Shiver (17 page)

A few minutes later, the nurse poked her head back in. “Miss?” she asked quietly.

I sat up. “Yes?”

“There’s someone here in the waiting room for you.”

I looked at her, confused, but got up and walked out, still only in my socks and the same jeans and rumpled sweater I had worn on the airplane. As I walked down the hall, I took the rubber band from my wrist and swept my hair up into a messy bun, squinting at the fluorescent lights. I stopped short, jaw dropping when I passed through the double doors into the waiting area to see a very rumpled Ethan slouched in a chair. His head came up when he saw me, and he jumped to his feet. I burst into tears for the first time all day as I ran to him and leapt into his arms. He squeezed me tight, stealing my breath, and let me cry it out into his shoulder, my legs locked around his waist.

My tears subsided after a few minutes, and he stepped backward to sit down, not releasing me. I pulled back to look at him, wiping my tears. His hair was disheveled, and his jaw was scruffy, and his eyes had circles under them. He was wearing a gray T-shirt with a coffee stain on it and jeans with a pair of Chucks. He was a mess, and I’d never seen him look sexier.

“How is he?” he asked.

I nodded and sniffled. “He woke up just a few minutes ago. Talked a little and then fell back asleep. The nurse thinks he’s going to be just fine, but I haven’t talked to the doctor yet. He broke a bunch of ribs and his arm and collarbone. He’ll be here for a while, and it’s gonna be a bitch to recover from. But he’s good.” I smiled.

We were quiet again for a while, both of us wondering what to say.

“I’m so sorry, Lissa.” He finally spoke, breaking the silence.

I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. I handled everything so wrong. I was just so mad and hurt and frustrated.” I moved to get up, but his hands gripped my hips to hold me still.

“I never even thought about the fact that Whitney didn’t know who you are to me. What you mean to me. I figure everybody just knows. I never meant to treat you in any way that would make you doubt us. Beyond her lessons, I don’t give that woman even a passing thought. I know she flirts with me, but”—he sighed and linked his hands together behind my back—“Lissa, my female clients have always flirted with me. I think it’s half the reason I have the clientele that I do.” He shrugged. “It’s always worked in my favor, but I’ve never taken advantage of it, and I guess I’m just used to it. I didn’t think about what that might look like to you.”

I swung around, settling into the chair next to him and linking our hands. “I can understand that, Ethan. And I don’t mind them flirting with you. But I wouldn’t mind if you discouraged them a little bit. And you can’t omit information just because you think I’ll get mad.” I looked down at our hands together and thoughtfully traced the lines of ink on his arms with a finger. “I’m sorry I took off. It was childish. I just… didn’t want to see you or have to talk. I needed to process. When I got off the plane, I never turned my phone back on, and then Steph got the call from my mom and we came straight here. It’s been a blur.”

“I was scared shitless that I couldn’t get a hold of you. I couldn’t believe you’d left without talking to me. You can’t do that to me. I love you, Lissa. That means there’s no leaving. This is it. You are it for me.” He looked me hard in the eyes. “I was looking up flights when Steph called and told me what happened to your brother. I was coming anyway, but I knew I needed to get here right away.”

“I’m glad you’re here. So glad. But what about José? And Charlie. Where’s my dog?” My eyes widened.

He laughed softly. “José is awesome. Charlie is staying with him, and it turns out he’s a great big romantic guy and said he’d cover Easter so I could be here. And I told him I’d give him an extra week off in May.” He looked at me sideways. “That’ll be a rough week.”

I nodded my agreement and leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing heavily, suddenly very tired. He kissed the top of my head and rested his on mine. After a few moments, I shook myself awake.

“I want to go check on Patrick. Do you want to come with me?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll let me in since I’m not family.”

I held out my hand. “Come with me. They’re pretty nice back there. Plus it’s the middle of the night. I think they’ll let you in.”

We walked past the front desk of the nurse’s station, and the nurse from earlier smiled as us.

“Family?” she asked.

“Yep,” I answered.

We slowly peered into Patrick’s room so as not to wake him up and tiptoed in when we saw he was sleeping peacefully. I lay on my side in the reclining chair, and Ethan squeezed in behind me, stretching his arm under my head. It wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world, but I relished our closeness.

“You know I was never leaving you, right?” I whispered, wanting to clarify my actions.

I felt him lift his head to look down at me. “You know I would never let you, right?”

