Chapter 32 TRIP TO PARIS V

         El was partially asleep as she turned to her side on her bed and held something on the bed. Unlike her usual soft pillow, she felt a hard, muscular being under her. It was a human, she could feel the person's heart beating softly under her hand. As her hand moved around his chest just to be clear she wasn't hallucinating, and what she felt was real, she could feel hard, firm muscles.

     It is a man! Her mind screamed at her and she quickly jumped out of the bed afraid. Was she so drunk last night that she ended up at a hotel with a man? What was she going to do if Ethan found out? She asked herself as she looked around the familiar room holding her head which was throbbing like it was going to burst open. She was having a hangover from the excessive intake of alcohol last night.

          She paused for a second to gather her thoughts and when she finally started thinking clearly again, she noticed she was in her room at Ethan's mansion in Paris. She sighed in relief but started panicking again when she remembered the man on her bed. She turned around only to see Ethan lying on her bed and she stared at the huge figure on her bed astounded. Just to be clear she wasn't seeing things that weren't there, she wiped her sleepy face with her left palm and when she looked again, he was still there, sound asleep.

      What was Ethan doing in Paris? She asked herself confused, and more importantly, what was he doing on her bed? She knew he was sleeping, but why was he sleeping on her bed? She immediately looked down at herself and sighed in relief when she saw that she was wearing her pajamas. For some seconds, she had doubted the fact that he didn't take advantage of her but seeing that nothing happened between them even in her vulnerable state, made her rate him on being a gentleman.

      Many questions as to why he was sleeping on her bed ran through her mind as she stared at the handsome figure on top of her bed but they quickly vanished when she saw that he wasn't wearing anything thing other than a pair of black trousers. His eight packs were visible as he lay on his back with the mattress covering half of his body, from his waist down to his legs.

       Damn! He looked so hot even in his sleep. This was one of the rare scenes that she saw Ethan in. Whenever he was asleep, he always looked so peaceful and breathtaking because he wasn't making that face, the face that scared the hell out of her especially when he was angry. He always looked perfect like this. 

      She stopped staring at him and took a deep breath when she felt an excruciating pain in her head. When she couldn't take it anymore, she let out a moan as she massaged her forehead with her thumb and middle finger.

      "When did you wake up?" She heard his cold voice, and she looked up only to find him sitting on the bed with his legs on the floor. When did he wake up and how come she didn't notice? She looked at him as he stood up from where he sat and walked toward her.

     "Why are you here? And what are you doing in my room? Did you spend the night here, with me?" She asked all at once, not giving him space to answer. "Are you that low to take advantage of me in my vulnerable state? You know I was drunk..." He stood directly in front of her, their bodies almost touching as he stared down her face.

        For some weird reason, she stopped talking when she saw how he stared at her. Was he angry? She couldn't tell but she couldn't take any chances with this man either. He only stared at her this way whenever he was angry. She didn't do anything to him, so was he trying to transfer the aggression he had for someone else to her? On seeing his face, she gulped unintentionally.

         "How can you still be so noisy even when you're having a hangover?" He asked frustrated, sighing.

     Noisy? The word ringed in her head over again. How was she noisy? In the past, she was always a very calm person who rarely spoke, but how can you be calm when you're living with someone like Ethan who doesn't listen to anyone or cared less about your opinion because it didn't matter or mean anything to him, including you? And how can he say she's noisy when she's trying to express her emotions? She frowned at the thought.

       "I don't understand you, Ethan. How can you say I'm noisy when I'm just trying to make you understand me from my point of view? Do you really know what being noisy is?" Ethan walked away from her, backing her as he massaged his forehead with his fingers. She was driving him crazy, and crazier by the day. She always had what to say and he can't even remember the last time she let anything he said to her go. What was he saying, she had never let anything he said go.

       "Because I'm beginning to doubt your intelligence. If you knew the meaning of the word you just called me, you wouldn't have said that to me," she added. "I am very far from being noisy and as you can see..." He cut her off with a peck on her lips. He wanted to shut her up and this was the only way he thought of.

        El's mind went blank and she froze on the spot speechless. Her heart pounded as she still tried to process what just happened. She could still feel his warm lips on hers, and her heartbeat increased even more on the thought of what just transpired between them. 

       "Now that I have your attention," he broke her off from her daze with his words. "I can finally say what I have to say. Where did you go yesterday?" He asked as his face turned serious once more.

       "I don't understand."

       "Don't make me repeat myself, Eleanor."

       She hesitated for a while, gathering her thought carefully before speaking. "I went out with some friends to a restaurant where we dined for the evening."

     "And you came back drunk at that hour of the day like some irresponsible teenager?"

     El sighed as she massaged her forehead. "Ethan, please you can question whatever I did later, but right now, I'm having a hangover and my head is throbbing like it's about to burst open. I can't even think straight." She walked to the bed and sat on it. She knew there were going to be punishments for her actions, but right now she cared less about Ethan and his stupid punishments. All her attention was focused on the hangover she had.

        Ethan walked out of the room, and a few minutes later, her maids came inside the room with some medicines for hangovers and soup to help her with it. She quickly took the medicines and drank the soup slowly. She didn't know when she drank a considerable amount of it. Feeling satisfied, she laid down back on her bed and drifted off to sleep once more.

.

