Page 49 of Unfolding Ethan

Laura nodded, agreeing with her girlfriend. “I’ve heard he has a little sister too. I swear, if I wasn’t a lesbian, I would’ve kissed him. He’s such a daddy material.”

Sure, please talk about my best friend like that when I am sitting just beside you.

“Agreed,” said Carmella. “Imagining that makes my ovaries explode.”

Okay, that’s my cue. I quickly stood up with a cookie in my hand and walked back into the house.

???

It was evening and everyone was half-naked, either swimming or getting tanned lying on the lounge chairs. Sadly, I couldn’t wear a bikini because of the hickeys, so I had opted for a swimsuit and blushed every time Ethan glanced my way. Katherine couldn’t stop giggling and nudging my shoulder every time his eyes met mine.

“Hey, Kiara, how are you, love?” Helen, Ethan’s mother, grinned from my phone screen when I waved at her.

“I am great. How is Julia and what’s little Evey doing?” I grinned and walked over to Ethan, who was talking to Ryan and his friends. I showed him who I was talking to and his face lit up. He grabbed my hand and took me with him inside the farmhouse, over to a corner.

Helen talked with her son, her afro bouncing as she walked toward her wife, Julia, who was holding Eveline. Eveline had fair skin with blond curls just like her mother, Julia, and had similar striking gray eyes. She was babbling on her lap, flailing her arms as Ethan baby-talked with her.

“Ean! Ean! Ean! Ean!” she said, her tiny fingers trying to grab her brother’s face through the screen and whining when she couldn’t.

Ethan seemed so happy as he grinned and talked to his sister and mothers. He turned to me. “She missed you too.”

She did. Eveline was trying to grab both of us from the screen while Helen tried not to let her hold the phone in her small chubby hands and Julia soothed their daughter.

“We will be back by tomorrow, love,” Julia said. “I hope you will take care of yourself until then. Both of you.”

Ethan nudged me. “Kiara is taking good care of me and Mrs. Sharma invited me for lunch tomorrow, so don’t worry about me. Have a safe journey. I love you. Ma, I think Evey just made her poop face.”

They quickly said their goodbyes to us and ended the call because their daughter had nature’s call.

“You miss her.”

He smiled at me. “Of course I miss her. It’s the first time she’s away from me for more than a day.”

Tipping on my toes, I pinched his cheeks. “Aw, you poor little guy,” I cooed, ignoring his playful glare. “Don’t worry, I will—ah!”

I squealed with laughter when Ethan pushed me on the wall. “I am little now?” he asks playfully, his hands lowering to my ribs.

“I know you’re far from little, Ethan,” I said, glancing down at his swim trunks, and licked my lips, shivering when his fingers trailed over my waist. “What are you doi—no, Ethan!”

He grinned like the monster he was and tickled me. My throaty laugh bubbled out of me. I writhed in his arms, chuckling and giggling while trying to get away from him, but he was merciless when it came to tickle fights.

I begged, gasping for air, “Ethan, no, stop!”

His mismatched eyes twinkled with mischief and he stepped closer. “Then say ‘Ethan’s the sexiest man alive’.”

He did not just—Who the fuck says that? Apparently this big oaf.

I nodded, my fingers gripping his muscled forearms. “You’re the sexiest man alive, happy?”

He smiled, pressing his body closer, and a shiver passed through my body when I felt every inch of his hard muscles on my stomach, his warm breath on my neck.

“Very. Now say ‘Ethan, I want extra inches in my lower—”

Shaking my head, I interrupted him, “No, I am not going to say that. Nuh-uh.”

Ethan chuckled, burying his face in the crook of my neck, and took a deep breath. I smiled and ran my hand through his hair, kissing his neck and biting his ear. He took a sharp breath and I kissed his jaw. He tilted his head and closed his eyes when our lips locked with each other. I sighed and pulled him closer, his hands running down my back, our bodies molding with each other.

When we pulled away, his pupils were so dilated that his blue-green eyes seemed almost black. “Swim with me?” he asked.

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