by Noelle Adams
“Do you want any of mine?” she asked, offering him hers, since it was only fair.
He slanted her a significant look and took an enormous spoonful from her cup.
She gasped and stared down at her depleted sundae.
He burst into warm laughter. “It’s only fair.”
“Jerk.”
“Guilty.”
She reached over and put a hand on his arm, mostly just wanting to touch him. She suddenly felt close to him again, as close as she’d ever felt, as if nothing important had changed, even though they were back home again.
“What is it?” he asked, his expression changing.
“I’m just relieved, I guess. It was feeling strange at first. Everything was so kind of…unreal on the trip that I was worried that maybe...maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe what we had wouldn’t work for the real world.”
“Of course it will work. It’s just a transition to get back to normal life.” He put down his sundae cup and palmed her cheek. “Honey, no matter how strange our circumstances, what we have is real, and it’s never going to go away.”
“I hope not.”
***
He drove her home and walked to the front door with her. There, he leaned over to kiss her softly on the mouth.
She returned the kiss, but pulled away before it got deep. “My parents are right inside.”
“I know.” He looked resigned but not annoyed. “We have plenty of time to do more than kiss.”
“Speaking of time, what are you going to do now? Since you’re out of the moonshine business, I mean.”
“Well, the first thing I have to do is try to follow up on all the property we stole or damaged and do something to repay the people.”
“How will you even find them?”
“I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”
She smiled up at him.
“What’s that look for?” he grumbled.
“Nothing. Just that you never were a very good bad boy. You’re just too sweet.”
“I’m not sweet.”
“We’ll have to disagree on that. But, after you look into that, what are you planning to do? For your future, I mean?”
“I guess I’ll go back to college. I don’t have that many more credits I need to graduate.”
“Really? That’s great. Will you go back to Tech?”
“That would make sense, since they have the best engineering program. But I hate to be away from you for a whole year. Maybe UVA has a decent program.”
“No, seriously, Ethan, I don’t think you should go to UVA just because I am. We’ll still be able to see each other plenty, and you should do what’s best for you.” She put her hands on his chest and held onto his shirt. “I mean it. I don’t want to rush things or move too quickly with this. Can we just take our time?”
“Of course. As long as we’re serious. I mean, I told you before, I can’t be casual about you.”
She felt a shiver of excitement from the deep feeling in his eyes. “I can’t be casual about you either. We can be serious but still go slow. Right?”
He smiled, meeting her eyes in a look of complete understanding. “Right.”
“I mean, I want to go to medical school and everything, and that’s a really long process. We don’t need to rush into things.”
“We won’t rush. We have our whole lives.” He paused. “I hope my…my past doesn’t get in the way of your future. It might make things more difficult down the road, for both of us.”
“I know. I can deal with it. I want you no matter what.”
He kissed her again, until he finally pulled away with a low groan. “Okay. I better leave. I love you, Ashley. You know that, right?”
“I do.”
She did know it. They weren’t just empty words. He’d lived them out over and over again. In courage, in commitment, in laughter, in sacrifice, in blood.
She knew he loved her, as deeply as she’d ever known anything.
And she knew one more thing.
“I love you too,” she whispered. Then she opened her parents’ door and went inside.
And finally, after everything, it was the end of the fourteenth day.
Epilogue
Sioux Falls, South Dakota – five years later
Ashley woke up thinking she was being smothered.
Panicked, she shifted her head automatically, even before she opened her eyes. It felt like a suffocating weight was pressed mercilessly onto her face. Instinctively pushing back against it, she was able to turn her head to the side and take several urgent breaths. She realized after only a minute what had happened.
Ethan had ended up on top of her again.
She remembered very distinctly that he’d been spooning her from behind when they went to sleep the night before. They’d had a silly conversation about how familiar this suite was to them now, after coming here once a year since that first night at the end of their road trip.
But both of them moved around a lot in their sleep, and at some point, Ashley must have rolled back over to face Ethan and somehow gotten halfway down his body.
It had been his belly that had been pressed into her face and was still smashed up against her cheek.
She assumed that she had tried to roll onto her back some time during the night, and Ethan—as was his unconscious habit—had rolled with her until he was lying pretty much on top of her.
Now that she’d figured it out and had gotten over the initial panic, she felt all right about it. Ethan’s belly was warm and familiar—and just a touch softer now than it had been when she’d first gotten to know it—so it wasn’t the worst thing to be pressed up against.
She didn’t bother moving away from him, even though she was sweating a little.
Adjusting her position until she was more comfortable, she cuddled up against his body with her head pillowed on his middle. He was still asleep—she could tell by his deep, even breathing—so she amused herself for nearly twenty minutes by watching the development of his growing erection.
The sheet had slipped to the side hours ago, and Ethan had gone to sleep without any clothes on.
She had been gently stroking his lower belly, and her fingers tensed involuntarily when Ethan’s voice startled her out of her bemusement.