I smiled and wiggled my hips back into him.

“Watch it,” he growled. “Of all the inappropriate things.”

“Stop. You’re further injuring me,” we were startled to hear Patrick whisper.

My elbow reflexively flew back, sending Ethan tumbling to the ground. I tried to muffle my laughs into the pillow, but my snorts were loud and clear.

“Seriously, stop.” Patrick’s voice was strained as he tried not to laugh. “This hurts so bad. You have no idea.”

I sobered quickly, thinking of his pain, but still, I couldn’t hide my smile. “Good to see you laughing, bro.”

He coughed lightly. “You must be Ethan,” he said without turning his head.

“Nice to meet you, man. Wish it was under better circumstances.” Ethan had picked himself up from the ground and walked over to Patrick’s bedside.

Patrick nodded slightly. “Just don’t fuck with my sister, dude. Or I’ll kick your ass.” He looked down at himself. “In a couple of weeks.”

Ethan just laughed. “You should worry more about what your sister will do to me. I never want to be on her bad side.”

Patrick smiled. “I like to think I taught her that.”

“Yeah,” I chimed in. “You taught me to deal with assholes. That’s why I’m so well equipped to deal with men on a regular basis.”

We all chuckled, but I noticed when Patrick started to yawn. “Hey, can I call Mom and Dad now?”

He shook his head and started to drift back off. “Just wait till morning. They’ll be pissed, but they need sleep. And so do I.” He peeked at us through one eye. “You guys staying?”

I nodded, reaching for Ethan’s hand.

“Just don’t scar me for life, okay? And make sure you’re up before Mom and Dad get here in the morning,” he said seriously.

I smirked. “You’re just lucky I can’t hit you right now.” But he’d already drifted off.

I looked to Ethan. “Whatever he’s on must be amazing.”

“Well, he deserves it.”

We flopped back onto the awkward recliner and spooned into each other. I sighed contentedly as Ethan kissed my neck and pulled me tighter.

“There’s something about this whole situation that should be more awkward,” he said, pondering.

I shrugged. “We do weird well, baby. Let’s roll with it.”

Chapter 21

Y
ou know those times when you’re hearing things before you’re fully awake? And you’re trying to decide at what point you should come to? I was there, listening to my parents whispering not even slightly quietly about Ethan and me, remarking on his tattooed arms and why they were wrapped around my waist. I heard Annie talking about how cute we were. I heard my dad grumbling about us sleeping in the same chair and Patrick whispering to leave us alone. I opened one eye to take in the scene of flowers, coffee cups, and paper bags of breakfast sandwiches. Pushing myself up, I glanced around. Steph was sitting in the corner, fully amused, watching us all.

My movement caused Ethan to rouse as well, and he started to pull himself upright, using a hand around my hip and dangerously close to between my legs to help. I cleared my throat and nudged him with my elbow a little harder than I meant to since it caused him to fall off the chair again. He looked up at me from the ground with a confused expression.

“Morning,” I said sheepishly to my family.

Ethan slowly rose to his feet and ran a hand over his face and through his hair. If possible, he was even more rumpled than earlier and was still trying to wake up.

“Mr. Thompson, Mrs. Thompson. I’m Ethan Rex. It’s nice to meet you.”

He extended a hand to my father who shook it and greeted him. My mom, however, pulled him into a hug, clearly startling him, followed by Annie.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ethan. Please, call us Wendy and Henry.”

He smiled at her and nodded. “Sorry for…” He cleared his throat and gestured to our shared bed. “I got in early this morning and came straight here.”

I could tell he was a little nervous, which I’d rarely had the pleasure of seeing. But I’d impressed on him how traditional my family was in certain things, and this was one of them. When we visited their house, they would insist on separate bedrooms until there was a ring on my finger. It’d never been an issue for me because I’d never brought a boy home before.

My dad nodded uncomfortably. “That’s all right, son. We’ll have a talk later.”

I chuckled at Ethan’s wide-eyed look.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s leave Ethan and me alone and remember why we’re here.” I pointed to Patrick, who was halfway sitting up with the help of the hospital bed.

“Don’t put this on me,” he retorted, his words a bit labored as he tried to move his ribs as little as possible. “I told you to wake up early.”

“Okay, okay,” Annie piped up. “Special circumstances. Let’s move on. How are you feeling, Patrick?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Like I got hit by a truck.”

