CHAPTER 12
“Maybe you’re not as strong as you think.” Megan cleared her throat.
It was hard to concentrate with Ean’s body so close to hers. Step back, her mind shouted at him. Her eyes widened as he drew even closer instead. It was as though he’d read her mind and chose to defy her.
Ean lowered his head. “Maybe you’re stronger.”
She’d have to disagree. Right now, with Ean’s body heat slipping into her clothes, she had as much strength as a newborn baby. Her body was so limp, she was in danger of melting into the ground.
“You don’t need to stand this close to hear me.” What happened to her voice? She could barely hear herself.
But she could hear her heart, slamming against her chest. Hear the warnings, screaming in her head. Run before you do something stupid like kiss him back if he kisses you.
Oh, please let him kiss me!
“But I need to stand this close to taste you.” The intensity in his olive gaze pinned her. His rough voice made her body ache.
Megan’s breath left her in a gasp. She opened her mouth to speak, and Ean sealed her lips with his.
The man knew how to work his tongue. He slid into her mouth and explored every inch of that erogenous zone. Megan’s pulse beat fast and hard. The combination of his smell, his touch, his taste, made her mind spin. He stroked the sides of her mouth, teased her tongue. He tasted wonderful. He felt great. She wanted more.
Ean wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. Megan moaned as he pressed his chest to her breasts. Her nipples tightened. An urgency grew in her. Ean’s big hands traced her back. He traveled the curve of her waist to her hips, then cupped her derriere. Her core burned hotter. Megan’s hips jerked against him.
Ean deepened their kiss. He drew her even tighter against him. She felt the throbbing between his legs against her. It echoed her pulse. His right hand followed her curves back up to her left breast. His big hand gently squeezed its weight. The tip of his finger traced the nipple, circling it until Megan wanted to cry from the sensations tightening inside her body.
Her breath drained from her lungs. Was she having an out-of-body experience? She wanted more. She needed more. She had to . . .
. . . pull back. Megan bit her lower lip.
Ean’s unfocused gaze found hers. “What is it?”
Megan’s pulse still raced. Her body throbbed in places with an intensity it never had before. She took a deep breath, then another. “Ramona.”
Ean’s breathing was still ragged. “She broke up with me. Remember?”
“I don’t want to be your rebound romance.”
Ean expelled a rough sigh. “It was six years ago. I’ve rebounded.”
Megan examined his dark, chiseled features—his irritated olive eyes, his thickly knitted brows and his full, sensuous lips, which had once again pulled her hidden desires to the surface.
“I had a crush on you in junior high school.” Why had she blurted that out? What had she been thinking?
“Really?” Ean’s eyes twinkled and his sexy smile stretched his lips.
Megan circled him to put distance between them. “If you didn’t return for Ramona, then why did you come back to Trinity Falls?”
Ean held her gaze for several silent seconds before turning his broad back to her. Her eyes traced his wide shoulders, then lowered to his tight buttocks. She should have removed his shirt when she’d had the chance.
Ean dragged his right hand over his close-cropped, tight curls. “Something happened to me after my father died. My job, the firm, New York didn’t hold any interest for me anymore. I felt disconnected.”
All thoughts of stripping off his shirt vanished from Megan’s mind. Empathy replaced lust. “That’s part of your grieving process. Give yourself some time.”
He turned to her. “It’s been almost a year.”
“It takes as long as it takes.”
“It’s not about time. I need answers, Megan.”
Her heart clenched at the pain in his voice. “To what?”
Ean paced the length of her kitchen, past the table and back. The hurt in his voice hinted at the torment in his eyes. “Why didn’t my mother call me as soon as my parents found out my father had cancer?”
Megan didn’t want to betray a friend. At the same time, she didn’t want her friend to be blamed for something that wasn’t her idea.
She wandered to her blond wood table and lowered herself into the closest chair. “Your father didn’t want her to.”
His shock slammed into her from across the room like a body blow. “How do you know that?”
Megan looked up at him. Ean was so still. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Your mother would have told you about your father’s illness—unless he specifically asked her not to.”
He started his uneasy pacing again. “You’re speculating. When I asked her why she hadn’t told me about Dad’s cancer right away, she said there wasn’t anything I could do but worry.”
Megan tilted her head. “Doesn’t that sound more like something your father would say?”
Ean stopped, staring at the faux-stone flooring. “Why wouldn’t she just tell me Dad didn’t want me to know?”
“Doreen wouldn’t want you to be angry with your father, but I don’t want you to be angry with her.”
“It doesn’t matter that he didn’t want me to know. If the situation had been reversed, I would’ve told her.”
