Page 75 of Taking Care of You
He rolls us over, settling between my legs as I wrap my arms around his shoulders. He ravages my mouth, his tongue moving around expertly. I roll my hips, trying to get closer. His hand shoots out to still my movements and I chuckle unexpectedly against his lips.
Ethan gives me one final peck then moves back. I turn and sigh, trying to get my racing heart under control. When Ethan kisses me like that—when he kisses me in general—I feel overwhelmed, like my heart will explode from my chest.
“Good morning, babe,” I say.
He runs a hand down the side of my face, his expression tender. “Morning, creep. Merry Christmas…officially.”
I smile up at him and crane my neck, seeking his mouth. He kisses me lightly, but still full of heat. What is he doing to me?
When he breaks the kiss, he trails his lips down my neck, swiping his tongue over my sensitive skin.
“I loved my gift, by the way,” he says against my throat. I hum in acknowledgement, lost in the sensation of his tongue on me, and his whispered breath tickling my flesh. He stops kissing on me and moves back to look me in the eyes. “Oh, and I loved the song, too.”
It takes me a second to get what he’s saying. Then I flush and fumble with my words. “Wha--? No, Ethan, that wasn’t—” I stop talking when I see the playful glint in his eyes. “Are you fucking with me?”
Laughing, he rolls off me. “Of course I am. You should have seen your face.” He holds his stomach, like it was the funniest thing he’s ever seen.
“Fuck you, Ethan,” I say to him with absolutely no heat behind the words.
He glances at me, laughter still in his tone. “That you did, creep.”
I’m sure I’m red from head to toe. “You’re frustrating.”
“I know.” He kisses me quickly, then sits up in bed. “Come on, we have to wake up my parents so we can open gifts.”
I sit up, but I’m not very excited about watching them open gifts.
Rubbing my hands together, I sigh loudly. “I’ll stay here until you guys are done.”
He scrunches his eyebrows and looks at me strangely. “Why? I’m sure my parents will want to see you open your gifts, too. They’re weird like that.”
“Gifts?” I squeak. From his parents?
Again with the strange look. “Yes, creep. Gifts. Come on.”
He pulls me out of bed, and we go wash up and brush our teeth. After we’re done, we leave the room. His parents, alreadyawake, are sitting in the theater room where the Christmas tree is.
Grace looks over from the movie they’re watching and smiles at us. “Good morning, you two. Took you long enough to get up.”
I look over at the clock on the wall and see that it’s past ten o’clock. I’m usually up way earlier, but we were up stargazing at almost two in the morning and…doing other things that took our time. I definitely needed to sleep in.
“Good morning, Grace. Frank.”
Frank rubs his hands together. “Good morning. Gift time.” He looks excited about the prospect of opening presents.
Ethan rolls his eyes, and I laugh.
“Come on, Koby,” Ethan says, dragging me forward. “I’m sure my parents got you the same type of gifts they give me. One practical, one for fun, and something to wear.”
“Oh, please,” Grace responds. “We haven’t gotten you ‘one’ anything in years.” She looks over at me. “He has the gist right, but…we went a little overboard. It’s been a while since we’ve had someone new to buy things for.”
She’s practically bouncing in anticipation. I wonder what they got me, and then I feel like shit because I wasn’t able to afford anything for them. Hell, I wrote Ethan a song because that’s the only thing I could offer him.
I shuffle my feet and look at Ethan. He sees me hesitate, then turns back to his parents. “Give us a minute. Creep wants to change.”
He shuffles us to the guest room, and we hear Grace shout, “Not his real name!”
That makes me chuckle before grow somber and flop down onto the bed. I look at Ethan and I’m sure he knows what I’m thinking.