She smirked. “Glad to see your sense of humor has returned along with your consciousness. When can you get out of this place?”

He gave a minute shake of his head. “I have no idea. A couple of days at least, I’d assume. They’ll want to monitor me since I’ve been unconscious, and I need to figure out recovering without the help of copious amounts of morphine.” He pointed to his IV.

“You were very lucky, son.” My dad walked over. “The police will be in later today to get a statement from you. Do you remember anything?”

He shook his head and leaned his head back on his pillow to close his eyes.

“I think that’s our signal to leave him alone for a while,” I said. “Mom, can I take Ethan to get settled at the condo and we can shower?”

“Of course, dear. We grabbed your suitcase last night and put it in the white guest room. Go ahead and put Ethan in the blue one,” she said pointedly, handing me her keys and parking ticket.

I smiled as we walk out of the room and headed for the exit.

“Glad that wasn’t awkward,” Ethan muttered.

I started to laugh harder than necessary. And couldn’t stop. He watched me from the corner of his eye.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “That has to be the worst ‘meet the parents’ story ever.”

He cocked his head. “Worse than meeting my dad?”

“Yes.” I nodded, composing myself. “Because I don’t actually care what your dad thinks, and I’m assuming I won’t need to see him again. You, however, will get to see my parents a lot.” I started to laugh again when he pinched my side in retaliation.

“They’re totally serious, aren’t they? They know we’re living together, but we still have to sleep in separate beds?”

“Uh… I’ve sort of skated over the issue of us living together.”

He stopped in his tracks as I kept walking. I turned when I realized he wasn’t with me anymore and saw him looking at me sternly, hands on his hips.

“They don’t know we’re living together?” he asked incredulously.

I shrugged. “It hasn’t come up. And it’s none of their business.”

He groaned and ran a hand over his face. “This is going to get so much more awkward.”

“Oh stop. It’s fine. They don’t really care; they just don’t want to have to hear about it. I’m their little girl. They just like to pretend I’m gonna stay that way.”

“Fine,” he mouthed and kept walking. I smiled to myself and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.

We found my parents’ silver SUV and threw our stuff in the back. Ethan was only carrying a small backpack and I eyed it.

“What do you have in there?”

“I have no idea. I think another pair of jeans and a shirt. I was rushed.” He raised an eyebrow.

I patted his knee as we settled into our seats and I started the engine. “I love you.”

“You better.”

Chapter 22

A
few hours later, we arrived back at the hospital, bringing lunch. Annie had gone to relieve Rob of kid duty, and my parents were keeping Patrick company. Ethan and I had each taken welcome showers—separately. I’d tried to sneak in, but after a smoking-hot kiss, he’d actually turned me down for the first time ever. Apparently respecting my family trumped respecting his. I was pouting, but I also didn’t think he could hold out for long.

We set bags of food down as we walked into Patrick’s room. “You look better every time I see you,” I told my brother.

He rubbed his eyes and nodded. “I just woke up. I’ve never slept so much in my life.”

I looked to my parents. “What have you been doing while he sleeps?”

They pointed to the TV where the news was playing, muted.

“Wow, it’s a party in here. Listen, why don’t you guys take a break? Ethan and I can sit.”

“Yeah, Mom, you don’t have to sit here with me all the time. I’m fine.” Patrick nodded.

“We’ll take a break next time you drift off, dear,” my mom said.

I started unpacking sandwiches and passed an egg salad to Patrick without making eye contact. He opened it up and pretended to gag. “Ugh, how could you.” He wrapped it back up and pushed it away.

I snorted in laughter and handed him a roast beef. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

“You’re a horrible sister.”

Ethan laughed at us. “You should take her out for a frozen banana,” he told my brother.

“Oh God. A what? Dude, that’s disgusting.” The look on Patrick’s face mirrored my own.

Ethan looked at us both with wide eyes as I nodded my agreement, then looked at my parents. “What did you do to make your kids hate a piece of fruit that much? Was there a bad experience?”

My dad shrugged. “Son, if you stick around a while, you’ll find all kinds of inexplicable quirks around this family.”

Ethan laughed. “I’m learning this.”

I smacked his chest.

We all had an easy lunch together, but after an hour or so, Patrick was worn out. We told him to sleep and we all filed out of the hospital. Ethan and I climbed into the back of my parents’ car while they sat in front, and we headed back to their place. Riding in relative quiet, Ethan stole glances at me with a sideways smile as we chastely held hands.

