i think it's love | ethma

seventeen

Some days of pretending they are nothing to each other are more difficult than others.

The CEO of the corporation that owns the pipeline comes to town, and Sophia invites him over to a dinner with the family. That means everyone is in their best attire, and Emma is wholly unprepared for the sight of Ethan in a white dress shirt and crisp black pants. She's not sure why her heart rate kicks up at the sight of him all freshened up— she's seen him like this many times before, but this is the first time she has since they...well, started hooking up. And when he rolls up his sleeves to his elbows in the middle of his easy "hello" to her, she feels like she's about to combust and has to quickly turn away to hide her mortification.

Maybe she's just particularly horny today. Yes, that must be it.

"It's so nice to finally meet the Mayor," Wayne Wallace says with a wide smile as they all sit down. "And her wonderful family, of course." He looks in Emma's direction and she smiles back.

Grayson and Sophia sit down at the heads of the table; Dayton and Wallace on one long side. Emma and Ethan sit down beside each other on the side across from them, and she's taking great care not to look at Ethan. She thinks her mouth might start watering if she does.

She's wound so tight, in fact, that a few minutes into idle chit chat over dinner when his hand brushes her arm on its way to the water jug she actually jumps a little.

"Whoa," he says in an undertone, and it goes unnoticed by the adults, as engaged in their own conversation as they are. "Why are you so uptight today?"

"I'm not uptight," she practically spits at him.

He sounds a little affronted at her tone. "Then why..." His fingers are brushing against her waist under the table, and she jerks a little away from him and reaches for her water glass because she's feeling too hot right now. His voice dies away and she can almost hear the cogs turning in his head as he stares at her.

"You've got to be kidding," he says finally, and even though she's not looking at him she can hear the smug grin widening on his face. "You're turned on, right now?"

She slams her glass down. "I'm not," she hisses.

"You're so horny. Jesus." His quiet tone could almost be classified as wondrous if she couldn't hear the undercurrent of playful mocking.

'I'm not," she insists, and when he continues grinning, she snaps, "in fact, you're not attractive to me at all."

He scoffs, but before he can get a word in edgewise, the argument is broken by Wallace.

"So, Emma," the older man says, setting down his fork momentarily. Emma snaps to attention immediately, sweet smile back in place. "Your mother's told me quite a bit about you."

Emma opens her mouth to answer when she feels Ethan's hand place itself quite deliberately on her thigh under the table. She side-eyes him briefly, wondering what he's up to.

"Has she?" she asks Wallace, while shooting Ethan a hard look. He's not looking at her, though; he's staring down at his plate and munching on a piece of steak as if he doesn't have a care in the world.

"I have," Sophia says, but Emma barely hears what she says next because suddenly the hand slips further, over her leg and to the inner thigh. She suddenly feels very warm. Unconsciously (and to her immediate horror), she shifts her body closer to his hand, scooting up in her chair until his large palm is flat on her center overtop her panties.

She desperately tries to scoot back, but his hand so gently follows and curls between her legs. She feels heat rising to her cheeks when she feels one of his fingers slip past the thin fabric.