The Apartment: The Complete Affair (54 page)

“Come here.” Ethan held his hand out to her, pulling her close the moment his fingers closed over her own. “I guess I just really like
you
,” he whispered, leaning down to capture her lips in a soft, gentle kiss. No one had ever looked at him like that before, as if he were the answer to all of their prayers, and seeing that expression coming from her made him a bit lightheaded.

When Lily broke the kiss a moment later, she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed loudly. “I hate to say it, but I really do have to get going.”

Ethan chuckled lightly to himself. “I know, beautiful. Let’s get out of here.”

They jumped back in the car and took off toward town, getting her back to work only three minutes late, which was better than either of them expected. She thanked him for lunch—and other things—agreeing to talk on the phone again later that night after she got off work.

When Lily made it back to her desk to clock in, Becky took one look at her and started laughing.

“What’s up, Nooner?” she cackled.

“Shut up!” Lily hissed under her breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh whatever, bitch! Nobody, and I repeat,
nobody
, goes to lunch with Ethan Fucking Foster and comes back looking that satisfied without having just been screwed six ways from Sunday.”

“We did not have sex!” she gritted through her teeth, brushing through her hair quickly with her fingers and checking her reflection in the small hand mirror she kept in her desk.

“Okay, Bill Clinton,” Becky smirked. “Whatever you want to call it.”

“Don’t you have a patient up?” Lily muttered, glancing around for eavesdroppers.

“Nope,” she grinned widely. “My first one is a no-show and yours is still updating her insurance, so spill it.”

“What do you want to know?” she moaned, knowing that Becky would keep asking until someone eventually overheard her.

“For starters, how the hell do you know Ethan Foster, and how long has this been going on?”

“How did you even know it was Ethan?”

“Please. Kim had the entire office on red alert the second you walked out the door. Now she’s got a whole new reason to be bitchy to you.”

“Why? They didn’t date, did they?” Lily gasped, trying not to throw up a little in her mouth.

“No! But if she’d had it her way, they would have. Hell, we
all
would have!” Becky sighed wistfully. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Jared, but Ethan was the unattainable perfection that we all fantasized about getting our hands on back in high school.” That comment did not particularly help Lily with her jealousy issues. “But he never talked to any of us. Anyway, stop changing the subject. I want details!”

Lily finally caved, immediately feeling better about having someone she talked to on a daily basis up to speed with her life. She went on to explain that Maggie Foster had been trying to set them up a few months ago, but thanks to her unhappy engagement and his traumatic breakup, it wasn’t the right time for either of them. However, she hinted that the sparks had still flown between them, and when they had bumped back into each other over the weekend it had been a whole different story.

It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie. She wanted to share as much as she could while still maintaining a modicum of privacy. The last thing she needed was to inadvertently give away their biggest secret to even more people. It was bad enough Ethan’s whole family knew they’d been sleeping together while she was still engaged. She didn’t need that little tidbit getting around her work, too.

“Have you told your father yet?” Becky gave her a knowing look.

“No,” Lily groaned, not even wanting to think about that yet. “It’s all so new. You’re really the first person I’ve talked to about it other than Ethan’s sister, Emma.”

“How do you think he’s going to take it? I mean, won’t everyone else in the world pale in comparison to
Scott the Golden Boy
?” Becky had been open about her dislike of Scott for years, hating the way he seemed to expect her friend to drop everything to be at his beck and call. Her respect for Lily’s father had dwindled for the same reason.

“Oh, I don’t think it will be
that
bad, whenever I do decide to tell him. He’s starting to accept that Scott and I were never meant to be, and I know he’d never admit it, but I think he’s proud of me for starting over on my own.”

“Well… good luck with that.” Becky didn’t bother masking the doubtful tone in her voice.

“It’ll be fine,” Lily replied with more conviction than she felt.

As long as Ethan sticks around long enough to actually meet my dad this time
.

