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Ethan disappearedafter I left him on the balcony by himself. I didn’t see him for the rest of the night, and to make matters worse, I didn’t see Varissa either. I tried to distract myself with the party, but it was useless. He was front and center on my mind regardless of how many guests I spoke to.
It didn’t help that Beau noticed Varissa and Ethan were gone as well, pointing out that they were probably together. By the time I made it back to my suite, it was past three in the morning. Since the walls were made of concrete, I couldn’t hear a damn thing coming out of his room.
With my hand in the air, I battled with the desire to knock on his door. Ultimately, I walked into my room without finding out the truth of what they might have been doing. I tried to pretend it didn’t matter, like I didn’t care, but that was impossible. The fact that I had to lay there all night with images of them fucking right in the next room was the hardest form of torture.
Which was completely and utterly ridiculous.
The next morning came far too late, and I half expected him to walk into my suite with coffee in his hand or at least come in with my mom like he had been all week.
That Friday morning, he did none of those two things. He was once again nowhere to be found, and I couldn’t bring myself to knock on his door in case he was no longer there. Instead of feeling relieved that my bridal shower was that morning, Ethan didn’t attend that either.
Since I was put on the spot, I lied to everyone that he was unexpectedly pulled into a work thing and wouldn’t be joining us. The bridal shower was filled with more marriage advice I didn’t care to hear and an overwhelming number of gifts to open. When it was finally over, I hurried back to my room for some time alone.
I barely slept the night before and was exhausted and emotionally drained from the entire week. Ethan and I were supposed to spend the rest of the afternoon together, but I was beginning to think he flew back to Charleston.
I changed out of my white dress, throwing on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Beau wouldn’t be back for a few hours, so I was alone for the first time since we landed in France, other than when I was sleeping.
I sat in the reading nook by the window, aimlessly staring out at the garden as my thoughts sped a mile a minute until there was a knock on the door.
“I’m coming!” I announced, opening it.
My heart immediately dropped to the ground, wholeheartedly not expecting to see him.
“Ethan,” I softly greeted, gazing into his serene eyes that always did things to me.
The silence between us was deafening as we just stood there, lost in each other’s presence for a moment. We took one another in as if we hadn’t seen each other just last night. I watched the way his lips moved with each quick breath that blew out of his mouth. I knew his heart was racing as fast as mine was.
I watched the way his hair blew in the wind from the open windows, framing his defined face and intense stare solely focused on me.
I watched the way his solid muscular chest heaved up and down, mirroring mine like they were in sync.
I especially watched the way he looked at me. It was now engrained in my mind, in my memory, in every last part of me.
When he casually brushed my hair away from my face, he still didn’t say a word.
The emotion he was openly showing me was consuming…
I could touch it.
Feel it.
Taste it.
My heart fluttered, my stomach dropped again, and my mouth parted the instant he rasped, “Hi, Livvy.”
I hid back a smile, unaware of how to proceed with him until I replied, “Hi, Ethan.”
He never tried hiding from me. Always showed me his true colors no matter the circumstance.
What you saw was what you got.
What he said was what he meant.
Whether I wanted to see it or not.
I swallowed hard, dying to ask him if he was with Varissa.
“Come on.” He nodded with a sly grin.
