Stitches and Scars (33 page)

She watched him and couldn’t hold back a carefree laugh. All of the ridiculous thoughts she’d had a minute ago melted away as she watched him sing the corny song. It was exactly what she needed to hear and exactly what she needed to know. Her heart thumped loudly, and at that moment, she knew she would be his.

Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he walked over and sat down next to her. He tried to read her expression, but couldn’t tell if what he saw was good or bad. Either he was going to get punched for being an idiot or kissed for being an idiot. Fortunately for him, he didn’t mind which one she chose. Both were hot. Luckily, his second guess was right and she lunged forward, crashing her lips to his, and nearly pushing him off the seat in the process. He could hear the people in the club hollering and clapping, but all he could think about was how much he missed kissing Elle.
Please don’t let this stop,
he silently pleaded as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. He was so consumed with thoughts of her that he didn’t notice her slowing their kiss and before he could pull her back in, he was slapped in the chest.

“What the hell was that?” Elle snapped.

“I believe it’s called a slap, although I must say, I was kind of hoping you’d punch me. Seems like something you’d do. Slapping is so … girly.”

“In case you’ve missed it, I
do
happen to be a girl.”

“Believe me, sweetheart, there’s no missing that.” His eyes drifted down her body and paused briefly when he reached her legs.

“Stop trying to change the subject. What was all that singing for?”

“Isn’t it pretty obvious?” he asked with raised brows. “I mean, I know I send out mixed signals but I—”

“So you admit it.” She cut him off.
“
You send out mixed signals.” Folding her arms in front of herself, she waited for him to speak.

“I don’t think I ever actually denied that. Apparently, I tend to do it often; at least that’s what Ethan tells me. And as far as the singing goes, I wouldn’t do that for just anyone.” He paused. “Hell, what I’m saying is I
wouldn’t
do that for anyone … but you.”

Elle looked at him with narrowed eyes and contemplated whether or not he was actually telling the truth. “So, you’re saying that you like me,” she finally said with a smirk.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve made that obvious.”

“How much are we talking here? Is it the ‘we’ll go out for a few weeks and one day you’ll get tired of me and decide the new cheerleader is looking good’? Or it is the ‘I like you—”

“More than any other girl I’ve ever dated,” he finished. “More than I like to admit to myself because I don’t know what I’m doing.”

They stayed silent for a minute, both of them realizing the importance of his revelation.

She swallowed slowly. “Well, are you going to take me somewhere like a proper gentlemen or are we going to hang out at the club all night?”

“I thought you said dreams don’t come true?” he teased.

“Let’s just say if you play your cards right, maybe I’ll be your fairy godmother.” She winked and took his hand in hers as she stood up.

As soon as he was to his feet, he pulled her in and bent down to her ear. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Without waiting for her response, he wrapped his arm around her waist and practically lifted her off the floor. Elle waved to her friends over his shoulder and Trent craned around to give Ethan the don’t-come-home-unless-you-want-to-die look, before disappearing in the crowd.

The remaining two couples burst into laughter as soon as they were alone.

“What did we say?” Sophie asked through her giggles, looking at Kate.

She nodded. “They’re perfect for each other.”

Chapter 24

Firsts

C
ome on. You have to at least tell me how old you were. I told you my story.” Kate rolled her body toward Ethan and nuzzled his neck, hoping that her close proximity, combined with her begging, would be enough to make him cave.

“It was … awkward, and I was young and … inexperienced.”

“How young?” She lifted her head and looked at his face. His eyes were closed and his lips were pressed together in a tight line. “Please,” she added, hoping that would be enough.

“Sixteen.”

“That’s not too young. I was only a year younger, and believe me, what Kevin did could hardly even be considered a kiss. Was she your girlfriend?” she asked, wanting more information, but secretly dreading the answer. The last thing she wanted was to find out that she had a beautiful mystery girl to live up to.

“She wasn’t my girlfriend per se. More like a good friend who took it upon herself to uh … teach me.”

“Teach you?”

“She was older than I was, and after spending the summer together, we decided to, you know …” His voice trailed off as he looked at her face, hoping he wouldn’t have to actually say the words.

Her eyebrows knitted together and a moment passed before she realized what it was that he was talking about. Oh, she thought. All this time she was talking about first kisses and maybe stealing a few bases, but clearly he was talking about the whole shebang. It also didn’t escape Kate’s notice that the mystery girlfriend was older.

“Define older.”

“Only two years.”

“Two,” she repeated and ignored the jealous, insecure feelings the crept up on her. It only took a few seconds to realize that the age had nothing to do with it. She was simply jealous of the mystery girl who was Ethan’s first at everything. Although she knew he’d dated other girls, she wanted him all to herself. She wanted his past, present, and future, no matter how impossible and ridiculous it seemed.

