The Blank Canvas (Apartment #2)

by Amanda Black

  “I more than want you,” she gasped, feeling him sliding against her more fully. “I need you. I need you more than oxygen. I need you inside of me now.”

  With that, he gripped her hips and lifted her legs around him, slipping inside her body.

  They both cried out at the contact, words lost to them. He began to slowly move in and out of her, wrapping her legs around him tightly between his thrusts. Lily held him to her for dear life, loving the feel of his muscles rippling under her hands as he moved.

  They were lost in each other for what felt like an eternity, and yet it didn’t last long enough before they were both careening into the abyss. Lily felt herself shattering into a million pieces around him, and through her euphoria she heard him groan his release, pumping his seed inside her as he thrust his hips rapidly.

  They stood there for a moment after he slowly released her, gasping for air, staring into each other’s eyes as the now-cold water rained down around them.

  “I need you, too,” he panted. “Always.” He kissed her roughly, sucking at the water dripping from her lips. “I never want to face a life without you again.”

  “Never again, Ethan,” she whispered against his lips. Reaching up to brush the soaking hair out of his eyes, she kissed him tenderly before pulling back to look deeply into pools of jade framed by long, wet lashes. “We’ll never be apart again.”

  EPILOGUE

  18 Months Later

  “‘… And as the familiar strains of their waltz began, Evan pulled Lacey onto the floor for their first dance together as man and wife. He knew then, as he twirled her around the room before the eyes of God and his entire family, that their heated embrace on that long night so many months ago hadn’t been their last dance after all. It was only the first of many.’ The end.”

  Maggie Foster looked up at the large crowd who had gathered in the bookstore in Chicago and smiled her most dazzling smile. “Thank you so much for coming to my reading of excerpts from my new release, Our First Dance. Before I get to the signing, does anyone have any questions?”

  A large sea of hands flew up in the air, all fans wanting the chance to speak to their favorite romance author. However, in the back of the room, standing against a shelf of books with their arms crossed, were two people in a mild state of shock. Ethan Foster had a large scowl on his face, and his new wife Lily was shaking her head in disbelief, her mouth hanging wide open.

  “Did you know?” he whispered loudly to her, trying to be heard over the many fans laughing excitedly over something Maggie had said in reply to a question.

  “Of course not!” she gasped. “Don’t you think I would have said something? I’ve been asking her for months if I could read her manuscript, and she kept telling me it wasn’t ready yet.”

  “Well, I think it’s safe to say that’s bullshit, since it has to have been with the publisher for months. Looks like I’m going to have to do some ass-kicking.”

  “Now, now,” she patted his arm, trying to make him calm down. “It’s not like it was exactly the same. She just sort of took how we met… and a few other details here and there.”

  “A few?”

  “Yes, only a few. They were an important few, but still only a few. Besides, how did you not know anything about this? She used your waltz painting as the cover!”

  “She asked me after she bought it if she could use it for her next cover. I never told you because I thought it would be a nice surprise, but I had no idea about all of this!”

  “Well, that makes two of us, then,” Lily sighed.

  “What a welcome home,” he grumbled.

  The newlyweds had recently taken an extended honeymoon to New Zealand, renting out a flat in Wellington for a month. Ethan even secretly worked in a stopover in Australia as a surprise to his new bride. He had managed to complete a few new paintings (one in particular was headed to his private collection), and Lily had managed to do the sightseeing she had always dreamed of with her husband by her side.

  They hadn’t even returned to their new home in Aledo yet, having flown straight into Chicago so that they could make it in time for Maggie’s reading. Despite buying a house, they hadn’t given up the tiny apartment where their relationship first began. They kept it for Ethan to use as a studio, at least until he finally got around to renovating the empty space above their new garage. Neither one of them could bear to part with it just yet.

  Now, all of their bags were sitting unpacked in their hotel room. They had been late, and, not wanting to disrupt the reading, they hid in the back until they had a chance to move closer.

  “I’m sorry, but that’s going to have to be the last question for now,” Maggie said to the many people with their hands still in the air. “I’m going to take a short break before the signing so that I can feed my little one before my boobs explode,” she laughed, gesturing to Eric, who stood behind her next to Emma and Brandon, bouncing a tiny girl in his arms with huge raven curls and even huger dimples. The crowd laughed at her candor and applauded loudly as she left the podium.

