I spent the rest of the morning on the couch, watching cheesy romance movies. I lost count of how many times I rewound the ending of Sixteen Candles. The scene where she comes out of the church and he’s waiting for her, leaning on his car, always makes me melt. I needed Ethan so badly; I kept glancing at the clock to see how long he’d been gone.
I finally heard his key in the lock and he opened the door. I bolted off of the couch and hurtled myself into his arms.
“Whoa whoa, what’s going on, angel?” he asked, wrapping his arms tightly around me.
I just shook my head, needing him to hold me for just a minute. The memory of telling Paul flooded through me and I started to cry. Ethan ran his hand down my hair and made shushing sounds.
When he couldn’t take it anymore, he pulled back from me and looked in my eyes. “Tell me. What’s going on?”
I sighed and lead him over to the couch. “Paul came by,” was all I said.
His eyes showed surprise as he let out a breath. “Okay, how did that go?”
I told him everything that happened, stopping a few times to wipe my tears. While I was still so upset with Paul and everything that had happened, I knew a part of me would always love him. Knowing I had hurt him so deeply was not easy for me.
Ethan listened without interrupting and gathered me into his arms when I was finished. “I know that was so hard for you, babe, but I’ve gotta say, I’m glad it’s over. We can finally move on and start fresh. I know leaving your job is difficult, but Aly, this is just the beginning. You have so much ahead of you, angel.”
I looked into his eyes and saw so much love, so much admiration, and it took all of the pain from Paul away. Ethan had always been my savior, my confidante. Now he was mine in every way. I still couldn’t believe it.
He grabbed my hand and tipped my chin up to look at his face. “I have an idea,” he told me, brushing the hair away from my face. “Listen, I’ve actually been dreaming about this for a while, but it never seemed to be the right time. I think the right time has finally arrived.”
He looked at me and I had no idea what he was talking about. I motioned for him to continue.
He smiled as he leaned over to kiss my forehead. “I want to open a new home building business...with you.”
He sat there, waiting for my reaction. I was stunned. I was not expecting this and had never even thought about doing something like it before. But as I thought about it, the idea became so appealing that I knew we had to do it.
“Yes! I would love that,” I shouted, launching myself into his arms. He started laughing and hugged me back.
“Really? Oh, Aly, this will be so amazing. I have wanted to do my own business for a while now and the only one I’ve wanted to go in on it with is you.”
I raised my head and looked at him, putting my hand on his face. “I’m so excited! I think we can do a fantastic job and with both of our experience in the field, we can’t fail. I have so many ideas already. I can’t wait to get started!” My mind was going a mile a minute and I couldn’t wait.
He smiled wide and my love for him rushed through me. While this idea was just sprung on me, I knew it was right. Everything in my life was finally falling into place. “I love you, Baker,” I said.
He took my hand and kissed it. “I love you too, babe.” Pulling me closer to him, he leaned his forehead on mine. “Do you realize that major changes are happening for us? You just quit your job and told Paul it was over, whatever it was. You and I just decided to start our own business and the best part of all is that we are finally a couple. I still can’t believe it when I think about it, angel. I know I’m a broken record, but you have made me the happiest man alive. I want you to know, I would have waited for you until the day I died if I knew I had any sort of chance,” he said, effectively melting me to mush.
He slammed his lips to mine in a hungry and explosive kiss. I grasped his shoulders and pulled him to me, lying back on the couch. His tongue swirled in my mouth, tantalizing me to new heights. I ran my hands through his hair, pulling and gripping as he started to kiss down my jaw, down my neck. When he started sucking on my ear lobe, I gasped.
“Angel, you have no idea what you do to me. What you’ve always done to me,” he said in my ear, nipping the lobe he’d just released.
Heat shot through me as he continued down my neck to the top of my breasts. He looked up at me, his eyes on fire. I pushed his head to me and he groaned, continuing to kiss me lower.
I raised myself so he could remove my shirt. He lifted it over my body, tossing it to the floor, then rubbed his hands up and down my arms, setting me back down.
“I love you so much, Aly,” he said as his lips crushed mine. My hands reached for the hem of his shirt, which he helped me remove in one quick move. Our hands moved over one another like it was life or death. After a few minutes, he stopped and held himself over me, looking at my black lace bra. “Hell,” he whispered, dropping his head to my chest. I gasped as he moved his mouth over me, over my bra.
He stood and lifted me in his arms as he headed to my bedroom. I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed in pure contentment. He lowered me onto my bed and what happened next would be seared into my memory forever. It was like our first time all over again. He was so gentle and loving, treating me like I was his goddess and worshipping my body thoroughly. When he finally entered me, the feeling was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. We were perfectly made for each other. He twisted his hips as he kissed me, making the intense feelings climb higher and higher until I couldn’t take it anymore and exploded in complete ecstasy.
Ethan shouted out his release then dropped his head to my chest, panting. We stayed like this for minutes, both in a daze from what we just shared. I absently rubbed my fingers through his hair as each and every emotion coursed through me. I had never felt more complete in my life, ever.