| |
Anah had gotten used to pinching herself ever since Ethan Blackwood came into her life.
When he had first broached the idea of moving to Wyoming, she had thought it the most heavenly dream. Live close to Ethan and get to see him 24/7? Since she'd be happy to move to the ends of the earth with him if it was what he had asked for, the offer of relocating to a scenic small town in Wyoming would've been just that: the most heavenly dream.
But a dream was all it would ever amount to, or so her practical personality had assumed...until Ethan himself, along with Aidan, showed up on her doorstep, asking to meet her parents.
Anah had been nervous at the start. Her parents were simple folks, content with their books and quiet way of life. But she now knew how badly she had underestimated Aidan's powers of persuasion and how lethal Ethan's charm was when he used it to his advantage. By the time both brothers left, they had her parents convinced they were doing the most honorable thing by working for the Blackwood family.
It had been eight months since then, and the Blackwoods had yet to stop waving their magic wand. Her parents both had jobs that they absolutely loved, and it came with perks that Anah personally believed the school board could only afford because of an "anonymous" donation. Whoever heard of newly-hired professors being gifted with one Tesla each, ownership of a house and lot, and a reinvested retirement fund plan that would earn them millions in the long run?
Her parents were practically swimming with money these days, so much so that they had forbidden Anah to work part-time after school and given her a weekly allowance so she could finally enjoy "being her age."
Indeed, her life nowadays was a fairy tale in all ways but one, and the missing component happened to be the most important of all: her Prince Charming...AKA the guy who just had her iPhone light up with a new text message.
Anah fought to keep her face expressionless as she tapped the screen of her iPhone.
Ethan: I've got some free time today. I can pick you up after school, we can go for a ride then dinner?
Anah: I'll be waiting. :)
After hitting Send, she quickly flipped her iPhone with the screen facedown as she placed it back on the table. She then resumed eating - lunch today was cheesy cauliflower salad with crispy chicken fillet - even as she mentally crossed her fingers over her little texting session going unnoticed.
Unfortunately, her wish wasn't to be granted, with Anah hearing her friend say, "You are such a FAKE."
Despite herself, Anah couldn't help laughing even as it almost had her choking on her salad.
Ember watched in amusement as Anah quickly took a gulp of her cucumber juice.
"It's Mr. Blackwood again, isn't it?" This only had her friend shrugging, but Ember wasn't buying it. "Yeah, it totally is."
Anah made a face. "I just...it's not..." Argh. She rarely had a problem articulating her words, but she always ended up tripping over her tongue where Ethan was concerned. Taking a deep breath, Anah gave it another try. "How I feel isn't important. Eth - I mean, Mr. Blackwood—-" Anah corrected herself hastily even as Ember started to snicker. "He just thinks of me as his little sister, that's it."
"Uh huh." Ember still remembered the first time Ethan Blackwood had come to their high school, looking ruggedly gorgeous in his plaid shirt, jeans, and riding boots. He had a white Stetson that time, too, and with his back against the side of his pick-up and muscular arms crossed over his chest, the man looked as if he was posing for the cowboy edition of People's Sexiest Man Alive. It certainly had captured everyone's attention, with the entire town practically coming to a standstill as they had waited with bated breath to see who it was he had been waiting for.
And when Anah had finally come out, and Ethan had laughingly swung her up in his arms despite her blushing protests...
The memory made Ember smile, and when she reminded Anah of this, she was delighted with the way her friend immediately turned red. "You are so adorably modest, little Anah."
Anah groaned. "Stop calling me that."
"How mean." Ember feigned a look of hurt. "Are you saying Mr. Blackwood is the only one allowed to call you that?"
Anah nearly groaned even as she felt her cheeks turning red with guilt. If only it were someone else - anyone but Ember - who had heard Ethan call her that!
Anah tried changing the subject by asking Ember about their history homework, but Ember being Ember, the other girl instead took evil pleasure in enumerating the reasons she was largely convinced Ethan was interested in her.
'He used to be really friendly and approachable, but "the break up" changed it.'
Although Ember didn't quite go as far as actually making quotation marks in the air, Anah could easily imagine it nonetheless. It was in the way everyone in town spoke of it and made the incident seem like this shamefully appalling local tragedy that everyone couldn't forget.
'Then you came along, and it's like getting the old Ethan back!'
Anah always had to work hard against being swayed by this particular line of argument. After all, it could simply be coincidence, and Anah only happened to meet Ethan just when he was ready to move on.
