24

I groan and roll over, but only find a cold bed on either side of me. Where is he? There was no way that was a dream. I sit up and notice The TV on some news channel. Ethan is sitting in the overstuffed chair in the corner, smirking at me, a spoonful of cereal half-raised toward his mouth.

"Are you looking for something?" he asks.

I lazily crawl out of bed and walk over to him. Without hesitance, I climb onto his lap and snuggle into his warm chest.

"I guess you found what you were looking for, huh?" he asks when I don't answer him. I nod into his chest and he chuckles. "Did you sleep well?" he asks, somewhat amusedly. I nod. "You're a snuggler in the morning, aren't you?" Again, I nod. "Do you want me to come back to bed with you to snuggle?"

Oh my God. He is so sweet. "I love you," I practically moan, attacking his mouth and nearly making him spill his cereal milk all over the place.

First the flowers— Oh, shit, the flowers! "I'm such a bad boyfriend," I groan, pushing away from him.

"What? No, Jasper, that was good. Wait, where are you going?" he yells after me as I haul ass to find the flowers he brought me and I abandoned.

"Shit," I whine when I see them. They're all wilted. I am such a bad boyfriend! I carefully pick them up, but that's no good anyway because they're shriveled and gross already. Ethan walks in and I feel even worse. "I'm so sorry," I snivel.

"They're just flowers," he says with a shrug.

"No, they aren't. They are the sweetest thing ever, no one has ever bought me flowers before and now I know why! Look what I did to them!"

"Jasper, are you PMSing?" Do not throw the flowers at him... "Come on, baby, just give me the flowers and I'll toss them. It's not a big deal, I'll buy you some more if you want. Besides, there were more dire situations to deal with."

"How are you feeling?" I ask, since he brought it up.

He rolls his eyes. "I'm fine. Christ, you are a mother hen."

I want to tell him that if I were a mother hen, I'd be checking his temperature right now, rectally. I decide to forgo that little rant, but only because I killed his flowers and he stood in the rain for me. "I'm sorry, I just love you, you know. I don't want you to get sick because of me. I'm sorry I didn't hear you knocking sooner. I had my iPod on while I painted."

"I didn't know you paint, I thought you just drew," he says.

I shrug. "I don't paint, I'm terrible at it, I just had to do... something."

His eyes instantly move down and he frowns. "I'm sorry, Jasper. I'm so sorry for the way I was to you."

"No, baby, it wasn't you. I was scared, so scared that you were going to take an out after your brother almost caught us. I panicked, I thought you were going to tell me to get the hell out and never come back, and I reacted so terribly. If you ever needed me, it was probably right then, and I left you."

Ethan comes over to me, he doesn't touch me, just stands there directly in front of me. "I did push you away."

I shake my head. "It doesn't matter, I shouldn't have just left. I..."

"We both screwed up, baby. You can't shoulder all of this."

"Okay," I mutter. "I forgive you."

He chuckles and shakes his head, then bites his lip and wraps his arm around my neck. "I forgive you too. And I think we should go tell my brother, like right now, because I think he thinks I'm dead."

Ethan explained that he basically went into hermit mode just as badly as I did when we... separated. He didn't go to work or school, which is why he didn't have any homework. William tried to call him repeatedly and also stopped over, but Ethan avoided him at all costs.

I agreed that he should definitely go see his brother immediately. I was less insistent on the fact that he break the news about us, but he wouldn't be swayed. He said he wasn't going to hide me like a whore, he was proud to be with someone so amazing. It was a real display. I couldn't exactly say no, especially since he refused to leave without me.

"Stop fidgeting."

"I'm not," I mutter.

I check to make sure my shirt is buttoned the right way again and pull down the mirror to check my hair, but it's still okay.

"Jasper, you look fine, stop."

"Just watch the road," I mumble, checking my shoelaces.

"I am watching the road," he says. "I can do both."

I give him a glare and he smiles crookedly at me. It's unfair that he's so good looking, he could get away with murder. I pull the mirror down again, not at all confident that my hair is behaving.

"Christ, Jasper, you're going to break the thing if you don't leave it alone." I think he means my hair, but he's glancing kind of worriedly at the visor. He's so infatuated with this car, it's ridiculous. He practically kissed it and apologized to it for leaving it on the street overnight in the rain. It would have been sad if he didn't look so hot petting the hood.

I just get that stupid out-of-place hair where it needs to be when Ethan makes a sharp turn and I mess my hair up again. "Jesus, what the—"

His mouth covers mine, cutting me off. His hand is flexed on my neck, pulling me roughly closer, though I don't know that it's even possible that I can get any closer with the console between us, but I try. We're both anxious and nervous, but the kiss is hot and needy, I hope it never ends. But it does.

