Chapter Eleven
Ethan
Back at the house, we moved around each other in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. It felt domestic, like we were a couple. Anna had been quiet in the car, and I was lost in my own head. But it was an easy silence that descended between us. I realized I really enjoyed the evening. I enjoyed sleeping with Anna, but I enjoyed hanging out with her, too. She was funny and confident and busted my balls.
I got into bed and watched her as she brushed her hair and found my eyes before joining me in bed. I pulled her perfect ass toward me and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“Hi,” she said as she tipped her head back to my chest.
“Hi,” I replied. “How was your evening?”
“Good. I like your friends. How about you?”
“Good. I like my friends, too. And I like that they like you.”
“Yeah, that was a bit weird at the beginning with Mandy.”
“It was? Which bit?” Was tonight too complicated for her?
“Just her making such a fuss over meeting me.”
“Oh, I didn’t catch that. But I told you they’d have some fun with it. I thought I would get more of a hard time from Andrew, to be honest.”
“A hard time for bringing me? Because we’re so casual?”
I sucked in some air. Was I going to say this? I didn’t do bullshit. “Because I’ve never introduced them to a woman before.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“Because you normally keep your girlfriends chained up in your basement?” She was funny.
“I live in an apartment.” She kicked me. “Because I don’t have girlfriends. There are women I have sex with, but I don’t hang out with them. I told you, I don’t date.” God, she was going to run screaming for the fucking hills, and I wouldn’t blame her. I’d never questioned my relationships with women before, but I didn’t want her thinking I was a complete dick.
“Oh,” she replied. I needed to distract her.
“Are you sleepy?” I asked.
“Not so sleepy that I don’t want you.”
That was the right fucking answer.
Anna
The next day we barely made it out of bed. Ethan kept suggesting we go down to the beach, which was only at the end of the gardens, just beyond the pool, and on several occasions I’d agreed, but we never made it. We were in our own private world in the house and somehow it kept pulling us back, like if we stepped outside it something would be lost.
We were sitting on one of the loungers, me between his legs, leaning back against him. We were talking about his sister when his phone rattled against the side table. He picked it up and checked his message.
“Urgh.” I felt his discomfort vibrate in his chest.
“What’s up?”
“It’s from Mandy. She wants us to go to a party tonight.”
“That’s nice of her to invite us. You don’t want to go?”
“I think she just wants to hang out with you again. I hate parties in the Hamptons.”
“So we won’t go. But I think we should go out somewhere. To dinner or something. We’ve been in this house all day.”
His phone buzzed again and he handed it to me. My heart skipped. It seemed a strangely intimate thing to do.
“What?”
“Read it.”
I clicked on the phone so the message came into view.
Andrew: Dude. Get your ass to this party or Mandy’s going to have my balls.
I giggled. “Those guys are really cute together.”
Ethan’s arms tightened around me. “They really are, but don’t tell them I said so. They’ll think I’m going soft.”
“Mr. Scott, in my humble opinion, being soft is not something you need to worry about.”
“Never around you, baby.” He buried his head in my neck.
“We should go, though,” I said. “I’d hate for Andrew to lose his balls. And I like Mandy and Andrew. It’ll be nice.”
“Really? Fuck. You won’t like those parties.”
I felt myself stiffen. What did he mean by that?
“You don’t think the British fit into Hamptons society?”
“You’ll see.”
* * *
“I’m not going to be able to concentrate with you in that dress. All I can think about is that I could have it off in about two seconds.”
I was wearing a red jersey sleeveless dress. Ethan’s eyes had barely left me since we’d got into the car. It was a good thing Rory was driving or we would have been in an accident already. “Well, then, you’re not going to like it when I tell you that I’m not wearing underwear underneath, are you?”
His eyes flashed with lust and then anger and he shook his head. “One hour is all we’re spending at this god-awful party.”
“Ethan. How do you know that it’s going to be awful? We’re not even there yet.”
“I’ve been to this party a thousand times.”
“You’re so dramatic. If you’ve been to parties like this a lot, then you must like them.”
He just growled at me and I reached across and stroked his chin. He caught my wrist in his hand and brought my hand to his lips. “An hour, beautiful.”
Rory had strict instructions to be waiting for us in an hour when he dropped us. As soon as I climbed out of the car, Ethan was beside me, his arm around my waist, guiding me toward the sound of music and chatter beyond the line of trees right in front of us.
“Whose house is this?” I asked.
“Some dick banker that Andrew is friends with.”