They both got back to work, each of them helping their respective patients for the rest of the afternoon. Whenever they would bump into each other again, Becky would ask another question, trying to get to the bottom of the Ethan mystery. By the end of their shift, Lily had promised to ask Ethan about possibly going out on a double date soon, which tickled Becky to no end.

Driving home in her massive boat of a car, Lily let her mind wander back through the day’s events. She had been officially “outed” at work, fielding questions left and right after bigmouth Sanders blabbed to all who would listen that Lily was dating someone new. She also took it as a personal accomplishment that she’d managed to make everyone with a pulse completely jealous of her when “someone new” turned out to be a certain Mr. Ethan Foster. The same Ethan Foster, in fact, who had treated her to a delicious lunch followed by an even more delicious orgasm.

All in all, it hadn’t been too bad of a day.

As she turned into her parking lot, trying to think of what she might throw together for dinner, her phone beeped in her pocket; it was a text from Ethan. Swiping the screen excitedly, she felt her heart begin to pound in her ribcage when she read the two little words on the display screen.

Finally! They had a deadline for their frustration. She let out an enormous sigh, surprised at how much better she felt just knowing that in a little over a week they would once again be able to share themselves completely with each other. Hell, she might even be able to make it that long without sexually assaulting him in the process.

Had she thought this day hadn’t been too bad? Scratch that.

This day had been perfect.

Ethan was gone for the next two days, only giving Lily the cryptic explanation that he needed to “finalize” a few things in Chicago before their big night in just over a week. She pouted when he wouldn’t give her any more clues, but gave up gracefully when he assured her that being away from her for that long was going to be pure torture and promised to call her every night before bed.

When Ethan arrived in Chicago, Greg introduced him to Joan, the owner of a trendy new gallery that was gaining a lot of notoriety in the local art scene for its bold and ballsy collections. They spent the better part of an afternoon going over Ethan’s demands and Joan’s ideas, trying to meet somewhere in the middle. When they finally reached a compromise they agreed to meet the following day to go over the final details of the plans that Joan would finish drawing up that night.

Not quite sure what to do with himself for the rest of the evening, Ethan took a deep breath and called his sister, shocking the hell out of her when he asked if she and Brandon wanted to grab some dinner.

Now, a few hours later, he sat in their lavishly decorated guest bedroom and dialed Lily’s number.

“I was beginning to think you were never going to call,” Lily teased as she answered the phone.

“Sorry ’bout that, baby. I went out with Emma and Brandon. We just got back.”

“Oh, you did?” she smiled. “That sounds fun!”

“It really was,” he said, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. “That Brandon’s a funny fucker once he finally starts talking.”

“I know,” she agreed. “I can’t tell who’s funnier, him or Eric. They both crack me up. Did Eric and Maggie go too?”

“No, he’s out of town until next week and apparently Maggie has been glued to her computer lately working on a new story.”

Lily perked up like a curious puppy. “New story? What new story?”

“I don’t know, fangirl,” he laughed. “You’ll have to ask her yourself. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will have lots of smut in it.”

Lily sighed loudly. “Oh, I hope so! She does it the best.”

“Really? I always thought we did it the best,” he smirked.

“Well, when it comes to practical application, sure, but in the written form it’s all her.” They both laughed lightly, enjoying their easy banter.

“I missed you so much today,” he whispered after a brief lull had settled over the conversation. “I know it’s only been a few days, but I need to have you close to me. I want to be near you all the time, and it’s worse now than it ever was before.”

“How do you mean, ‘worse than before?’”

“Well, before, I couldn’t get you out of my head. I was always wondering if my beautiful goddess was going to visit me. But now that you’re mine, my beautiful Lily, I just can’t be close enough to you. I can’t get enough of you in my life. I’m happy for the first time in years, and the only thing I’m high on is you.”

A loud sniffle could be heard on the other end of the phone. “I love you, Ethan,” she eventually managed to choke out. “I love you so much.”

Every time she said it, his heart skipped a beat. “God, I love you too, baby. So fucking much. I don’t really know how to handle it, it’s so overwhelming.”