“Watching the show?”
“Yes.” She started up her gentle caress once more, but never moved her hand lower than his stomach. “You just got hard. I saw it happen.”
“How thrilling for you.” Ethan’s voice was dry, and it made Ashley chuckle.
“It was a little thrilling.”
His hand moved to brush through her hair. “How did you end up all the way down there?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, rolling over so that she was looking up at his face. “You were on top of me when I woke up. I had to roll you over onto your back so I didn’t suffocate.”
“And so you decided to retaliate by making my stomach your pillow?”
She grinned at him in pleased languor and patted his side. “It’s a very nice pillow. I’m enjoying it very much. Quite comfortable.”
Ethan snorted in amusement. “I suppose that’s your subtle way of telling me I need to spend some time working out.”
“Well, you haven’t been getting much exercise lately, but I would hate for you to lose these.” She gave his side a firm squeeze.
He rolled his eyes. “Only you would think extra fat on me is a good thing. I do need to work out more. But I’m so busy with work, and when I get home, I always want to spend my energy...in a different way.”
“Don’t I know it,” she complained. “It happens all the time. I just get cozy in bed and ready to sleep, and there you are, wanting to make love again. After all this time, I don’t know why I put up with it.”
“Poor thing,” he said huskily, trying to get his hand around one of her breasts, which was pressed up against his skin. “You always suffer through it so patiently in
silence.”
“Not usually in silence. As you should know very well.” She pressed a kiss into the middle of his belly and hauled herself up. She had been planning to pull up so she could make out with him a little, but his hot, greedy expression made her pause as she knelt beside him on the bed.
She glanced down at herself to see what had sparked his interest. Nothing unusual. Just her normal, mostly naked body. She sighed, “You’re not the only one who could stand a few more workouts. I specifically need to do some squats and lunges.”
His brow lowered. “What is that supposed to mean?” He sounded almost offended, although she had been insulting herself.
Ashley craned her neck in an attempt to see the back of her thighs. She figured it was some universal grace that it was one part of the body that was almost impossible to see without a mirror. “I’m talking about my thighs,” she grumbled, giving up and flopping down beside him.
“Well, don’t,” Ethan demanded impatiently, looking decidedly crabby. “Your thighs are perfect. I love them.” To prove his point, he slid his hands down to squeeze just under her butt. “Perfect,” he whispered, as she lowered her mouth to his for a kiss.
She sighed in contentment when she finally pulled away and immediately forgot all about her troubling cellulite. “I suppose that’s all that matters—that you don’t mind. Since you’re the only man who sees me naked.”
“I’m the only man who will ever see you naked,” he corrected, a possessive fire igniting in his eyes.
It was her turn to roll her eyes. “Yes, dear. No one but you will ever lay eyes on all this glorious flesh.”
His thumb brushed over one of her nipples. “Glorious is right.”
Ashley was feeling drowsy and happy—which was about right since they were at the end of their annual trek to Sioux Falls—so she enjoyed Ethan’s little touches for a while, not feeling anything close to urgency yet.
After a few minutes, she murmured, “You know, I guess I have to resign myself to being old-fashioned after all.”
“Why’s that?” he asked with a smile, his thumb moving to her lower lip.
Ashley was tempted to bite his thumb, but that might interfere with her pleasant, dreamy haze, so she just spoke around it instead. “Well, I was just thinking that you’re probably the only man I will ever have sex with in my life. Doesn’t that seem old-fashioned?”
He narrowed his eyes. “It seems about right to me. And what is this about ‘probably’?”
She giggled at his annoyed tone. “Well, just in case you die when I’m still in my prime. I might have to move on to another man. I have certain needs, after all.”
He scowled at her. “I’ll have to make sure you’re satisfied enough to hold out after I’m gone.”
Her giggle turned into a full-fledged laughter. “Does that mean we’re going to have even more sex? How are we going to make the time in our busy schedules? You with your job and me in medical school. We’ll have to stop sleeping altogether.”
Ethan joined her in laughter, and then they kissed for another few minutes.
“God, Ethan,” she gasped at last. “I love you so much.”
“Despite the ruthless mockery, I happen to love you too.” He kissed her deeply and pushed her over onto her back. Moved over her, his body covering hers perfectly, their skin already clinging and damp.
His erection was pressing against her insistently, and she felt her inner muscles clench in response.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
He had left it on the nightstand before they’d gone to bed last night. Instinctively, he reached toward it and glanced at the caller.
Ashley saw his face when he read who was calling. She relaxed back onto the pillow. “Go ahead and take it,” she told him easily.
“It’ll be important,” he explained, looking torn. “But…”
She waved him away. “It’s fine, Ethan. We have plenty of time. But don’t forget that we have lunch plans with Rick and Karen.”
He nodded and flipped open his phone, getting off the bed, grabbing a pair of pants from the floor, and making his way into the second room of the suite where he had set up his work stuff.
