Page 14 of Cozy Girl Fall
“Just blankets,” she managed to get out through chattering teeth.
They kept them on hand for the Halloween Orchard Fest; if it was dry, people used them as picnic blankets to sit on, but they also came in handy for drying people off after apple bobbing and keeping the chill at bay for children or the elderly if they stayed outside too long in the cool fall air.
Plus, it never hurt to have a stash for situations like this.
“Right,” he said, accepting the tartan one she passed him. “I suppose we should get naked, too.”
Had she been struck by lightning? “What?”
“Our clothes are wet,” he said, and she would have thought he was being matter of fact if not for the twitch of his lips. “If we want to conserve body warmth, we should get naked under the blankets.”
“I think we’ll manage with our clothes on,” she choked out and he chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess.” He sighed in mock disappointment and she laughed, the sound breathless. “Oh hey, there’s a fireplace. Could we get a fire going to dry off?”
Penny considered the hearth, tucked away in the corner behind an armchair that was more decorative than practical, before nodding.
Logs were already in the grate with matches and kindling in tidy little containers on the mantle.
In all honesty, she’d forgotten the fireplace was here.
She could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen a fire lit in it, but right then some warmth sounded too heavenly to refuse.
The rain continued outside, the rhythmic drumming of droplets on the roof making her eyes feel heavy as the sparks caught in the grate. They sat as close to the fire as possible, nestled comfortably in the blankets.
“OK,” she said, shooting Ethan a stern look as she slipped off her shoes and socks and placed them in front of the fire atop the brick lip of the grate. “Don’t read into this. I just can’t deal with wet socks.”
He laughed. “I remember. You walked home barefoot one summer when we swam in the springs with Tasha because your socks were wet and you refused to put them back on.”
Penny shuddered, the mere thought of forcing her foot into a wet sock enough to make her cringe. “That was a good summer.”
They’d been fourteen, almost fifteen, and it had been one of the hottest summers of their lives.
Tasha had convinced them to go swimming with her and, while she was off chatting to some other friends, Ethan had pulled Penny into a little rocky hollow hidden from the view of their friends and kissed her for the first time.
He’d tasted like sunscreen and the orange Popsicles they’d taken out of her mom’s freezer.
Penny found herself becoming lost in the memory, as though, in the cocooning warmth of the fire and blankets, she could almost feel the ghost of his lips, hesitant against hers.
Ethan nodded, a warmth in his eyes that had nothing to do with the reflection of the fire, and she wondered if he was remembering their first kiss too.
The lantern’s glow clad him in a golden wash and his hair had started to curl around his ears where it dried; she swallowed and forced herself to look away, to not trace the shape of his shoulders beneath the damp shirt he wore, or the fullness of his parted lips as he breathed in the warmth.
She didn’t want to think about what she looked like right then, but at least her shivering had subsided.
Thankfully, the sound of the rain covered any awkward silence that might have otherwise taken over and instead the space felt cozy, safe.
“Thanks for staying to help me,” she murmured, glancing at him and then looking away from the openness on his face and instead watching the fire dance and pop in the grate.
“Of course,” he said, like it was really that simple and she wondered if, for him, it was. He wasn’t mad at her, he even seemed happy that she was home, so why did she feel like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop? “So, what’s new?”
One eyebrow cocked as she considered the absurdity of the question, of catching up now of all times. Though, it was probably the best chance they’d get considering she couldn’t run off unless she wanted to be swept away in a flash flood. “Well, I moved back to my hometown.”
Ethan leant back on his hands and wriggled his toes in front of the fireplace. “Moved back? I thought you were just visiting.”
“I am,” she rushed to say. “I just don’t have a firm exit date yet. Probably after Christmas.”
“Do you miss it? The city?”
She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweatshirt and lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Honestly? Not really.”
He chuckled and she glanced up to find him watching her. “Is it strange being back?”
“Yes.” No hesitation, no need for her to think about it. “Are you the only one allowed to ask questions here or …?”
He pretended to think about it before smirking at her. “I guess you can ask some too—if you even have any left after last night, stalker.”
She scrambled to her feet, looking anywhere but at him as she blushed, desperate to change the subject.
“You know, I think I remember my mom mentioning that they keep a stash of cider under the counter for when she and dad work late in the summer,” she muttered, moving across the room and rummaging beneath the workspace until she pulled open the bottom drawer. “Jackpot. Want one?”
“Seems silly to say, what with all the water outside, but I’m actually incredibly thirsty.”
