Indecent Proposal

Mariana

I needed to have a serious talk with my aunt about the people she let into our home, something I never did before because I never considered it necessary, but the right saying was: live and learn.

"I'm so glad I met Ethan!" my aunt said, while I was still standing near the door, like a statue, still unresponsive. "You didn't even tell me you were dating...

"What?" I ask, horrified by this new information.

If I was already in shock before, now I was petrified with horror, only then understanding what tactic Ethan had used to gain access to my house and be so welcomed by my aunt like that.

" I was missing you so much, love, and I figured you must be so busy at work that you couldn't even take my dozens of calls, so I decided to come over here, meet Aunt Cilene, and wait for you. "Ethan said, stepping closer to me and putting an arm around my shoulders, implying an intimacy that didn't exist between us.

That man was quite an asshole, as surely Ethan had understood that I was not attending to him because I did not wish to do so, and had probably decided to come to my house, to impose his presence.

" Ethan is so kind and nice, Mari!" my aunt comments, and seems to have liked the person he pretended to be. " My niece has never introduced me to any of your boyfriends, my boy. I believe you must be someone special.

I could not contain myself and rolled my eyes in disgust at such absurdity coming from the person I love the most in this world, but who only now I realized possessed the innocence of a child.

"I never introduced any boyfriend, Aunt Cilene, because I never had one," I made a point. "And it wasn't me who introduced Ethan since it was he himself who came here, without my knowledge, and introduced himself this way to you. I'm not aware that we're dating, am I, Ethan?

I stared at Ethan with a closed expression, glaring at him and making it clear that he should correct the mistake he'd made by introducing himself as my boyfriend, for the sole purpose of gaining access to my house, using a very cowardly ruse, that bastard.

"Don't break my heart like that, Mariana. " he contradicts me, bringing his hand to his chest in a dramatic way. " I wish to date your niece, Aunt Cilene, but she is being very difficult.

I controlled myself as much as I could to keep from coming on to Ethan and punching that pimp in the brazen face, playing the poor guy like that to a gullible lady like my aunt turned out to be.

"I think you two need some time to get along. "You've done something to upset my niece quite a bit, my boy, and I'm warning you, you're going to need a lot of patience and tact to tame this girl's temper.

"Aunt Cilene!" I protest, really outraged.

It was amazing that my aunt, even though she believed Ethan had done something wrong, was still helping him clean up his act like that.

"He's a good boy, my child," she says, walking slowly away with the aid of her cane. "He's just a little lost.”

I felt something strange when I heard those words as if they touched something deep inside me and I looked at Ethan with much more empathy, forgetting even all the anger I felt when I saw him in my living room.

"I needed to see you. " Ethan says, moving closer to me and putting his hands around my face.

I couldn't tell you how, but he looked different from the man I met just two days ago, and I wasn't liking that improved version. It would be too easy to fall for him and I couldn't let that happen.

"What do you want?" I ask roughly. "Don't think you are going to fool me like you did my aunt.”

"You know very well what I want," he says, as his hands caress my neck in a very provocative way. "At no time have I omitted what I expect from you?

I was trying to keep my focus, but his hands were managing to stimulate me unexpectedly and when they moved down to my shoulders in a delicious and maddening massage, I tried to keep control of myself and pushed them away without delicacy, taking a few steps away from that temptation in the form of a man.

I clear my throat and try to keep control of my traitorous body.

"What are you doing here, Ethan?" I ask again.

"I've said what I want," he says, sitting down on the couch, looking completely at ease, even though he doesn't fit in at all there.

" I'll rephrase my question, then. " I say, but without facing him directly. "How and why were you in my living room, talking to my aunt, when I got home from work?"

"I called you, but you didn't answer, I knew where your house was, and I came here," he said as if it weren't so absurd. “I figured, given the time of day, I'd find you at home. Aunt Cilene was kind enough to receive me and keep me company while I waited for you to arrive.”

"She only welcomed you into our home because you lied about us being boyfriend and girlfriend!”

"Nothing we can't fix."

" What do you mean?" I ask, not understanding what he means by that.

" We can date."

" You've got to be crazy, Ethan!" I let out a big laugh at that further nonsense coming from him. "You're just trying to use me for your revenge against Murilo, and now you're coming up with this dating story?”

"We can put the good and the bad together. " He says simply as if this were something banal. "We'll date, you'll have everything you want, and when the time comes, you won't have lost anything. "