The room fell silent at her declaration. Deputy Johnson’s face paled, then turned an alarming shade of red. “Sex?” he squeaked out, lowering his gun slightly.
“Yes, Bobby. You see, when two people like each other…”
“That’s enough, Isabella,” Ethan snapped. “Deputy, if you’ll give me a few minutes to get dressed, we can hopefully clear this up without making a scene.”
It seemed to Izzy the “not making a scene” ship had sailed, but she kept her mouth shut until Bobby and Jake had closed the door behind them. As soon as it clicked shut, she whirled on Ethan, but the ice-cold fury in his eyes stopped her in her tracks.
“Who did you tell, Isabella?”
“Nobody, I swear!”
“Really?” With a disbelieving snort, he bent and snatched up his khakis and shoved his legs into them. “If you didn’t tell anyone, then how the hell did this happen?”
“I just told Mari, I promise! But we were —”
“You know,” he rolled right over her like she hadn’t even spoken. “I always knew you had a mouth on you. But I never figured you were such a bald-faced liar.” With his shirt and pants on, he gathered the rest of his gear and rounded the bed, cornering her between the dresser and wall. “We’re going to go downstairs and get this sorted out. After that, we’re done. I knew this was a mistake.”
“W-what?” Tears blurred her vision and for a moment she couldn’t breathe past the pressure in her chest. “You’re dumping me? Because of one little fuck up?”
“I’m dumping you because I can’t trust you.”
She almost wished he’d just hit her. A bare-knuckled punch to the face would have hurt less than his words. “Ethan, please.”
“Get dressed, Isabella. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Turning his back on her, he yanked open the bedroom door.
“Ethan! Ethan, come back here.” A sob burst out of her when he kept walking. “Daddy!”
Chapter Seven
“What the hell is going on?” Pale-faced and wide-eyed, Marisa stood in the doorway as Izzy frantically pulled her dress from the night before over her head.
“Somebody heard us. Last night, at the bar.”
“Heard what, Iz?”
“In the bathroom, Mari! When I was showing you the marks on my ass!” That had to have been where the complaint came from. It was the only thing that made any fucking sense. Without bothering with underwear, she pushed past her sister and ran down the stairs. Ethan was standing in the middle of the room with a much more relaxed looking deputy and a frowning Jake.
“Ethan, will you please just talk to me?”
The eyes that met hers weren’t the playful, teasing eyes she’d seen over the past two days. Or even the stern, disapproving ones she’d been seeing practically her whole life. These eyes were cold, empty, and she felt the chill straight to her bones.
Dismissing her without a word, Ethan focused his attention back on the deputy. “Bobby, I think if you talk to Ms. Taylor, you’ll find nothing to back up any claims of violence or abuse on my part.”
“Of course not! Look, Bobby, we just…” Oh, sweet Jesus, could this possibly be any more humiliating? “It just got a little, ah, rough, okay? You know Ethan, you know the kind of man he is. I swear everything that happened between us was a hundred percent consensual.”
“Jeez, you guys.” Looking about as comfortable as a hen in a room full of foxes, Bobby rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry about all this. But you know I had to look into it, Sheriff. And what about all those bruises and stuff Izzy has? Some might call that reasonable cause.”
Cheeks on fire, Izzy forced herself to speak up. “He didn’t beat me, Bobby. He just – oh, God. He spanked, me, okay? Plenty of people enjoy being spanked, and I happen to be one of them.”
“Oh.” Bobby’s face turned as red as hers felt. “Well, that puts things in a different light.”
Ethan cleared his throat, drawing Bobby’s attention back to him. “Am I free to go, deputy?”
“Ah, yeah. I suppose.”
“Thank you.” Turning on his heel, Ethan strode to the front door.
Izzy moved to intercept him, but Jake stopped her. In his eyes, she saw some of the same coldness she’d seen in Ethan’s, but it was tempered by a smidge of sympathy. “Let him go, Iz. Give him some time to be pissed and get over the hurt a little bit, and then you can talk to him.”
