Men of Courage. Jill Shalvis

and female and utterly Rosie.

      He breathed hard, walking faster ’round her kitchen, the three stooges looking on. He couldn’t banish the images of Rosie seducing him, touching him, kissing him…

      “That’s it.” Ethan grabbed up their bowls and put them in the sink. “Go home. Go away. Just go.”

      Harris made no effort to hide his laughter. Buck had to quickly grab for a napkin as Ethan shoved him toward the doorway.

      Riley hung back, grinning like a fool. “One thing, Ethan.”

      “What?” Ethan could barely breathe and seriously doubted he could manage a chat with Riley.

      Somber now, Riley crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Ethan. “Don’t do anything to hurt her. Remember that she is my friend and I care about her.”

      Ethan struggled for control. More than anything he wanted to knock Riley on his ass. How dare he act territorial now when seconds before he’d been all but throwing Rosie at him? He looked at Harris and Buck and they nodded, too, equally protective, equally serious about it.

      Riley wasn’t done. “She’s a real nice woman, Ethan, with a huge heart. Don’t use what her brother did against her. She had no part in that.”

      “Goddamn it,” Ethan exploded, infuriated that Riley thought such a warning was necessary. He would never hurt Rosie and Riley should have damn well known it. “How dare you bring that up?”

      Rosie stepped around the corner, the disconnected phone held loosely in her hand. She frowned in worry, her gaze darting back and forth between the men. “Bring what up? What’s going on?”

      Refusing to back down, Riley continued to watch Ethan. Harris and Buck moved to flank Rosie—as if she needed protection.

      From him.

      “Leave,” Ethan said to all three of them. “Or I will.”

      Rosie bit her bottom lip. “Ethan? What’s going on?”

      Riley stepped away from Ethan. His expression changed when he tugged Rosie up against his chest for a long hug. “Just guy stuff. Nothing important.”

      “Don’t give me that.” She shoved back, her eyes filled with annoyance. “You guys are—”

      “Drop it, Rosie.” Ethan waited, his temper growing more fractured by the second as each of them took a turn embracing Rosie. Harris even sighed. Buck touched her cheek with poignant regret.

      You’d think she was a virgin they’d decided to sacrifice to some evil spirit! Hell, he cared about Rosie, too, always had. Even during his engagement, she’d remained one of his closest friends. The night his fiancée had jilted him, it was Rosie he’d gone to because he’d been too shamed to face anyone else. He could talk with her, just be with her, easier than he could anyone.

      Looking back on it now, he realized there was significance in their complete and total trust of one another. There’d always been a special bond between him and Rosie. She liked all of them, hung with all of them, but only he shared that extra closeness with her.

      He was the only one she wanted in the sack.

      Oh, hell.

      Ethan strode to the door and jerked it open. “Enough, all ready. Violins are going to start playing if you guys don’t stop being so melodramatic.”

      As they filed past Ethan, they all grinned and winked and bobbed their eyebrows suggestively. Riley clutched his heart and pretended to swoon. Now these were the guys he knew and loved. He even laughed a little at their antics. “Idiots.”

      He closed the door behind them, leaned back on it and surveyed Rosie with new eyes—and undiluted male interest.

      She looked worried. “Uh…what’s going on?”

      Ethan pushed away from the door. Just thinking about getting her into bed now, about doing everything he hadn’t done last night, made him hot. Holding her gaze, his hunger growing, he murmured, “God, I’ve been dense.”

      She took a step back, her eyes wide, locked on his. “Yeah, so what’s new?”

      Her sarcasm couldn’t quite hide her nervousness. Ethan felt like a superior male, ready to gentle the little woman, ready to give her what she evidently wanted, what he now knew he wanted.

      “No more games, Rosie.”

      Her chest rose and fell with deep breaths and she planted her feet, done with backing up. “Okay.”

      “Do you want me?”

      She blinked hard, twice. “You mean…sexually?”

      Just hearing her say it nearly tipped him over the edge. His voice turned husky. His chest constricted. “Yeah.”

      Silky brown hair shimmered around her shoulders with her nod. “I have for a long time now.”

      “Is that right?” Ethan didn’t want to know how long—it might kill him. He stopped two inches from her. “Nothing happened last night, did it?”

      “No.”

      “Not even a kiss?” He wanted it confirmed that if he’d kissed her, she’d damn well know it.

      “No.” She stared down at her feet. “Your redhead accidentally dumped her drink on me, so I had to leave. You were too drunk to drive and so you asked me to call you a cab.” She looked up, determination darkening her gaze. “I decided to take you home myself to be sure you made it safely, and well…I didn’t want to leave.”

      “I see.”

      She rushed to add, “I did refrain from taking your pants off you.” She made it sound like a huge concession on her part.

      Ethan smiled. “I appreciate that.”

      “You do?” She started wringing her hands and frowning at him in confusion.

      “Oh, yeah.” Her uncertainty in the face of the bizarre circumstance was rather endearing, Ethan decided. It was rare indeed to see Rosie suffer such a human emotion as self-consciousness. “I damn well want to be sober when I lie down with you, so I can remember every little detail.”

      Her eyes widened like saucers. “I was going to seduce you,” she blurted.

      “What?”

      She nodded hard. “I was. But it’s your fault.”

      “My fault you were going to seduce me?” Following Rosie’s train of thought proved impossible, especially when he was already so horny.

      “Yes. You were being so stubborn about it, refusing to see me as a female and—”

      “I’ve always known you were a female, Rosie.” He wouldn’t lie to either of them. “Not once did I ever confuse you with Riley or Harris or, God forbid, Buck.”

      Her mouth fell open, then snapped shut. “Really?”

      She sounded so hopeful, Ethan’s heart turned over in his chest. He’d always considered Rosie a very special friend. Now he realized she was very special—in all ways. Especially as a woman. “Hell, yeah.” Then he scowled. “So have the other guys.”

      “What other guys?”

      The way she asked that made his worries disappear. She wasn’t aware of their interest. And she’d made it clear she wanted him. It was enough. “Never mind.”

      “But…”

      “Shh.” He took hold of her shoulders and gently caressed her, hoping to calm her and himself. She felt so soft, so warm. He’d touched her shoulders before, for crying out loud, but this was the first time he’d done so with sexual intent. It was different. How he felt was different.

      Rosie deserved the best he could bring to her, and that meant not jumping her bones and dragging her down