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“Coward,” he says softly, holding my gaze with burning intensity.

Taking the cab back home is the smart decision. I shouldn’t be more involved with Ethan than I already am. This is for my own good. If I get burned twice, it’s on me.

However, my feet swing out of the car, and I get out, standing face-to-face with him. “I’m not doing this because you want me to. Just so you know.”

Ethan takes a step toward me till my chest is pressed against his. “Of course not.”

He smells the same as he did back then. Clean, earthy, subtly masculine.

It always drew me in, and it’s no different now.

“If you do anything inappropriate,” I begin, struggling to draw in air, struggling to think straight when he’s surrounding me like this.

“Inappropriate?” Ethan asks, his tone wicked. “Inappropriate how? You mean this?”

He leans down, and I freeze. His lips brush against mine, soft, caressing, and making my lower stomach clench in an aching need. No. No!

But I don’t pull away.

My hands lift and press against his chest. I’m supposed to push him away, but as we stand under the soft glow of the streetlight, Ethan’s mouth moving against mine, searing me, waking up desires I buried years ago, my fingers dig into his waistcoat.

His mouth is hot, and it’s breaking down my defenses. He was my first, and now here he is again, stealing my second kiss. I forgot how it had felt, having his body hovering over mine, his delicious weight holding me down as he moved within me. The taste of his skin. His mouth covering every inch of me.

I forgot it all. And it’s all rushing back to me.

Ethan had driven me wild in his bed. He had taken my virginity, and he had claimed complete ownership of my body, making me scream till all I remembered was his name. He had shown me a world I had only read about in books.

And as he kisses me now, one hand curled around my nape, and the other gripping my waist, my legs feel weak.

What am I doing?

Why am I letting him do this to me?

Why can’t I push him away?

The snap of a camera shutter has my eyes widening as reality crashes down around me. Ethan instantly pulls me into his chest, shielding me with his coat.

“Don’t bother, big brother. I already got the evidence.”

A woman’s voice has me going stiff.

Big brother?

CHAPTER 6

NATALIE

“It’s just you, Megan.”Ethan sounds annoyed. “Delete that picture.”

“Sorry. No can do,” the girl says in a mocking voice. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?”

Ethan lowers his coat. “Delete it, or I’ll break your camera.”

“And I’ll tell Mom. She got this for me on Christmas.”

His sister.

I observe the girl with growing mortification. She looks like she’s in her early twenties, with the same amber eyes as Ethan and dark hair pinned up in an artful twist.