One Week with her Rival:Eden Manor, Book One(16)

Missy sucked in an indignant breath, her cheeks blazing as she  remembered that evening four years ago. She was short with a  heart-shaped face that made her look like a doll. People always assumed  she was younger than she was. She still got carded every time she bought  a drink. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like not to look so  annoyingly young.

If she snapped back at Zach, it would reveal how much his comment had  bothered her, so she just narrowed her eyes and then turned away without  speaking.

He leaned over to turn her head back toward him. "Hey. I was joking."

"I know," she said, raising her eyebrows and trying to look unaffected.

"That guy at the movies was a blind idiot. Anyone who gets a look at  your body would know in an instant that you're not a kid. Don't get all  huffy."

"I'm not all huffy." Despite her cool words, she felt a shiver of  pleasure at his comment. She was curvy-which was her one saving  grace-but she'd never known that Zach was even aware she had a body.

"Seriously, what's with you today? You're not normally this sensitive."

Again, it seemed like he really wanted to know. But she could hardly  tell him that seeing Cassandra again had brought back some of her old  insecurities-and a few new feelings she hadn't yet processed. "Nothing  is with me. It's just one of those days you wake up in an irritable  mood."

He frowned as she tried to read an email on her computer screen. She was  brutally conscious of his intent gaze, however, so she couldn't focus  on the words.         

     



 

Looking for something-anything-to say that might distract him, she heard  herself saying cheerfully, "Oh, by the way, you'll never guess who I  saw this morning."

"Who?" He obviously had no idea.

"Cassandra."

He looked surprised for a moment, and then a completely unexpected  expression transformed his face. He didn't appear upset or interested or  excited. Instead, the expression was knowledge, enlightenment. "I see.  That's what has you in such a bad mood."

Her shoulders stiffened. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're feeling all jealous and insecure."

"I'm not jealous!" A chill ran down her spine as she wondered if Zach  somehow knew certain feelings she'd never even admitted to herself. "Who  would I be jealous about?"

His mouth opened slightly. "I just meant you always stupidly felt  second-best next to Cassandra. Who did you think I thought you were  jealous about? Silas?" He started to frown in a way that made his  forehead wrinkle, like he was tasting something he didn't like.

"I have absolutely no interest in Silas!" She was off-balance and  jittery. Normally, she would have put an end to this conversation,  before she revealed something that couldn't be revealed. But she was too  emotional to think clearly.

"I didn't think so, but then why did you get so upset when I said you were jealous. Who else would you be jealous-"

"I told you I'm not jealous. You're the one who spent weeks in your room  listening to mournful, screechy music because you couldn't have  Cassandra."

This effectively distracted Zach, although not the way she'd expected.  He laughed uninhibitedly. "That was years ago. We're all stupid when  we're kids."

"You weren't a kid. You were twenty."

"Still..." He grinned at her in a way that made her breath hitch. "You  kept coming over to my place back then, bringing me food and trying to  cheer me up."

She had. Their parents had divorced just a year after they'd married,  but Zach had gotten a place in town, since he'd wanted to keep working  for her dad. He'd kept hanging around the house, long after he was no  longer her stepbrother. She'd hated how devastated he'd been after  Cassandra had gotten engaged to Silas, and so she'd done everything she  could think of to make him feel better.

Realizing she hadn't responded, she said, "I guess I was stupid back then too."

"You mean you wouldn't come by to comfort me now, if I got my heartbroken?"

"Probably not." It was a lie, and both of them knew it. "You're old enough to know better now."

Their shared gaze had lasted too long, and Missy started feeling  trembly, uncomfortable. Zach turned away, staring at a spot on the  floor. He murmured, "I don't know if people ever outgrow falling in love  with the wrong person."

She didn't know what he meant by that, but she didn't like the sound of  it. "Well, don't get any silly ideas about falling for Cassandra again.  Silas would kill you."

"They've been divorced for more than three years now."

"You think that matters to him? She left him. Everyone knows he didn't want to let her go."

"I could take him."

Missy made a choking sound. "Silas is four inches taller than you, and  he works on a forge. All you do is haul manure around. There's no  scenario in which you could take him."