Page 68 of Ewan

“Joachim… I saw him giving you a hard time for nothing just because you couldn’t find the energy in you to put him in his place. And it dawned on me I wasn’t any better. I treated you badly because I had my own issues while all along you wanted to do the right thing.”

He studies my expression briefly before his beautiful lips part into a mischievous smile.

“I had some bad thoughts about you that night,” he says.

“You mean dirty.”

“I mean bad and dirty.”

“And then you thought you’d do me a favor by giving me a ride and telling me you onlyusedto have thoughts about me?”

He chuckles again.

“I feel responsible for you for some reason.”

“That, and you don’t like people to say no to your face.”

“You got that right.”

“So you have brought me here so you can say no to my face?”

He side-eyes me.

“Do you think sleeping with me is a good idea?” he asks directly, and I gasp.

“I think you’re an interesting man with too much to hide. And I think you haven’t been challenged in a while, and right now, you’re not sure whether to give me a go or not. That’s what I think,” I say just as he takes his foot off the gas and we exit the Long Island Expressway.

16

EWAN

She gotit and worded it perfectly.

I’m right there at a crossroads with her.

Testing her, learning about her, weighing the risks and opportunities.

This isn’t about wanting her in my bed.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I couldn’t get her out of my head.

Kissing her tenderly on the steps of her house was so not like me.

It was at odds with everything I’d done before.

I acted on impulse because I couldn’t stop myself.

I wanted to do it and gauge her reaction.

See how in tune she was with me.

She was deep. Attentive. Perceptive.

I felt something when I put myself against her.

I only felt that way once before, when I was eighteen and found the girl of my dreams.

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