“Have fun,” I called after him as he stood and walked across the yard to a shed I hadn’t noticed before.

He unlocked it and dragged the mower out. I leaned back onto my arms and watched as he pulled on the rope until it started. Once it was running, he started mowing the grass. My eyes followed him as he walked back and forth across the yard. Halfway through, he stopped and pulled his shirt over his head. He tossed it in my direction, and it landed at my feet. I laughed and threw it on the porch behind me, pretending not to notice the now shirtless Ethan strutting around in front of me.

I failed at that miserably.

My eyes followed him even closer than before, taking in the toned skin of his back and the taut muscles in his stomach. The boy had abs. I felt like I needed to fan myself.

If he noticed my gaze constantly trained on him, he didn’t let on. Twenty minutes later, he finished mowing the grass, and he put the mower away. He walked back over to me and sat back down on the step.

“Well, that was fun,” he joked as he pulled another cigarette out of his pack before lighting it up.

“Yeah, it looked like it,” I said, looking anywhere but at him and his naked chest.

“So, I guess I’m free for the rest of the day. What do you want to do now?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nah, I ate lunch at work.”

“Hmm…well, why don’t we go watch TV or something?” He grinned. “I happen to have the complete set of Harry Potter movies. If I’m not mistaken, you love that series.”

The mention of Harry Potter perked me right up. “Oh my God, are you serious?”

“Of course.”

I immediately stood up. “Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!”

He laughed as he stood and followed me inside. I plopped down on the couch while he went to his entertainment center and opened one of the bottom drawers. He pulled out the complete collection and walked over to me. He held it out, and I grabbed it.

“Open it up while I go shower really quick. I’m kind of sweaty from mowing.”

“Okay.” I started tearing away at the plastic. “I can’t believe you have the entire collection on DVD, and you haven’t even bothered to open it.”

His cheeks turned red, and he looked away from me.

“What is it?”

“I, uh…bought it a few weeks ago when I saw it on sale. I’ve never seen any of the movies, but I knew you loved them, so I thought I’d grab them to see what the fuss was all about. I just haven’t had a chance to watch them yet.”

“Well, Mr. Blake, you’re in for a treat,” I assured him. “Now, go shower, and get your butt back out here.”

He mock-saluted me before turning and heading to his bedroom. He left the door open, and I heard the shower turn on a moment later. I gave the DVD set my full attention as I tried not to think about the fact that Ethan was naked and wet only a few feet away from me.

I shook my head. Don’t go there.

I finished unwrapping the set and had just pulled the first disc out when he reappeared. I looked up to see him walking toward me in only a pair of shorts. A shirt was flung over his shoulder, and he had a towel in his hand. He was running it through his hair to dry it.

He said something, but I couldn’t quite make out the words. I was too busy trying not to stare at him. When he gave me a questioning look, I finally snapped out of it.

“Sorry. What?” I asked stupidly.

He smirked at me. “I asked if you were ready to watch the movie.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, feeling like an idiot.

He tossed the towel back into his room and grabbed his shirt off his shoulder. He quickly pulled it on before taking the DVD out of my hand and walking back to his entertainment center.

I kicked my shoes off and pulled my knees to my chest, trying to find a comfortable spot on the couch. He put the DVD into the DVD player and grabbed the remote before heading back to the couch. He sat down on the opposite end from me and pushed Play.

“I’m so excited for you to watch these. Have you read the books?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m not much of a reader.”

“You will be after you watch these. The movies are a million kinds of amazing, but the books are out of this world.”

“We’ll see.” He grinned at me. “Like I said, not much of a reader.”

I huffed, but I couldn’t hide my grin as I turned my attention back to the TV.

We sat in silence as the movie started to play. Soon, I was so engrossed in the movie that I forgot about anything and everything else. Occasionally, I would glance over at Ethan to see his reaction on certain scenes. More often than not, his eyes were on me and not on the TV.

“Watch it!” I chastised him.

He held up his hands in mock surrender and turned his attention to the movie. Satisfied, I did the same.

When the first movie ended, I pulled the second one out of the box and handed it to him. He shook his head, but he grabbed the disc and put it into the player.

For the next few hours, we watched Harry and his friends. Somehow, I found myself closer to Ethan every time I checked. He had been scooting over closer to me, and I had been doing the same, moving toward him.

By the time we started on the fourth movie, he had his arm wrapped around me, and my head was resting on his chest.

“Do you like these?” I asked, breaking our silence.

“Actually, I do. I wasn’t sure if I would, but I’m glad I took the chance.”

I raised my head to look at him. “If you weren’t sure, why did you buy them?”

He gave me a sheepish grin. “I knew you liked them. I thought I could use them to spend time with you.”

I laughed, oddly touched by his strange kindness. “You’re sweet. You know, I’ve asked Joey about a million times to watch these with me, and he never would. Yet you bought them on the off chance that I might want to watch them.”

I lowered my head back down onto his chest, a warm feeling flooding me. Ethan had continued to prove over and over again that he was a good man who actually cared about me.

After six movies, we finally called it a night. I wanted to watch the last two, but I could tell by Ethan’s drooping eyelids that he was ready to fall asleep. I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and shut off the TV. We both stood and stretched. I yawned and glanced at my phone to see what time it was. My eyes widened when I realized it was after two in the morning.

“I should go.” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t even be here this late to begin with.”

“Why not?” Ethan asked with a grin.

“We both know why.” I stood up and walked to the door.

He followed me, stopping behind me, as I reached for the door.

“What? No hug?” he teased.

I grinned as I turned back to face him. “After cuddling on the couch with you all day, I suppose a hug won’t kill either of us.”

He smirked as I moved forward into the space separating us. My arms found their way around him, and I tightly hugged him, enjoying his warmth.

As I hugged him, I felt every inch of him pressing up against me. I buried my nose in his neck, inhaling his scent, committing it to memory.

“Jesus, you smell good,” I whispered, my voice muffled. My cheeks warmed with embarrassment as I realized that I’d said that out loud.

He chuckled as he wound his arms tighter around me. We stood like that for minutes, hours maybe. Time ceased to exist.

“Caley, you need to move,” Ethan said after a while.

“Why?” I asked.

“Honestly? Because my dick is as hard as a rock just from me holding you.”

“Oh,” I said, surprised at his bluntness.

But I made no attempt to pull away at all. He’d never said something so sexual to me before. He was always careful not to make me feel uncomfortable. I could feel him pressed up against me, his hardness growing until even I couldn’t ignore it.