AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You like it okay?” Ethan asks earnestly.
“I love it.” I say it because it’s true, but also because I know how much this vacation means to him, how he planned it for us as my Christmas gift and made sure to leave after New Year’s because he knew I’d want to spend the holidays with my family. We’re here for a week, just us.
He swims next to me because he’s my safety net out here, but also because we simply want to be near each other. It’s been like this from the moment we left Nantucket in August and told our friends and families that we were together, that we were going to be living together, and that there wasn’t anything anybody could do to stop us. Not everyone supports the idea of us, but we don’t care. We’re in love and that’s more powerful than anything else.
The water glistens on his bare chest and I swim towards him, splaying my fingers against his pecks. Ethan truly is the perfect specimen, could easily be a male swimsuit model, and my greedy eyes can’t help but linger on his body.
“Hey Arden, my eyes are up here,” he teases.
He doesn’t call me Juliet anymore because I asked him not to. Her story ended in tragedy and his boat ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Romeo and Juliet aren’t our future. Our love may be as all-consuming as theirs was, but our story is going to be much, much better.
We’re Ethan and Arden, and I like us.
I laugh and playfully punch his arm, and he uses that as an opportunity to sweep me into his. “Can I kiss you now?”
“As if you have to ask.” I roll my eyes and lean up to meet him.
His mouth is delicious mixed with the faint taste of salt water and I can already tell we’re going to have a hot vacation together. It’s just him and me, this warm ocean, and this beautiful new place to explore when we’re not relaxing in our private villa. Ethan booked one right on the beach, saying that if I wanted to switch to one of the more popular overwater ones that it could be arranged. I declined, because as much as I’m ready to swim in the ocean, I’m not quite ready to be sleeping right above it.
Maybe someday.
He breaks our kiss and peers into my eyes. “Do you want to keep swimming?”
I nod and he lets me go. I dive under the waves a few more times before laying on my back and letting my body float up and over the gentle waves. After a few minutes, I relax like I never have in water before, any remnants of fear cleansed away.
Swimming in Nantucket again might be a different story, but we’ll write that when we get to it next summer. Whatever it is, be it an adventure or a romance, it won’t be another tragedy.
I never did move back to Boston, so after this vacation we’ll return to Manhattan where I’ll pick up where I left off with my studies at Columbia University, focusing solely on my interest in computer science. I dropped the business degree. Ethan will continue to work alongside his brother at King Media and navigate the manipulations of Conrad King. It won’t be easy, but at the end of the day, we’ll both get to come home together. And maybe someday he’ll be brave enough to cut ties with his father entirely, but even if he doesn’t, it won’t change my love for the man. And my respect.
Because over these last few months, he’s really shown me the kind of man he is. Loyal. Smart. Dedicated. Hard-working. And yes, he’s even kind. Right after we left Nantucket in August, I moved in with him, and it’s turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It already feels like we’ve been living comfortably together for years, loving each other for even longer. For infinity. Ethan is my home, the kind of stability I’ve been craving my whole life.
He’s the family I chose.
***
