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Ethan
I watched Diana take a step back and as her expression changed, I felt every part of me rise to protect her. Was something wrong? She was in this ridiculous outfit, but it looked as if something was wrong. But the expression on her face changed as quickly as it had risen and she pushed herself off the door. Her thin robe flashed open, revealing just a hint of what was underneath and my mouth went dry. I watched Diana look up and down the hallway before her eyes turned to me, and fear immediately flashed through them.
“What’s wrong, Diana?” I asked.
“Can I come into your room? I keep hearing noises.”
Alarm bells shrieked in my head. Not safe. Diana didn’t feel safe.
“What’s wrong?” I asked again.
“Ethan, please.”
Desperation littered her voice, but I couldn’t move aside. The rational part of my brain was still functioning, and I couldn’t let her into my room. It would be dangerous for both of us, especially with the little number she had on. Her face grew nervous and her eyes began to flash. Tears welled in them again and I felt that sweep of protectiveness wash over me again. But I tried to push it aside. I couldn't let her into my room. Not looking the way she did.
It would spell disaster for both of us.
“I keep hearing noises. Ethan, I think someone’s in the house,” she said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“It woke me up out of a dead sleep, Ethan. Please, let me in.”
I stepped away from the doorframe and shut my door behind me. I wasn’t letting her into that room. Even if I had to lock myself out of it. But if she was hearing sounds, I needed to check things out. I took her arm gently, resisting the fire that bled through my veins at the feel of her skin against mine. I slowly walked her down the small corridor and turned down the hallway, leading her back to her bedroom.
“You know where my bedroom is?” she asked.
“I know the entire layout of your house. So yes,” I said.
“Ethan, what if someone’s here?”
“I can assure you that if someone was in this house, I would know it before you did.”
“But how do you know that?”
“Because Mason is downstairs and is tapped into every part of your home security system. He would alert me if something seemed off.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Diana, I promise you, no one is getting into this house without my knowledge. What you need to do right now is try your best to keep your mind off things and rest. Paranoia and hearing noises is the first stage of exhaustion. You need rest.”
“I’m not paranoid.”
She ripped her arm away from my grasp as we stood in front of her door.
“I heard something, Ethan. Something that woke me up from the sleep I was already getting. Just—please?”
“Please what?” I asked.
“Can you check my room out?”
I bit down onto the inside of my cheek. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up gnawing a hole into it because of this woman. It took all of the energy I had to fight my own reaction to her. A reaction I couldn't seem to control. When Diana had been acting like a spoiled little brat, it was easy to keep my mind off my attraction to her. But now, seeing how scared she was and feeling how she stumbled on her legs from how tired she had grown, I felt an almost pathological need to protect her. To comfort her. To chase away all of the pain and sorrow and bring nothing but a smile to her face.
But, I knew if I gave in, I’d be lost. Lost in her. Lost in her body. Lost in her eyes and the feel of her skin against mine. I had to stay strong.
I couldn't risk breaking the one rule I drilled into my guys—day in and day out.
“I promise you, your room is fine,” I said.
I reached for the door and gently opened it. My hand fell to the small of her back and I guided her into the room. There. I had done it. I had successfully navigated—
“Diana!”
“Please check it,” she said, as she tugged me into her room.
“Diana, there’s nothing wrong with your room.”
“I swear I’ll go to sleep once you check it. I promise, Ethan. Really.”
She flipped on her bedroom light and the fear in her eyes ripped me back to reality. Fine. If checking her room made her get in bed instead of standing there in that pathetic robe and the damn stockings she had rolled up her legs, then I’d check her room. And why the hell was she wearing high heels anyway? It was almost midnight. Did she not have slippers she could walk around the damn house in?
I stood in the middle of her bedroom and began to run my eyes along the ceiling. I checked the corners of the room and stopped to look underneath her bed. I ran my fingertips on the underside of the tables in her room and back behind the edge of her dresser. Anywhere someone might hide a camera or a listening device of some sort. I walked into her bathroom and checked around, opening her drawers and pulling back the shower curtain. I opened a door at the end of her bathroom and walked straight into a massive closet that made me sigh.
There were so many places for someone to hide in a gargantuan place like that.
I opened every damn drawer and checked every surface. I slid her clothes over and even hopped up to check the shelves over her hung-up clothes. And when I was satisfied that no one and nothing was in her room, I opened the door and came back out.
“Diana, there isn’t anyone—”
My eyes fell onto her and I couldn't speak. Her robe hung open, revealing the outfit she had on underneath. Holy shit. The white stockings against her long legs rushed underneath a scrap of sheer white fabric that didn’t even cover up her body. The garter belt around her thigh called to my teeth. Begging to be removed with my lips. And underneath all of it, she had on that useless Wonder Woman bathing suit.
The crown of loose curls around her head framed her face and her amber eyes bored into me with a heat that throbbed my cock. She looked just like Wonder Woman, if she was about to get it on with Steve Trevor.
Shit. This wasn’t good
“The space is clear,” I said, as my eyes fell to the floor.
I cleared my throat as I stepped out of the closet and made my way for her bedroom door.
“Are you sure you checked every crevice?” Diana asked.
“Yep. Every single one. Now get in bed and get some rest. You promised,” I said.
“I don’t think you’ve checked every crevice in the room.”
I went to reach for her closed door, but before I could open it up she slipped in front of me. Her beautiful body, overflowing with curves and filled with hair I wanted to fist, planted herself between my body and the exit. I’d been played. I knew that much. I’d played right into her hand. I had allowed it to happen despite something gnawing at the back of my mind. Her back fell heavily against the door and her hand covered the doorknob, and I felt her eyes sweep over my body.
Then, her free hand reached out and traced the hem of my boxers.
Holy fuck, I felt her nail against my skin. And I felt my cock lurching to life.
