Page 35 of The Paris Chapter

Despite the situation, I giggled.

He smiled.

‘The thing is, you saying we shouldn’t kind of makes me want to do it more.’

Ethan cocked an eyebrow. ‘I knew you had a naughty side.’

‘Says the man who told me I needed to beg him to kiss me.’ Heat in my body was fast replacing nerves.

‘Hmm, but then you told me I was sweet.’

‘Sweet is good!’ I cried. Then the tequila shots mingled with my need to get closer to him made me feel fearless for a moment. I moved to sit astride his lap on the sofa. His breath hitched. ‘You are sweet and kind, and you have looked after me. I feel safe with you. And they are good things. And I know you think that means I don’t find you sexy, that I see you only as a friend, but that’s what I want right now. In fact, it’s probably what I should have been looking for all along,’ I said urgently, looking into his eyes.

His hands came up to hold my waist as I placed mine on his chest. I could feel his heartbeat as fast and hard as my own.

Ethan reached up to touch my lip. ‘I want you to want me. I want you to find me sexy. I want you to want me like I want you.’

It was my turn for my breath to hitch. I leaned forward to brush my lips against his.

He stilled.

‘I want you to kiss me.’

Ethan smiled slowly and I caught a naughty twinkle in his own eyes then. ‘I thought we already discussed this?’

I shook my head, but I smiled. ‘Shameless. Fine.’ I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his ear. Ethan’s hands returned to my waist, holding me tighter. ‘Ethan, will you please kiss me? I want you to. I need you to.’ I pulled back to look into his darkened eyes.

‘Tessa, with you on my lap looking at me like that, asking me to kiss you, I feel like the sexiest man alive,’ he said huskily. He reached up to brush my hair back softly, a smile playing on his lips. He put one of his hands under my chin and drew me back in. When his lips touched mine, I shivered. Ethan wrapped his arms around me and I hooked mine around his shoulders as my mouth melted into his. He kissed me slowly and deeply, murmuring as he pulled me closer, his tongue caressing mine. His hands moved up to my back, stroking me through my T-shirt.

I shifted myself forward on his lap and Ethan groaned into my mouth. I could feel him through my jeans and couldn’t resist rocking against him to help ease my own growing ache.

Ethan then broke away from my lips and dropped frantic kisses down my neck, making me shiver again. ‘We’re taking our time,’ he said softly, between kisses. ‘I’m not rushing this; I’m not messing this up.’

‘Hmmm,’ I said as his mouth came back onto mine. This time, the kiss was hungrier. I had wondered what Ethan’s kisses would feel like. And they felt like he was kissing a part of me that had never been touched before. Like deep in my soul. I could feel his kiss right down to the tips of my toes. I wanted to be closer to him. To connect with him like I never had with a man before.

I trembled as he pulled away from my mouth to kiss me softly on my cheeks, then my forehead, then my nose, then across my jaw. ‘It would feel good to speed it up a little bit though? Like your hands could be under my shirt right now,’ I whispered between his kisses. ‘Or you could just take it off.’

Ethan suddenly stood up. I clung with my legs around his waist. ‘I’m taking you to bed,’ he said.

‘That works for me,’ I replied, pulling him back for a kiss, but he just kissed me once then pulled away and carried me wrapped around him into the bedroom.

Ethan leaned down and slid me gently off him onto the bed. ‘Goodnight, Tessa,’ he said, looking down at me with longing in his eyes.

‘Goodnight? What do you mean?’

‘I should go,’ he said.

I looked up at him standing by the bed, straining against his jeans. I was breathless from his kisses. I was hot and horny. ‘Are you serious?’ I choked out.

‘Slowly,’ he said. ‘You need this to move slowly. We both do. I can’t… this can’t be a one-night thing for me.’

‘Oh.’ I couldn’t help it; I felt the sting of rejection.

It flooded back. How rejected I had felt when I realised Joe had been cheating on me. That he had takenherto that party. That when I said I was leaving him, he didn’t try to stop me. That he had chosen Rachel, not me. And here I was again. Ethan was turning me down too.

He must have seen the hurt look in my eyes because he climbed onto the bed beside me and took my hands in his, forcing me to look at him. ‘You felt how much I want you. But you’ve been so heartbroken, you can’t face writing about love any more. You just had a phone call from your ex. Who I’ve known since we were kids. It is complicated, even if we try to ignore that.That kiss was incredible. You are incredible. I don’t want to fuck this up.’

‘It’s not fair,’ I whispered then. ‘You’re only making me want you more saying that.’

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