Read Online The Blank Canvas (Apartment #2) by Amanda Black - Free Book Online

purple skin, then dropping it back down to her side quickly.
    “Eric.”
    “Oh.” Her face fell. “Is that why you’re here?”
    “No,” he answered instantly. “Well… yes and no,” he said, trying to be as truthful as possible.
    “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “If you’ll let me in, I’ll try to explain it the best that I can.”
    “Oh, an
explanation
?” she replied sarcastically. “Why on earth would you think I deserved one now? You never did before.” She was surprised by her own bitterness, having thought, up until that point, that she would be happy just to have him back in her life in any way possible.
    “I know… and I’m sorry. I want to fix that. Can we please go inside and talk?” It was taking all of his strength to keep from touching her. Even the slightest brush of his fingers against her bare arm might set him off, and that was not the impression he wanted to make at that moment.
    “I’m shocked you didn’t just barge in here like you still owned the place. I mean, it’s only been three fucking months, why would that be odd?”
    If she only knew how close he’d been to doing that very thing.
    “Lily… please,” he choked out.
    “Alright,” she sighed, unable to handle the look of anguish on his face. That combined with the bruising was just too much. Standing aside, she ushered him inside with an exaggerated wave of her arm.
    “Thank you,” he said quietly as he passed her, stopping in the middle of the room as she shut the door. After an awkward silence in which they simply stared at each other, Ethan took a deep breath and bit the bullet.
    “So…” he exhaled loudly.
    “So…” she returned, visibly as nervous as he was. Her emotions were running the gamut from angry to worried to excited. She honestly had no idea why he was standing in front of her in the little room that had once been their own private sanctuary. She only knew that something deep inside of her finally felt right again, despite her anger.
    Ethan glanced around, really taking notice of his surroundings for the first time. “Wow… I can’t believe this is the same place.” He turned slowly, making mental comparisons to what it had looked like before. “It’s so… comfortable. So lived in.”
    “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I really like it. Emma and Maggie helped me put it together.”
    “Yes, I heard that. It seems that they are all fond of you. Especially Eric,” he added with a grimace, gently touching his discolored cheekbone. It had made amazing progress healing over the last week. The swelling had gone down and he could open his eye easily again, but the dark splotches were slower to disappear.
    Fighting back the urge to show concern for his face again, Lily was overcome with a sudden rush of rage. “Oh really? You’d heard that, huh? Well, it seems that one of us is at a disadvantage, because while you were apparently getting regular updates on me, I haven’t heard one fucking
word
about you!”
    Ethan made to grab her shoulders to calm her down, but stopped himself halfway and simply held his hands up in surrender between them. “Hey… it’s not like that.”
    “I think you need to start talking
now
, because I’m getting angrier by the second,” she fumed.
    “Here, let’s sit down,” he said, gesturing to the love seat. He ignored the new, comfortable-looking though much less lavish bed that he saw from the corner of his eye when they passed the bedroom door, refusing to think of his fond memories of that room and his desire to create new ones.
    When they had settled on the cushions, both instinctively sitting as far away from the other as they could, they turned to face each other with their backs against the armrests. Lily tucked one of her legs up under her other knee and crossed her arms, giving off the impression of hostility, but really hoping to just hold herself back long enough to keep from jumping on him.
    She was angry. She was confused and upset