“Weird,” she joked, pulling away from him and climbing to her feet.
Brightening, Ethan watched as she turned the movie off, then the television.
Pushing off the couch, he caught her hand and pulled her close. “That might be my favorite thing you’ve ever done.”
Wrinkling up her nose as her hands settled on his strong shoulders, she said, “Really? Ever?” Shaking her head lightly, she said, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that.”
Willow dropped her arms, winked, and headed down the hallway toward his bedroom.
Ethan watched her, cloaked in shadows, and for a moment, gratitude overtook the lustier feelings he’d just been having. He was so grateful for who she was, for her strength, her love, her resilience, her frankly incredible capacity for forgiveness. Grateful that for all the darkness that surrounded how she’d come into his life, she’d somehow become the beacon of light in a sea of storms, keeping him from drowning in the darkest waters.
From the very beginning, he’d wanted to protect her.
Somehow she ended up being the one who protected him, again and again.
And she was still there.
She was his.
He was finally hers, though in a sense, he felt like she’d captured a part of him right from the first, he just hadn’t been ready to admit it.
Those gray eyes peeked around the edge of his bedroom door, her long hair falling over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”
Ethan smiled, hitting the light and heading down the darkened hall. “Yes, yes I am.”
Her luggage was lost.
She didn’t care.
After an amazing two weeks in Paris, Rouen, Èze, and Nice, all she’d been able to think about during the flight home was throwing herself into Ethan’s arms and covering his face with kisses.
Well, and other things they wouldn’t be able to do at the airport without security getting involved.
And damn the man, he was late.
Huffing, she spun around, debating whether or not she should wait there for him. He was supposed to meet her there, but she wasn’t sure how long he’d be.
Taking her phone out of her carry on, she quickly typed out, “So… I guess you missed me so much that you actually perished?”
Staring at the phone, she waited for delivered to turn into read.
It didn’t.
Again she typed, “Right now you’re clearly not responding because you’re racing down a hall somewhere in this airport, shouldering past people in your haste to get to me. I assume you also have flowers and a worried, impatient look on your face. Am I still waiting for you? What if you show up and I’ve already given up on you? What if I’m in a cab?”
Another minute passed, still nothing.
Pursing her lips at the screen, she typed, “Hurrrrrrrrry!”
A tap on her shoulder.
Whirling around, a grin appeared and then disintegrated just as fast as she saw a middle aged woman with a bad haircut and a blue blazer. Her nametag read Tina and told Willow she worked for the airline.
“You had the lost luggage, right?”
Unenthusiastically, Willow nodded.
“Willow Kensington?”