Fight Like A Girl: An Opposites Attract Romance (Fighting For Love) Harley Reid (top 100 books of all time checklist TXT) 📖

Finishing their conversation, Ethan’s eyes meet mine across the crowded dance floor and I’m giddy. I feel like a little child, my pulse quickens, and warmth floods my whole body. He strides across the dance floor, dodging the couples swirling and spinning to the rhythm of the music playing.

Once he gets to the table, he places the drinks down and before giving me chance to take one, he grabs my hand and pulls me on to the dance floor as a slow song comes on. He pulls me in close and I melt into arms as he dips my head to the floor, pulling me back up so that our lips are almost touching.

My body aches for him and I want so badly to close the inch gap between us but out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of Peter at the bar. Curiosity gets the better of me and I can’t help but ask about their conversation.

Telling me that everything is fine, he continues to glide me around the room. This guy has some serious moves.

The rest of the night flies by, we eat, we drink, we do our best to avoid my mum and we dance until my feet feel like they’re going to fall off. It isn’t until we’re getting ready to leave and bump into my ex and his new fiancé, I realise that I haven’t thought about Peter all night.

“Oh, erm, hi Peter.” I stutter nervously as we are waiting for the car to pull up at the entrance.

“Evening Mia, this is Amber.” I’ve only ever met her once and that was when I walked in on the two of them — obviously I didn’t get a good look at her at the time, so I have only had her images on social media to go off — she’s even more beautiful in person.

“Yeah, we’ve… we’ve already met.” My body is numb, the only thing keeping me on my feet is the reassuring arm that Ethan placed around my waist when we realised they were there. “This is Ethan.”

“So, you two are actually together?” He asks, disdain dripping from his tongue.

“Yes, she’s all mine.” Ethan smirks, “Oh, here’s our driver. Come on babe. It was great meeting you both, enjoy the rest of your night. I know we will.”

Flames shoot up my cheeks as he finishes the sentence and guides me away towards the car. I should be furious with him for lying but deep down, I can’t say I’m not a little aroused by him claiming me as his own.

The journey back to the house is pretty subdued. It's been a fun night and I think we're both tired, so we sit in quiet contemplation, my head resting on his shoulder as I gaze out of the window watching the city lights disappear.

When we get back to the house, it's in darkness. Lexi is out like a light on the sofa, so Ethan grabs the throw and covers her with it as I finally slip my swollen feet out of my shoes — I knew there was a reason I usually spend my life in flats.

Lexi stirs for a moment, wrapping the throw around her and drifting back into a deep sleep. She may as well be unconscious because once she is in a deep sleep, a bomb could go off beside her and she'd still somehow manage to sleep through it.

Ethan accompanies me down the corridor, stopping outside my bedroom door.

“I had a really great time tonight.” I try to stall him for a moment, hoping that he'll end the date by kissing me goodnight, but he just stands, looking at me. “Thank you.”

Maybe I should just man up and make the first move. No, if he wanted to kiss me, he would, and I can't ruin the night by making a fool of myself.

I slowly open my door, not once breaking eye contact with him.

“I had a great time too. Goodnight Mia.” He kisses me on the cheek and walks towards his room, so I retreat into mine, closing the door behind me and leaning my back against it as I release the air from my lungs.

Oh, sod this!

Without over-thinking, I open the door and step back into the corridor facing the direction of Ethan's room. I take a step as his door opens and within seconds, he is stood about two metres away from me.

Silently we stand, waiting to see who makes the first move like some kind of Mexican standoff in an old cowboy movie. Our eyes lock, and I sweep my tongue over my top lip.

Before I realise it, we are both rushing towards each other, our bodies crashing together as our lips meet.

I wrap my arms around his neck as his hands move down from my face to find my waist, pulling me tightly against him as our tongues entwine. A slight whimper escapes me as I feel him growing against my hip.

Sliding his hands over my hips, he finds the split up the side of my dress and his cool skin brushes against my bare thigh. Swept away in the moment, I lift my thigh and standing on the tip toes of one foot, I lose my balance. The framed photograph on the wall crashes to the ground with a thud as Ethan lets out a thunderous laugh, not once releasing his lips from mine.

“Shh, we’ll wake everyone up.” I whisper into his mouth, knowing that if anyone was to see us, we’d have to stop.

And I really don’t want to stop kissing him.

Fumbling down the hall, we find ourselves in his bedroom. He closes the door behind us, clicking the lock in to place so we don’t get disturbed and then kisses along my jaw line and down to my neck, lacing his fingers into my hair and gently pulling my head to one side to give him access.

My fingers work