Page 128 of Ethan & Grace

A hint of a smile played over Ethan’s lips too, then he leant across the centre console and kissed me. When he pulled back and looked at me, I saw only the deepest affection in his blue eyes. Perhaps even love. I certainly felt a lot of love for this incredible man—not just falling into it, like we’d said before, but fully in it. But neither of us spoke those three magical words. Apparently, we both wanted to save them for a less traumatic occasion.

“Come on, Dreamgirl,” Ethan said instead. “I’m taking you home.”

52

Shocking Revelation: Cabinet Minister Alistair Eddington (58) Covered Up His Son Charles’s (22) Hit-and-Run: Young Woman Killed, Father Tampered with Evidence

INsider headline

Ethan

One Month Later

“What a great start to the day,” Grace sighed contentedly as I emerged from under the covers, her sweet taste still on my tongue. I slid up along her naked body to kiss her. She sighed happily against my lips but didn’t have the strength to return my kiss with much passion. I took that as a great compliment.

I grinned. “Tired already?”

“A bit,” she admitted, snuggling up to me.

“Should I cancel brunch with your family?” I asked, though I knew that was out of the question. It was a Claymore tradition to have brunch in the Sky Garden on Grace and Amy’s birthday. And this year, I was part of the tradition, which made me very happy. I loved spending time with Grace and her family.

“No, Jason would be disappointed. He’s been talking about nothing else all week,” Grace said, only half joking. Her brother and I had quickly become thick as thieves. Her parents liked me, but Jason? He practically worshipped me. I’d already given him two keyboard lessons and had invited him to the hotel to let him play my piano, which had raised me even higher in his esteem. In a way, he reminded me of myself. Or the version I might have been if my dad hadn’t abused me all those years. But whereas that thought would once have filled me with bitterness, I was now at peace with it. At least on the good days—the past couldn’t be changed, after all. All I could do was face the future with hope.

“You’re right. We can’t do that to him.” I glanced at the clock. Our table was booked for eleven, which gave us about an hour before we needed to leave. I looked at her again. “Ready for another present?”

“If you mean another orgasm, I’m out. I can’t go again.”

“Lightweight. But no, I mean a different kind of present. Or are you too tired for that as well?”

She perked up again. “No, give it here!”

Laughing, I got out of bed and walked stark naked across the room to retrieve the wrapped jewellery box from its hiding place in a drawer. All at once, I felt nervous. This was the very first present I was giving Grace, and I wanted her to love it. But that wasn’t the only reason for my flutter of nerves as I returned to join her on the bed.

I handed her the small package. “Happy birthday, Dreamgirl.”

“Thank you.” She took the gift from me and gave it an inquisitive shake, though there was nothing to hear. I could see that she wanted to tear the wrapping paper off eagerly, but she contained herself and opened it carefully instead.

I held my breath when the velvet ring box was finally revealed. Any other woman probably would have had a small heart attack, but rings were Grace’s thing. People gave them to her constantly, so I hoped she wouldn’t think my gesture lacked imagination. On the contrary—I’d thought long and hard about it.

Grace opened the box, revealing a gold ring in the shape of a snake. It was modelled after the silver ring I’d taken from her weeks ago, which was still on my little finger. But this one was more intricate in design and made of a high-carat gold.

“It’s gorgeous!” Grace eased the ring from the cushion. She examined it and seemed genuinely thrilled, even though the ring itself wasn’t even the most important part of the present. “But please tell me those diamonds in the snake’s eyes aren’t real.”

“They’re not real,” I lied.

“I’ll pretend to believe you.”

She was about to slide the ring onto her finger when I stopped her. “Wait. There’s an engraving on the inside you might want to look at,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

Grace turned the ring over. My heart pounded in my throat as she read the inscription. Tears welled in her eyes, and for a split second, I was worried. But then she broke into a wide smile. She launched herself at me and flung her arms around my neck. Instinctively, I caught her and held her tight.

“Do you like it?” I asked into her hair.

She nodded vigorously. “I’ve been wanting to say the same to you for ages.”

“But you didn’t,” I teased.

“Strictly speaking, you haven’t said it yet either.” There was a challenging note in her voice, but she didn’t need to provoke me into saying anything. The words had been on the tip of my tongue for weeks, ever since the moment we’d rescued her from Alistair’s wine cellar.