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“Eat up,” Ethan said, pushing a plate of breakfast potatoes toward me. “We don't want you passing out from hunger later.” I couldn’t hold back my blush at how concerned he sounded, but this blush soon became one of embarrassment when I heard his next words. “I wouldn't want James to kill me for starving his little sister.”
Little sister.
The words rang free in my head and it took everything in me not to show how displeased I was by his choice of words. I wanted to be more than James’s little sister to him, but I alsoknew he was a forbidden fruit, but it only made me want him so much more.
My mood from that point forward was quite indifferent. I ate my food quietly, and so did Ethan, who was reading something on his tablet, holding it with one hand and eating with the other.
Just how overconsumed with work was this man?
I didn't need to ask that question because I got the answer pretty quickly. The moment we finished eating and we headed out of his penthouse, he was already working. His ear pods were permanently glued to his ears and he answered calls as we walked. Luckily, the elevator was once again working, so we didn’t put a ding in his busy schedule. Or so I thought. I soon realized that the office hours weren’t until 9:00 am, but Ethan left his house an hour early factoring in unexpected situations, like the elevator breaking down.
What a meticulous fellow.
Meticulousness wasn’t his only attribute. I found this out through every meeting I attended with him and every work challenge I watched him scale through. Ethan was a man who thought ahead and expected his employees to do the same. I’m not sure how he did it, but Ethan was prepared for any kind of issue that may arise, even those which were unexpected. Every meeting showed him proffering on-the-spot solutions. He was quite intelligent and a quick thinker.
Even so, I noticed he still expected his employees to seek the answers first before he stepped in. In his own words, he said he was building his team to be the kind of employee who didn’t need to have the boss around to take care of unforeseen situations.
Although he seemed fair in his dealings with his staff, it was quite easy for me to decipher his stern nature and need for perfection. The more I got to know Ethan Beckett, the fonder I became, and worse, the stronger my desires for him increased. Iwanted him more than I had ever wanted any man and the close proximity to him brought out feelings I had never felt before.
The hardest part was that I didn’t know how to deal with these new emotions of mine and it didn’t make it any easier that I read too much into everything he did. One time I caught him staring at me strangely and thought maybe he was feeling the same pull as me. Unfortunately, that thought was dismissed when he handed me a tissue and asked me to clean the stain of cream on the side of my mouth.
I was embarrassed, and that incident wasn’t the only embarrassing moment I had with him today. There were several instances where he caught me zoning out and ogling him, and every time, all I could do was look away. He would smile a knowing smile, making me feel like a delusional child.
I wanted to blame Naomi and the useless images she had planted in my head, but I knew that would only be a lie. I’ve always been attracted to him, even as a seventeen-year-old. That was why it hurt so much when he criticized my work and mocked my article for the school newspaper. I had only met him once before that day, and even though he hadn’t cared much for me, I dreamt of castles, happily ever after, and how he would sweep me off my feet like in a fairy tale. And all he ever thought of me as was the little annoying sister of James.
Eight years later and things were still the same. Even though I’m older and more experienced, I realized my attraction for him went beyond that first stupid crush. He, on the other hand, still considered me his best friend’s little sister and I didn’t know how I could change this.
Sighing, I knew there was no changing the status of our “relationship,” so I returned to what I was there to do, work on my article while Ethan worked on his new software program, as he had been doing since we returned to his office about an hour ago. But as it turned out, it was more than an hour, severalreally, and we hadn’t realize this until Ethan’s wristwatch beeped telling him it was 6:00 pm. He had set an alarm so I could leave for the day. Gloria had left a few hours prior because she had a family emergency to take care of.
I looked up at him to find him equally shocked. We both laughed before I stood up and started packing up my belongings.
“Uh oh,” I heard Ethan mutter and looked up to find him staring out the window. “It’s snowing really badly. Looks like a blizzard.”
“What!” I yelled as I stalked toward the window only to see that he wasn't lying. “How? When did this happen?”
6
Ethan
“How? When did this happen?”
This was the exact same question on my mind as I stared down at the disaster outside the Beckett Technologies building.How did I not know things were getting this bad?I had been aware when the snow started falling, but all I expected was a dusting, a minor inconvenience on our way home. But now it looked like we wouldn’t even be able to leave the building.
The number of cars wedged deep into the snow outside spelled this out in clear terms and frustrated me. I ran a hand through my hair, cursing under my breath. “Fuck!”
I chastised myself for not being aware of the significant change in the weather. Why wasn’t I paying enough attention to my surroundings? This was so unlike me, and it didn’t feel right.
“What are we going to do now?” That sultry voice got to me again, disconcerting and sending my brain on trips I wanted to avoid, just like every other damn time today.
Maybe I can make you scream my name until dawn while I make your body endure the most pleasurable torture ever.That didn’t sound like the answer she wanted, but it wascurrently the only one I could think of.What was wrong with me?
I turned to look at those big blue eyes of hers to find her staring at me, as though she was expecting me to perform some kind of miracle. I was sure as hell she didn’t want to partake in the things I actually wanted to do.
Tell me why the only miracle I wanted to perform right now was the one that involved burying myself deep inside her warmth while she was bent over my desk.
Staring at her now and seeing how far my mind had traveled answered my earlier question of how this had happened. It was all because of her—Olivia McKenna—the one woman capable of altering all my plans with just one glance.What am I going to do with you?
Today had been much more hectic for me than my usual work days, and this time, it wasn’t because of work per se. It was the fact that everywhere I looked, Olivia was there, watching me with interest, which only set my body on fire for her.
