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ANAH MET UP WITH SARAHand a just-arrived Ember the morning after the engagement party. Since Slade's cafe was currently closed for a weekend-long renovation, the three girls hung out at the library's dining hall, chatting and laughing from late lunch to dinner.
Since much of their conversation revolved around Anah's feelings for Ethan, Sarah decided to give Anah a confidence boost by sharing a little-known story about the beginning of her and Damian's romance.
Ember's jaw dropped as she listened to the older girl relay how things went on the night she first met the man who would eventually become her husband. "And that was really thefirsttime you met him?"
"Uh huh."
"Andthathappened?" Although Ember prided herself for being outrageous, what Sarah had done definitely took the cake, and when she saw the older girl smile impishly in response...
Ember raised her arms and bowed in a gesture of worshipful devotion, saying with the utmost sincerity,"You. Are. A. Goddess."A moment later, and all three of them were bursting into peals of laughter.
It was already half past ten in the evening when the group finally broke up, and only because Damian had arrived to pick his wife up. Ember asked Anah if she wanted to stay over since she had atwin bedroom reserved at the local B&B, but Anah found herself making up an excuse about a research report she needed to work on.
She would just make it up tomorrow with Ember, Anah promised herself. But for now, she simply wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Sarah was right in pointing out that this was the longest time that Ethan and Guilia had been apart, and that such a fact had to mean something.
But that something,Anah thought worriedly,could also be good or bad.She had always avoided discussing her feelings with Ethan because she had seen how guilty it made him feel, not being able to love her back. But...what if tiptoeing around the issue was also the reason why things hadneverprogressed between them?
Maybe it was time she pushed Ethan to really give them a chance, even just once.
ETHAN'S CHARTERED PLANElanded in Laramie with no one in Hartland realizing he had been in and out of Wyoming in the past twenty-four hours. If the Fates were on his side, it would stay that way, too.
The world as he knew it was gone now. Life would be different from now on, and until he had the essential things figured out, the less other people knew, the better.
He had imagined he'd be thinking constantly of Guilia on the drive back home, but instead it was Anah's image that his mind conjured, and his little Anah that he was unable to stop thinking of.
Throughout his flight, all he had done was try figuring out what he should or needed to tell Anah. The part that was afraid to lose her wanted him to say nothing at all. His honor, however...it demanded Ethan speak the truth, no matter the consequences. He owed her the truth at the very least, after all the times he had been unable to keep himself from hurting her.
Even now, he still hadn't any fucking idea why his little Anah had fallen in love with a bastard like him. All he knew, even after all these years, was that her love for him was real.Constant.And he had yet to do something to deserve it.
It was already a few minutes past eleven when Ethan made it back home and parked his pick-up in the garage. Like most of Hartland's founding members, Ethan had opted to convert the second story of his shop into his own apartment. It had an open layout and its own balcony, with a shower and powder room that had connecting doors to both the living room and his bedroom.
Ethan's thoughts were still a mess as he undressed and stepped into the shower. Hot water jetted down on his naked body, and Ethan pressed his hands against the wet tiles. He closed his eyes in a futile attempt to clear his mind, but all he could still see was Anah.
And it terrified him.
ANAH HAD BEEN WALKINGaimlessly for half an hour when she realized where her feet had taken her.
Oh.
She slowly raised her eyes, and her heart banged against her chest when she saw the lights were still on in Ethan's second-floor apartment. An idea seized her, and she found herself moving hurriedly, as if not wanting to give herself time to change her mind.
2 6 2 4
Ethan had insisted on giving her the passcode to his security system in case of emergency, but she had never imagined using it, much less for what she now had in mind.
Anah didn't bother switching the lights on as she made her way through his shop. She knew the way by heart and reached the stairs without trouble. With her footsteps falling silently on the steps, she couldn't shake off the feeling she was acting like some unwanted intruder.
Which she wasn't...right?
The living room was empty when she made it to the top, and Anah's steps jerked to a halt.What now?Too late, she realized how little she had thought things through, and Anah was paralyzed with uncertainty. Did she knock on Ethan's door to see if he was still awake or did she just go back -
Yes, definitely, go back!
But before she could turn around, Anah heard a door open, and she became frozen with shock.
A second later, she saw Ethan stepping out of the shower.
Naked.