And when I turn back to check my hair again, I discover he has put the visor back up, and when I reach to put it down, he snaps at me.

"Don't touch it, we're here, you look fine. Now get out."

My mouth drops open and I turn to stare at him disbelievingly, but he's already getting out. He freezes once he's about halfway out though and falls back into the car, closing the door again.

"Shit, baby, I'm sorry," he says, turning to look at me apologetically. "That didn't come out right."

"That came out exactly like you meant it to." Pure unadulterated fear flashes across his face and I lean over to kiss him. "I've never met the family before so I'm sorry that I'm being annoying, I'm nervous too. Just, don't snap at me like that, it doesn't help, okay?"

"I'm sorry, you know I don't think before I open my mouth most of the time. I promise I'll behave." I cock an eyebrow and he grimaces. "Okay, I probably won't behave, but I'll try not to take my shit out on you. You don't deserve it and it's not fair that I snap at you, I'm really sorry if I say anything that upsets you. You already met William, he likes you, and Emily is a peach, you don't have anything to worry about. Now kiss me again, because I need some courage."

I don't think he realizes that he contradicted himself by saying I have nothing to worry about but that he is indeed worried. If he has reason to be nervous, I do too. But I buck up for him, he needs me and I'm not backing down this time.

I kiss him, releasing all of my fear and nerves into the kiss. It starts frantic, and when I slide my palm down to his throat, I can feel his blood hammering in his veins. His heart is racing, and I want him to know I love him, that I really love him. I push my hand down further, into the top of his black button up and rub my thumb over the skin where his heart is. He sighs, and the kiss slows.

I don't even realize that we've been sitting in front of the house for about ten minutes making out until there is a sharp rap on the window. Ethan tenses up and growls, then pulls away. "The windows are tinted too dark to see in here, otherwise I would just call that good and drive away."

I roll my eyes and lick my lips, tasting him there.

He utterly surprises me by saying, "I love you."

My eyes dart to his and my throat constricts and I understand why he had to swallow so thickly last night before he barely whispered it back. It wasn't because he was nervous or didn't want to say it back. Hearing it just put that Holy Shit feeling in your stomach and made your throat tight and your head swim.

My mouth is dry and I'm swallowing even though there isn't even a drop of saliva to go down. "Well, hell," I laugh. Nothing like being choked up.

He laughs too and reaches toward my face. I don't even realize I’m crying until he brushes the tear away and I duck my head in embarrassment. He leans in and kisses my forehead and it makes it even harder not to cry because I'm so happy, he's so sweet. I laugh some more trying to keep the tears at bay and there is another pound on the window.

"Does he have to hit my car?" Ethan hisses.

I sniffle a little and smile at him. "Come on, baby, let's do this."

I get out of the car first, and William looks shocked to see me. "Jasper, hello. I, uh, it's nice to see you again."

"Thanks, you too."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go inside," Ethan says, closing the car door carefully.

"Of course, it's nice to see you too, Ethan. How long has it been now? A week? Without a call or anything? Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"I'm an adult," Ethan mutters, catching my eye and jerking his head toward the house.

I guess that means I'm supposed to follow. William is ranting behind us as he follows toward the house, I don't think he even grasps neither of us are paying attention—actually, I don't think he's even taken a breath. There is a beautiful dark-haired woman standing in the front door, a stern look on her face. I think she has to be Emily, but the pictures I saw of her didn't do her justice at all. She practically glows, like an angel or something.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Ethan react to her. His eyes move to the ground and his shoulders drop, then he does his lip-out pout and I almost melt, even though it isn't directed at me. I hear her sigh from the doorway and her heels click loudly across the patio as she runs toward us. She wraps her arms around Ethan's head and hugs him tight, maternally, almost aggressively.

"I've been worried sick," she bemoans.

"I know," Ethan says, hugging her back. "That's him," I hear him whisper.

"What?" Emily asks confusedly, glancing at me.

"Him," Ethan whispers meaningfully.

I shift awkwardly as Emily stares at me in bewilderment. Her eyes pop open wide and a surprised, "Oh!" comes out of her mouth. Ethan chuckles and nods. "Him... Good for you," she says honestly, releasing Ethan.

"I'm Emily," she says, stretching her hand out to me.

"Jasper," I offer, reaching out to take her hand.

She grabs it and pulls, unexpectedly hard, and then I'm in her arms. "Thank you," she breathes. "You make him happy."

I squeeze her and whisper, "He makes me happy too."

I glance up at Ethan and he's watching us with a smile.

