The Secret 04 The Ever After of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

wonders and the confusion is replaced by a wicked look. “See who could stick it farther up their—”
    Lila cuts him off as she picks up the vibrator and chucks it across the room. It zips past his head and hits the door, still humming. “Do not finish that sentence, Ethan Gregory.”
    We all settle briefly into an awkward silence and then everyone spurts out in laughter. We continue to laugh until Micha scoops the vibrator up and turns it off. The humming stops and he puts it down on the table in front of me, winking at me as he backs up to where he dropped his groceries.
    “So we were thinking of having a party,” he announces as he piles the bags onto the kitchen counter.
    I make a face as I put the vibrator, lingerie, and feather duster into the bag. “Really?”
    He picks up a box of cereal out of the bag. “It’ll be like a bachelorette slash bachelor party.”
    “Aren’t we supposed to have those separately?” I ask, pushing the bag aside.
    “And with strippers,” Lila adds, and Ethan gives her a strange look as he slips off his jacket and hangs it up by the back door.
    “Yeah, we could do that but I’d rather have a party with you,” Micha says. “And you can always strip for me later when it’s over. That’s much better in my opinion.”
    “TMI,” Ethan says with a frustrated sigh as he sets the bags he was carrying on the counter. Micha rolls his eyes at him and then turns to me. “So are you down?”
    “For a party?” I ask. “I guess.”
    “You guess?” he questions, as he puts the cereal box into the cupboard. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
    “It’s fine. A party sounds fine.” I get up from the chair and walk across the kitchen to him. I cross paths with Ethan as he heads for Lila. He whispers something in her ear and then the two of them wander off toward the guest room, Ethan muttering that they’ll be back in a few.
    I start helping Micha unpack the groceries, putting cans of food into the cupboard. “Who are you planning on inviting to this party of yours?” I ask.
    He shrugs as he opens the fridge to put a gallon of milk away. “Just the people we used to hang out with. The ones still living around here anyway.”
    I close the cupboard and lean against the counter. “Which is probably pretty much everyone,” I mumble and then internally sigh. “Are you going to play at this party?”
    He kicks the fridge door shut and goes back over to the bags. “Do you want me to play at this party?”
    I stare down at the floor. “If you want to.”
    He pauses and I continue to stare at the linoleum floor until his boots appear in my line of vision, and then I angle my chin back to meet his eyes. “What?” I ask as he aims a suspicious look at me.
    “What do you mean, what?” He positions himself in front of me, his jacket still speckled with wet spots from the falling snow outside. “This is bothering you and I want to know why.”
    “It’s not bothering me,” I start to protest but he targets me with a warning look. “It’s just that this will be the first party we’ve ever been at as a couple.”
    “And?”
    “And from my knowledge, a lot of the people who came to these parties… the female ones…” I search for the right words that won’t make me sound like a jealous asshole, but there aren’t any so I decide just to be blunt. “You fucked.”
    He winces, but then quickly composes himself. “I know, but that’s in the past. What matters is that I’ll be fucking
you
at the end of the night, over and over again. In fact, I’ll be fucking you every night for the rest of your life.” He gives me a flirty smile and I swat his chest with my hand.
    “What?” he says innocently, trapping my hand against his chest. “Would you rather me say ‘make love’?” He brushes his thumb across the ring on my finger. “Because we can do that, too.” With one swift movement, he slides his palm down my side, grips my hip, and spins me around. Pushing