"This is what she had become."
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Cleopatra Banks' last week in the small town of New Chelsea is nothing like she would have imagined it, but nothing could have prepared her for the stinging betrayal she's faced with and suddenly the prospect of...
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"Hey," Ethan greets me and I step closer. I throw my arms around him and bury my head in his neck only to lose myself in his scent as a greeting.
He wastes no time and quickly wraps his sweater clad arms around my waist, pulling me closer. He gives my back a gentle rub and I melt further into his embrace. I can't ignore just how much I missed him.
When we pull apart, he places a soft kiss on my forehead and well...my heart melts at the tenderness of his lips on my forehead. We don't completely let go of each other and my hands come to rest above his shoulders and his hands lazily sit on my waist.
I ignore how they gently sit above my love handles, because in all honesty Ethan has never really minded that I'm more on the plus side of life. I look up at his face and I'm met with dark stormy blue eyes, feeling myself slip further into their depths.
He drops his gaze down to my lips and his pupils dilate, darkening his eyes further and my heartbeat picks up.
I'm familiar with this drill. It happened with Max.
I hug him instead so I don't have to see his face and try to steady my breathing and that's when I notice the large yellow flowers scattered all over the ground beneath us.
"Ethan, what's this?" I ask him.
He clears his throat. "Wh-what?" he asks as I proceed to picking up the sunflowers on the floor.
"These," I say once I've picked up all fourteen of the flowers, unable to fight the smile that makes its way onto my face. "Do you like them?" he asks with a shy grin on his face. I realize now that he's clean shaven, that one dimple making a reappearance and even his hair has been styled.
I swallow nervously.
"I love them," I reply. I take in a deep breath and will myself to not get sucked further into those electric blue eyes of his.
"They're fourteen," he says, burying his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. "Yeah is there any reason for that?" I ask him and he nods, bringing his hand to his neck which he rubs gently. "I got just enough for the two weeks we went without seeing much of each other," he says and I feel my heart attempt to make an escape out of my chest.
"You missed me that much huh?" I ask playfully but Ethan seems to take my statement seriously as he steps closer to me. "Yeah," he says.
"Well I missed you too," I reply softly, suppressing the urge to attack his lips with mine.
"Did you get my letter?" he asks and I nod. "Took a while to decode your horrible handwriting but I did manage to read and understand everything once I did that," I reply and I swear he's stepped even closer, his delectable scent wafting into my nose.
It's just a physical attraction, nothing more.
"So, how did the holiday go?" I ask and step back in the hopes of steering the conversation to much safer topics.
