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I stare into his eyes sure to see any change in how he feels the moment he feels it.
"I know what women want. I know what women need and I understand how love should feel," I say.
Ethan smiles, catching on to where I’m going with my whole speech, but still waiting to hear it from me.
"You might not know about love, you say you don't believe in love. Well, I know and believe enough for the both of us," I say with a winning smile.
Ethan nods slowly, his lips turned down in a speculative frown.
My interest in his love resort surprises him. When I first thought of it, it surprised me too. Me–Cassidy Hayes, a hopeless romantic and staunch believer in love. It seems like a contradiction at first but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
I don’t want love only for myself, I want it for everyone willing to receive it and give it in return. A love resort isn’t just a commercial concept designed to exploit romantics like myself; it’s a place where everyone who has had their heart broken can find hope and true love too. It’s the perfect idea for a romantic like me.
"That was definitely unexpected," he says. "Not only do you want me to revisit the project, but if I'm understanding you correctly, you want to be a part of it too?" he asks, genuinely surprised by my proposal.
"Exactly," I say, offering him my hand to shake.
"I can't deny it, you've made a valid point, but there are still some details I think you may have overlooked," he says, holding my hand instead of shaking it.
"Details I might not discuss with just anyone, but might be willing to share with a business partner?" I ask.
Ethan laughs, my hand still in his. "You’re very cunning, Miss Hayes," he smiles then leans down to kiss my hand. "Exactly what I look for in a business partner."
I blush only for a moment then quickly withdraw my hand and straighten up. "In that case, we have work to do, Mr. Knight," I say with a knowing smile.
16
Ethan
In my office, I lay out the files of research I’ve accumulated when planning the love resort. There are articles by psychologists, interviews with love addicts, couples and people struggling after break-ups.
I load the files onto the desk in front of Cassidy and watch as her eyes grow wider.
“That’s a lot of paper,” Cassidy says, looking through it.
“And that’s not even half of it,” I sat looking for more and more files. All the research I’ve done for a project I have almost, and still might likely, abandon.
"And still, you were ready to just drop it, just like that?" Cassidy laughed, flipping through each file before casting it aside.
"Well, rather than show the world that I know nothing about women," I joke. "That’s what you said right?"
Cassidy smirks at me, considering her answer well before speaking.
"Not nothing, just not the right things," she smiles. "Like our first date," Cassidy giggles, remembering the day very differently from how I had wanted her to, obviously.
"What was wrong with our first date?" I ask her.
Maybe it isn't her style, but it couldn't have been that bad. Even though I dare not say it, not even now when we're both so comfortably dissecting what happened between us, that same exact date has ended in many nights of sweaty passion.
"Women don't like to be thought of as something a man buys," Cassidy says.
She makes gestures with her hands when she talks. She didn’t before, but now she seems more free, more herself than ever before. She isn’t trying to impress me or clearly even spare my feelings.
"Don’t act so wounded," she says, punching my shoulder. " You knew exactly what you were doing and if I had to guess, you've gotten away with it many times before."
I shrug. She isn’t wrong, many of the women I had been with before Cassidy had been easily impressed by all the sparkling trinkets I rattled in front of them.
"Nothing wrong with that. Some women like that sort of thing. We have an understanding. It doesn't make them cheap," I say, defending all those dates whose names I hardly remember.
