A Taste of You

21: Open to the Possibility

Ethan and I dozed for awhile and then partook in a second...third...and fourth round. Around 5AM, we finally fell into a deeper sleep. I'm woken up by my phone buzzing. I stiffly reach for my phone and answer, my voice thick with sleep.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Miss Ballas. Just calling to let you know your STI tests are all clear. Documents will be in the mail. Any questions?" A chipper voice shares.

"No, thanks for calling." I say, hanging up with a giant grin on my face.

"Who was calling this early?" Ethan inquires in a sexy low tone.

"It's 9AM, Mr Garcetti. Not all of us can mosey in whenever we please." I tease him.

"Hey some of us work nights, weekends, holidays in exchange for that flexibility. Oh, oops. I guess you do too." To recover, he grabs me and rolls over so I am now laying on top of him. I feel him semi-hard against me. I fold my arms under my head and rest my chin, looking into his handsome, but sleepy face.

"You look awful. You should really try to limit night-time distractions so you're getting a full night's rest." I quip.

"I wouldn't plan on that happening anytime soon. Although at this rate, we may need to buy stock in latex." He observes.

"Actually...that phone call was my all-clear on my STI tests and since I'm on birth control..." I trail off.

"This is like Christmas morning." He boosts me further up his chest so he can press his lips to mine as I laugh about his comment. He moves a curl off my face and gets a serious look.

"Don't worry. You can joke about Christmas. I'm not Jewish or anything." I say.

"Hold on a second." He rolls me back to the bed and sits up, propping himself against my pillows. I sense he wants to say something important so I pull the sheet around me and sit up, crossing my legs under me, indian-style.

"Ethan, you're kind of scaring me. What's going on?" I ask, the sudden change in tone raising my hackles.

"Don't be scared. I just want to talk about something and it felt inappropriate to do it with my dìck pressed up against you." He reasons.

"Fair enough, what's up?" I prompt him.

"So I wasn't lying when I said I was crazy about you the other night. And last night, this morning, let's just say it added fuel to the fire." He reveals, making me blush.

"Yeah, I'm pretty into you, too...if you haven't noticed." I share.

"And I think maybe we're just scratching the surface and this is about to get a whole lot hotter and intense. Am I right?" He checks his assumption.

I bite my lip and look up from under my lashes. "I mean, I wouldn't say no, that's for damn sure."

"And I know you were worried this was possibly a rebound, some fling. But Alise, I want this to be more. I want us to be more. I want to make sure you're open to the possibility of this being long-term and well...exclusive." He floats it out there.

I've imagined the long-term with Ethan and I can't deny the thrill that runs through me when I think about dating him, actually getting engaged to him, and possibly marrying him in the future. And of course, that would imply monogamy. I just haven't yet thought about the aftermath of that choice, specifically telling Mateo it's over between us for good.

But then again, given recent events and evidence that he's obviously moved on from me, then maybe it's not as big of an ordeal as I'm making it out to be. Ethan is staring at my face, concern clouding his eyes. I have been quiet for too long.