by Wendy Louise
“Thanks,” Grayson and I say together.
“So man, how are you holding up?” Grayson asks.
“I’m okay,” Ethan says, placing his head back on the sofa and running his hands down his face. “I’m terrified of what will happen when she is fully awake, but I’m trying not to focus on that. The doctor says we have to take it a day at a time.”
“Does your mom know what happened?” Grayson asks.
Ethan lifts his head. “Yes, they called her too. She hasn’t even been in there to see her yet, let alone called me to see how I’m doing. I’ve no idea where she is. I’m sure she’ll make an appearance at the hospital at some stage though, and it won’t be quiet.” Ethan’s frustration and bitterness is palpable, the whole room feels like it dropped in temperature at the mention of his mother.
Grayson rises from the sofa, “Guys I’m going to leave you both to it.”
“Don’t you want to stay and have some pizza with us?”
“No, I got places to be. Call me when you get word on Nanny okay?”
“Sure.” Ethan stands and pulls Grayson in for a hug. “Thanks Man.”
“I’m always here if you need me E.”
Grayson bends and gives me a squeeze. “Look after him,” he whispers in to my ear.
I look up and nod, giving him a smile. He’s such a sweetheart and a really good friend to Ethan. I like him more and more every time I’m with him.
“Later guys,” he says.
Grayson walks himself out and Ethan sits back down on the sofa, pulling me on to his lap. He says nothing, but buries his face in the crook of my neck, breathing deeply. I hold him as tight as I can; trying to convey to him that he is not alone in this. We sit like that for a long time, just giving and taking comfort from one another. Too tired to move.
He eventually pulls back and kisses me gently on the lips.
There is more emotion in that one kiss, than any of the hot furious kisses we’ve shared in the past. “Thank you for being with me. I don’t think I would have gotten through this without you and Gray.”
“I told you that there was nowhere else I wanted to be Ethan. You’re not going through this alone.”
He moves towards me again and captures my mouth with his. He kisses me sweetly and slowly, but there is an underlying desperation there this time. His lips start to move more firmly against mine, kissing me as if he has been starving for a taste. His tongue enters my mouth and swirls with mine, dancing and caressing. My insides are churning and my heart feels like it has left my chest and crashed in to his.
I can’t get enough of him.
I twirl my fingers through his hair, pulling slightly, which elicits a low groan out of Ethan, unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It ignites my blood. He moves me so I’m straddling him, legs either side of his. I can feel his arousal beneath me, and it only serves to heighten mine to a place that I’ve never been before.
God, I want him.
Ethan’s hands are wandering over every inch of my body, arms, legs, hips, face, hair; it’s like he can’t get enough and wants to touch every part of me at once. I love it.
I love his desperation for me.
I love that I can affect him like this.
He moves to lie us both down on the sofa, when there is a knock on the door.
“Damn,” he says, as he lowers his forehead to mine. He stares in to my eyes, gorgeous blue, to brown. “That’ll be the food.”
He rises to grab the door leaving me more turned on than I ever have been. I push my thighs together trying to ease the ache that now lingers there, and run my hands through my hair, trying to tame it.
An older woman enters the room carrying a tray. She’s dressed in a grey dress with a pristine white apron over the skirt. He greying hair is pulled back in to a bun and she has the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Ava this is our housekeeper Rosa. Rosa this is Ava.”
I move forward and shake Rosa’s hand after she has deposited the tray on to the coffee table. “Nice to meet you Rosa.”
She nods back to me in acknowledgement and turns to leave the room.
“Thanks Rosa,” Ethan calls after her.
The pizza looks amazing; Old style Italian with a rustic flair, covered in fresh tomatoes and expensive looking cheese.
Ethan moves to pour us both a drink and turns to me, handing me a glass of beer. His fingers touch mine as I take the glass from him and electricity bolts up my arm and back to the spot between my thighs that I’m trying desperately to control.
Dammit!
He looks straight in to my eyes like he can see exactly what his touch is doing to me. “We’ll pick up where we left off as soon as we’ve had something to eat,” he smiles wickedly.
Oh, yes please!
“Will you stay here with me tonight? I’d be happy just to have you in my arms all night, but we can see how it plays out. Right now I don’t want you out of my sight.”
How can I resist that?
“I’d love to,” I answer, smiling at his infectious grin.
A thrill runs through my body from my toes to my core. It’s like a lightning bolt running a current around my nervous system. I want him so badly that I can’t sit still. How am I supposed to sit here and eat pizza with him, when all I want to do is continue what we started?
He breaks my fantasy, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” I state unequivocally.
“Will you be honest with me?”
“I will only ever be honest with you – always.” I say, wondering where he is going with this.
“Will you tell me about Cole? About your relationship.”
Oh God. I don’t want to be honest with Ethan about this. I don’t want to open that can of worms at all.
“Why do you want to know about that?” I ask him.
He takes a swig of his beer and finishes chewing his pizza. “I just feel like I need to know.”
