CHAPTER 2

The morning after should have felt different.

Sunlight filtered through the massive windows of Ethan’s penthouse office, casting golden streaks across Naomi’s bare skin. She stirred, muscles aching deliciously from the night before, she still had the remnants of their passion still humming in her veins. They had been together throughout the previous day, ever since the lawyer had gone. 

She wasn’t his wife anymore. She was supposed to walk away. She thought.

Ethan was already awake too, leaning against the edge of his desk, fully dressed except for his loosened tie. His gaze raked over her, unreadable and intense, like he was committing every inch of her to memory and to the memory of the previous night.

Naomi pulled the sheet higher over her chest. “You’re staring.“ She said…

He smirked, a slow, knowing curve of his lips. “So are you.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she sat up. “Last night was a mistake.”

Ethan’s expression darkened. “Is that what you tell yourself every time?”

Every time.

Because this wasn’t the first time they had fallen into each other’s arms after deciding to end things. It had happened before, their own twisted cycle of passion and pain, of trying to move on and failing miserably back together again.

She exhaled sharply, forcing herself to meet his gaze. “We can’t keep doing this, Ethan. We signed the papers. It’s over, don’t you think.”

He stepped closer, his presence wrapping around her like a force field. “You really believe that, after all these time?”

Naomi swallowed hard, ignoring the way her body still burned for him. “Yes.”

Ethan reached out, brushing a stray curl from her face, his fingers lingering against her cheek. “Liar.”

She flinched, hating how easily he could see through her. “I’m serious. You’re engaged in your business empire, I’m trying to move on, and…”

“And yet,” he interrupted, his voice low and lethal, “you were screaming my name last night.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. “That doesn’t mean anything.” She said, trying to defend herself.

Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. “Naomi, if this was just sex, you wouldn’t be looking at me like you want to run back to the lawyer requesting for the file to change things.”

She clenched her jaw, fighting the emotions clawing their way to the surface. “It doesn’t change anything. We’re done.” “You’re just trying so hard to get into my head”.

Ethan’s eyes flashed. “We’ll see.” His voice, confident…

Before she could argue, his office phone rang, shattering the tension between them. He didn’t take his eyes off her as he reached for it.

“Carter.”

A pause. His brows furrowed, his expression hardening into something dangerous. “What do you mean the deal fell through?”

Naomi frowned, recognizing the shift in his demeanor. Ethan in business mode was ruthless, unstoppable. But there was something about the way his jaw tightened, the anger in his usually controlled expression, sent a ripple of unease through her.

He ended the call, his fingers drumming against the desk. And staring at the flowerpot beside the polished drawer which held most of the important document of his company. “I need to leave now.” He said, after finally staring back at her.

Naomi nodded, pushing off the couch where they had collapsed sometime during the night. “Right. Back to your empire.” “Maybe I am the one that should leave.”

Ethan caught her wrist before she could walk past him. “Naomi”, he called out, staring into her eyes.

She hesitated, refusing to look back at him. If she did, she might not be strong enough to leave.

His fingers tightened slightly, a silent plea. “This isn’t over.” He said, still searching for her eyes.

She inhaled sharply, pulling free from his grasp. “Yes, it is.”

With one last glance, she grabbed her dress from the floor, slipped it on, folded her purple G-string into the left zipper of her bag, and walked out of the door, leaving behind the only man who had ever truly unraveled her.

She left without wearing any underwear, how sexy… He thought.

Ethan never knew that part of Naomi, she was crazier than that.

As she stepped into the elevator, her heart hammering in her chest, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Ethan Carter wasn’t done with her yet, and she sure wasn’t done with Ethan. Tears flowed down from her eyes.