Page 18 of Fit for Love
“Er, weren’t you the one who found him in bed with someone else?”
“How did you know that?” I didn’t remember telling him, and frowned. Who would have betrayed my confidence?
Ethan screwed up his face. “Sorry, Mal might have mentioned it when he talked about you staying.”
I supposed I couldn’t blame Mal. After all, he had been kind enough to let me stay when I needed to. Given that he was in a relatively new relationship with Piper himself, plus he was opening his home to his best friend.
He reached out and cupped my face. “Orlando Weare was clearly a fool for even thinking anyone could measure up to you. You’re smart.” Ethan kissed the tip of my nose. “Absolutely gorgeous.” Another kiss on one cheek. “Loyal.” A kiss on the other cheek. “And you’re totally into me.” He finished up with a lingering kiss on my lips, his tongue gently probing inside my mouth, sending sparks flying.
Why the hell was I protesting so much? I gave in and kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck, feeling the muscles in his back. His hands slid around my waist, inching beneath my T-shirt and into the waistband of my jeans. I gasped as his fingers hit the hollows beneath my hips, one of the most sensitive parts of my body. As he delved deeper, in that moment, I didn’t care that we were on a beach where anyone could stumble across us, I simply gave myself up to his touch. The skin on his hands was rough, where Orlando’s had been smooth and cold, providing extra stimulation.
Orlando.
The thought of him broke the spell and I pulled away from Ethan, breathing heavily and straightening my clothes.
“Cora?” His brow furrowed with concern. “I’m sorry, too soon?”
“Maybe.” I sighed. “I’m sorry too. But I can’t right now.”
“I get it. Or at least I think I do.” Ethan leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Let’s go and see if we can find some crabs.” He stood up and held out his hand.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the cove, pulling up rocks to see if we could find any crustaceans and even paddling for a little while, it was that warm. When it came time to head back to Bayview House, I felt a sense of disappointment. It was almost as if we’d spent the day in some kind of suspended reality.
“What are we going to tell Mal and Piper?” I asked as we walked up the driveway.
“We could tell them the truth?”
“Which is?”
“That we intend to go on lots more dates.” Ethan squeezed my hand. “Starting tonight. Do you fancy watching a movie?”
“I didn’t think there was a cinema here?”
“You remember Mal’s movie room, right? Surely you spent at least one night down there, kissing on the sofa…”
I laughed. He was right, we had. Although thinking of what I’d done with Mal there wasn’t something that Ethan needed to know about.
Piper was finishing up some emails when we got back. Ethan said something about needing to check his schedule for the following day and disappeared up to his room straight away.
“There’s something different about you.” Piper narrowed her eyes as she swept her gaze over me. “What happened?”
I slumped down on one of the chairs with an exaggerated sigh. “We went for a walk.”
“Oh, is that all.” She seemed disappointed.
Suddenly overcome with shyness, I found it hard to tell her. “Ethan might have kissed me.”
“Eeep! Really? Oh my God, Cora, that’s amazing!” She leaped up and came over to hug me.
My reservations from earlier came back. “Isn’t it too soon though? I mean, it’s not that much more than a week since I found out about Orlando.”
“Psssh. He clearly wasn’t the one for you.”
She was right. I definitely wasn’t the woman for him. But was Ethan the man for me or was I simply reaching out to anyone who showed me a little bit of kindness? After all, I hadn’t known him all that long.
“What about Mal?”
Piper folded her arms and fixed me with a look. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Mr Colten is perfectly happy with me. I mean, I know you’re a superstar blogger and all that, but he seems to be content with a jewellery designer.” She was only half joking.
