Page 118 of Vows We Never Made
“Yeah.” His gaze lands on me and heats.
My dress feels too small.
“It would be a plot twist if you found a real skeleton digging through the old pirate ship. You Blackthorn men and your deep, dark secrets,” I joke, hoping for—well, something.
Him, opening up to me, telling me what little he knows.
Instead, a shadow crosses his face, almost too quick to notice.
His smile, when it comes, feels bittersweet.
Ares, bored of the boat, barks impatiently, basking in the evening sunlight on the sand.
“Yeah, we’re coming. Don’t get your long-ass ears into a knot,” Ethan says, taking my hand and guiding me forward.
Despite his touch, there’s a restless ache in my belly.
And it isn’t the first time I wonder just what secrets he keeps so close to his chest.
14
ALL TOO SUDDEN (ETHAN)
It’s a hard damn thing to accept when life starts going too well.
Most people just take it at face value.
They’re not naturally suspicious of happiness, but I’ve learned it’s the kind of thing you can’t trust.
It doesn’t last.
Life has this way of dangling it under your nose like a carrot, making you think you want it—making you think you can have it—right before snatching it away.
It’s been a few weeks since Hattie and I started fucking, and everything feels too easy.
That has its benefits. The thought of marrying her come July no longer feels like drowning.
That alone should worry me.
When I first learned about the marriage clause, I was livid. Disturbed the old man went that far to make sure I’d tie the knot with a woman I barely knew.
Now, I’ve accepted my fate.
Hell, I don’t mind it.
Six months of easy conversations and soul-soaring sex doesn’t scare me.
Another reason Ishouldworry.
But my worries feel as distant as the receding shore as we take Gramps’ yacht out for one last spin.
It’s been a harder decision than I let on, coming to terms with selling the yacht and the old house. There are so many memories attached to this place.
The happiest times of my youth still live there, the days before I found out just how stifling and brutal life can be.
Ares sunbathes on the deck with Hattie’s flip-flops beside him and an old chew bone under his paws.
He seems comfortable in his new life with us, ready to lumber up for walks or deliver a few slobbery dog kisses between napping the rest of the day.