"Ah, Emily, I see you've met Jasper," William says.

His ranting had been a continuous stream up until that point. I had heard a lot of 'the firm' and 'your father' but besides that, I paid as much attention to him as he did to our whispering.

"Yes," Emily says. "He's just wonderful," she tells William and I blush.

She's accepting us with open arms. That's a good sign. I think. I really like her. She leads us into the house and William is yelling a torrent of non-curse words at Ethan. It's mildly ridiculous.

"Shut up!" Ethan finally snaps. "Shut up, William! I know I'm in trouble, but you aren't my father. I will deal with him on Monday."

William huffs and turns away from his brother to face me. "How are you, Jasper?"

"Oh, um, good," I answer awkwardly.

"We have something to tell you," Ethan says hesitantly, edging over toward me. I snort and his eyes snap towards me. "Shut up," he whispers, biting back a smile.

Seriously? 'We have something to tell you'? What am I, pregnant? Anticlimactic much?

"So, I know that when you met Jasper I told you he was my friend, but that wasn't the whole truth," Ethan says to his brother, who frankly is looking way too confused. Ethan's hand slides into mine and I clasp our fingers tightly together. "We are a, uh, couple."

William stares at us for a moment, taking in our entwined fingers, then his face falls. "Damn it," he mutters and my heart sinks. "Don't tell me this," he pleads. "Everyone experiments at your age; you don't need to tell me about it. I need to talk to you in my office alone, Ethan." He turns and starts walking away.

Ethan loses it. "You shut the hell up," he spits, rushing at his brother. His fingers pull from mine, jerking me forward, and I move to stop him, but there is a warm hand on my arm and Emily is there, watching closely. We both watch as Ethan shoves William forward. "Don't you tell me what I can and can't do! He's not some experiment, I wouldn't have brought him here if he was. We're together, get over it."

William sighs and turns around, looking past Ethan at me. "Ethan, please go to my office."

"No, not a chance," he snarls.

William looks at Ethan quickly, but then moves his eyes back to me. "Please," he says. Ethan, predictably, doesn't move. I don't know if William is trying to silently tell me to leave Ethan alone or what, but it's making me uncomfortable. "Jasper, please understand—"

"No," Ethan shouts, "don't you talk to him. Don't you look at him. He's my boyfriend, I love him, and until you can respect that you don't get the privilege of being able to address him."

William rolls his eyes at Ethan. "You're even more over-dramatic than your mother."

Ethan looks really pissed. Emily lets go of my arm and rushes between her husband and her... brother-in-law, I guess—she really seems more like a mother to him. "Don't talk about my mother," Ethan yells, looking as if he's only controlling his anger so Emily doesn't get caught in the middle.

"Jasper," William starts again, this time moving forward to place a hand on my shoulder. Ethan is freaking out and Emily is holding him back, telling him to calm down. It's nerve-wracking to say the least.

"I want you to know that I respect you very much, and I'm sorry if you feel like I've disrespected you and your relationship with my brother, but please understand that even though I respect you, there are others that cannot know about this. I am thrilled that Ethan has you, but please, don't ask him to tell anyone else. I know it sounds terrible for me to ask that of you, your love should be something you can share willingly with all, but my father is a close-minded bigot and he will ruin both of you. Ethan has worked very hard to get where he is, don't ask him to come out to my father, or he will take everything away from him."

William was ready to keep going, but Ethan interrupted with something other than yelled curse words. "Okay, okay," he concedes. "Your office, don't do this to him," he appeals.

"I do respect you," William says, almost pleadingly as he squeezes my shoulder.

"I'll be right there," Ethan says tersely as William passes him.

"I'll give you two a moment," Emily mutters. She gives me a smile and says, "I'll be right in here, you can come visit with me if you want."

Ethan looks tortured and it's heartbreaking. My stomach is in my throat and I can barely breath. He's walking toward me and I'm so afraid it isn't even funny.

"I shouldn't have made you come with me," he says sadly, slowly stepping in closer to me, cautiously.

I reach for him, needing to feel it, needing to feel him. He pulls me close, and I do feel it, I feel the love, but I'm still barely breathing.

"Don't let him make you question us," he begs. "Please."

I shake my head. "I'm not questioning us, I'm just scared," I admit.

"Don't be. Don't be afraid of him, don't be afraid that I'll change my mind. You have to know by now that when I want something, I get it."

I smile, despite my fear. "Spoiled."

"Maybe," he allows. "But I know I want you, and I'm not changing my mind, I don't care what he says. I'm not fickle."

"Stubborn."

He laughs. "I prefer tenacious. And are you complaining?"

"Definitely not."