  “That’s our cue,” Ethan said, watching as Maggie took the baby from Eric and disappeared into a private break room. He grabbed Lily’s hand, weaving through the large crowd of women forming a line at the side of the store.

  Emma was the first to see them approaching. “Oh my God!” she yelled, running over to hug them both. “I was worried that you didn’t make it back in time!”

  “It was quite a rush to get here,” Lily sighed.

  “Well, at least you made it,” Emma said with a smile. “I didn’t even see you!”

  “We were just hiding back there.” Ethan pointed towards the wall of books. His expression turned grim. “But we did make it in time for most of the reading.”

  “Yeah… uh, about that,” she blushed. “I swear I didn’t know until it had already been sent to the publisher.”

  “Don’t you think she should have asked us, Emma?” Ethan frowned. “Or at least told us?”

  “Dude, you’re here five minutes and you’re already whining?” Eric interrupted, standing on their other side next to Brandon.

  “Whining? Eric, that’s our life. Our private life. Don’t you think we should have been warned? Don’t you think she should have asked someone?”

  “She did ask someone,” he answered, his tone becoming serious. “She asked me.”

  “What do you mean?” Ethan was thrown off by Eric’s protective stance.

  “She told me a long time ago that she thought how you two met was the stuff of romantic legends. She wanted so badly to use that as a beginning to one of her stories, but she was afraid if she asked, you would shoot it down before even hearing her out. Now, I know that you’re shocked right now, but if you take the time to read it over, you will see that there are really not that many similarities. I told her if she felt like she had to write it, then to go ahead and do it and stop worrying what you might think.” He sighed, scratching his hands through his short hair in a frustrated gesture. “It’s some of the best writing she’s ever done, and you two were her inspiration. Be proud of that.”

  “But—but what about—” Ethan was floundering, the wind taken out of his sails.

  “Dude, have you even opened the book yet?”

  “Well… no. We just got here.”

  “Here,” he huffed, grabbing a copy off the large display next to him and thrusting it at Ethan’s chest. “Just do me a favor and look in the damn thing before you jump her ass, okay? Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on my wife and daughter. Nice to see you again, Lily.” He smiled and nodded at her curtly before stomping off to the break room.

  “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry,” Lily whispered.

  “He’s not angry,” Ethan explained, opening up the book. “He’s just standing up for her. Believe me, I’ve seen him angry.” He looked down at the opening page, his brow rising in surprise. “Well… shit.”

  “What?” Lily scooted closer, looking a
t the page over his shoulder.

  To Lily, the best nurse and friend a girl could ask for. And Ethan, the very best brother

  “Oh my God!” she gasped, tears instantly springing to her eyes.

  Ethan sighed next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Alright, I’m an asshole. Let’s go find her.”

  They walked toward the break room, only to see Maggie and Eric making their way back out. As soon as Maggie saw them coming towards her, a worried look crept over her face and her cheeks flamed bright red.

  “Here babe, would you take her for a sec?” she whispered, handing over the baby. Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, she turned to face the two people she had been dreading talking to. “Okay, guys. Let’s have it. How bad do you hate me right now?”

  Lily couldn’t even speak; she simply grabbed her and gave her the fiercest hug imaginable. “I could never hate you!” she finally sobbed.

  Maggie looked over Lily’s shoulder in question at Ethan and he merely shrugged. “She just read your dedication.”

  “Ah. So you’re not mad?” she asked, still speaking over the sobbing Lily.

  “I was pissed, I’ll admit it. But after thinking about it and reading what you wrote, I’m also very flattered. Thank you.” He looked behind Maggie to where Eric was standing, a bright smile on his face once again.

  “Wow, really?” she said in disbelief.

  “Really.”

  “God, I might just cry,” she sighed before redirecting her attention to Lily. “Okay, little miss weepy, tell me about New Zealand! Was it great? Did you get a lot of pictures? Did you meet Jemaine Clement?”

  Lily laughed before answering, “Let me see… yes… yes… and I wish! But enough about us for now, we have years to bore you with pictures of our honeymoon. Give me that baby!” She ran to Eric, eagerly pulling the little one from his arms. “Oh, little Eden, Aunt Lily missed you so much!” She began showering her little cheeks with kisses, smiling when the baby chortled loudly.