'And fine, I get it that he hasn't told you he likes you yet or asked you to be his girl, but you can't ignore the fact that you're the only girl he spends time with. You guys have dinner, watch movies, and go for sunset rides. That's pretty much the definition of dates in this side of the world, you know?'
But Anah refused to buy into this logic either. Those activities weren't exclusive to couples. Siblings could also do all those things together, and even worse, she had once heard Ethan describe her exactly in that manner. He had invited her to attend a party with him and the twins, and Ethan had introduced them to his host, Damian Fox, as his 'little sister from another mother'.
'What about the twins? Thornton's, like, the town's resident bogeyman, but we've noticed how he even makes an effort to smile when you're around. Aidan's giving you the special treatment, too. Are you saying all of those things are coincidental? That it hasn't anything to do with the twins thinking you're important to Ethan?'
Anah could see why Ember would think the twins' treatment of her was remarkably different compared to how they were with other girls. But that, too, could be easily explained. The twins were incredibly gorgeous (the first time Anah had seen them, she had noticed right away how the two could be dead ringers for Keanu Reeves), and when one also factored in their equally-incredible net worths, well...
Suffice to say, the twins only enjoyed her company because she was one of the few girls who didn't look at them with dollar signs in her eyes.
Ember and Anah's debate continued on for the rest of the afternoon, but by the time classes ended for the day, Ember hadn't even succeeded in getting her friend to budge an inch.
"Is it the age difference?" she finally couldn't help asking. "Did Mr. Blackwood once mention that he'll always think you're too young or something like that?"
Anah shook her head.
"There must be a reason why you're so dead set against even considering he could be interested in you," Ember said, exasperated.
Just one reason, Anah thought, but it was also the only reason that mattered.
She could still remember the day Ember had first blurted out about Guilia, and how numb she had felt, listening to what Ember knew of Guilia and Ethan's doomed romance. At that time, all she had been able to think about was—-
That's why.
The bleakness in his gaze, the hollow pain she had sensed in Ethan...
That's why.
It was all because of Guilia, and even though Anah was now in Ethan's life, nothing had changed. The bleakness, the emptiness...it was all still there.
That's why...
She would never be able to fool herself into thinking Ethan was interested in her.
Because he simply wasn't.
****
ANAH WAS ALREADY WAITING outside her school the moment Ethan pulled up, and she swung up into the passenger seat next to him before he could even get out to open her door.
"Still ashamed to be seen with me, I see," Ethan commented with a smirk.
Anah wrinkled her nose. "You know it's not that."
That was true, Ethan thought as he shifted gears and made a U-turn at the corner. Anah hated drawing attention to herself whereas Guilia...
Don't think about her, dammit.
His jaw clenched, and as he had been wont to do in recent months, he turned to Anah for distraction. She already had a book up, the paperback succeeding in hiding most of her face. He noticed the way her chest was rapidly rising and falling, and Ethan frowned. Was she reading something too scary again? He glanced back at the cover, and his frown deepened.
Well, fuck.
He had always known Anah enjoyed reading romances as much as thrillers, but it was his first time to see her reading some sappy young adult love story. Since when had her reading tastes changed? Or was this simply because she had a boy her age that she liked now?
Unaware of being the subject of her companion's thoughts, Anah was too busy trying to regulate both her breathing and heart rate, which tended to get a little messed-up every time she was alone in a car with Ethan.
Honestly, it was a miracle she had lasted this long without Ethan having a single clue about her feelings. It would be nice if she could believe she had her acting to thank for that, but more likely than not, it was only because Ethan was that indifferent to her.
Anah was relieved to see the gates to the Blackwoods' ranch coming up, and she reached for the handle as soon as she heard Ethan unlock their doors. "Race you to the stables!"
Ethan rolled his eyes as Anah dashed off without even waiting for him to answer. Times like this, she seemed more like twelve than sixteen. Then again, would twelve-year-olds find themselves breathless just while reading a teenage love story?
Ethan found himself frowning again, and his mood only lightened when he got to the stables and saw Anah feeding an apple to Coral Dawn while murmuring sweet nothings to the two-year-old mare's ear.
He walked up to her silently and had Anah shrieking in surprise as he clasped her waist from behind and swung her up to the mare's saddle.
"Ethan!" Anah glared at him in consternation even as the part of her body he had so briefly touched still burned and tingled.
