Falling for Sarah by Cate Beauman Read Free Book Online Page A

stretch. Out of patience, she walked over to Ethan as he placed cheerfully wrapped presents in his trunk. It was time for him to be on his way with the witch. She wasn’t about to spend the next half hour fending off Nicolette’s nasty looks. “Ethan, I said I’ve got this. I don’t need any help. Just take Nicolette and go.”
    Ethan stopped with a package halfway in the trunk and stared.
    “I’m serious. Please, just go. There isn’t as much as I thought,” she lied. “I can get it all in one trip.” With that, she turned and made her way up for another pile.
    Just as she was about to pick up the next stack, she was whirled around.
    “What was that?” Ethan’s gray eyes snapped with temper. “I said I would help you.”
    “Maybe I don’t want it. No matter what anyone thinks around here, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. This is my responsibility as Morgan’s Matron of Honor, so I’ve got it.”
    “What are you talking about? I never said you couldn’t take care of yourself. If it wasn’t the middle of the night, I’d let you have at it, but I’m not about to leave you alone to deal with this when there’s a fucking rapist running around the Palisades. He’s attacked three women within a ten mile radius of your house.”
    A chill ran down Sarah’s spine as she thought of how far back Hunter and Morgan’s home sat from the road, but Nicolette’s words still stung. “Then I’ll leave them in my car and take them over in the morning.”
    He snagged her arm as she turned toward the table. “Goddamn, Sarah. What’s gotten into you? You’ve had more mood swings in the last twenty-four hours than...ever.”
    “I don’t know, okay? But I want you to leave me alone. I—”
    “Ethan, darling.” Nicolette stood in the doorway. “This is taking entirely too long. Are you ready?”
    “No,” he said with heat.
    Nicolette’s full lip turned in a pout. “Fine. I will just go.”
    Ethan scrubbed his hands over his face as Nicolette stalked off. “Son of a bitch. Sarah, don’t you dare leave. Nicky,” he called as he went after his supermodel.
    Incredibly confused and on the verge of tears, Sarah picked up the packages and took them to her vehicle. She came back with her third round, watched Ethan kiss Nicolette before opening a cab door for her. Surprised by the hurt, Sarah turned, more determined than ever to have the damn gifts situated by the time Ethan came back.
    She almost succeeded. Only when she was bringing down the last stack of gifts did Ethan begin to climb the stairs. Sarah passed him without glancing in his direction.
    She got in her car, turned the ignition over and drove off before he could reach the room and figure out it had been locked. When she was home she would pull into the garage, arm the security system Hunter and Ethan had installed years ago, and soak in a long bath. She wasn’t going to emerge from the fragrant bubbles until she could think straight again.
    Sarah merged on Highway 1 and rolled down the window. The cool ocean breeze played with her hair. For the first time in several hours, her shoulders began to relax.
    Within minutes, Ethan drove up beside her, rolled down his passenger side window. Her eyes met his in the reflection of a street lamp before she looked back at the road. The deep gray of his sparked with fury and her shoulders coiled tight. She’d seen him angry before, but this was a whole different level of pissed. As Nicolette’s words played like a mantra through her mind, she lifted her chin, rolled up her window, pressed her accelerator to the floor. A smile touched her lips when she pulled ahead, leaving Ethan in her dust. Ethan Cooke could go to Hell.

Chapter 4

    E THAN’S BLOOD ALL BUT BOILED by the time he pulled into Sarah’s drive. He would’ve been there twenty minutes before if he hadn’t gotten stuck behind a caravan of tractor trailers.
    He pressed send on his cell phone—again— listening to Sarah’s line