Serendipity Read Free

only imagine what she’d be like during sex. He’d wondered if she’d scream when he pounded into her and made her come. Hell, he’d been so hard for her on the ride, he’d barely been able to see straight to drive. He’d tried to ease the ache she’d caused. And of course she’d turned him down for that .
    He couldn’t deny she affected him still.
    He turned toward the car before she could notice. “Come on and I’ll drive you home.”
    â€œOne question first.”
    He gritted his teeth and glanced over his shoulder. “What?”
    â€œDo you even remember my name? Or am I still just that spoiled princess to you?”
    Oh, he remembered. He just liked “princess” better. But from the determined look on her face, his answer mattered.
    As if he’d forget. He’d taken a philosophy class his senior year in high school. The perky cheerleader had also been in that class, one of the few sophomores there. They’d been given an assignment to explore the meaning behind their names. For once, he hadn’t cut class and he’d been there the day she’d had to discuss hers. Her name had everything to do with unquestioning belief and complete trust. Something that no one had ever had in him. Ironically, he couldn’t remember what the hell his name meant, but he recalled hers.
    â€œWell?” She tapped her foot impatiently.
    He shook his head and let out a groan. “Get in the car . . . Faith.”
    Faith Harrington bit down on the inside of her cheek. So Ethan remembered her name. Damn it. She had been looking for an excuse not to take the ride. Any reason to avoid being in an enclosed space with a man who was too sexy for words. If his bad-boy persona had awed her as a teen, this new-and-improved adult version—too long jet black hair and all—took her breath away. Not that she’d let him know. Faith was finished letting any man have the upper hand.
    But she’d take the ride. Her feet ached in her heels and were probably swollen from her unexpected walk. She’d avoided her childhood home since her return to town a few weeks ago, but she’d been drawn back today. For what, she didn’t know. Maybe she thought she’d try to see how she’d missed the signs that the father she’d adored had been another person entirely? A Bernie Madoff in disguise. He’d bankrupted the rich and the working class alike.
    He’d duped everyone he came into contact with. Including his daughter.
    His betrayal had ripped a hole in Faith’s heart the size of New York State—then her ex-husband had driven a Mack truck right through it, destroying everything that was left. She was free now and had been for the last six months, from her father whom she’d disowned and from Carter Moreland whom she’d divorced. She wanted nothing to do with either one. Instead, she’d returned home to figure out who in the world Faith Harrington really was.
    She blinked into the afternoon sun. Ethan still waited, reminding her that apparently she was a woman who found the onetime rebel an extremely sexy, desirable man.
    Uh-oh.
    She lifted her chin a notch and strode past him, heading for the car. He beat her there, opening the passenger door for her to get inside. She made the mistake of glancing into his heated gaze, disarmed by the banked desire she saw there, and blinked in shock.
    â€œDon’t look so surprised,” he said, misunderstanding her reaction. “I picked up some manners since you saw me last.”
    She couldn’t help but smile. “As I recall you had good manners back then too.” When he’d taken her home, he’d helped her off the back of the bike, ignoring her mother’s disdainful glare.
    Ethan shook his head. “I’m sure my mother would have been happy to hear that,” he said wryly.
    But she caught the hint of sadness in his tone and she couldn’t let the