  “Looks like she missed you, too,” Maggie smiled. They both watched as Eden looked between them and suddenly held her hands out, fussing until Ethan moved closer. “Oh jeez, she still has her Uncle Ethan crush.” Maggie rolled her eyes, watching as Ethan scooped her up. “And here I’d hoped that a month away from you would do the trick.”

  “Never!” he laughed. “Not my little princess. My goodness you’ve gotten big!”

  “So how have you been feeling?” Lily asked Maggie, already in nurse mode again.

  “Oh, stop worrying about me, I’m fine. Eden is almost eight months old now, and I’m clearly in the pink.”

  When Maggie had been seven months into her pregnancy she had begun lightly spotting again, and Dr. Wilde had put her on immediate bed rest until her due date. Knowing that she and Lily were practically family, Natalie arranged for Lily to drop her hours down to part time so Maggie could hire her as her own private nurse. Between Lily and Barbara, they had her covered around the clock at the house in Aledo. Lily checked her blood pressure and her vitals, and basically kept her from wanting to pull her hair out from boredom.

  It had been a difficult delivery, leading to an emergency C-section that took a long time to heal. Because of that, Lily had stayed on even longer to help her take care of baby Eden. When it came time for her to go back to work and for Maggie to return to Chicago, they had both been moved to tears.

  “How soon are you guys all coming back to Aledo?” Lily asked, always eager to spend time with the happy family.

  “Soon, actually. Richard and Barbara’s anniversary is coming up. I thought we’d make a trip out of it and stay a few days.”

  “Excellent!”

  “Now, enough about me. Look at your husband wooing my daughter.” They watched as Ethan bounced Eden playfully in the air, blowing raspberries on her cheeks and tickling her sides. “Good lord, she’s going to be a sucker for the bad boys, isn’t she?”

  “Like mother, like daughter,” Lily laughed.

  “Damn. Got me there.”

  “What are you two talking about over here?” Ethan asked, moving closer to hear them better, the baby nestled into his side.

  “Oh nothing,” Maggie smirked, knowing just how to get under his skin. “I was just appreciating how good you look holding a baby. Doesn’t he, Lily? He’s such a natural.”

  “Definitely,” she giggled.

  He blanched, looking back and forth between them. “Dammit Maggie, the ink on our marriage license is barely dry. Don’t go filling her head with that stuff yet.”

  “I don’t know… Eden is going to need a cousin or two to play with before long.”

  “Then why don’t you go throw your baby vibes over there,” he huffed, pointing towards where Emma and Brandon stood talking quietly.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I will. Why do you think I said a cousin or two?” At Ethan’s obvious squirming, she couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. “Oh, for God’s sake, stop getting your panties in a twist! I’m only fucking with you.”

  “Thank God,” he sighed, chuckling nervously. He made his way next to Lily, pulling her into his side possessively. They both lost track of the conversation after that, becoming engrossed with keeping baby Eden entertained.

  “Although…” Maggie paused, whispering to herself as she watched the two of them play with her daughter. “I am getting some wonderful ideas for a sequel.”

  About the Author

  Amanda Black was born and raised in the Midwest, where she still lives with her husband and spoiled-rotten dogs. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art before deciding that she actually needed to pay some bills, which is when she took a position as an ophthalmic technician. For the past few years she’s been a closet romance writer in her spare time and would love nothing more than to make it a full-time career. When she’s not writing her next steamy love scene, her interests include reading, sketching, and annihilating her friends and family in movie trivia.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Full Fathom Five Digital is an imprint of Full Fathom Five

  The Apartment

  Copyright © 2014 by Amanda Black

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this text may be used or reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without written permission from the publisher.

  For information visit Full Fathom Five Digital, a division of Full Fathom Five LLC, at

  www.fullfathomfive.com

  Cover design by Lisa Waldo

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-63370-011-6

  First Edition

  The author published an earlier, not-for-profit, serialized version of this story online.

  Stay tuned for more from Amanda Black!

  The complete story of Ethan and Lily, plus a new glimpse into their future…

  Coming December 3rd, 2014.