“So, the two of you … ?” she suggested.

He nodded and waited for her response.

“Wow.” She paused for a few minutes and for the first time wondered about all of his past relationships. In the time they’d been together, they hadn’t discussed the subject in detail. Even though the thought of knowing made her stomach churn, she couldn’t stop the curiosity. Before she could figure out a casual way of asking her questions, they poured from her mouth, uncensored and rushed. “Did you ever see her after that summer? I mean, did she ever meet your parents and stuff? Did it get that serious? Have you taken a lot of girls home? What about your last girlfriend? What was she like? How long were you with her? Did you love her?”

He gave her a lopsided smile and laughed. “Hearing you get jealous is quite interesting.”

She huffed in defeat and dropped her head. She knew as well as the next girl that jealousy was not the most becoming feature, but she couldn’t help it.

Ethan, seeing her struggle, immediately thought over her questions. “No. No. No. Only two. Crazy, overbearing and fake. A few months. And no.”

“Wait, what?” she asked in confusion.

“Kate.” He placed his hand on her cheek and waited for her to look into his eyes before he spoke. “I’ve had girlfriends in the past. All of them taught me something about myself and they each helped me realize the kind of woman I wanted to ultimately be with. I guess, in a way, they were preparing me … for you.”

Stunned by his words and unable to move, she held her breath. The blue of his eyes were the most vibrant she’d ever seen them, and in that moment, she felt as if she could see into him. The love she felt for him spread from her chest through her entire body. Not wanting the moment to end, she smiled up at him and enjoyed it a little longer before breaking the silence. “Preparing you, huh?” She smirked. “I must say they did a good job.”

“Oh yeah?” His carefree laugh echoed through the room as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. They lay in silence for a few minutes, their bodies intertwined with one another.

“Kate?”

“Um hmm,” she sighed, keeping her eyes closed.

“Henry invited us over to his house for lunch tomorrow. And I’d love it if you would come. I really want you to meet Lori. She’s like a second mom to me, and well … it will give you practice.”

“Practice?” She lifted her head.

“For meeting my parents.”

His tone was so matter of fact that she almost swallowed her tongue in shock. “When am I meeting them?”

“In a week.”

“Ethan!” she yelped.

“What?”

“A week! When were you planning on telling me?”

“Right now,” he smirked, enjoying the reaction that he was getting.

“Your parents.” She paused. “Wow, I mean, I haven’t even seen your apartment yet,” she teased.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Ethan hopped out of bed and walked over to his clothes, which were still on the floor from last night.

“Where are you going?” She sat up, pulling the sheet around her.

“We are going to my place,” he said, smiling.

Kate watched him pull on his pants and sighed quietly to herself. He really was the hottest thing she’d ever seen. “Are you sure you don’t want to just stay here?” she purred, trying desperately to sound seductive.

Ethan looked over at her and immediately knew what she was thinking. “If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t ever leave.”

“Then let’s not.” She threw the covers back and began crawling across the bed, closer to him.

He clenched his hands into tight fists. “Kate,” he warned. “I’m serious; I really do want you to see my place. After all, it would be a little awkward if you meet my parents and can’t even say you’ve seen it. Plus, I have something I’ve wanted to show you.”

He was right, like always. And if she were thinking clearly, she would have remembered that she did want to see his place. It was the only part of him that was still a secret to her, besides his parents.

“Fine, I’ll go.” She sighed. “But only because I’m dying to try out your bed.”

“I love you too,” he said, laughing. “And I am going to hold you to that.”

“Believe me. I’m planning on it.” Giving him a quick wink, she hopped out of bed and hurried into the bathroom to get ready.

***

An hour later, they pulled onto Ethan’s street. For reasons unknown to him, he felt a little nervous. But that nervousness was easily overpowered by his excitement. It still surprised him to realize that he and Kate had been together for over a month and she still hadn’t been to his home. There wasn’t a reason other than the fact that Elle was gone so often on jobs that they were able to be alone at her place. But now that Kate was here, he couldn’t wait to get her inside.

Quickly walking around the car, he opened the door for her and took her small hand in his as he led her toward his building. Together they walked hand in hand down the long hallway and came to a stop outside of his door.

“This is it.” He smiled down at her before opening the door. “I hope it’s not too much of a mess, Trent usually tries to—” He stopped mid-sentence as soon as he stepped over the threshold and looked at the living room.

The normally organized, spacious room was in shambles. All of the pillows from the couch were on the floor, some all the way across the room. Magazines from the coffee table were scattered everywhere haphazardly. The lamp at the end of the couch was tipped on its side, leaning up against the armrest; its shade was lying on the ground. One of the pictures on the wall was hanging sideways, on the verge of falling to the floor like the other one that normally hung beside it already had.