I take a deep breath and put my pizza down on to the plate in front of me. “Cole and I were together for about two years. He was my first serious boyfriend, although I’ve had others that didn’t last as long. We did everything together.”
“How did you know that you loved him?” Ethan asks.
“I can’t explain it, I just knew. It’s hard to put in to words. Although, as I think I’ve told you before, I’m not sure that I was completely in love with Cole. I loved him, but I always knew on some unconscious level that he and I were not meant to be forever. He wasn’t my happily ever after if there is such a thing.”
“How did you find out that he was cheating on you?”
I grimace remembering that morning. “I went to his house one Saturday morning to surprise him with breakfast, and I found him already sitting at the table with a blonde. They were hand in hand, and in their pyjamas, so it wasn’t hard to put it all together.” I take a deep breath, I hate talking about this. The old wounds somehow never quite close.
“He begged me not to leave, told me it was a one-off and that he was horribly drunk when it happened. I just couldn’t get the sight of the two of them sitting at that breakfast table out of my head. It haunted me.”
Ethan puts down his pizza and takes my hand. Searching my eyes he says, “I’ll never do that to you Ava. I would never cheat on you. Your heart is safe in my hands.”
I take a deep shuddering breath, upset with myself for letting everything with Cole still affect me.
“I broke things off with Cole that morning. As it turns out, I then found out from a friend that he had cheated on me previously with another girl. It seems it wasn’t a one-off situation after all. I think that hurt me more than anything. Knowing that he had been doing that behind my back and not just on one occasion, it killed my spirit. I was pretty messed up for a while there. Trust is a very big thing in a relationship for me, no trust – no relationship.”
Ethan nods his acceptance. “You can trust me Ava. I know that I have a reputation that precedes me, and t
hat you probably think I’m all words and no action; but let me tell you, until I met you I couldn’t have cared less who I was with. It was just one meaningless encounter after another.” I see him cringe when he says that. “I regret being like that, but I now know that there is more out there for me. You’ve shown me that. You’ve made me realise that I want more, and I want that with you. I’ve never felt this before Ava. I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you. After all that we’ve been through today I realise that I love you and I don’t want another day to go by without telling you. Today has shown me that life takes its own path and we need to live it fully - every day, every moment. I love you, unconditionally.”
My heart stops beating.
It slams against my ribs and crashes to my stomach.
I take a deep breath, trying to get it to start beating in a regular rhythm again.
The small part of my heart that I was holding back, keeping in reserve, to try and protect myself, just gave way and made its way to Ethan.
He has my heart.
My whole heart.
Love and Other Things
I cup Ethan’s cheek with my hand and he leans in to it, closing his eyes with my touch.
“I love you too. I wasn’t looking for you but you found me, and I’m so happy that you did. I want to live that life with you, loving you unconditionally and showing you how much I adore you.”
I feel the tears as they start to prick my eyes and track down my face. Ethan cups his hands on either side of my jaw and pulls me to him. He swipes the tears away with his thumbs and presses light kisses along the trails until they disappear.
“I want you….” he says breathlessly, as his fingers trace across my skin.
“I’m yours,” I reply breathlessly as his fingers skate over my skin.
He places his mouth on to mine and starts to move his glorious lips. My legs turn to jelly, and the butterflies in my stomach take flight. I feel like I may faint if he lets go of me. He picks me up, cradling me as he carries me towards his massive bed.
He lies me down on the centre of the bed and climbs on over me. Hovering above me, he looks in to my eyes. “I love you Ava,” he says.
“I love you too Ethan, so much.”
He groans and crashes his mouth on to mine. Gone are the sweet adoring kisses that he was giving me a moment ago. These are ravenous, desperate, like he can’t get to me quickly enough. His lack of restraint is so…..hot. Our hands are pulling and tugging, trying to claw our way to each other, like we are trying to climb inside of one another.
He pulls back and removes his t-shirt, revealing that glorious chest and stomach. Every muscle is defined. His skin lightly tanned from our time in Hawaii. He is stunning. I run my fingers over his abs, feeling every delightful ridge.
He gives me a saucy smile and starts to undo the buttons on my blouse, slowly, one at a time. He traces his finger from the hollow in my throat, down between my breasts to my belly button, and then skims his palm across my stomach to my hip, gripping tightly. He leaves a trail of fire that burrows deep in to my core. My blouse is discarded and dropped to the floor. We are now skin on skin aside from my white lace bra.
Ethan’s eyes take in every inch of me. They are searing hot and sharp. He runs his fingers across the lace of my bra and tucks one inside, teasing me and setting my body on fire. My head drops back and my eyes flutter closed, the sensations are incredible.
“Oh God… Ethan...” I moan.
I tangle my fingers in to his hair like I always do, pulling and directing him as his lips trail across every inch of my upper body.
He captures my mouth again and we are back to ravenous, hungry kisses. He makes quick work of my bra and drops his head to circle his tongue around my nipple. It sends a jolt of electricity down through my body, igniting every inch of me. Suddenly I need him; I want every part of him.
I want him in me.
“God, you are so beautiful,” he says, kissing a trail from my breast to my belly button.
