All Chapters of PRETEND YOU MINE: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

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.

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

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

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

Day two of my exile from Brynne and it sucked. I was moving around and doing things, but nothing felt right. How long would I be like this? Should I call her? If I thought about my situation too much, dread started to creep in, so I left it alone. I left her alone. The empty space inside me pushed for action, but I knew it was too soon to try to go to her. She needed some time and I'd made this mistake before. Pressing too fast and too hard with her. And being an utter selfish prick.I parked on the street next to the house where I'd grown up. The lawn very tidy, the gate straight and the shrubbery clipped as it had always been. Dad would never leave here. Not the home where he'd been with my mother. My dad gave the term stubborn old man new meaning, and this was where he would die someday.I picked the cold beer off the seat and went in through the gate. A black cat dashed ahead of me and waited. It was not quite a kitten and not fully grown either. A teenage cat I suppose. It sat do