Page 32 of Whisper of Surrender (Whisper Lake 2)

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I was at finishing school.”

Ethan stared at her and she felt her entire body heat from the inside out. Ali and Brynn might’ve been on to something. She was surprised that she wasn’t spontaneously combusting. That’s when she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that there was no way she could go through with this ruse. She wasn’t sure she’d survive a month of this kind of heat.

Ethan leaned toward her and she found herself holding her breath. Her mind was screaming; He’s going to kiss you. Right here. In front of everyone! And the scariest part of that was, she wasn’t doing anything to stop it. She even encouraged it by closing her eyes.

“Here.” She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice.

Jess looked down and saw that he was holding a can of soda out for her. She was dazed as she looked back up at him.

The left side of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “You look a little flushed. I thought you might need to cool off.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the smugness in his voice or the general air of arrogance that sparked her actions. But a brilliant idea popped into her head. Without thinking about it, she stepped in closer to him, scrunched her nose, and said, “I don’t think I’m the one that needs to cool off.”

Then she lifted her hands, pressed them to his chest, and pushed.

In all the years that she’d known Ethan, she’d never seen him taken by surprise. Even when they were younger, he just had this way about him that made her think that he knew everything that was going on. Like he was in control of everything that was going on.

But as he flailed backward, it seemed he wasn’t in control of anything. A huge splash of water rose up and garnered the attention of everyone at the party. Jess was laughing as Ethan surfaced. She wasn’t sure if he was going to be mad, or try to get even, but she was wearing her swimsuit beneath her dress so if she ended up in the pool, she would be fine. She was always prepared for an impromptu dunk in the water whenever there was a pool party.

What she wasn’t prepared for was seeing Ethan emerge from the water. He placed one arm on the side of the deep end and was up and out of the pool in a fluid, smooth motion that had every cell in her body coming to life. His dripping wet clothes were clinging to his body, and the sight made Jess weak in the knees. Literally. Her legs went limp beneath her, like a baby giraffe trying to stand for the first time, and she had to steady herself on the table beside her.

Ethan shook out his arms and ran his hands over his head and face. After scrubbing his face, his eyes locked on her and he began walking toward her like a predator stalking his prey. She braced herself for being lifted off the ground and tossed into the pool. She had it coming, after all.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, when Ethan reached her, he cupped her face with his large hands, tilted her head up, lowered his head and captured her mouth in the hottest kiss of her life. He smothered her lips with demanding mastery. Unable to do anything else, she gripped his shoulders, holding on for dear life as she parted her lips and gave him complete access to her mouth.

The moment their tongues touched, the smoldering heat flared to a roaring inferno. A needy sound came from the back of her throat as he claimed her with fiery possession. When he suddenly broke their kiss, she was dazed and breathless.

Somewhere in her consciousness, she heard the crowd cheering and another wave of panic filled her.

“Why did you do that?”

“I thought you might be having second thoughts.” A satisfied grin spread on his face.

She had been. And after that kiss, she was having third, fourth, and fifth thoughts.

***

“I still don’tunderstand why we’re doing this.” Ethan leaned over and whispered in Jess’s ear.

“Because.” A fake smile was plastered on her face as she seethed between clenched teeth, “After your little stunt, my mom wanted to know what was going on. I told her we’re dating and she insisted on this. So, thanks. I hope you’re happy.”

He was actually. He hadn’t planned on kissing Jess, it was just that he hadn’t been able to help himself. He’d told her it was because he thought she might be having second thoughts, but that wasn’t the case. The truth was, he’d almost kissed her before she’d tossed his ass in the pool. So when he’d climbed out of the water and seen the smug look on her face, he’d acted on pure instinct. But, he couldn’t say that to her and keep up his charade, so he lied.

Jess had been avoiding him all day, that much was true. Sure, she’d glanced his way a few times, but they hadn’t spoken. He had a gut feeling that she was reconsidering their deal and he figured if she was going to pull the plug, he at least wanted to get his redemption kiss first.

And damn, what a kiss it had been. He hadn’t been planning for it to get so out of control so quickly, but the moment their lips touched, all of his senses short-circuited and his brain stopped working. All he could do was feel. If he hadn’t heard the crowd start cheering, he might still be kissing her.

Once the kiss ended, everything that happened was a blur. Or maybe it just felt like that because he’d been so dazed from the kiss.

Jess left to talk to her mom at the same time Nana pulled him aside and asked what was going on. No going back now, he figured. He told her that he and Jess had been seeing each other but had wanted to keep things low-key. Her suspicious stare made him wonder if he actually sold it.

He didn’t have too long to wonder, because Brynn interrupted them and asked if she could borrow him for a second. She pulled him aside and asked him a bunch of questions about Jess, and now he was sitting beside his “girlfriend” getting ready to play against her parents in some game.

Brynn took her place at the center of the deck and got everyone’s attention. “Okay, let me introduce our players for the Not-So-Newlywed Game. First up, we have the couple of the hour, John and Bonnie, who are celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary!”

There was applause, whistles, and hoots from the crowd. Beside him, Jess clapped, and he could see the love overflowing in her eyes for her parents.

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