"What?" Ethan's voice was filled with sham innocence, and the smile he gave her over his shoulder was so disarming it had her knees knocking against the mare's flanks, which then had Coral Dawn misinterpreting as a command.
Anah barely had time to grab the reins as the mare set out for a brisk totter, and she could hear Ethan chuckling even as he had his black stallion catch up to her in one swift gallop.
"Race you to the clearing," Ethan challenged, and just like she had done earlier, he had Dark Sky sprinting off before Anah could even answer. It was payback, plain and simple, and Anah burst into laughter even as she leaned forward to urge Coral Dawn into a speedy run.
As with most of their rides, the first half hour was an exhilarating uphill climb that gradually slowed down as they negotiated a steep descent to a gently streaming brook. It was here they allowed the horses to rest and graze while Ethan untied the picnic hamper from his saddle and Anah laid a picnic blanket over the grass.
When Ethan came to sit next to her, Anah had to slowly turn her head and look away, just so she could regulate her breathing without him seeing it. Breathe in, breathe out. It took a few more seconds, but Anah's breathing eventually returned to normal, and she turned to face Ethan again just as he finished unwrapping today's culinary surprise from the Blackwoods' head cook.
Ethan grinned when he heard Anah's gasp of delight and wasn't at all surprised when her hand shot out all at once. Cook Nancy's bacon-cheddar biscuits were one of Anah's all-time favorites, and he shook his head in mock disappointment when she started munching on a biscuit.
"We haven't said grace yet, little Anah."
Anah turned red and stammered out an apology. "I was just so hungry—-" Her voice broke off when Ethan suddenly leaned forward, and she could only freeze in shock when she felt him wipe away the crumbs that had dusted the corner of her lip.
"You really are just like a kid at times," Ethan murmured in amusement.
Anah could only smile weakly, not trusting herself to speak.
Ethan glanced at the hamper. "We have bottled water, juice, and soda. Pick your poison."
Anah played it safe by clearing her throat before answering. "Any lemon soda?"
"Here you go." As Ethan handed Anah her drink, he casually asked her about school, hoping to have her volunteer information about any boy that might've caught her interest.
"Just the usual." Anah couldn't help sounding awkward. The truth was, everyone in school treated her like royalty because of her seemingly close relationship to Ethan. She had denied this repeatedly, of course, but just like Ember, the other kids thought she was only being "modest".
Ethan's gaze narrowed. By now, he knew how much Anah hated to complain about anything, but he also knew her well enough to sense her unease. "Something's clearly wrong."
"Not wrong, exactly," Anah hedged, "but it's something I think I should, um, solve on my own."
"Boy problems, perhaps?"
Anah forced out a laugh. "I have no boy problems at all."
Ethan nearly snorted. Did the kid know how bad of an actress she was? She was so obviously lying, and that wasn't a good thing at all. Maybe the boy was bad news, but she was too in love to admit the truth?
"If you do find a boy you like," Ethan said finally, "you should have the twins or me check him out first."
"Um, of course."
"I'm just looking out for you," he stressed.
And so he was indeed, Anah thought glumly, but it was more like a big brother than a jealous boyfriend.
"Anah?" Ethan was strangely irritated at the way Anah suddenly looked like she was miles away. She was normally more...more polite than this. Didn't she know it was rude to think of another guy while she was still with him? Shouldn't their friendship mean more than some silly schoolgirl crush?
Anah was surprised when she noticed Ethan frowning at her. "What?"
"Nothing."
The curtness of his voice made Anah feel more than a little flustered, and she quickly went over their conversation. Was there something she had said? Or maybe there was something he had said...
Oh, right!
"I do understand," she said soothingly. "And I, um, appreciate that you're looking after me." Although Ethan only grunted at this, she was relieved to see the creases smooth off his forehead.
The sun had started to set by the time they rode back to the ranch. As their horses cantered down at a more relaxed pace, Ethan caught Anah glancing at him uncertainly and asked, "What is it?"
"It's my birthday next week."
Ethan wasn't certain if he should feel amused or irritated. "And you really think I'm the kind of asshole that needs to be reminded of it?"
"I just want you to know, no pressure. If you're busy," Anah said hurriedly, "it's fine if you can't—-"
"Anah."
Her heart skipped a beat. It always did, every time she heard him say her name like that.
He inched his horse close so he could ruffle her hair. "I'll be there, I promise."
He smiled at her, and she smiled back because at that time, she believed him.