Seduced in Secret by Shiloh Walker

Mesquite, she’d give in, then she’d cry. Then she’d grieve.
    But not yet.
    She let the sheet fall to the floor and climbed into the tub. Water sloshed against the rim as she settled back. It was hot, almost too hot, but the temperature wasn’t doing a damn thing to penetrate the icy shell around her heart.
    She was so cold. So cold…
    Heaving out a sigh, she leaned back in the tub. “Don’t think,” she told herself.
    It was how she got through that first year after Ethan had left her. It was how she’d gotten through her father’s death. Denial—it was her friend. “Don’t think.”
    Abruptly, the water cut off.
    Startled, she opened her eyes, staring at Ethan through a cloud of steam. Instinctively, she drew her knees to her chest, shielding herself from his gaze. But he was looking at her face. Only at her face. He knelt by the side of the tub and reached out, fisted a hand in her wet hair.
    “What?” she demanded, defensively when he did nothing more than stare at her and toy with her hair.
    He still didn’t say anything. He reached for her and hauled her to her knees, slanting his mouth over hers and kissing her. Water dripped from her body and hair, soaking his T-shirt, dripping down onto his jeans.
    Celeste tore her mouth away and glared at him. “Don’t do this to me, Ethan. I can’t handle this roller-coaster ride, not if you don’t know what in the hell you want.”
    “I’ve always known what I wanted,” he said. “You. Just you.”
    “Yes, as evidenced by you walking away from me. Twice.”
    “I know what I want,” he said, his voice low and rough. “But that doesn’t mean I think I can have it. Damn it, Celeste, I barely survived walking away from you.”
    “Then why did you do it?” Celeste demanded, arching her back and trying to put some distance between them.
    Ethan just tightened his hold. Gray eyes flashing, he glared at her and said, “Because it was the right thing—for you. I’d ruined your life.”
    “No.” She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. That wasn’t my life. It was a lie, one my dad made for me. That’s not the kind I wanted then, and it’s not the life I want now.”
    “What kind do you want now?”
    She gave him a bitter smile. “Haven’t you been listening? I want a life with you. I don’t know much more than that, but I want it with you.”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His eyes, dark and stormy, stared into hers, so deep, so intent, as though he was trying to see clear through to the other side of her soul. “Celeste…”
    She leaned in and kissed his throat. Her heart raced in her chest, soaring high, then crashing to her feet. “If you really walked away because you thought it was the right thing to do, then so be it. I don’t like it, but I understand…I think. And besides…remember, I didn’t exactly give you a choice. I wanted you gone—I was rather insistent on that. I needed time. Now I’ve had it. And it’s up to us to decide where to go from here. Now we both have a choice. I’ve made mine…and I chose you.” Leaning in, she pressed her lips to his ear and murmured, “Make the choice, Ethan. Choose us this time. Us. Not me. Not you. Us.”
    He didn’t say anything out loud.
    He just kissed her.
    But this time, when he kissed her, it wasn’t goodbye. It didn’t feel like an ending.
    It felt like a new beginning.