
He instantly stills.
“Baby, we don’t have have to do anything.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to…”
The words won’t form.
He studies me with those steady green eyes that see far too much.
“You’re scared,” he whispers. Not a question. No judgment.
“Yes.” My voice cracks.
“Did your ex hurt you?” His jaw flexes, eyes darkening with a deadly promise.
“No, not like that. He never raised a hand. But…”
I swallow hard.
“He didn’t like my body.”
His eyes sharpen with anger, not at me, but for me.
“I have stretch marks from having Mia. I have hips, rolls…” My breath shakes.
“I don’t want you looking at me the way he did.”
The memory slices through me, Kevin staring at my postpartum stomach like it was something ruined.
Ethan’s hand cups my cheek, pulling me gently away from the memory.
“Trust me?”
I nod.
He takes my hand and leads me upstairs, stopping at a wooden door.
“I’m not taking you in here to go further,” he says softly.“You’re in control. Every step. Every second. Okay?”