“Why are all bankers dicks?” I asked. “Do you think banking turns them into dicks or that they only employ dicks to begin with?”
“An interesting philosophical question, Miss Anna. Why don’t we go back to the house and debate it. In bed. Naked. Me between your legs?”
I looked up at him and grinned. “Later. We have plenty of time.”
But we didn’t have plenty of time. We had exactly two nights before I flew back to London. My skin prickled at the thought. It wasn’t enough time. I wanted another week with him. Or maybe just a few more days.
Before panic could overwhelm me, we were confronted by a mass of people. It felt like they were all looking at us. Ethan squeezed me closer to him as we made our way through the crowd toward the bar that had been set up at the other end of the pool. Ethan briefly shook hands with a couple of over-tanned, middle-aged men, but kept us moving.
Ethan
Jesus, I really didn’t want to be here. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t insisted that we stay at home. Having her in that skimpy red dress, pressed up against me, knowing she wasn’t wearing underwear—it was almost painful. Even though I’d spent more time inside her today than not, I still wanted her. I wanted her to myself, without all these people getting in our way.
She didn’t fit in in this environment. She didn’t have to try so hard. I was so sick of this scene. I didn’t understand why Andrew and Mandy were still doing it. Andrew was almost as well connected as I was, so it couldn’t be for business, and Mandy certainly didn’t fit in with these women—her face still looked normal and not like a frozen Pillsbury Doughboy.
Andrew and Mandy were heading toward us.
“Hey guys, you made it,” Mandy said, hugging first Anna and then me.
“Yeah, we did it for a good cause—Andrew’s balls,” I said. Anna elbowed me in the ribs.
“Fuck you, dude,” Andrew said.
“I was excited to come. Thanks for inviting us,” Anna said.
Mandy clasped her hands together like an over-excited seal. “I’m so pleased you’re an ‘us’ and you’re here!”
I rolled my eyes at her excitement. I hoped she wasn’t making Anna uncomfortable. She didn’t want pressure to be an ‘us,’ I knew that for sure.
“To be honest, I’m not sure why we come to these parties. Although I like to see the women’s faces. It’s so bizarre,” Mandy said.
“I’ll go and get us some drinks,” I offered. “Andrew?”
“Yeah, a beer, thanks.”
“No, you dick, you’re coming with me.”
“Fuck you.”
“Stop being children and go and get your ladies some drinks,” Mandy instructed.
“She’s great, man,” Andrew said as we headed toward the bar.
I grinned and nodded.
“You like her.”
I nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
“So when does she go back to London?” I didn’t want to think about it. I’d promised her uncomplicated, and I didn’t go back on my promises.
“Monday.” I felt my jaw tense. “Can we get a beer, a whiskey, a Manhattan, and a glass of champagne?” I said to the bartender.
“She is your perfect woman if she drinks whiskey.”
I grinned and raised my eyebrows.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, I was faced with Julie … or Julia, or something.
“Hey, handsome,” she drawled. I cringed—I didn’t remember fucking her, but I knew we’d fucked. And I cringed that she had her hand on my shoulder when the only person I wanted touching me was Anna. I moved to the right to encourage her to remove her arm, but she just moved with me. Fuck. I hoped Anna wasn’t watching this. Would she care? I wasn’t sure, but I cared.
“Hey. This is my friend Andrew,” I said. I couldn’t introduce them properly when I couldn’t remember her fucking name.
“Hey, Andrew,” she said dismissively and turned back to me. “So, you should give me a call sometime. We could hang out again.”
Fucking hell. I put every effort into never having to have these conversations. I was always clear that they would have no call from me. Ever.
“I don’t think so. I’m with someone.” I wasn’t sure if I said it to soften what I was saying or because I wanted it to be true.
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Jesus, that made my stomach churn. As if I’d ever fuck her again.
“I’m not interested,” I said. It was rude, but I didn’t care. And it got the result I wanted: She removed her hand from my shoulder, called me an asshole, and walked away. Thank fuck for that. I turned to see if Anna had caught any of that, but she was talking to Mandy and that bitch Clarissa. Fuck, why had I agreed to come to this shitty party?
“I hate these parties, man.”
“Me, too,” he said. “I think it’s going to be fun until I actually get here.”
“Is this bartender on a go-slow?” I wanted to save Anna from Clarissa.
Just as we picked up the drinks, we were ambushed by the Zetter twins and some girl I’d never seen before. I worked with their father, so couldn’t brush them off as easily as I had Julie. Julia. Whatever her name was. But eventually we broke free and headed back to Anna and Mandy.