Her loins wanted Ethan.
“Am I late?”
She glanced up as Liam walked in. “Right on time. Start stripping.”
“I love a woman who knows what she wants. You do realize Ethan is going to kick my ass later, right?” His easy smile suggested he didn’t much care.
She shrugged. She hurt. “I’m sorry about your ass, but it was his choice.”
Liam snorted and yanked off his shirt.
Rue studied him for a minute, trying to figure out the best angle. The fact that she wasn’t sure the Chase brothers had any bad angles did nothing to help her decision. All four men had a classic California surfer vibe going on—perhaps Liam more than the others, as his hair was more platinum with fewer of the dark undertones his brothers had—and she longed to capture him on the beach, but she didn’t dare risk any of the animals getting frightened and bolting, so she’d arranged all of the images inside, mostly against a white background. The artfully draped backdrop drew an instant parallel to bedding. It was almost perfect.
She just needed a different brother and an actual bed. That would be great. But that wasn’t happening.
To Liam, she said, “You’re a lifesaver.”
“I’m sure you could have found someone to do this,” he said dryly. “Single man becoming the object of sexual desire for millions of women? Not a hard sell.”
“Thousands,” she corrected with a smile.
He froze. “Damn. Really?”
She grinned, even though her heart wasn’t really in it. It wasn’t Liam’s fault his brother was a jerk. “Really. The preorders are in the thousands. I’m going to need to mess up your hair.”
His green eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
She rolled her eyes. “You can’t seriously be worried about your hair.”
“I just didn’t realize I’d be manhandled,” he said, but then he ducked his head so she could reach him without standing on a bucket.
“Get the hell out of here,” said an unexpected voice from behind them, “and you won’t be.”
Ethan.
She was afraid to turn around, because if she’d only imagined him, she’d fall apart. As it was, she was barely holding it together. Her life had become a countdown to liftoff, because only then did she think she had a prayer of putting him behind her.
“Seriously,” Ethan said. “Beat it.”
Liam glared, though humor glinted in his eyes. “You want me to give up thousands of single women? Couldn’t you have come to your senses thirty minutes from now?”
Rue turned and drank in the sight of Ethan. Her heart spun and sputtered and dammit, he was not going to walk back into her life like this. Not after the way he’d walked out of it, but some questions just begged an answer. “You came to your senses?” To say she was skeptical was an understatement.
“If my brother thinks I’m going to stand by while you mess up his hair,” Ethan said, “then I think he’s the one who needs to come to his senses.”
“Caveman Ethan is back,” she murmured. But that didn’t mean he was welcome there.
“Caveman Ethan?” Liam burst into laughter.
Ethan glared. “Repeat that and die.”
Liam shot Rue a look. “This is what women want?”
“It’s what I want,” she murmured. And then she could have kicked herself a thousand times. Or Ethan once, assuming it was a solid hit.
“And on that note,” Liam said, “I’m outta here. And not a moment too soon, you asshole. If I’d ended up in that calendar, I would have never heard the end of it.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Rue protested. “You can’t chase off my model.”
“I’m not,” Ethan said. “If the invitation still stands, I’m in.”
“You are?” She fumed, and she wanted him and she loved him, but dammit, she still wanted to kick him. “Because I’m pretty sure you told me you were just another one of my risks, and it was just too bad it hadn’t worked out for me.”
He eyed her clenched fists. “Do I need a cup for the rest of this conversation?”
“That would be one of your better ideas.”