Once a Rebel Read Free Page A

spot, drawing his gaze to the slight swell of cleavage.
    â€œEthan?”
    He pulled his gaze to her face. Her honey-blond hair fell in a loose, nighttime style, lightly combed and framing her chin. He wondered if it smelled like lemons. Her hair had been longer when they were younger, and the citrus scent used to drive him half-mad. Not that she would know the difference. He’d never mentioned it.
    â€œI wasn’t expecting you.” She tightened the belt on her robe, but her modest effort didn’t change a thing.
    He could still see the straining button.
    He cleared his throat. “I hope it’s not too late for a visit.”
    â€œNo. Of course not.” She recovered her composure. “Ryan and Lily already went to bed, but I was just getting ready to fix a cup of tea. Would you like some?”
    He rarely drank tea, but he wasn’t about to turn her down, not after showing up at her door. “Sure. That’d be nice.”
    Ethan followed her into the kitchen, where she filled a stainless steel kettle, the kind that whistled, and set it on the stove. He remembered that his mom used to boil water in one of those. As a child, he used to wonder what made it cry out.
    When Susan turned to look at him, he caught himself frowning.
    â€œAre you okay?” she asked.
    He wiped the surly expression off his face. Thinking about his mom always put him in a bad mood. “I’m fine.”
    She invited him to sit in the dining room, where she was still close enough to hear the whistle blow.
    He removed his denim jacket and placed it over the back of a chair. But he didn’t expect her to remove her robe. She still had it cinched. As a teenager, she used to show a lot of flesh, wearing skimpy outfits designed to set his gender on fire. Yet somehow, the misbehaving button on her pajama top seemed even sexier than all those cropped T-shirts and short-shorts ever did.
    â€œIs there something special you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked.
    Suddenly Ethan had the urge to bolt. He didn’t know what to say, how to explain his compulsion to see her at this hour, so he faked it the best he could. “We didn’t have much time to visit earlier, to catch up on old times.”
    She smoothed the Aztec-printed placemat in front of her. “You had an appointment.”
    â€œI’m not in a hurry now.” Which was a lie, of course. He was anxious as hell, impatient to cross the finish line, to have a zipper-blasting affair with her. He’d always been sexually obsessed with her, but things had been complicated when they were young.
    She tilted her head. “So that’s your only agenda? To catch up on old times?”
    Guilt clawed at his chest. She’d come home to be with Ryan, to help him face the prospect of death. Tearing up the sheets with a man from her past didn’t factor into the equation. “You think I have ulterior motives? Me? The guy who never even kissed you?”
    Susan appeared to be pondering his words. And worse yet, she was assessing his body language. He could tell by the way she looked at him. He wondered if she could see through him, if that was part of her job, something psychologists of her caliber were able to do.
    â€œYou didn’t come here tonight to see how much I’ve changed? To decide if I’m still a bad girl deep inside?”
    He cursed beneath his breath, wishing he’d stayed away from her. “I came here because—”
    The whistle on the kettle blew, nearly jarring him out of his skin. She hopped up, bumping the table, rattling his emotions.
    â€œI’ll go get our tea,” she said.
    He waited in the dining room. Once the kettle stopped making noise, the house fell into a slumberous hush. Nothing stirred but his heart.
    Trying to relax, Ethan looked around. The Spanish-style decor appealed to him. He liked the heavy woods and rich textures.
    Susan returned with a clay-colored tray that held