Love Drunk 3.0 (Completed)

Chapter 27

Greece 5.15 p.m.
Y/n POV -

I'm torn. I'm so torn. Ethan is looking at me via the mirror. My heart is jumping out of my chest and my tummy is doing flips. I wanna feel him. I want to drown in his energy and recharge under his touch.

I'm on the verge of crying. That's how much I crave him, need him. But that lingering anxiety, creeping up on me like a lion hunting its prey, keeps me from running up to him and falling into his arms. He's observing me with this intense gaze. It keeps surprising me that those hazel eyes are so incredibly beautiful. Like I'm falling in love with him all over again, every time our eyes meet.

It's getting hard to breathe. Partly because I feel my throat closing out of panic. Partly because he takes my breath away. Luckily the magnets in our souls are more powerful than the pull into darkness, into anxiety. And me, starving for Ethan shuts my overthinking mind down. I turn around and walk up to him. He's frozen and I can tell he's trying not to move. I hesitate, but reach out my hand and place it on Ethan's chest. Right over his heartbeat. It immediately slows down under my touch and it extinguished the anxiety I had hiding right under the surface. My heart is exploding with love and I look up into his eyes. I can breathe again. We can breathe again. And Ethan starts moving. His hand towards my face. I hold my breath, in an attempt to keep anxiety at bay, when Ethan tucks my hair behind my ear.

A faint smile appears on his face now as well and my heart is his. It has always been his. Ethan now places his hand over my hand on his chest, to make sure I won't pull away when he leans in towards the faucet of the bathtub and turns it on. His hand moves from the back of my hand to the hem of my shirt and he gently pulls my shirt up.
When he reaches my arms I have to let go of his chest and put my arms up. He pulls the shirt over my head. This is the first time he sees the bruises on my side and I'm nervous for his reaction. I don't want him to see me like this. Unattractive and broken. But at the same time, he's the only one I would trust, seeing me like this. Vulnerable and fragile.

I see him glance at my side, but he says nothing about it. He smiles at me kindly and comforting, but his jaw clenches and that tells me immediately how affected he is by this. I let him slide his fingers in the waistband of my sweatpants and breathe in deeply before he gently pulls them down. He keeps locking his eyes with mine. Trying to read how I respond to him undressing me. It quickly crosses my mind how he has done this before. Back then, with lust taking over our bodies. How sensual it felt, feeling his hands on my skin. Even though I can only pray to feel that way again, one day.. I'm actually in awe of what I'm feeling right now. What he is doing right now.

Our love runs so much deeper than our physical touch. I know Ethan knows how to take care of my body. But this, what is happening now, shows he also wants to take care of-, and knows how to take care of my heart and soul.

He drops my sweatpants and underwear down to my ankles and gets up again. His face hovering an inch away from mine. His jaw clenched even harder and his breathing shallow and irregular. He has definitely seen the bruises on my thigh. I place my palm on his heart again and like we were always able to, I let my body tell his body to calm down. That it is gonna be okay.

He grabs my hand and supports my elbow when I slowly get into the bath. Ethan helps me lower myself in the warm water and I let my back rest against the tub. I flinch immediately. The cold and hard acrylic the bath is made out of doesn't give in and presses against my bruises. Ethan sees what is happening and helps me sit back up. "Are you okay?" He breathes worried and I nod at him. We lock eyes and I see hesitation in his gaze. "Do-.. do you trust me?" He asks me. The fear of rejection is detectable in his voice. "Yeah.." I breathe at him with my barely existing voice and I see his shaking hands reach for his shirt.

He takes off all his clothes, except for his boxer briefs. Ethan steps into the bathtub and sits down behind me. His legs on either side of me. His hands resting on the edge of the tub. I know he's not gonna touch me. So I gently lean back, until my body is resting against his. My bruises against his soft and warm skin. I tilt my head back on his chest and breathe in Ethan. The warmth of the water releases his musky scent and for the first time in forever I completely relax.