CHAPTER 17
Ethan’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion. He’d been with the fugitive task squad tracking down a murderer for the past thirty-six hours. During that time, there’d been a standoff, and he’d been shot. He’d spent an hour being examined by a medic that he hadn’t needed since his vest took the brunt of the shot, another three hours on paperwork, and another two in the debriefing. He hadn’t slept. Hadn’t eaten. He was sore, and it hurt to breathe.
But as he stood outside the rehearsal space waiting for Jess, he could honestly say that there was nowhere he’d rather be. Well, maybe he’d rather be in bed with Jess, but just knowing that he was about to see her, that he was about to hear her voice, had him floating on cloud nine.
It was a place he was getting used to being, as he’d been there since their weekend getaway. Nothing had ever been as perfect as their weekend in Chicago. He still hadn’t fully processed everything that had happened between him and Jess or had any idea what it meant, but he did know it was a step in the right direction.
He’d wanted so badly to declare his undying love for her, but he’d somehow managed to keep it to himself. Even in the texts they’d exchanged, he’d wanted to end them all with, I love you. He knew better than most that when someone you love walks out the door, it could be the last time you see them. But he was still worried that if he rushed her, rushed them, she might bail.
So as much as he’d love to suggest that they go back to his place, or hers, after this lesson, he was going to refrain. He’d waited a lifetime already. He could wait a few more weeks, or months if he had to, to be with her. Really be with her.
His phone buzzed, and he was pretty sure he knew who it was before he even looked at the screen. Sure enough, it was his grandma.
“Hey, Na-”
“Young man, you tell me what’s going on right now.” She used a tone he hadn’t heard since she’d found empty beer bottles behind their house when he was a teenager.
He was thirty-two years old, but at that moment he felt like a guilty teenager again.
“Well, I’m on the phone, talking to-”
She cut him off. “Don’t back talk. I’m serious.”
“So am I.” He knew he was pushing his luck, but it was too fun not to push her buttons. “I’m seriously on the phone with you. And how am I supposed to answer your questions if I don’t talk back to you?”
“Ethan Michael Steele.”
Oh boy, she used his middle name. This was serious.
“I do not have the patience nor the inclination to play word games or joke around with you right now.”
“Sorry, Nana,” he automatically apologized. “What are you calling about?”
“I just ran into Doris, and apparently she knows more about your goings on than I, your grandmother, do. She almost let slip, several times, some secret that she is keeping for you.”
Of course she did. He should’ve known that Mrs. Weathersby would want to lord over his grandma that she was privy to information that Nana wasn’t. He should’ve seen this coming. He’d promised Jess that he wouldn’t tell anyone what they were doing for the talent show, but he knew that his grandma would never let this go until she got to the bottom of it. Out of the two secrets he was keeping from her, this was the lesser of two evils.
“It’s not a big deal,” he assured her. “Jess and I are entering the talent show, and we’re dancing-”
“You’re what?” She interrupted again. “My hearing aid must be on the fritz. It sounded like you said you were dancing.”
“Now who’s got jokes?” he grinned, knowing that if she was teasing him, she wasn’t that mad.
“I’m allowed to have jokes. You know what they say about your elders?”
“Put them in homes?” he teased back.
“Respect them.”
“Oh, I always get those two mixed up.”
“So why does Busybody Betty know about this and your grandmother doesn’t?”
“Like you so kindly pointed out, dancing is not exactly a talent of mine, so Jess reached out to Mrs. Weathersby for a recommendation for a dance instructor.”
“You’re taking dance lessons?”
“Yes, but Jess wanted to keep it quiet because she thought we’d get better scores if no one knew what we were doing. The element of surprise.” Ethan thought that she didn’t want to get anyone’s expectations too high, especially the judges. “So we didn’t tell anyone about the dance.”
Since his grandma was one of the most competitive people he knew, he figured she’d be on board with that plan and forgive his indiscretion.
“Ahhh, I see. That girl is a smart one.”
She was smart, and a lot more than that. He’d thought he knew Jess, but the more time he spent with her, the more he knew that what he’d known was just a small percentage of who she is. And he’d been all in with just that. But the more he got to know her, got to discover the depths of her soul, her mind, her heart, he was more and more impressed with the woman she was.
“It’s the old NTKB.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, so he guessed, “New Kids on the Block?”
“No, that’s NKOTB,” she said as if he were a moron. “NTKB. Need-to-know basis.”
“I don’t think people say that.”
“Sure they do. It’s like BTW is by the way, and TBT is Throwback Thursday, and LOL is laugh out loud.”
“I’m familiar with the concept of an acronym. I was just saying I don’t think people use that particular one.”
“Well, you know me, I’m a pioneer.”
“True,” he couldn’t argue with her there.
“Are you off duty?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you come over for dinner, and bring that smart, beautiful girlfriend of yours.”
“I’m gonna have to take a raincheck. I’m in Rosewood Grove meeting Jess for a dance lesson.”
Nana started chuckling, “Oh I would give anything to be there to see that.”
She wasn’t doing anything to help his growing suspicion that he was going to make a fool out of himself. But if it made Jess happy, that was all that mattered. Just thinking of her smile made anything worth it.
He was reminded of that when he saw her smile walking straight toward him.
“I gotta go, I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Tell Jess I said hi and thank her for the hours of entertainment I’m going to get out of this.”
She was still giggling as he ended the call. He sighed as he put it in his pocket.
“Everything okay?” Her brows lifted as she eyed his phone.
“Yeah. That was Nana. I had to tell her about the dance.”
“Oh, good.” Jess clapped her hands together.
That was not the reaction he’d expected, but he was glad to see she wasn’t upset.
Her smile broadened. “I had to tell Ali.”