      El woke up refreshed after some hours of good sleep, stretching her muscles as she still lay on her bed. She looked around the room and when she saw no one was inside, she decided to enjoy the quietness, and she lay in the quiet room for a while. She liked it when she is alone in a quiet place because it gave her time to think about her life and the good things to look forward to.

       Sighing, she got up from her bed when she realized there was nothing good to look forward to. She opened the curtains in her room, which were closed, and looked at the beautiful clear sky. From the position of the sun, she could tell it was mid-day, and a very beautiful day if you ask her. 

       A knock on the door pulled her from her thought and she turned in the direction of the door when she permitted the person to come in. Jeanne walked into the room with Marie behind her, and they bowed on seeing her. "Miss Eleanor," they greeted in unison. "The young master demands your presence downstairs," Jeanne said softly. "And he specifically ordered for you to wear a bikini, and meet him at the pool." She added.

       El sighed in annoyance. 

       Ethan dived into the pool with a big splash as he swam to the middle of the pool. From the way, his body moved gracefully and swiftly, and how he controlled his movements with his hands and legs, one could tell that he was a pro at It. When he got to the middle, he changed his swimming posture and started doing backstrokes effortlessly. At a point, he stopped moving both his hands and his legs, and just floated on the water with closed eyes as he enjoyed the feel of the waves of the water on his body.

      The past couple of months had been really stressful for him. He had different business meetings in different countries, and most times he had two meetings in different countries on the same day. He was launching a new product in his company soon, so he rarely had time for himself because he wants the launch to be successful. Now, he had some days to himself to relax, thanks to El. This was exactly what he needed, a vacation, just for himself without thinking about any work-related matters.

       El walked out of the elevator with Jeanne and Marie in front of her as they led her to the back of the mansion where the pool was. As they got to the entrance of the place where the pool was visible, they stopped and left the way for only her to go in. Ethan didn't order for them to go in, but only ordered for El, so they didn't dare to go in because they knew what this man was capable of doing when you improvise his orders. 

        Ignoring the maid's reaction, El walked to the pool and saw Ethan floating on the water. That sight reminded her of how she almost drowned and soon she started feeling the same helplessness once more. She suddenly couldn't breathe and started tasting water in her mouth, and she turned away from the water, closing her eyes. Why was she feeling this way? Has she suddenly developed a phobia of water? She knew she had a pretty bad experience with water, but it wasn't that bad that she can't stand the sight of water all of a sudden.

      She turned around when she heard the familiar cold voice behind her. "Why aren't you getting into the water?" She saw him walking slowly from the stairs out of the water. Water dripped from his hair down his face to his body and she swallowed unintentionally at the sight. His eight packs were visible and she could see them drip water but that wasn't the only thing that dripped from him.      

He was dripping sexiness and for some minutes, she coulno't take her eyes off him. She started feeling hot, not from the reflection of the sun on her body, but because of the man who stood in front of her. He is attractive and the definition of perfection, and he knew the effect his perfection had on her which he didn't bother to hide.

        He walked to one of the pool lounge chairs and picked up a towel from it which he used to dry his hair. "Are you going to keep staring at me like that, or are you going to get into the water?" His question brought her out from her daydreaming, and her eyes shifted from him to the pool. For some minutes, she forgot about her phobia of the water which she just remembered now, thanks to him.

       Her eyes shifted back to the man in front of her and she frowned. Did he not know of her difficulties with water, or was he just playing games with her? Obviously, he was because he knew of the situation she had at the yacht party they attended where she almost drowned if not for the intervention of one of the waiters at the party, and he even stayed with her at the hospital where she was admitted.

        "I can't swim, Ethan and you obviously know about this. I don't know why you're trying to play some lame games with me." She walked closer to him. "You're not trying to get rid of me by drowning me, are you?"

       "Wouldn't that be doing you a favor? You've always wanted that, haven't you? But I'm sorry to disappoint you because I won't be doing you that favor, not when I have a lot of plans for your body. So, relax because you won't be leaving me anytime soon." A side of his lips curved into a smile, his eyes not leaving hers. 

      El had mixed feelings. She didn't know if she should be happy about the fact that he wasn't planning on killing her, or sad about the fact that he made claims on her body. She knew she had once made a comment about wanting to die, but she never meant any of that and wanted very much to be alive, and she also know that staying with Ethan wasn't going to be easy. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the grin on his face. Not because of her feelings for him, but because the thought of what he could do to her scared her, and she would be lying if she said otherwise. 

       "I can't swim, Ethan and the sight of water scares the hell out of me." She came clean to him, hoping it would help the situation and make him change his mind concerning what he said about her going into the water. This was the only way that came to her mind.  She knew Ethan was a person who always expected you to do things he wanted you to do, and he would keep insisting or use any means possible to make sure you eventually do it, so she hoped coming clean will make him change his mind. 

      "People learn and adapt to their environment, Eleanor," he said sarcastically. "That is why you need to learn and adapt to the water, so you that when you fall into a situation where you need to swim, you won't need someone else saving your a**," he added with finality in his voice.

      El sighed in disappointment. There was nothing she was going to say to this man now to make him change his mind about what he had decided. Ethan is a stubborn person who had a mind of his own, she had always known this. This was one of the things she like about him, his strong opinion, but right now she hated it because it was working against her.  She sighed once more as she took deep breaths to prepare herself physically and mentally for what she was going to do that was forced on her by Ethan.