by Ann King
“Ethan! Wait!”
But it was too late, he’d made his way down the stairs and out the door in a flash. And out of her life. Again.
8.
The next morning, Holly felt sick to the point of throwing up. Her weekend went from bad to worse in moments. Better to be hurt in the beginning than in the end, right? Life was pain. She had to get used to it. Learn from it.
God, what a fuck up she’d been, she thought to herself. She was glad she had her own en suite washroom as she leaned over the toilet hurling contents of her stomach out. It wasn’t just her stomach that ached. It was her heart but there was nothing she could do to purge the pain she’d felt there.
A knock on the door distracted her.
“Go away,” she shouted with agitation.
“It’s only me,” her uncle Jake cracked the door open. “Honey, there’s someone here to see you.”
“I don’t care,” Holly murmured as she glared at the toilet, looking dazed.
“Are you okay? God, you look a mess,” her uncle grabbed her face cloth and rinsed it out and leaned down to wipe her face.
She took the cloth from him and got up. “Thanks. I’ll be okay.”
“Don’t you think you should get yourself cleaned up? Why don’t you brush your teeth, wash up and get ready for breakfast.”
“I’m not interested in eating.”
“But Ethan is here to take you to breakfast.”
Holly looked up, shocked. Her brow raised a fraction with a WTF expression on her face.
9.
“You shouldn’t have come back here,” Holly said to Ethan as he drove her through the town later in the morning.
“I’m not very good at expressing myself, Holly.”
“No shit.”
“Ouch.”
“I’m sure your ego is as strong as your body. You’ll get over it.”
“There’s something about me, you should know if you want us to take this further.”
Take this further? Was he really interested in her as much as she wanted him? Then why the hell the charade?
He pulled up to another brownstone building a few streets away from her aunt’s house. “There is someone else in my life. I was with her last night and told her about you. She wants to meet you.”
“Are you crazy? Why would I want to meet…”
“My daughter,” he continued.
“What?”
“Holly, you want to know how old I really am?”
She paused expectantly.
“I’m twenty-four.”
“That’s okay. I’m twenty-three.”
“My daughter is ten years old.”
Holly’s jaw dropped. It didn’t take her long to do the math.
“It was really fucked up. I can’t go into everything right now. But I was arrested when I was younger. Got off. My girlfriend got knocked up at thirteen and I was fourteen,” he said.
Holly felt her heart clenched. How awful and frightening that must have been for both of them.
“Her dad tried to destroy me, spreading rumors that I had raped his precious innocent little girl. He refused to believe we liked each other. God, I didn’t know she’d started having periods yet. Didn’t know she could get pregnant.”
“Oh, Ethan. I don’t know what to say.”
“That you won’t judge me too harshly on my past. The past is dead and gone.”
“What about your…um…girlfriend?”
“She’d committed suicide by the time she was fourteen and Emma had turned one.”
“Oh, my God! Ethan, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“It’s okay. That wasn’t the worse part. I wanted Emma so badly,”
“Your daughter?”
“Yeah, my daughter. But her grandfather tried everything to screw up my life and put me away. It’s a huge fucking mess but since my foster family took me in, I managed to get my life straight. All this studying and doing stuff in the community is because I give a shit about the underdogs of the system. But it’s also because I want to make a good case when I try to get custody of my little girl.”
“Your baby,” Holly said quietly, her heart squeezed tightly in her chest. It all made perfect sense now. Why hadn’t she just trusted him and taken things one step at a time?
“Can…Can I meet her?”
“On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That you tell her the truth.”
“The truth?”
“Yeah. That you’re my girlfriend. My real girlfriend.”
Holly smiled and leaned closer to Ethan and pressed her soft lips to his and sealed the deal.
“It’s a deal!”
THE END
For more delicious reads from Ann King join her mailing list at [email protected] She loves to hear from readers. It really makes her day. Other sizzling erotic romances by Ann King:
31 Ways to Catch a Billionaire (series)
Claimed by the Billionaire (series)
Falling for her Fake Boyfriend (series)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ann King enjoys reading and writing sizzling stories of love and seduction with a happily ever after. She enjoys indulging in sweet, milk chocolate and romantic fantasies that make your toes curl and your heart smile. She loves to hear from readers. You can send her an email at [email protected] Or follow her on Twitter. Her username is annking_author