Caught by Jami Alden

Sean? Was he at that party?”
    “Sean?” Laurie let out a short laugh. “She dumped Sean on his ass after she got back from spring break.”
    Toni’s eyes met Ethan’s across the table. “Manuela said Kara had been sneaking out to meet him,” she said.
    She moved closer to the table until she was standing just to Ethan’s left. This close, he could smell the subtle scent of her perfume, fresh and floral. And underneath, a soft, sexy smell that was pure Toni. He snuck a look at her out of the corner of his eye.
    And immediately wished he hadn’t. With the early-July heat wave blazing outside, the Friedlands had the A/C cranked to eleven. Toni’s nipples rose in tight points against her T-shirt, daring him to yank down the scooped neckline and pop one into his mouth. Unbidden, his cock thickened against the fly of his pants, and he almost swore aloud. What the fuck was wrong with him, pitching a tent like some junior high kid? He never let sexual attraction get the better of him.
    But something about Toni Crawford and the sexy-librarian fantasies she inspired threatened his normally ironclad control.
    Laurie shook her head. “If she’s sneaking out, it’s not to meet Sean. I think the guy she’s seeing is older. I never met him, though.”
    “So the party was the last time you talked to her?”
    “In person. She still posts on the V-Club network, but I don’t know why she bothers.”
    Toni motioned to the laptop that sat closed next to Laurie on the kitchen table. “Would you mind pulling the site up for us?”
    Laurie sighed and looked at her watch. “My mom and I are already late.”
    Toni’s stare was cold, hard, unwavering. “Your friend is missing. Your nails can wait.”
    “She’s probably passed out somewhere,” Laurie said, but she opened her laptop and clicked on the page. Laurie gestured at the screen. “I told you she’s fine—she posted a message this morning.”
     
    Toni moved around the table until she was standing behind Laurie, who had navigated her browser to a page emblazoned with a banner that read “V-Club. Virgins of the World, Unite!”
    Kara had mentioned the social network to Toni, and Toni had even tried to visit. But to visit, you had to be invited, and Kara hadn’t offered an invitation. Toni could easily have posed as a teenager seeking support for her sexual choices, but she didn’t feel right about lurking without Kara’s knowledge.
    Now she wondered if she was just as stupid as the parents she mocked who thought it was important to give their kids “space.”
    Posted near the top of the most recent messages was a picture of Kara, in all of her blond, fresh-faced glory.
    “What does it say?” Ethan pushed out of his chair and moved to stand behind her, his tall, broad body somehow managing to move gracefully in spite of its size. Now why couldn’t she master that sort of athletic ease? She’d never quite recovered from shooting up to her current height at the ripe old age of fourteen. Though she dressed to flatter her lean frame and tried to use her height as an advantage, underneath she still felt like an awkward, clumsy teenager who could barely control her unexpectedly long limbs.
    Next to Ethan, who seemed to have perfect control over every rippling muscle in his body, she once again felt like the girl her classmates so sweetly dubbed “Stork Legs” after she’d made the mistake of wearing shorts to gym class. Joyce and Laurie didn’t help, with their tiny figures that barely topped five foot three. They both looked like little brunette dolls, perfectly sized to fit in the palms of Ethan’s big, broad hands.
    She could feel the heat of his body permeating her thin shirt as he leaned in to read over her shoulder. As subtly as possible, she tried to move forward but found herself pinned between the back of Laurie’s chair and the massive wall of Ethan’s chest. She resisted the urge to shove an elbow back under his ribs as her body temperature rose