"Good," he says. "I'll get my ass chewed and then we can leave, okay?" I frown and I think he feels it against his neck because he pulls back to look at me. "Don't worry about it, I get these 'You're a Bennett, people expect certain things of you' talks like once a week." My frown deepens and he laughs. "What can I say? I'm just a big troublemaker."

"Naughty boy," I whisper with a smirk.

He snorts. "I'll show you naughty."

Oh, boy, does he ever. The way he kisses me should be illegal, at least in public. It also helps to alleviate some of my fear, though I don't like the circumstances we are now in at all. It's not that I mind keeping our relationship quiet, it's the chance that if Ed Senior finds out he'll hurt Ethan that frightens me.

"I'll be right back, baby. Go chat with Emily."

"Okay," I breathe.

Emily is waiting for me in the kitchen. She seems to be a fairly modest woman in her designer jeans and blouse. The only thing really over stated about her is her high heels and the giant rock on her finger. I think she's pretty okay.

"Hi, Jasper," she says.

"Hello, Emily," I replied.

"Come have a seat with me, I made you a drink." I hesitate, eying the drink greedily. "What's wrong?" she asks.

I frown and take the seat next to her, grabbing the drink and sipping it curiously. It's gin and tonic, which really doesn't taste that great to me, but I could use some alcohol right now.

"Nothing, thank you."

She smiles sadly and throws her arm over my shoulder, hugging me into her side. "Sweetie, my husband is a good man and he didn't mean any disrespect at all. If Ethan lets you get to know us, I'm sure you'll learn that for yourself."

"Lets me?" I press.

She nods. "He's probably going to be angry at us for a while because of this, which in turn means you most likely won't be spending any time around us, though you're more than welcome."

I glance nervously in the direction Ethan disappeared to and Emily squeezes my shoulders. "Hey, he'll be fine. William rarely even raises his voice and all he's doing in there is some damage control. I think he's just upset that Ethan now made him liable if Ed finds out. This family has a lot of secrets, Jasper, we learn to hide them well. And ask."

"Ask what?"

She squeezes my shoulder again and smiles over at me. "That question that is eating you alive right now."

I gulp down a mouthful of my drink and turn my head to look at her. "Does he expect me to leave him?"

Emily just continues to smile at me, and I hope that's good—she doesn't really seem the sadistic type. "Absolutely not, darling. To be perfectly honest, I'm almost positive he wants the exact opposite." I feel my brow creasing in confusion, and before I can ask, Emily says, "I'll tell you why. He's very important to us, you know. He's like the child I could never have. Such a curse, isn't it? Irina not being able to carry to term and myself not being able to bear one at all. The only difference is that I accepted Ethan as my own when she would not. I digress, my point is that both William and I love Ethan very much, and it was abundantly clear to me the minute you walked into his life that something changed in him. He's not a very happy person, he's kind of miserable, actually." She sighs. "You're good for him. You take away the misery, you make him smile. Really smile. Do you know how long it's been since I've seen him really smile? Am I depressing you?"

"A little. It's really sad," I say.

She nods. "He has always been a good boy. Very independent and a little on the wild side, but such a good boy. He deserves happiness. What I mean is that William and I will do everything we can to keep you both safe, but you're going to have to do the same too. Ethan can't lose his temper with Ed and rub this in his face, or he will get his ass handed to him—excuse my language, Ethan started me on that terrible habit."

I laugh and she joins. "He's a sweetheart, isn't he?" she asks. I nod, because he really is. "But he just grinds you to the core sometimes, doesn't he?" I nod, thinking of my perfectly imperfect man, the very reason I love him.

Emily is talking and I pick up on what she is saying mid-sentence after my mind started wandering. "...But no one is asking you to leave him, Jasper, least of all us. Just keep him happy, okay?"

"That I can do," I promise.

"What can you do?" Ethan asks. My eyes dart to him, scanning him worriedly, but he seems to be okay. He doesn't look too pissed off and William is right behind him, I think that's a good sign.

"Back flips off the high dive," I lie.

Ethan snorts. "Liar, but I'd like to see you try. What can you really do?"

"Keep you happy," I tell him.

He frowns at Emily then smiles at me and waggles his eyebrows. "That you definitely can do."

"Don't make sex jokes in front of my wife," William chastises.

Ethan rolls his eyes. "I wasn't, you pervert." He throws a wink at me, which for some reason makes Emily giggle. "You have had too much to drink and it's barely noon," he says, pointing at Emily.

"It's three in the afternoon," William points out.

"Whatever," Ethan mutters, reaching forward and grabbing Emily's drink. "Love you, Es, you lightweight. We're leaving." He throws the drink back in one swallow and grimaces. "Was she making you drink that shit?"