“Hey, Dad,” I called to the front. “Can we use the car to run to the mall? In his rush to get here, Ethan only brought one change of clothes, and I thought we’d grab a few things.”

“You know”—my dad looked at us in the rearview mirror—“I actually have a few errands to run. Why doesn’t Ethan ride with me, and you can help your mother at the house. Annie and Rob and the kids are coming for dinner, and we still plan on having Easter either here or at the hospital.”

“Oh, uh.” I looked over at Ethan’s expression: outwardly calm but slight panic in the eyes. “I can come with you guys.”

“No, honey.” My mom looked back at me. “Let’s let the boys go, and you can help me with cooking.”

Stuck. We were stuck in my parents’ web of decorum.
Sigh
. I smirked at Ethan. There wasn’t much we could do. He was gonna have to suck it up and spend some quality time with my father.

I leaned over to whisper in his ear. “You did say you were ‘all in,’ right?”

He pinched my side playfully and whispered back, “You better hope so.”

My mom and I spent the afternoon prepping for dinner, which wasn’t that hard since we were grilling beef and veggies. We basically chopped. I knew I should have been suspicious of my parents’ behavior earlier, but now it was confirmed. Poor Ethan.

As I finished wiping down the counter, my mom looked to me from the sink. “It’s good for him, you know.”

I snorted. “As long as you’re honest and aware, it’s fine, Mom. He loves me, and I love him. I can’t imagine he wasn’t expecting some kind of inquisition.”

“So he’s the one?” she asked as she dried a pan.

I nodded happily. “He really is.”

My dad and Ethan came through the door a long while later, laden with bags like a bunch of women. But my dad was smiling and they were relaxed and joking with each other.

Once dinner was all prepped, I decided to take some food over to the hospital where Steph had been hanging with Patrick after visiting some friends in the area. I grabbed Ethan to help me, promising my parents we’d be back later.

Patrick had been moved out of ICU, which was a relief, and we passed into his room to find Steph chatting animatedly to him while he stared at the television. From watching, I was pretty sure he was tired and wanted everyone to leave him alone.

I set out some food on the side table and nudged Steph over so I could sit on the chair with her.

Patrick looked at me. “Did you hear?”

I shook my head.

“Home tomorrow.”

“Yay!” I clapped. “That’s great news. I wasn’t looking forward to Easter dinner in the hospital. No offense.”

“None taken. I wasn’t either. But you didn’t hear the best part.” He grinned evilly. “I’m staying at Mom and Dad’s for a while, which means you get to sleep on the couch for the rest of the week.”

I groaned. “Awesome.”

“No, she doesn’t. I’ll take the couch,” Ethan interjected.

I shook my head. “No, you keep the bed. You’re the guest.”

“There’s a very simple solution for this, you know.” Patrick still had the evil smile.

“Stop it,” I said, shooting him
the look
.

“I’m just saying, Ethan. You put a ring on her finger and there’s no more couch-sleeping or separate-bedrooms business. It’s like magic.”

I flicked his ear while Ethan just laughed and winked at me. My girly little heart fluttered a little.

“I can’t wait until you have a girlfriend I can torture you with. If you ever find someone who tolerates you, let me know.” I glared at him.

He just rolled his eyes and grabbed his food, striking up a conversation with Steph about school. Since I hadn’t traveled down the college route, that effectively cut me out of the conversation, and I went to stand by Ethan, arms crossed in front of me.

“Sorry.” I gestured toward Patrick. “He doesn’t know half of what comes out of his mouth.”

The right side of Ethan’s mouth tipped into a sexy smile. “You know that doesn’t scare me, right?”

“What? The idea of a ring?”

“A ring. A future. With you. I told you I’m all in. That means I’m not going anywhere, ring or no ring.” He took a breath. “Does it scare you?”

I pondered a moment. “Scare me? No. I worry about reality. A lot. I could so easily enter into dreamland that I have to physically hold myself back at times. In reality, on paper… I feel like we haven’t been together all that long, that things are moving fast and like maybe I’m too young to feel this way. But in my heart, it all feels right.”

His head dipped to kiss above my heart, despite the dramatic groans from my brother across the room. “Let’s listen to your heart. And your head. Yes, we haven’t been together all that long. But we’ve known each other and we’ve been… friends. Right?”

I nodded.

