Page 8 of Ethan

Ethan grinned and lifted his foot from under the table. He pulled up his pant leg and waggled his foot to attract my attention. "Matching socks, too."

My laugh came out as a warm rumble.

The man was adorable.

"Do you have family in town?" I asked then took a sip of my melting iced coffee. A stream of condensation ran from my hand down my arm, straight to my elbow.

I steeled against shivering.

"Mom, Dad, and two annoying older sisters."

"You don't get on well with your sisters?"

"Oh, I do now, but when I was a kid, I had to perform circus acts just to get noticed."

"Your parents spent a lot of time with them … but not you?"

"My sisters came first and filled the schedule before I even came on the scene. There's a six-year age gap between me and the youngest, Eva. I had to compete with their ballet and gymnastics, and their time in the ring with the horses. Don't get me started on the time spent on horses."

I ripped my croissant in half, exposing the chocolate inside. "You had horses?"

"Still do. At my parents'. My boy, Phantom, is vying for the spot of my best friend."

"When did you start riding?" I'd never met anyone who owned horses before. I didn't know anything about them, having never been anywhere near any. Ethan had mentioned surfing and snowboarding in the past, but this was the first time I had heard about Phantom.

"I was maybe five. Four. Not sure. Truth be told, my mom probably had me perched on top of a horse when I was two."

"Good memories?"

"The best."

"Do you find much time for him? Your Phantom?"

Ethan sighed. "Not as much as I'd like. My sister, Emma, works with him every day. I spend a couple of evenings a week out there. We put in some quality hours together."

"That doesn't surprise me, that you strive for quality time."

I looked around the coffee shop at the assortment of people chatting and working in the welcoming space. What Ethan had created here was special.

"You've done incredibly well creating your dream."

Ethan tucked his lips between his teeth, his gaze wandering my face as he—blushed. I'd rarely seen him look shy. Maybe shy wasn't what I was seeing. Had he needed that from me?

The praise?

I tested the theory. "I'm proud of you."

I swear to God, Ethan shivered, eyes fixed on me, and nearly whimpered.

The moment broke when he burst to his feet. "I should get back to work. The late-afternoon coffee break crowd will be descending upon us soon. We need to be all hands on deck."

"I'll leave you to it." I wrapped the remainder of my croissant in a napkin to save for later and tucked it in my jacket pocket. I wanted to savour every last piece of what Ethan had created.

"Thanks for coming in to see me."

"I'm glad I did."

Ethan winked at me. "Yeah?" He wandered closer to me. "So … we'll do it again soon?"

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