Recklessly Bound

Chapter Twenty Two

Strangely, breakfast goes smoothly. We both help to whip up a light breakfast and sat outside, by the beach and enjoy it. Ethan seems relaxed and calm. It's as if slowly, he is becoming that young boy I knew almost twenty years ago or so. The boy who approached me in his blue swimming suit and helped me face my fear and taught me how to swim.

I glance at him. He is wearing a pair of navy swim shorts. I can't see his eyes behind the sunglasses but since I'm also wearing one, it means I can ogle his body which is perfectly sunscreen applied and formed like one of those gossip magazine pictures of celebrities. Wait for a second, he is a celebrity. His skin doesn't even need a tan. He's perfect just the way he is now.

I stand up, frustrated that I find myself once again checking him out despite our quarrel. I throw my sunglasses on the table next to our plates and step out of my flip flops. As I make my way to the edge of the water, I feel a pair of eyes watching my moves carefully. It's like I can feel their heat.

I travel through the water until it's lapping up to my upper waist, then I let go and allow my body to float on the water, swaying with each wave that passes through me. It's so calm and beautiful here. The water is just as blue as the sky. There is no stress of being behind schedule or running later for a shooting.

That's when the water splashes over my face and goes through my nose. I get caught off guard. Trying to get to a standing position, I flap my hands around and hit something hard. When I come up and out of the water, I turn to see the stone but instead, I find Ethan standing, secretly enjoying his moment of triumph for destroying my peace.

"Hey," I protest, start walking away from him since he's standing too close. And I don't trust myself. "what was that?" I drag my hand over my face and dry my face.

"I see you are still struggling with keeping your balance." He walks closer. I take another step back.

"what? What are you talking about?"

"The swimming lesson I gave you. You're still struggling with keeping your body still no matter what." He reaches me with a few strides in the water, making a rifle.

"what are you—"

Before I can finish, he reaches and rotates my body horizontally. With his arms supporting my body, he floats me. I hold my breath, feeling excited and a surge of anger all at the same time. He's touching me. He's touching me. Oh, my God. How dare he?

"don't stiff your legs." I look up and see him gazing down at me. "that's it." The minute our eyes catch, I can't help the pull of the spell. These are the same eyes that looked into me when he made love to me... oh, wait, that wasn't making love. It was screwing up.

"Thank you very much, I know how to float." I grab his arms but not to hold onto rather than to get on my feet.

"We worked on it for a whole week." He smiles. It's the first time I see him remembering our memories and smiling. It's quite a rare occasion.

"I'm glad you remember. You should also remember that you throw me in the water out of nowhere just before you asked me if I trusted you," I bitterly remark. Even when he threw me in the water, I was still infatuated with him. I still looked up to him with adoration. Even when he turned his back to me during high school, I still had a small hope in my chest. Even when he f*cked me and left like a coward, I still love him.

There it is. There I said it.

I love him.

I have loved him since long ago. But today, I remembered why.

"It was to teach you a lesson." I look up at him confused. He continues, "to never let down your guard."

He says it as if he knows what's going on in my head. As if he's directly telling me that loving him is a useless route. I stare at him, trying to decide if this is his way of saying to stay away from him. To lose all the hope. All the trust I have in him.