“See, you can’t beat the history we have together. We had a foundation before we started anything else. And we may have fumbled a bit.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“More than a bit.” He shrugged. “But we work it out. Like you said, babe, we do weird well. Let’s not change that.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling myself tight to his chest. “I do love weird.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I know.”

I smacked him on the butt and laughed.

Ethan and I woke early on Easter morning and drove to Annie’s to help her prepare an epic Easter-egg hunt. My parents and Steph stayed behind to hang out with Patrick and prep for dinner.

Our competitive sides came out as Ethan and I took over hiding the eggs. Then we each picked a kid to coach. I grabbed Nathan and Ethan took Abe. Annie and Rob watched us in amusement while they sat and sipped coffee. We pulled off the most fierce egg hunt ever. By the time we were done, the kids were covered in dirt and we were panting in exertion.

We sat down to brunch together, filling ourselves with breakfast casserole and bacon. Ethan and Rob got along great, discussing Susan a little but mostly just casual chatting. He and Annie also struck up a conversation and talked easily. She asked about his tattoos, and he winked at me over her head when he mentioned his deep-seated creativity. A wave of lust washed over me, and I could tell he caught it when his eyes narrowed. Sleeping on the couch while he was a wall away was physically painful at this point. I didn’t think I could hold out much longer.

When the kids were beyond ready for a nap, we decided to head back to my parents’ to let them rest. I climbed into the driver’s seat while Ethan climbed in the other side. As I was buckling myself in, I was caught by surprise when I was pulled into a scorching kiss. His hands gripped my face and his tongue warred with mine, teeth clashing and nipping. He pulled back, resting his forehead on mine, breathing heavily.

“Your family is great and all, but I’ve never met a bigger bunch of cock blocks in my life.”

I snorted in laughter and started the engine. We linked hands across the center console and rode in silence, stealing glances at each other. An idea came to me, and when I saw the sign I was looking for, I pulled off. Ethan looked at me questioningly and I just smiled. We drove around a lakeside campground, winding through trees and park benches. It was completely deserted, being Easter morning, and I continued driving until I found the woodiest, most secluded part I could. I backed into a spot, nestled in the dark trees. Shutting off the engine, I chewed my lip and met Ethan’s bemused expression.

“Seriously?” he asked.

I answered by unbuckling my seatbelt and crawling into the back, leaving my shoes behind. I turned to face him, slowly stripping off my T-shirt and tossing it at him. He caught it and flipped it aside, never taking his eyes off me. A smile spread across his face as I reached to unbutton my shorts and then shimmied them off. My bra was next, and then I was naked in the backseat of my mom’s car. And Ethan was just smiling at me.

“It’s getting kind of lonely back here.” I raised my eyebrows.

He shook his head at me as he crawled back.

“Your parents are going to have to sell this car.”

I grinned at him while he stripped off his clothes, and then his body covered mine. He ran his nose along my cheek, feathering kisses along my jaw. My breath hitched as he kissed down my neck, nipping that perfect spot and then soothing it with his tongue. I wrapped a leg around him and tilted my hips, pulling him closer and encouraging him inside.

“There’s no way I can make this last very long.”

I laughed. “That’s probably a good thing since we’re in a public place in broad daylight.”

He shook his head again. “There’s a part of me that can’t believe we’re doing this.” He pushed into me roughly. “But the much, much bigger part of me is really glad.”

I laughed as we panted and kissed and touched. “Much bigger, huh?”

“Much.” He nodded.

We stopped talking as our movements became more frantic and our pace increased. I was pushed into the bench of the backseat with a buckle digging into my lower back. I reached a hand above my head to brace myself against the door and Ethan grabbed it, linking our fingers. Looking up, I saw the strain of sinewy muscles in his arm as he braced for both of us. His other hand slid under my hip, holding me firmly. For one of the most uncomfortable and awkward places to make love, I was on fire with lust and love and close to exploding as I watched the fierce expression in his eyes. His mouth crashed to mine and we both breathed each other in, hands tightening together. I pushed my hips harder against him as he buried his face in my neck. My teeth raked his shoulder as he shuddered his release, triggering a powerful one of my own.

We lay there for long minutes, catching our breath, Ethan stroking my hair. I felt his shoulders start to shake as he started laughing.

“I’m never going to be able to ride back here again.” He shook his head.

“Totally worth it,” I said on a sigh.

He kissed the tip of my nose. “Totally.”