His Revenge (Power Play #1)

Chapter 16

Ethan balled his hands into fists. Behind him, he could hear her footsteps as she walked away.

A huge part of him wanted to yank her back and finish what they'd started- his need surged within him, the need to make love to Erin again and again till he could make himself forget the blistering anger her little deception had caused.

The door closed with a soft click. Erin was gone. Ethan set his jaw; he would not go after her.

Her cousin. The words cut through the haze of desire, turning him cold as he recalled the scene in the hallway of her apartment. She'd stood there, silent and watching while he made a complete and utter fool of himself...fighting over a manipulative little bitch.

Was this her way of getting back at him?

Dammit! How could one woman make him lose control every single time? Ethan raked a hand through his hair in frustration. Perhaps Marcus was right and he was letting Erin get under his skin. He had never fought over a woman in his life, had always prided himself on the ability to remain emotionally detached in his affairs with the opposite sex.

One night with Erin Gosling, bitch extraordinaire, had changed that. He hated the feeling of being so vulnerable that her actions could pierce through the layer of detachment he’d created for himself.

He'd set out to humiliate her and yet she'd so cleverly turned the tables on him.

Ethan exhaled slowly, trying to get his anger under control. He needed to think, had to purge the memory of Erin from his thoughts and get this craziness under control.

But hot damn. The woman could make love like she'd been trained. His mind flashed back to the night on his boat and he groaned aloud as his body caught fire again.

How could he get her out of his mind when just being in the same area code as Erin set his brain to sex overdrive? His damn thoughts were plagued every waking hour with the desire to see her, to touch her, to even be in the same room with the woman who’d ruined his chance at happiness all those years ago.

What the hell was happening to him?

He had to get Erin out of his system. He needed to – for the sake of his sanity.

Decision made, Ethan strode towards his bedroom. He would take a long cold shower to cool off this blasted desire and work out the rest of his frustration in the gym. Then he would carefully and methodically erase the memory of a brown-eyed witch from his thoughts.

****

Marcus raised an eyebrow in surprise as he spotted Ethan pounding away on the treadmill. He consulted his watch, wondering how long the guy had been down here. His friend rarely used the treadmill unless he was angry or obsessing about something and wanted to lose himself in his thoughts, preferring to do his running outdoors.

He was willing to bet a month’s pay Ethan’s mind was not on business at this moment.

“How long have you been at this?” Marcus asked, coming up to the front of the treadmill. Ethan looked startled at the sound of his voice and broke stride for a second, nearly tumbling off the machine.

“Dammit man!” Ethan yelled, gripping the bars to stop from falling off, setting his feet on either side of the tread, sweat pouring down his face. He shot a glare at Marcus who stood there with an apologetic grin. “A little warning next time?”

“What kind of warning?" Marcus grinned. "Maybe one of those little trumpet things to herald my arrival.”

Ethan was not amused. “I’m not in the mood for your meaningless jokes today Marcus. What do you want?”