“That’s good news?” He’d thought they were trying to keep this thing under wraps so he wasn’t sure why she’d be happy that the circle of people that knew had expanded.
Her eyes twinkled as she nodded. “Yes, because I was nervous to tell you that I let the cat out of the bag, but since you did too, you can’t be mad at me.”
“You think I’d be mad at you for telling Ali that we’re dancing at the talent show?”
Her tone was matter-of-fact as she said, “You are pretty grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy.”
“Do you remember when that meme of Grumpy Cat was going around?”
He knew where she was going with this.
“How many people posted it on your wall side by side with a picture of you?”
He did remember that. And he had to admit the similarities were pretty spot on.
“That’s just my face.”
She patted his arm, and her tone was overly condescending as she placated him. “I know, buddy. It’s okay. Some people have RBF, you have RGF.”
“RBF?” What was it with all these acronyms?
“Resting bitch face,” she grinned.
Ah, he saw where she was going with this. “And RGF is resting—”
“—grumpy face.” She cut in, clearly proud of herself. “Yes. You, sir, suffer from RGF. It’s okay. I hear one in ten men experience RGF. I think there might be a pill for it.” She pretended to be putting great thought into something then snapped her fingers. “There is, it’s called a chill pill.”
Even when she was giving him a hard time, or especially when she was giving him a hard time, all he wanted to do was push her against a wall and kiss her senseless. He inhaled slowly through his nose, resisting the urge to do just that as she bopped past him with a satisfied expression on her face.
He opened the door and she walked through it, glancing over her shoulder as she did, “Oh and I also told Ali about our,” she lifted her fingers and made air quotes, “relationship.”
He stared at her, not sure how to respond. It was clear that she thought he’d be upset with her, but he couldn’t care less who she told. This entire thing wasn’t really to keep the matchmakers out of his hair, it was just to get close to Jess while her guard was down, but she didn’t know that.
She pointed at him. “See. Grumpy. You should really look into getting those pills.”
With that, she spun and headed up the stairway. He didn’t mind the view at all. Today she was wearing loose sweats with a drawstring waist and a shirt that landed just below her rib cage. The clothing highlighted her hourglass figure.
He’d spent a lot of time studying every inch of Jess’s body this past weekend and while he loved every single part of her, his favorite real estate might be her torso. He was borderline obsessed with the way her waist pinched in at the center and flared out at her hips. And Ethan was happy that he was going to have an excuse to touch it for the next two hours.
“Hello, Miss Penelope,” Jess said brightly as they made their way into the rehearsal space.
Ethan raised his hand in greeting, less enthusiastically than his dance partner. The upside of the next one hundred and twenty minutes was that he’d be with Jess. The downside was, they had a chaperone.
But, hey that was the price he had to pay, and he was more than happy to cough up the dough.
“You’re late,” Miss Penelope snapped.
Both Jess and Ethan’s eyes shot to the clock hanging above the center mirror. It showed it was two minutes past six. That was downright early for Jess, but he didn’t feel either woman would appreciate him pointing that out.
“Oh, I’m sorry-”
“Sorry is not acceptable. My time is valuable and if you don’t respect it then-”
“It’s my fault, Miss Penelope.” Ethan instinctively took a step forward, so that he was in the drill instructor’s line of fire. “I was held up at work. I’m on a task force, and we were tracking down a violent offender who murdered two innocent people. There was a standoff when we went to apprehend him, and I was injured.” Ethan pulled up his shirt to show the bruise that he’d sustained when he’d been shot.
He heard Jess gasp quietly beside him.
“I haven’t slept or eaten in thirty-six hours, but I’m here because I do respect your time.” He was here because he respected Jess and wanted to see her, but Miss Hardass didn’t need to know that.
“Well, then,” Miss Penelope cleared her throat and looked unsure of how to respond, “let’s get to work.” Then she crossed the room toward her music player. “Do a few moments of the connecting exercise and then stretch.”
He turned to face Jess, expecting her to mouth a thank you or a nice save but instead he saw that she was looking up at him with tears pooled in her bottom lids.
“Hey,” He touched the side of her face and ran his thumb along her soft cheek and whispered, “It’s okay, she’s not mad any-”
Jess swatted his hand away from her and her expression morphed to anger. “I don’t care about her! Why didn’t you tell me you got hurt?”
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve been shot-”
“You got shot?!” Her voice cracked and whatever he still had left of his heart was transferred to her in that instant. And when he saw her lip tremble he knew that any chance he’d ever had of getting it back was over. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” He took her hand and pressed it to his chest covering it with his own. It was something that his dad had done for him when Ethan had been scared of him getting hurt. “Do you feel that? I’m fine.”
Her eyes softened for a moment before narrowing as she tugged her arm away and slapped his arm.
“What was that for?”
“For getting shot.” She said as she sat on the floor and spread her legs apart in a stretch he was very much a fan of. She lowered her body between her outstretched legs, spreading her arms out in front of her and her head lifted up so she could look at him. “Don’t do it again and if you do, tell me.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Mr. Steele,” The drill sergeant called out. “Less talking, more stretching.”
“You got me in trouble,” he whispered as he bent over and touched his toes.
“You are trouble.” There was a seriousness in her tone that if he’d had a moment alone with her, he’d have followed up on, but he didn’t get the chance.
As soon as rehearsal was over, Jess hightailed it to her car. He followed behind, giving her the space she wanted but he’d expected her to stop at some point. Once they made it to the parking lot, Miss Penelope joined them and asked if Ethan would escort her to her house two blocks away since he was a man of the law.
He agreed, of course, and asked Jess to wait for him. She didn’t. Before he made it back to the parking lot, she’d texted him that she was tired and they could talk later.
Thankfully, he was a patient man.