Page 118 of Henry & Kate
“Why does Amy put up with it?”
“I don’t know. Garrett is her first boyfriend. It’s probably a combination of denial, false hope, and low self-esteem.”
“Bad combination.”
“The worst,” Grace replied with a sad smile, which turned into a disgusted grimace, as if she’d smelled something bad. “What ishedoing here?”
“Who?” I glanced around to see Ethan. I hadn’t seen him since our encounter in the corridor, when he’d smiled at me grimly. He wore black shorts and a dark T-shirt and had a heart rate monitor on his upper arm. “He probably wants to work out.”
“But why here?” Grace groaned. “He has a gym in his apartment.”
Until now, I’d been as invisible to Ethan as I was to the hotel guests, but now he noticed me. Our eyes met, and then, to my surprise, he approached me. I doubted I would ever get used to how similar Henry and Ethan looked. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I replied.
Behind me, Grace gave an irritated sigh, which caught Ethan’s attention. He peered past me to look at her. “Hey,” he greeted her.
“Go to hell,” she growled.
“That’s not very nice.”
She snorted. “You’renot very nice.”
“How would you know? We don’t know each other.”
“Oh, we know each other!”
Ethan tilted his head, giving Grace a slow once-over. “Are you sure? I don’t remember you.”
Grace gasped in disbelief, her face flushing even redder than when she’d been running. “Yeah, arsehole. We know each other. I’m the one who’s been cleaning up after you for months, because you aren’t capable of doing it yourself with your delicate man-hands.”
Ethan slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead, as if he’d had a revelation. “Oh, it’s you, Claymore. Sorry. I didn’trecognise you without a bin bag in your hand.” He flashed her a grin that made it very clear he knew exactly who she was and was just trying to get under her skin. When Grace realised, she pressed her lips together and gave Ethan a look that could have killed. I caught myself thinking that he’d better watch out for death traps hidden around his apartment.
“Do you want something from us? Or is the universe just punishing us with your presence?” Grace snapped.
“Believe me, you’re the last person I want anything from.”
“Good, because I wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Who said anything about touching?”
“You did!”
“No, I didn’t,” Ethan said with a wink, before turning his back on us—he clearly wanted to have the final word. He headed for the weights at the other end of the room without sparing us another glance. Grace, on the other hand, stared furiously at his retreating back and flipped him a middle finger, adorned with a silver snake ring.
I sighed. “Do you have to provoke him like that?”
She lowered her finger. “What? He started it.”
“‘Go to hell’?” I reminded her.
“Oh, you’re right. Sorry. Well, if he complains about me to Henry, you can just put in a good word for me. There must be some advantage to you sleeping with my boss.”
I gave a tight smile as I ran. Grace seemed not to notice, but the mere thought of having sex with Henry made my steps falter. We hadn’t slept together yet—not because of him, but because of me. I had no experience in that area, and I was nervous about disappointing Henry. But if there was one thing I had learned in thelast few days, it was how much he wanted to be with me. Not even the chaos Randell had stirred up could make him break up with me. And the longer I thought about it, the more certain I became: I wanted my first time to be with Henry.
And hopefully, it would happen soon.
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