He was completely naked and still had an erection, but he didn’t seem to have noticed.
She chuckled and admired his very fine ass as he walked out of the room.
She knew he’d be a long time. She hadn’t seen who was calling, but he was working on a big project that had some pressing deadlines. He was a structural engineer, as he’d always wanted to be.
It hadn’t been easy. He’d done well in college, but he was on the job market for a while before he’d gotten his first entry-level job because of his record. He’d been doing fine since, though, and she thought his future would be good.
So she wasn’t even annoyed by his departure. She just snuggled back into bed and dozed for about an hour.
It was 10:30 in the morning when she next looked at the clock. She’d have to take a shower and get dressed soon—their lunch plans were for noon.
Ethan was still on the phone. She could occasionally hear him when his voice got particularly intense.
She started feeling a little mushy—the sappiness had never fully gone away. She couldn’t believe they had been together for so long, and she never questioned anymore that they’d be together for the rest of their lives.
And that was the thought that pushed her to do it. She jumped out of the bed and ran over to the dresser, where she had left her purse the previous evening. She unzipped the small inner pocket and pulled out a ring. It was exquisite, tasteful, and cost more money than Ethan should have spent.
An intricate platinum band with one large diamond in the center of the setting.
Ethan had offered it to her—with a proposal of marriage—two weeks ago. It had been a little awkward, since she always had in mind that they’d get married when she finished with medical school. He’d known that was what she’d been thinking, but he’d proposed early anyway.
She’d been rather rattled by the surprise. Both of them had been rather hurt by the discussion that had followed. She had finally accepted the ring with the promise to wear it when she was ready to become engaged.
She knew why she hadn’t been able to say yes to Ethan then—it was the same reason she hadn’t moved in with him until after she had graduated from college—but it had been so hard to explain it to Ethan.
He had simply thought that she didn’t want to marry him. Which wasn’t the case at all.
She did want to marry him. And it was silly to hesitate just because their relationship still wasn’t perfect.
He was still working on not being controlling. And she was still trying to get over that safe, secure good-girl fantasy where everything fell in place exactly as she intended.
But they were doing really well. Both of them were better than they’d been five years ago, and they were even better together. She slipped Ethan’s engagement ring onto her finger. Really liked how it looked on her hand.
“Sorry,” Ethan said, coming into the room at last. “I didn’t think it would last that long.”
“No problem,” she replied quietly, standing in her underwear in front of the dresser.
“What are you doing over there?” he asked curiously, coming over to stand behind her.
Now that the time was here, Ashley felt oddly embarrassed, liked she wasn’t sure how to bring it up. So she decided that she’d just wait until Ethan noticed the ring on his own. “Trying to get up the energy to start getting ready.”
He met her eyes in the mirror above the dresser. “So I suppose it’s too late to follow through with what we began before,” Ethan murmured, draping his arm around her waist.
Ashley sighed in disappointment. “We should probably start getting ready for lunch. We only see Rick and Karen once a year.”
Neither Rick Smith nor Ethan were involved in moonshine anymore, but they’d kept in touch, and they all got together during their annual vi
sits.
“We can make up for lost time later this afternoon,” she added.
Ethan gave her a hot look. “You better believe it.”
So they started to shower and get dressed, going through their normal routine at a slower pace, and they were ready in plenty of time to go to lunch.
Ethan still hadn’t noticed the ring.
***
It was evening when they returned to their suite. Ashley threw her shopping bag and purse onto a chair, feeling tired, frustrated, and annoyed.
Annoyed with Ethan.
She’d been wearing Ethan’s ring all day—except for the two hours at lunch, not wanting one of their friends to point it out before Ethan realized it himself. They’d been together all day. Her hand had been in plain sight for a good portion of the time.
And Ethan hadn’t even had the courtesy to notice that they were now officially engaged to be married.
It had gone on for so long now that it had become a point of pride for her not to bring it to his attention herself. As she kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the loveseat, she wondered how many weeks it would be before Ethan finally got around to glancing at her left hand.
Ethan set down the basket of goodies that Karen had baked for them and shook his head at her. “Would you like to tell me what you’ve been pouting about for the last three hours?”
“I haven’t been pouting. And I’d appreciate if you’d use a different word. When you’re annoyed by something, you seem to think it’s somehow justified, but when I’m annoyed, you call it ‘pouting’ or ‘whining.’ I hope you realize the double-standard in that.”
Rolling his eyes, he sat down in a chair next to her. “I don’t think you’re being childish. I do think you’re upset about something and not telling me what it is. So would you please tell me why you’ve been less than happy with me this afternoon? Is that a more appropriately worded question?”
She hesitated, trying to figure out how to tell him that she was wearing his ring.
Ethan groaned. “Damn it, Ashley. What the hell is wrong?”
“If you’d open your eyes, maybe you’d see.”
“See what? Is something happening with us that I should know about?”