She giggled and made her way back over to her spot next to him in front of the fire and pulled a can free from the box, passing it over to him. “Summer fruits OK?”
“Anything except—”
“Elderflower,” she answered, nodding, and then busied herself with pulling out her own can. “Well, cheers. To thunderstorms.”
“To reunions,” he murmured, and the crack of their cans opening was nearly as loud as the thunder they’d heard earlier. They sipped their drinks slowly, the cider a little warm and flat. But it was sweet and the fire made everything feel cozier, the gentle heat enough to warm the small space.
“So last night—” she began, at the same time that he spoke.
“Can I kiss you?”
Her mouth dropped open and for a second she forgot how to speak. “What? No. Of course not. Why would you—”
“Are you seeing someone?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Then you should let me kiss you. For old time’s sake.
For the goodbye we didn’t get.” He smiled and it wasn’t one she’d seen him wear before.
Sad but not. “Because I’m sitting here with you, the girl I loved and who broke my heart when she left, and for the life of me, I don’t know why I didn’t go with you. Follow you.”
This was not what she’d expected at all. “Ethan—”
“Are you telling me you don’t feel it too?” he challenged, leaning a little closer and smirking when she scrambled up to her feet and took three steps away. “Do you feel like the spark between us faded in the last ten years? It hasn’t for me.”
No. “Yes.”
He raised an eyebrow as he pushed to his feet, mimicking her pose but staying where he was.
“If I’m wrong, it’s OK. I won’t bring it up again,” he said and she relaxed until he continued.
“But I think you made a mistake before, when you left. You know it, I know it, hell, the whole town probably knows it because what’s between us is obvious and that’s just the kind of place this is. ”
He wasn’t wrong, but this … she wasn’t prepared for this.
“Tasha—” she tried and he silenced her with a look.
“I don’t blame you for what happened. We were young, you had dreams, I had too much pride to admit that you might need more than just this town, than me or Tasha.”
Penny couldn’t tell if it was just her or if the room had risen in temperature by a million degrees.
She was half-surprised steam wasn’t rising from their clothes, even as she knew logically that nothing had changed inside the shop.
It was him. Ethan. He was the one setting her ablaze with things she couldn’t want, things she’d promised not to have.
You already broke his heart once. Tasha’s disappointed eyes, the frown she’d wear, all of it ran through Penny’s mind in the space of a heartbeat. And yet … And yet.
“We’re not just dumb kids anymore, Pen.” He took a step closer. “We’re all grown up now.” Step. ” I’m not the nervous eighteen-year-old you remember.” Step. “If you’ll let me …” Step. “I’ll show you what you’ve been missing out on.”
She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe .
Ethan’s hand cupped her jaw and he moved slowly, like she might spook and run at any second as he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip and looked into her eyes, waiting for her decision.
Her senses filled with him, the sandalwood scent of his skin and hair, the sweet cider on his breath and the heat in his eyes. Before she could think it all the way through, she was nodding and Ethan was closing the remnants of the distance between them.
Kissing Ethan Blake was like coming home.
Easy as breathing, familiar but altogether new.
His mouth teased hers with an expertise he hadn’t had before, wringing gasps out of her when he tasted her mouth like he couldn’t drink her in fast enough.
The warmth of the fire was lost in the heat of his kiss and when he tugged her closer she didn’t resist, her hands falling to his shoulders and then moving with a mind of their own until they were twined in the damp strands of his hair.
One of his hands tightened on her waist as the kiss deepened, his tongue doing its best to coax all of her secrets and desires out of her and into him.
Her body was pulled flush against his and the evidence of his arousal was firm against her hip, his low moan telling her he wasn’t as in control as she’d believed.
When he pulled back, she followed. Not ready for the kiss to end.
He chuckled under his breath as they panted, eyes like warm chocolate as they roved over her face. “Have dinner with me.”
The heat in the room vanished, as though he’d pulled it out of the atmosphere with his words.
She took a breath, held it, ready to say yes, willing herself to accept even as she shook her head.
Disappointment made her dizzy, or maybe that was the lack of oxygen, and her breath left her raggedly as she muttered, “I can’t. ”
Penny had made Tasha a promise and it was bad enough that she’d broken it once by letting Ethan kiss her.
He dropped his hands and retreated several steps. “I see.”
“Ethan, it’s not—”
“I think the rain stopped,” he said, giving her a tight smile as he grabbed his shoes and strode to the door, taking her heart with him. He closed it without looking back, calling behind him, “Drive safe, Penny.”