**Rosalie’s POV
This had to be a dream.
That was what I told myself as I looked into his eyes, which shone with a depth of emotion I had never before seen.
There was no way in the world that I was awake and this was real. He couldn’t really be standing here, in the shadows in the garden outside of my cottage near Soren’s house. There were simply too many guards for even soone of his skill to have managed to have gotten in here.
And what had he said?
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
It could not be Ethan, I told myself. I needed to shut off my crazy emotions and wake up.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong person.” Please, just go away, I prayed.
I couldn’t allow myself to be hurt by him, even if it was just a dream.
“I know it’s you, Rosalie. Co with !” His voice was trembling.
When had I ever heard him speak like this?
I remained silent... but I knew I wanted to go to him.
“Rosalie...” he murmured, and I could almost hear pleading in his tone.
I shook my head. Pleading was the last thing I could ever imagine Ethan doing. So this had to be a dream.
“Rosalie...please, co back to .” he said again, and it was like soone had cast a spell on – I couldn’t help but move toward him, especially now that I had accepted that I must’ve gone to sleep after dinner.
“Is that really you, Ethan?” I asked, moving closer to the person in my dream. Maybe, just this once, I would let myself imagine that he wasn’t cold and cruel.
“It’s , Rosalie...”
He said my na again, and the way that it rolled off of his tongue sounded so real, I couldn’t help but bury my head in his neck as he pulled tight.
He even slled real. The scent of pine and the forest filled my lungs with each breath as I ran my hands along his muscular back.
His hands grazed my shoulders, stroking my hair, and I felt tears in my eyes. I longed for him to hold . What was the harm when this was only a dream?
“Rosalie, I’ve missed you so much,” Ethan said into my ear. “We have so much to talk about.”
That doesn’t sound like sothing a person would say if this was simply a romantic dream.
While he continued to caress , I reached around him and pinched myself on the arm.
It hurt.
This wasn’t a dream! I was awake!
I snapped my eyes open.
Ethan! He was here.
I felt fear rushing through .
What in the world did he want from ?
Imdiately, I pushed him away and leaped back away from him, my arms wrapping around my baby.
“Ethan!” I said, my tone accusatory. “Why are you here?”
“Shhh...” He pulled into his arms again, and caressed my hair. He looked around to see if anyone had heard .
But he was making angry.
He’d been back in my life all of two minutes, and he was already ordering around.
“Why did you co?” I asked him. “Are you here to take my baby?”
“No!” he said, and I could see by the hurt in his eyes that he ant it. “Rosalie, no... I would never....”
He stopped talking, which didn’t surprise . He was never one for expressing himself. Still, I had to ask him...
“Are you here to kill , then?”
I knew how he treated people who went against him.
Ethan’s eyes nearly bulged from his head. He took a step back, and it looked as if I had physically injured him.
Shaking his head, he said, “No, Rosalie. I ca all of this way to see you. I knew there was no way that you would ever harm our baby. I had to find you. I had to– ”
Before he could finish, I heard footsteps coming in our direction. Ethan clearly did, too.
Regardless of why he was here, my instinct told that no one should see him. Even though a part of wanted to sell him out, to alert Soren’s guards that a strange man was standing in my garden, I couldn’t do that. Not until I had gotten the opportunity to hear him out anyway.
“You have to go!” I urged him, not even knowing why I was doing it.
It was clear that he understood that, but his feet weren’t moving.
“I have to see you again, Rosalie,” he said. It was the closest thing to a request that I’d ever heard co out of his mouth.
The footsteps were growing closer, and I distinctly heard the sound of Soren laughing. Ethan’s face wrinkled into a grimace. It made wonder if he knew Soren, if they had so bad blood– but now wasn’t the ti for to find out.
“Go!” I said again.
“Rosalie,” he insisted. “I have to see you again.”
“Fine!” I said, my eyes wide.
“And you won’t tell him anything?”
“No. Now, go!”
I could plainly see the pure joy in his eyes.
“Are you still awake, Ro?”
