Finally, though, everything calms. I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, and feel Ethan pull out of me before he crashes down beside me on the soft comforter. I swallow and then I look over at Ethan, breathing deeply as my heart settles. He’s already looking at me. I search for some sign of regret, but there is none.
“Let’s go to bed,” Ethan suggests. “We can talk about it in the morning.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
We scoot further up the bed and collapse against Ethan’s pillows. Ethan grabs the covers and drags them over our naked bodies. Then he hesitates before shuffling toward me, nudging my shoulder with his as he lies down and drapes an arm over my shoulders. I smile and snuggle up to him, hearing his steady heartbeat as I press my head against his chest.
Then I close my eyes, feeling his body relax.
Despite deciding to go to bed, I know that neither of us will be asleep for some time, but we don’t want to disturb the contented peace that’s fallen over us. My breathing is deep and even, and I feel safe and secure nestled in Ethan’s arms. It’s everything I’ve wanted for so long, and I can’t bring myself to wonder what tomorrow will look like to us both.
Right now, everything is just perfect.
Chapter Thirty
Georgia
I wake slowly. I’m curled around Ethan’s side and his arms are wrapped securely around me. I glance at the clock. It’s five-thirty in the morning. I almost roll over and go back to sleep, but then I pause.
Both Ethan and I need to work; I promised my boss I would come into the office today, and Ethan has to be at his site. It might be ridiculously early, but now is the best time for us to wake and actually talk about what happened, before any other thoughts get in our heads.
I should probably also tell Ethan that I’m not actually leaving.
“Ethan,” I say, shaking his shoulder.
Ethan grumbles and rolls over. I snort at him.
“Ethan, wake up,” I say, shaking him harder.
He groans and opens his eyes. He squints at me in the darkness.
“Georgia?” He mumbles. “What time is it?”
“Er…” I glance at the clock. “You probably don’t want to know. But you need to get up. We need to talk before we go to work.”
For a moment, it doesn’t look like Ethan will wake up. Then he groans again and pulls himself into a sitting position.
“Fine,” he grumbles. He squints at me. “It’s really fucking early, Georgia.”
“That’s because we go to work early,” I point out.
I stare at him and he stares back. Suddenly, I don’t know what to say. We’re both sitting, naked, in bed, about to talk about what has led us to this point. Ethan, surprisingly, is the one to break the silence first.
“So…now what?” he asks tiredly.
“What do you mean?” I ask, frowning.
“Let’s not beat around the bush,” Ethan says, running a rough hand through his hair. “You’re going to New Jersey. How is this supposed to work? I mean, I’d love to come with you, but I can’t do that to Lily. And you can’t commute every day, you’d be exhausted at the end of the week, then there’d be no point in you getting a promotion if you can’t do a good enough job.”
I stare at him. From the way he’s making these points, he’s obviously thought about this. Of course he has… It’s just that he decided, before, that it couldn’t work and tried to break us up so I’d chase my dream.
“Ethan,” I say calmly. “There’s something you need to know before you go any further.”
“What?” Ethan asks.
“I didn’t take the job.”
For a long moment Ethan doesn’t say anything. He simply looks at me, as though he can’t comprehend what I just said. He blinks slowly.