I shrug and swirl my drink around, not too interested in it anymore. "You shouldn't drink and drive," Emily scolds.

Ethan laughs. "Yeah, I know, I might hit a bump and spill. That's why I took my sip here." He grabs my hand and pulls. "Let's go, sexy."

Sexy, eh? Nice. I lean over and peck Emily on the cheek, thanking her quietly. She smiles widely and I sigh because Ethan is jerking on my arm repeatedly like a damn four-year-old.

"Okay, okay," I laugh.

"Toodles," Ethan calls.

"Toodles?" I laugh incredulously.

"Yes, toodles. You've said that before so shut up. You rub off on me." I raise a very suggestive brow at him and he starts laughing. "Shut up!" He laughs again, pushing me out the front door.

Once in the car, Ethan asks me, "How are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

He rolls his eyes at me. "I'm not playing pleasantries, I want to know how you really are, the truth."

"I told you, I'm good. How are you?"

He stares at me for a few seconds then throws the car into reverse and peels out of the driveway. He drives like a maniac—I never realized what an amazing tool the 'oh shit' bar was until the first time I got in the car with Ethan behind the wheel. "I'm good too, I guess. I don't know why you're lying to me though."

"I'm not lying," I say honestly. "I'm fine with whatever. We're together, that's all that matters."

"You sure?" he asks.

"Yes." I reach over and rub his thigh. "Why ruin a good thing? Let's just take it a day at a time and see how it goes. We can make it work."

"We will make it work," he affirms. "No matter what. I don't care what I have to do to keep you, I will. I love you."

"I love you too. You don't have to do anything to keep me though, just be with me, okay?"

He nods and I squeeze his thigh. It was apparently a little surprisingly high because he swerves into the oncoming traffic, narrowly missing a motorcyclist. "Jesus, don't do that shit while I'm driving," he scolds.

I almost tell him he can do both, but instead I move my hand back to my own lap. I don’t have a death wish after all.

The rest of the ride is mostly quiet. We talk about how dating is going to work and all that, and he insists that he will be taking me out, his father be damned. I figure that we won't be molesting each other in public, so no one should really be the wiser, but then again, this is Ethan we're talking about.

He parks along the curb in front of my house, where there is a sign that indicates no parking for longer than fifteen minutes, which leads me to believe he'll be leaving. I lean in to kiss him goodbye but he stops me with his hand on my chest.

"Can I come in?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely. I just thought..." I say, pointing to the sign. "Never mind. Yes, of course you can come in."

His eyebrows stay raised. "Can I stay a while?"

"Yes," I laugh. "As long as you'd like to."

"Great. Can you move your car so I can pull up by the house, please? I don't trust this neighborhood." I roll my eyes and grab his shirt, pulling his mouth to mine. "Is that a yes?" he mumbles into my mouth.

"Mhmm," I answer, not bothering to break the kiss.

"Go move your car," he says, pushing me away and glancing nervously over his shoulder.

"I don't know how you slept last night," I mutter in disbelief as I get out.

"I don't either," I hear him say before I shut the door.

After I move my car and he pulls in alongside of it, he literally chases me into the house, smacking me on the ass when I don't move fast enough.

"Come on, come on," he urges, still smacking my ass while I fumble with my keys.

He reaches around me and jams the key into the knob, twisting the key all the way around until the door opens. His parted lips surprise me as they caress across my neck as he presses me through the doorway with his body. The keys hit the table with a rattle and the door slams with thud.

All too soon, his lips aren't on my neck anymore, but he's spinning me around to face him and he backs me up against the door.

"I can't wait another second," he murmurs.

I'm too shocked to even meet him halfway when he kisses me. I moan into his mouth, barely able to keep up, but I think—I hope—I know where this is leading. His hands are pulling my pants open and he's frantically kicking his shoes off.

Suddenly his mouth is gone again. "Is this okay?" he asks.

I don't bother answering, I just pull his mouth back to mine and try to toe my own shoes off. It's no use, really. My shoes are too tight, and we can do this with our shoes on anyway.

I hiss when he grabs my ass and pulls me against him hard. My thighs quiver, it feels so good. He moans and shoves his hand up my shirt, thumbing my nipple. I gasp and break the kiss, having to moan and catch my breath, his lips move to my neck. He's moving hurriedly, thrusting forward and pushing my back to the door, and I push back into him, creating a delicious friction.

This isn't going to be a slow, intimate, loving, passionate reunion. We're hard and we're horny and we just want. There's plenty of time for nice and slow later, right now we both just need to cum.