“Yeah, me neither,” she chuckled, wiping her eyes.

“What are you thinking?” he asked after she was silent again.

“That I really wish you were here right now… and that we didn’t have to wait any longer.”

“Soon, Lily. So soon. And I can’t wait to be back home so I can hold you again.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you refer to Aledo as your home, even though you grew up here. You always acted like you were just passing through.”

“Home is wherever you are. I know that now.”

“God dammit!” she sobbed, shedding fresh tears. “Stop doing that!”

“Doing what?”

“Saying things like that! I don’t know how to take them, and they only make me miss you more.”

“Just take them as the truth.”

“I do. I believe you, it’s just… I’m not used to hearing things like that.”

Ethan smiled. “Well, you better start getting used to it. Apparently you’ve tapped into my inner cheeseball.”

“Then can’t you mix it in with something naughty? Give me a chance to adjust to the little girl you’ve become?” They both laughed at that.

“How’s this? Lily, I love you more than anything and can’t wait until I get to slide myself inside your tight little body again and fuck you senseless.”

“Ooh, yes… that’s more like it!” she giggled.

“It’s true, you know,” he said, his voice growing more husky and heated.

“Hey, don’t start with that voice unless you plan on a repeat phone performance.”

That reminded Ethan where he was, and he shut his eyes in frustration. “Shit! Good point. I’d love nothing else right now, but I’m at Emma’s place for the night. I don’t think I want them to hear us.”

“I thought you were going to stay at a hotel.”

“I was, but when Emma heard that she insisted I cancel my reservation and stay here.”

Lily sighed again, rolling her eyes. “Damn that little shit, always interfering! Oh well, it’s a big deal to her, you know, having her brother stay over. I bet you made her day by calling her up like that. I’m glad you did. She misses you more than you realize.”

“I think I missed her more than I realized, too.” They chatted for a few more minutes and then said their goodnights, each of them refusing to hang up first, feeling like blushing fourteen-year-olds with butterflies in their stomachs.

* * *

The next morning, Ethan was woken by some ungodly caterwauling in the kitchen that turned out to be a pop song Emma was blasting about yelling timber or something like that. When he walked in covering his ears and scowling, she stopped mixing the pancake batter and turned down the speakers.

“Sorry! Did I wake you?” When he merely grumbled out the word “coffee” and trudged off in the direction she pointed to pour himself a cup, Emma went back to her mixing. After pouring out four large scoops of batter onto the sizzling griddle, she set down the ladle and turned around to face him. “I hope pancakes are okay. I wanted to make you something, but I haven’t been to the store yet this week. So, it’s either this or Grape-Nuts, and if I remember correctly you won’t eat those.”

“
Blech
!” he shuddered, making a face as he walked around the island and sat on a stool across from where she had gone back to scraping and flipping. “How can you eat that nasty shit?” His voice was hoarse from sleep, and he hovered over his steaming cup as if it were the answer to all of his prayers.

“It’s not so bad if you heat it up and sprinkle a little sweetener on it.”

“And thus change everything about it in order to tolerate it. No thanks.”

“I guess that’s fair. I’m like that with Brandon and his grits. No way. I won’t even make them. He has to wait and get them whenever we go out for breakfast.”

“Where is he, anyway?” Ethan asked as he sipped his coffee.

“He had to go into the office. There was a meeting he couldn’t get out of. I canceled my morning, though.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Em. Or make the pancakes.”

“I wanted to. For both.”

“Then thank you very much. For both.”

They were quiet for a few minutes as she dished up two plates, placing one down in front of Ethan and walking around the counter to hop onto the stool next to him. Taking turns drowning their breakfast in maple syrup, they both chewed and swallowed huge mouthfuls in silence, only an occasional grunt or sigh proving that they were enjoying the meal.

“So,” Emma said around a mouthful of food, “how are things with Lily?”

“Mmph,” he grunted, nodding until he swallowed. “Good. Better than good, actually.”