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Back in his home
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PRETEND YOU MINE Feel good with him
An hour later my skin was pink from the heat and soft from the bubbles. I'd dressed in my Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and a pair of Ethan's silk boxers that were very swishy on me. I'd organized my purchases from Boots in a bathroom drawer, shaved my legs and slathered myself in primrose scented lotion.I wandered back to the coffeemaker and fixed myself a mug before drifting into the other rooms of Ethan's flat. The home gym had a state-of-the-art tread-mill facing the floor-to-ceiling windows. The view took my breath away. I love a city lights view, but I imagined it was just as spectacular in the daytime.I found what I believed to be his office and turned the handle. The room behind the door was indeed an office. A massive oak desk anchored the room while the opposing wall held a panel of TV monitors and other high-tech equip- ment. But it was the wall behind the desk that really caught my attention: a salt- water aquarium glowed with light and colors and bubbles over the rippling water.
PRETEND YOU MINE Teasing him
Ethan brought me my coffee in bed the next morning. I sat up against the headboard and pulled the sheet up to cover me. He raised an eyebrow as he sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully handed the mug over. "I think I did it right, but you have a taste and tell me." I took a sip and made a face."I put half cream and three spoonfuls of sugar," he said with a shrug. “You set up the coffee yourself. All I did was press brew on the machine." I kept him hanging for another minute before cracking a smile and taking another sip of my delicious coffee."What? Just making sure you're trained in proper coffee prep. I have my standards." I winked at him. "I think you'll do in a pinch. Mr. Blackstone.""You devil woman, teasing me like that." He leaned in to kiss me, careful of the hot coffee. "I like having the coffeemaker set up the night before. I wonder why I never thought of it." He stayed close to my face, looking intently over me, his hair still messy from sleep and all the sex and
PRETEND YOU MINE Her past
We broke in the shower too, or I should say I did when he propped me in the corner, dropped to his knees and returned the favor. The sex never ended with this man. And I was on board the sexy train right with him, flashing my frequent traveler pass. I had not had so much sex in-....."Don't go there and don't ruin this time with him" I inwardly murmured to myself.Ethan had a tattoo on his back. Right across his shoulders were medium- sized horizontal wings. They looked a little Goth and almost Greco-Roman in their black inked starkness. I loved the quote underneath the wings. No more yielding but a dream. I saw it in the shower when he turned to get the soap."That's Shakespeare, right?" I smoothed over the ink with my hand, and that's when I saw the scars. Many white lines and ridges. So many you couldn't count them. I gasped a sharp breath, desperately sad to think about how badly he'd been hurt. I wanted to ask, but I held my tongue. I didn't offer to tell about my scars.He turne
PRETEND YOU MINE Love him
"You're doing so well, Princess. I can hear it in your voice, and that makes your old dad smile. So who is this friend you're cooking dinner for? It's not a man, is it?"I smiled as I mixed up the corn salsa. "Well I met someone, Dad. He's really special in a lot of ways. He bought my picture at Benny's show. That's how we met." "Yeah." It felt weird telling my dad about Ethan all of a sudden. Maybe because I'd never talked to him about boyfriends much. There had never been reason to. I hadn't wanted one for a long, long time."Really.""Tell me more. What does he do for a living? How old is he? Oh, and go ahead and let me have his number while you're at it. I need to give him a call and set him straight on the ground rules with my baby girl." I laughed nervously. "Well, I think it's a little late for that, Dad. Ethan's pretty special, like I said. We spend a lot of time together. He really listens to me and I feel truly...happy with him. He understands me."Dad got quiet for a minute
PRETEND YOU MINE Delious
Surprising Ethan at his office seemed like a good idea, but I wasn't willing to do it without some assistance. I enlisted Elaina's help first. I really liked her. She seemed honest and very straightforward, which I respected in a person. She was also engaged to Neil. I found that out after I started sleeping over at Ethan's place. One morning when we hit the elevators to leave for work, I saw Elaina and Neil coming out of the flat on the other wing, hand in hand. Ethan saw my surprise and told me they were getting married in the fall.I was relieved Elaina didn't act jealous about her fiancé driving me around London. I think she was happy that Ethan had a girlfriend. I'd noticed that his employees really seemed to care about him. And I liked that too."Hi, Elaina, it's Brynne.""Hello, Brynne. Why didn't you call through to his cell?" Smart girl, Elaina, always aware of logistics."I was thinking of surprising him with lunch. Can you check his schedule for me?" I heard some flipping o
PRETEND YOU MINE Please don't leave
I was content to sit with him and listen to his work business while he smoothed a hand up and down my back. Ethan made me feel glad I had stopped by even though this would be no social lunch for us. The timing was crazy for him and me. I can't imagine his job could be any more complicated than at the moment with the Olympics looming and London hosting the whole thing. He should have just sent me a note that said, "I just bought your portrait and I'd really like to get to know you sometime in mid-August."He kept his phone on speaker and we managed a few quick kisses in between calls and bites, but soon it was hard to justify as a lunch hour anymore. "I should get going, Ethan." I kissed him and started to get up. "No." He held me on his lap. "I don't want you to go yet. I like having you here with me. You soothe me, baby." He rested his head on top of mine. "You are my ray of light in a fog of ignorance and frustration.""Really? You like that I came and complicated your day and forc
PRETEND YOU MINE Made him feel everything
ETHAN'S POVMy hand throbbed along with my heartbeat. All I could do was breathe at the now sealed doors of the lift that was taking her away from me.Think for one moment!Chasing after her was not an option, so I left the lobby and went into the break room. Elaina was in getting coffee. She kept her head down and pretended I wasn't there. Smart woman. I hope those idiots on the floor do the same or they just might need to find new jobs.I threw some ice into a plastic bag and shoved my hand inside. Fuck. it stung! There was blood on my knuckles and I'm certain on the wall next to the lift. I walked back out to my office with my hand in the ice where I told Frances to call maintenance to come and fix the bloody ding in the wall.Frances nodded without missing a beat and looked at the bag of ice at the end of my arm. "Do you need an X-ray for that?" she asked, her expression like that of a mum. What I envisioned a mother would look like at least. I barely remember mine, so I'm probabl
PRETEND YOU MINE The message
"I've been working on the section with the book in particular," Brynne said. "She suffered some heat damage in a fire decades ago, and it's been a struggle getting the cooked-on lacquer off that book. It's special, I just know it."I looked again and made out the word Chrétien. "It's in French. That is the name Christian right there." I pointed. Her eyes got big and her voice excited. "It is?""Yes. And I'm sure this says, Le Conte du Graal. The Story of the Grail?" I looked at Brynne and shrugged. "The woman in the painting is called Lady Percival, right? Isn't Percival the knight who found the Holy Grail in the King Arthur legend?""Good God, Ethan!" She grabbed my arm in excitement. "Of course! Percival ...it's her story. You figured it out! Lady Percival is holding a very rare book in- deed. I knew it was something special! One of the first King Arthur stories ever written down; all the way back in the twelfth century. That book is Chrétien de Troyes's The Story of Perceval and th
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