AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t be,” Ethan says to me, then to Cooper he adds, “I think you’ll survive.”
“Where’s Sybil?” Cooper asks, stepping back with a little frown to peer around the quiet street. “Isn’t she supposed to be with you?”
“She . . . doesn’t know I’m dating Ethan.”
His eyebrows furrow and those brown eyes darken. “You didn’t tell her?”
“Oh, I did, but she doesn’t support it. She insisted I break things off.”
Ethan has the maturity to keep his mouth shut during this exchange. Nobody has forgotten about his history with Sybil.
Coop shakes his head, and thankfully, his face softens. “That sucks. So where is she now?”
“She went home with a friend of hers. Some guy named Reid. He seemed pretty cool. Do you know him?”
Cooper scoffs. “Reid Havish? Of course she did . . .” He steps back and pats the side of the vehicle. “Alright, you can leave me here. I will get my own ride home later. I need a stiff drink anyway.”
And then he’s striding into the bar and Ethan and I are alone. I roll up the window and turn to Ethan with a huge smile.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi.” He smiles right back and my stomach swoops low. The man really should smile more often but maybe the fact that they’re rare makes them that much more special.
“Where do you want to go?” I ask coyly.
He puts the car into gear. “Let’s go to the Juliet.”
It’s a good idea. We can be alone on the docked sailboat and it even has a small bed and bathroom. We don’t need much to have a good time, just a little privacy and each other.
An hour later we’re cuddled under the sheets, naked and blissful on the twin bed. It’s way too small for two people, especially one as tall as Ethan, but we make it work. The sailboat is docked and bobs slightly on the surf. I press my face into the crook of his neck, kissing the warm salty flesh of his clavicle and loving the way his hair at the nape of his neck has curled from the humidity we created in the small cabin. The thrill of good sex has given way to the exhaustion of the day and my body feels like it’s slowly filling up with sand. I want nothing more than to stay the night here and let him hold me until sunrise.
But I can’t risk it.
“I think you should take me back before we fall asleep,” I whisper between the kisses I press to his neck.
“You could spend the night.” His throat vibrates under my lips.
“I can’t. You know what happened when I told Sybil about us.” I let out a long, frustrated sigh and roll over onto my back, taking his hand and threading it through mine as I consider how to put this in a way that won’t hurt his feelings. “We’ll figure it out when we get back to the city, but while I’m under the same roof as my aunt and uncle, I don’t want something to escalate the situation. Besides, I love the bubble we’ve created for ourselves. Nantucket is special for us and I don’t want anything to ruin that.”
He squeezes my hand. “It’s okay, baby. I get it.” We fall into companionable silence for a long moment before he speaks again. “But I couldn’t do it. I told Conrad about us this afternoon.”
Worry prickles through me and I drop his hand, sitting upright to stare down at him. In the faint light, I can barely make out his expression. He’s being dead-serious, maybe even more than I’ve ever seen him before.
“And what happened?” I whisper.
“He took it surprisingly well, actually. We still got into an argument because I made him swear not to use us against Gregory. This is our private business. You and me are real, and it’s not something for him to angle for his own benefit. He didn’t like that but if he values his relationship with me, he’ll stay out of my love life.” A smile plays at his lips, but his eyes remain hard. “I’ll be taking over as CEO soon. The plan is in motion and I’ve proved myself. He can’t control me anymore and that’s difficult for him to accept. I called him out on that, as well as some other bullshit. He didn’t like that either.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, Ethan.”
“I’m not sorry.” He pulls the back of my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles, his soft breath warm and heady. “It’s our house so Cooper and I could’ve told him to leave, but he got mad and left early. Him and his new wife are already back in Manhattan.”
I let this sink in. Ethan did something brave for me, stood up for me, and here I am not willing to do the same thing with my family. Not yet, anyway. I will, I know I will. I just have to gather the courage first. I’m not so brave with my love.
“Okay, so what happens next?” I ask carefully.
“Coop and I are staying on the island until you leave. I’m not taking any chances leaving you here without me close by, especially now that Conrad is aware of our relationship. But when we get back to Manhattan, when you’re ready, we’ll tell our families that they can either accept us, or they can lose their relationship with us.”
Lose us? The warm fuzzies floating around my chest turn to ice.