My fingers move to the low-slung waist band of his jeans and start to undo the button fly. I place my hand inside and run my fingers over his length. He groans and plunges his tongue further in to my mouth.
“Commando hey?” I smile up at him.
He smiles back. “Easier access……You feel so good.”
“So do you,” I reply breathlessly.
Before I know it, he’s lowering my jeans and leaves me in my white lace panties. He takes me in, running his eyes over every part of my body before his hand moves. His fingers skimming over my sensitive skin causes my back to arch up off the mattress. My hips seek his, searching for relief.
The desire on his face is breathtaking, and I know that he is seeing the same thing when he looks at me. My face feels flushed, my breathing is erratic and if he doesn’t take me soon, I think I may combust.
“We don’t have to take this any further if you don’t want to.” As those words leave his mouth, he plunges a finger in to my warmth, betraying the sentiment.
“God Ethan, are you kidding me? Make love to me please.”
He laughs at my strangled tone. “My pleasure,” he says smiling down at me.
He lowers his mouth to mine and place his weight on to my body. I can feel every delicious part of him against me. It is almost too much.
“Ava…” he moans, as he runs his hand from my calf and up the inside of my thigh. I open my legs to accommodate him, and I can feel his arousal against me, right where I need him. I rub against him, seeking relief and eliciting a groan from him that shows me how close he is to losing it.
He hooks his fingers in to my panties and lowers them down. He is already glorious and nude and all mine. His body is every bit as amazing as I thought it would be.
He is a god.
My god.
Mine.
My hands run up his back, over the muscles of his shoulders, and then back down again until I reach his tight ass. I run my nails over his toned flesh and he whimpers.
He slowly strokes his long fingers between my legs over my sensitive flesh again and I almost explode on the spot. He slowly places one finger and then two inside of me again, stroking and curling them in a rhythmic pace. My breath falters and I can’t keep my eyes focused.
“God Ava I just want to be inside you,” he says.
I look in to his gorgeous blue eyes and I see intense need and love, “What’s stopping you?”
“Are you on birth control?”
I nod, incapable of speech.
“I’ve never been with anyone without a condom before, you can trust me. I just want to be inside you with no barrier, skin on skin.” His gorgeous face hovers above mine, his blue eyes on fire, waiting for my response.
I lean my hips up towards him, giving my silent consent.
He bends and places his gorgeous lips on mine as he slowly lowers his body, and I feel him…
There.
He enters me inch by inch, as I arch my back in pleasure. He is hard and strong and feels oh so good.
Delicious - in the very best way.
We find our rhythm together and move as one, as if we’ve been doing this forever, we just fit perfectly.
He runs his hands up my sides, over my ribs and past my breasts; he continues up my arms until he raises them over my head, lacing his fingers through mine. He stares in to my eyes and I’ve never felt such an intense connection with anyone before. As we slide against one another, we don’t break our stare, and the feelings I see behind Ethan’s eyes are everything I have always wanted and more.
Our movements grow more feverish and our pace quickens. Ethan releases my hands and I run my nails down his back. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to leave a scratch, I can’t get enough; I just want to claim him as mine.
“I love you,” I say, wanting to reassure him of my feelings again.
“I love you too.”
I feel a familiar tightening in my core. My eyes flutter closed and my breath falters. As I
start contracting around him, I see stars and I shatter in to millions of tiny pieces, calling his name over and over….
Fireworks have got nothing on this.
Ethan shudders and collapses on to me, both of us satisfied and blissful. We stay that way for some time, allowing our breathing to return to normal. All the while, our lips slide over shoulders, and faces, just giving love, as we come back to Earth.
He rolls to his back and pulls me to him. I place my head on to his chest and throw my leg over his, sighing in contentment. There’s nowhere I would rather be, than right here in this moment.
I lift my eyes to look up at the gorgeous man that is holding me. “You know, you could have any girl in the world. I need to ask you – why me?”
He looks down at me like he can’t understand what I’ve just asked him. “Ava, you’re so different to anyone I have ever been with. You don’t see me as a celebrity, or someone who can further your career. You see me, just me, the real me. I love you for that. Hell, you’d still want me if I flipped burgers at McDonalds!”
Ethan laughs and I giggle. “Yeah I would,” I say.
He leans down and kisses me. It’s a sweet kiss that shows me how much he loves me.
“Ava, you’re beautiful. Gorgeous - inside and out. You’re sweet and kind and you love me fiercely. That’s why I want you.”
“Always?” I ask.
“Always!” he replies; as he leans down to kiss me.
As the kiss grows more intense, Ethan begins to move down my body, kissing my stomach and across my hips. As he moves further south I suck in a deep breath and close my eyes. I know what’s coming.
Please God, don’t let him stop!
He doesn’t.
Not for hours.
So in to the early morning, we continue to explore each other, making love and showing each other what real love means.
I wake to find Ava wrapped in my arms.
My beautiful Ava.
Mine.
I know I sound like a freakin’ caveman, but I can’t help it. She’s finally mine.