Page 57 of Always Been You

"No, I don't."

"You’re too close to the situation. Take yourself out of this equation. Look at his behavior objectively. He starts running by your house, shirtless. Patrolling the area around your shop at the time he knows you close. Randomly showing up at events we both know he wouldn't have gone to—"

"What events?" Jess asked, skeptically.

She lifted her hand and started counting on her fingers. "The art exhibit. The film festival. The ballet. The NSYNC/BSB cover band-"

"Okay, okay." Jess lifted her hand. Now that she thought about it, over the past few years, Ethan had started showing up at more and more events that he had no interest in.

She always gave him a hard time about being there. Joking around about where his tutu was, and if he was a Justin or a Nick fan.

“And you two have always had this…connection. Everyone can see it.”

She was right again. There was something between them, more than just physical. He'd opened up to her in the city. Told her things he said he’d never told anyone else. And he said that he'd always wanted to kiss her again.

"Me thinks she is finally seeing the light, Dumbass," Ali spoke in a bad maybe-British accent as she patted the dog's head.

"But then why hasn't he done anything? Said anything? We're supposed to be dating, and I haven't even seen him."

A sly grin tugged at her lips. "And it's driving you crazy. If he'd been around all the time, would you be wondering what he was thinking right now? Would you be wondering if what you felt for him was real or not? Would you be going out of your mind wanting answers?"

Jess thought about what Ali was saying, and it all made sense. "That little shit."

"I think you’ve finally met your match. This is going to be very fun to watch."

Just as Ali made that annoying prediction, the sky lit up with bright flashes of color. Whisper Lake spared no expense on their fireworks display. The fourth was a huge holiday for the city. She knew that Ethan was on duty today. He'd texted her to let her know that he was working a double, which meant he'd be off around two a.m.

And when he was, she had a plan for a little fireworks of her own.

19

It was almost three a.m. and Ethan had been on duty for the past sixteen hours. He should’ve been pulling up to his house. But instead he was stopped at a red light on his way to Jess’s house, checking his phone one more time to see if she’d sent another text.

When he was leaving the station, he saw that he had a text from her. She’d messaged about an hour before to ask if he was off duty and he’d replied that yes, he was finally off duty and going home to sleep for the next ten hours.

So then she sent another text. One with a photo, a close-up of her bare belly standing next to the shower.

I'm feeling very dirty. Too bad I don't have someone to help wash me off. And in other non-related news: my front door is unlocked.

He may have been exhausted, but after that text he had pure adrenaline coursing through him.

A car honked behind him. He looked up to see the light had turned. Shit. Jess drove him to complete distraction. He pulled out even more agitated than he had been.

In the back of his mind he knew she was kidding about the door being unlocked. Or at least he thought she was. But he'd feel a lot better about it if he could get confirmation. Which was impossible because she wasn't picking up his call or answering his text back.

As he pulled onto her street, he knew that all of the agitation he was feeling was a culmination of a lot of things, the main one being that he’d barely seen Jess over the last two weeks.

She'd been avoiding him. He'd tried to see her and she'd made excuses. The talent show was in fourteen hours. That was technically the end of their arrangement. Not that they'd discussed it. They would’ve actually had to talk to do that.

He couldn't say that this entire thing hadn't been worth it. He'd never take back the weekend that they'd had together. Or the time he'd spent with her at rehearsals. He loved watching the pure joy on her face as she danced. It was her happy place and he felt honored to have been able to share that with her.

It was strange, but he felt closer to her than he ever had and at the same time more distant than he'd ever been. And he had no idea what to do about it.

He parked in front of her house and as he was getting out of his truck, he paused. He wasn’t sure how to approach things with her. And he was exhausted. Not just physically. He was emotionally drained trying to figure out how to end this charade and not lose Jess in the process.

At this point, he figured it was time to put his cards on the table. He needed to come clean about his true intentions. There was no way he was going to start a relationship, a real relationship, with a lie. If she wanted to be with him, it would make him the happiest man in the world. If she didn't, he'd know that he'd been honest and opened himself up to what he thought was a chance at something real.

He climbed her porch steps two at a time and took a deep breath. He was ready to face this thing head on. As he reached for the door, it opened, and he looked up to see Jess, wearing a robe and holding her phone. She turned the screen toward him. The stopwatch app displayed a time of five minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

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