I spun around to see Soren coming around the side of the cottage. I rushed over to et him, hoping I could cut him off before he saw Ethan. Since Ethan was wearing all black and had been standing in the shadows, there was a chance he’d get away before Soren could see him.
“Yes, Soren.”
I was used to Soren stopping by late at night. However, it hadn’t happened often lately.
“Were you talking to soone?” he asked with a smile.
“Oh, you know ,” I said, smiling back and trying to keep calm. “Just talking to the baby.” I patted my stomach.
“You sounded... upset,” he told , looking around. I noticed he had a beautiful pink chrysanthemum in his hand.
“Upset? Huh? Oh, no. Just... the little booger kicked right in the ribs. I was sitting in the swing talking about how excited I was to et my baby, and bam, right in the ribcage. You probably heard say, ‘Oooh!’” I tried to make it sound the sa as when I’d told Ethan to go.
Perhaps changing the subject would help?
“Is that for ?” I reached for the flower.
“Oh, yeah.” Soren was definitely distracted. He was spinning around, looking at every shadow, sniffing the air. “I saw it on my way ho from your house. It’s so beautiful. The pink reminded of the shade your cheeks turn when you blush.”
“That’s so sweet of you!” I gushed.
He wasn’t standing still long enough for to actually take the flower from him. I moved a few tis to step in front of him. We probably looked ridiculous to his bodyguards, who were hanging back a few steps, as we did a strange waltz around the flower garden.
“Soren?”
“I’m sorry!” he said, extending the flower to . “I’m so distracted. Here you go, gorgeous. In fact, let put it in your hair.”
He broke the stem off and slipped the flower behind my ear, taking a mont to situate it just so. His fingertips grazed my cheek, and I felt a tingle go down my spine.
It might’ve been exciting, and I might have even wondered whether I wanted more from Soren than just our friendship, if I hadn’t just seen Ethan...
Now, I couldn’t even let myself think about any of that– with anyone.
Not right now.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at him. “That really was very kind of you, to co all the way back over here. But you ntioned at dinner that you had a lot of etings tomorrow. Shouldn’t you be getting ho? You need your rest if you’re going to be on top of your negotiations tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “Yes, you’re right, I do. But... was there a skunk out here or sothing earlier?”
“A skunk?” I asked, staring at him. “What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t sll like a skunk exactly, but more like a skunky wolf. A stinky... horrific... awful wolf with mange or sothing.”
I could only look at him and try not to give anything away.
Had he figured out that Ethan was here earlier?
Of course, I thought Ethan slled wonderful, but I wasn’t another dominant male.
“I don’t sll anything,” I told him, but that wasn’t quite true. Ethan’s scent did linger in the air a bit, and if I inhaled deeply enough, I could still sll him.
I could certainly still feel his touch on my body from where he’d been holding .
“Well, I think we need to plant so more fragrant flowers around here tomorrow. There must be so skunkweed or wild onions growing over here.” He flipped his arm around toward the bushes, like any one of them might be the culprit.
“Soren,” I said, giggling. “All of these flowers sll wonderful, and there are plenty of them.”
He shrugged. “Sothing out here slls rotten.”
“I was the only one here...” I suggested, but that just made him laugh.
“You? You sll like a fresh, spring rain, Ro. It’s definitely not you. All right. I’ll go. But you should go inside in case there’s sothing lurking around here.”
“I will,” I promised him. “My guards are nearby.”
“Maybe it’s them!” he joked. He was still laughing when he kissed my cheek for the second ti that night and said goodbye.
Soren was so fun-loving and good-natured. He was the exact opposite of Ethan.
Ethan.
I stood outside for a few more minutes, waiting to see if he’d co back out.
But he didn’t.
Was it possible I’d dreamt him up? Maybe he was a fignt of my imagination, and he hadn’t really been there at all. I had been under a lot of stress lately.
No, he was there. I had seen him. I’d pinched myself and confird that I was still awake.
“Ethan,” I whispered– not to summon him, but just to feel his na on my mouth.
He didn’t co out, but he didn’t have to. I’d told him I’d talk to him again, so I knew he’d co back eventually.
Whether I liked it or not.
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