“Jesus Christ, Willow,” he said, rolling his head back against the couch and shifting his weight again.
She smiled unapologetically.
“Can you dump him via text? Would that be appropriate? I feel like it would.”
Laughing lightly, she said, “No, I can’t do that. He’s on his way home though, so… I should probably go.”
“Must you?”
“The sooner I leave, the sooner I’ll be back,” she pointed out.
That surprised him. “Will you be able to come back over after?”
Nodding slightly, she said, “I think so. I’m going to ask him not to make any changes publicly until tomorrow in case my parents are online.”
Both of his dark eyebrows shot halfway up his forehead. “You’re going to… Won’t he wonder why?”
“No,” she said levelly. “He won’t have to; I’m going to tell him.”
Pushing himself forward, he stared at her like she was half crazy. “You’re going to tell him… you need him to cover for you so you can go sleep with someone else?”
“Well, I won’t be that specific, but I’m going to tell him about you, yes. I’m not going to be dishonest.” Since he still looked baffled, she shook her head. “You don’t know Brian. He’s pretty chill. Unless I’m completely misjudging him, I think he’ll take the news all right, and if I explain the situation, I’m hoping he can refrain from publicly ending our relationship for 12 hours or so. Frankly, even if I’m wrong I’ll be back over, I just won’t be able to stay the night.”
“You’re staying the night?”
Glancing up at him, she said, “If you want me to.”
“Of course,” he replied. “I just didn’t think that was an option.”
Willow shrugged. “I’ll tell my parents I’m staying at Brian’s.”
He nodded, though he looked decidedly less pleased as he murmured, “Right.”
Willow smiled to herself, tapping out one more text before sliding her phone into her purse. Moving back to the spot next to Ethan, she leaned in, snaking her arms around his neck. “Next time you see me, I’ll be all yours.”
His hands moved to her waist and he pulled her into his lap, closed his eyes, then opened them back up. “Now?”
Biting back a grin, she shook her head. “Soon.”
“Not soon enough,” he murmured, his hand moving restlessly across her thigh.
Placing her hand over his to keep it from wandering too far, she said, “But when I get back, we have the rest of the night.”
“Seems like a fair deal. I’ll have to run to the store. Any special requests for breakfast?”
“You’re going to make me breakfast?” she asked with a little grin.
“Of course.”
“As long as there’s grape jelly for my toast, I’m a happy camper.”
“Gotcha. I do have that. Anything else?”
“Wine and roses?” she joked. “Candles—at least a hundred. Lots and lots of condoms, just to be safe.”
“Hundreds of condoms, got it,” he replied with a grin that made her heart flop over in her chest.
Reluctantly rolling off of h