Page 25 of The Paris Chapter

‘I don’t believe that,’ I said.

‘If we met out one night, I would never have the guts to chat you up. Even if I really wanted to,’ Ethan admitted.

I suddenly longed to meet him out as strangers, no complications between us. ‘Would you have wanted to?’ I asked him nervously.

‘Of course I would. Are you fishing for compliments?’ He smiled and I bit my lip because if I was honest, I really wanted to hear him say nice things. ‘You’re gorgeous. We already established though, I’m not your type.’ He said it casually but as someone who also lacked confidence, I could feel his nerves. My heart stuttered at him calling me gorgeous. I loved how honest he was with me. It was refreshing after Joe. And it helped me feel like one day, I could trust Ethan.

‘If you said something sexy in French, I think you’d be anyone’s type,’ I blurted out then.

‘Including yours?’

We looked at one another. I wanted to be as honest as he had been. ‘You sound very sexy when you speak French,’ I admitted, my cheeks heating up.

‘Hmm. Looks like I need to speak in French more often around you then,’ he said, smiling.

‘How do you say “kiss me” in French?’ I blurted out.

Ethan sucked in a breath and shifted in the bed.

‘God, I’m sorry.’ I winced at my lame flirting and went to roll over, desperate to get out of the bed. And find somewhere to hide for the rest of my life.

Ethan touched my shoulder and I froze. I couldn’t look at him though.

‘I would sayembrasse-moi.’

‘Huh. Appropriate,’ I said, glancing back at him to see if he was taking the piss.

Ethan was giving me a fond look. ‘Come back. Please. Don’t go unless you want to…’

I rolled back and we locked eyes again. ‘It’s really “embrasse-moi”?’

‘I promise,’ he whispered, his gaze dropping to my lips. I smiled and he reached out to touch my lip again. ‘Tessa, seriously, I would love to kiss you, but I don’t know if that’s what you really want?’

My indecision was clearly screamingly obvious to us both. My body was drawn to him. The bed was soft and cosy and made me want to close the small space and tumble into his safe, warm arms. To be held, touched, kissed… I ached for it. But everything had changed in such a short space of time between us. From thinking he would rather be anywhere else than with me to being on the bed together talking about us kissing. I needed to catch up to it all.

‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. I was terrified of being hurt again. I didn’t think Ethan would ever intentionally hurt me, but how could I be sure? And this attraction was confusing. Ethan wasn’t like anyone else I’d been with. It was unexpected.

Ethan nodded. ‘Then we wait until you’re really sure. I won’t kiss you unless you ask me to, Tessa.’ Ethan’s eyes seemed to blaze then. He leaned in towards my ear and whispered, ‘Maybe until you beg me.’

My breath hitched.

Ethan pulled back and looked at me. I had a feeling my eyes were just as dark as his. I bit my lip. And his curled into a smile. ‘Hmm, I have a feeling you quite like that idea.’

My breathing had definitely turned ragged. ‘You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?’ I murmured.

‘Yeah, I guess I will. Well, I know what I’ll be thinking about all day…’ He sat up and climbed off the bed, glancing at me over his shoulder. His clothes were crumpled but the effect worked on him. ‘You begging me and me doing exactly what you want me to.’

My mouth fell open and he chuckled.

‘I need to get ready for my course; it’s an early start today.’ I watched him walk to the bedroom door. ‘How about dinner when I get back?’

I could only nod, stunned by what he’d said about begging him. And how much I wanted to.

God, that was… hot. Ethan could be sexy? I found Ethan sexy? Well, fuck.

I felt light-headed and a little bit dizzy, like I’d just stepped off a roller-coaster.

I flopped back on the pillows when he left and exhaled loudly and slowly.

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