His first thoughts were that someone had broken in. Immediately shooting his arm out, he blocked Kate from walking further and tucked her behind him. If he had been robbed, there was a slight chance the person was still in his apartment. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Kate. With wide eyes, she took the phone and got ready to dial the cops if needed.

Ever so slowly, Ethan took a step forward, listening intently for any sound that was unusual. He didn’t get more than four feet when he heard a rattling from the kitchen to his left. Taking a glance back at Kate, he took a step into the dining area that connected to the kitchen. This room was as much a mess as the living room. All of his mail was scattered on the ground as well as random pieces of half eaten fruit. The two looked at each other in confusion and before either of them could speak, they heard someone yell from another room.

“Hey, baby, get some more fruit! Do you have any grapes?”

Ethan’s head shot up quickly because he recognized the voice at once and so did Kate. The rattling noise they’d heard just a moment ago started again, and this time there was the distinct sound of someone singing. With a shake of his head, Ethan walked directly into the kitchen and flicked on the overhead light. He could just barely make out the naked butt of his friend sticking out from behind the refrigerator door.

“Trent Williams. What the hell happened to our apartment?”

Trent jumped at the sound of his friend’s voice and cursed out loud when he hit his head.

“Dude! E, you’re lucky I have this helmet on or I’d be tossing you on your ass.” Trent slammed the refrigerator door and turned to look at Ethan. He was standing completely nude in nothing but his football helmet, grasping a bunch of grapes that he quickly moved in front of himself when he saw Kate walk up.

Trying to stifle a giggle, she attempted to cover it up with a cough but failed miserably.

“Hey, Kate,” Trent said casually, surprisingly unaffected by his current situation and still ignoring Ethan’s previous question.

“Hi, Trent, it’s good to uhh … see you,” she smirked.

“Trent,” Ethan interrupted. “Why is our apartment a wreck? And why is there half eaten fruit all over the—”

“Hey, baby!” Elle yelled from the other room. “Remind me to call Graham later. I want to make sure he doesn’t have anything for me this weekend.” Elle walked into the kitchen wearing one of Trent’s oversized jerseys and nothing else. She smiled at both Ethan and Kate and easily grabbed some grapes from the bunch Trent was still holding in front of himself. Popping them in her mouth, she reached up on her toes and kissed Trent on the cheek before turning back to her friends. “Hey, guys,” she said with a smile.

“Hi, Squish,” Ethan said, trying to keep his voice calm since he now knew what had been happening. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. The destroyed living room, the half eaten fruit on the floor next to the cleared off table, the—Oh no, the table, he thought. It was his mother’s and he didn’t even want to think about what had happened on it. He opened his mouth to yell when he felt Kate’s hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles, instantly calming the anger that was building inside of him.

“How about you show me around?” Kate asked quietly.

Ethan gave one last warning look at Trent. “Don’t even think about putting those grapes back after where they’ve been.” He said pointing his finger.

“Totally,” Trent said with a nod.

Satisfied, Ethan looked down at Kate. She smiled back at him and gave him a quick wink before sliding her hand into his. “Well, this is the kitchen.” He waved his hand around the room. “And you already saw the dining area.” A shudder went through him again as he looked at his mother’s table.

There was no hiding her laugh this time as she looked at the expression on Ethan’s face. “I’m just glad they didn’t go back to our place,” she said, still laughing. “I’d hate to think about the damage they would have caused to my old coffee table. That thing can’t hold Trent’s weight.”

Kate’s laugh was infectious, and pretty soon Ethan was joining her, forgetting all about the messy state of his home. By the time they made it to his bedroom, their laughs had died down and the excited nervousness from earlier returned. Opening the door, he pulled her inside beside him.

“And here’s my bedroom.” He turned to look at her face and gauge her reaction. Her wide, dark brown eyes dashed around the room quickly, taking in everything. Letting go of his hand, she silently walked over to his bookcase. She stood for a few moments, trailing her fingers over the bindings as she read the titles. He noticed her face light up when she spotted titles that she herself owned, and after finishing with the books, she moved on to his music collection.

“You’ve got quite a collection,” she mused.

He laughed. “It’s kind of an addiction. My mother’s a great piano player. I think she always secretly wished I’d studied music instead of medicine.”

“A mother who doesn’t want her son to be a doctor? Somehow I find that impossible.”

“Don’t get me wrong. She’s very proud of me. I think she just wished I’d continued playing.”

Kate held up her hand motioning for him to stop talking. “Hold on. So you actually play? You play the piano?”

“A little.” He shrugged.

“You really are perfect, aren’t you?” She meant to be playful, but there was no denying the truthfulness of her statement.