Megan’s voice softened. “You don’t know that. Until you’ve walked in her shoes, you don’t know what you would have done. And I hope you never find out.”
Ean turned away. Silence stretched between them. Megan considered his back. What could she do to ease the tightness in those broad shoulders? She wanted to touch him, but would he rather have some space?
He rubbed the back of his neck. “What do I do now?”
“Talk with her. As you said, this is all just speculation. If you confront her with it, she won’t lie to you.”
Ean faced her. “It won’t be easy. The last time we talked about Dad, it didn’t go well.”
“You said you came back for answers. This is your chance.”
Ean nodded, staring into the middle distance. A soul-deep sigh lifted his chest. He exhaled before pinning her with his olive gaze. “What about us?”
Her heart tripped, then continued a steady beat. “We’ll talk after you speak with Doreen.”
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The next day, Ean slowed to a walk when he reached his mother’s house at the end of his morning run. He strode to the corner as part of his cooldown. Megan hadn’t been on the jogging trail this morning. Was she avoiding him?
“Ean, how was your run?”
He looked up at Ms. Helen’s house. She’d stepped out onto her porch. The older woman was nearly lost in the oversized purple winter coat. Whose coat was it?
“It was fine, thank you, Ms. Helen. How’s your magazine?” Ean crossed the street. He nodded toward the women’s magazine she held against her chest.
“I just got to the column on personal revelations. This young actress is talking about her big reveal.”
“Sounds interesting.” Ean glanced at Ms. Helen’s sesquicentennial banner.
“When are you going to have your big reveal, Ean?” Ms. Helen held the door open so he could join her inside.
“Excuse me?” He shed his jogging shoes before crossing her threshold.
Ms. Helen smoothed her graying hair back toward the thick bun at the nape of her thin neck. “Now, I don’t mean to pry into other folks’ business.”
It was a struggle not to laugh. “I know, Ms. Helen.”
“But you’ve been back more than a month now. When are you going to start looking for work, son? I know you didn’t come home to live off your mama.”
Ean smiled at her chastising tone. “That’s not my intention at all.”
“I knew that. Your parents brought you up right.” Ms. Helen nodded as though satisfied that he’d confirmed her opinion of him. “So what are you going to do, young man?”
Ean had been wondering the same thing. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Ms. Helen.”
Her frown deepened the wrinkles across her brow. “What’s there to think about? You’ve got to find a job. And you should find another place to live, too. Your mother has needs, and having a grown son living at home with her probably isn’t helping her to meet those needs, if you get my meaning.”
Ean’s gaze dropped to the publication in Ms. Helen’s hands. What was in that magazine? “I’m trying to decide where to apply for work.”
Ms. Helen grunted. She settled into the teakwood chair in front of her window. “Seems to me you would’ve given some thought to that before you came home.” Her tone was dry enough to start a campfire.
“I did, ma’am. But to tell you the truth, my priority was coming home. I knew I’d figure out everything else later.”
“Later is now, Ean. What have you figured out?”
Not much. In fact, he had more questions now than before he’d come home. “A lot of the bigger companies that would have law departments are headquartered farther away than I’d want to drive.”
She snorted. “The way I’ve heard it, people in New York are used to traveling long distances to work.”
Ms. Helen had always had a way of dismissing excuses.
He nodded. “That’s true.”
“Besides, what makes you think you’d have to travel?”
“There aren’t any law firms in Trinity Falls.”
“So what?” Ms. Helen kissed her teeth. “Does that mean people in Trinity Falls don’t need lawyers? There are businesspeople here who have contracts you can charge them to read. People need wills. Are we supposed to drive into the city just to pay you to write them for us?”
“You shouldn’t have to.” The lightbulb was flickering on. He was an idiot for not realizing it sooner.
“You don’t have to work for someone. So there aren’t any law firms in Trinity Falls. Start one yourself. And we’d trust you to do a good job for us and not rip us off.”
“Ms. Helen, you’re a genius.”
She sucked her teeth again. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Her voice was gruff, but Ean saw the blush of pleasure on her thin cheeks.
He rose from the chair. “Thanks for your help, Ms. Helen.”
“You’re welcome, baby. But don’t forget, you’ve got to move out of your mama’s house. Get your own place—the sooner, the better. I don’t mean to embarrass you, but a woman has needs.”
Ean waved as he let himself out of her house, then put his shoes back on. He didn’t want her to embarrass him, either. Ms. Helen meant well, but he didn’t want to discuss his mother’s needs. A conversation like that would scar him for life.