Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
"Are you happy?"
Ethan whitened.
"Please don't lie," Anah whispered tremulously. "I just need to know."
He heard her voice catch, and the sound nearly ripped him apart. If she had asked him 'do you love me'...he might not have known the truth. If she had asked him 'do you still love her'...he might even have said yes.
But instead...
"Are you happy?"
She asked the one thing that suddenly made everything goddamn clear.
The one thing that Guilia had never asked—-
The one fucking thing that Ethan himself had never thought to ask.
"Yes," Ethan said rawly.
Her hands fell away from his face, and Anah started sobbing uncontrollably.
"I'm happy," he heard himself say.
And it was true.
After a very long time, he was happy.
Because he was in love with Anah.
Had been in love with his Anah for a long time.
God. God. God.
And he had to realize this, only when it might be too late, and Ethan had already done something that might make him lose her for good.
Chapter Sixteen
He was happy, Anah sighed dreamily to herself as she changed into a nightshirt. Ethan was happy. It might not be a love declaration, but for Anah, those words were something better.
Ethan was happy.
It had been all she ever wanted for him. Every birthday she celebrated since knowing him, that had been her only wish. For him to be happy. With or without her, it didn't matter. She just wanted to be happy...
And now he was.
With her.
But instead of feeling deliriously joyful, a chill suddenly swept into the bedroom through the open window, and Anah released a nervous laugh. What was it with tonight and these stupid icy gusts of winds? It was almost as if she was suddenly living out one of her favorite Gothic romances, and the heavens were sending her a warning.
Anah couldn't help shaking her head at her own fancifulness. Wyoming might not suffer from hurricanes as a rule, but what it did experience, and on any given day at that, was hurricane-force winds, just like the ones that had been blowing into town throughout the night.
Ethan was happy, she reminded herself. It was all that mattered, and in any case, the heavens had no reason to be against this. Right?
Another wind blew into the room, icier than ever, and Anah shivered.
Ethan had just finished making coffee in the kitchen when Anah suddenly came bursting out of the bedroom and practically slammed into his back.
A surprised chuckle escaped him as her arms wrapped around him from behind, and he quickly placed the mugs back on the counter, not wanting to accidentally spill hot liquid on her skin.
"Anah?"
Her arms tightened around his waist. "Are you really happy?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
He gently disentangled her arms so he could turn around to face her. Tipping her chin up, he gazed down at her searchingly. "What's wrong?"
Anah slowly shook her head. "Nothing, really." Because if she looked at her situation logically, there truly was nothing wrong. And yet...
She swallowed hard.
"You really mean it?" Anah just had to ask one last time. "You're truly happy? You're not pretending in any way? Not hiding anything just so you won't hurt me?"
"Anah—-"
"It's not that I don't trust you," she said quickly, "but...I know you, Ethan. You're terribly kind and honorable—-"
Ethan couldn't help arching a brow. "Terribly?"
"Because you would rather hurt yourself than hurt others," she said simply.
Ah.
"So..." It was Anah's turn to gaze up at him searchingly. "You mean it? You're truly happy?"
Ethan took her hand and placed it against his chest.
Anah's eyes widened when she felt the heavy pounding of his heart.
"You brought me back to life."
Her lip started to tremble at the roughness of his voice.
"That's how happy you made me."
Anah bit her lip harder, but it was no use. The tears still fell, and when he slowly pulled her close, it was the tenderness in his touch that truly broke her.
She was sobbing in his arms again.
"Ethan..."
She tried to say the rest of the words, but every time she did, more tears would clog her throat, and she had to start again.
"Ethan..."
I love you.
And even though the words never left her lips, Ethan seemed to have heard her all the same, with a shudder suddenly running through his powerful body just before his arms closed around hers in a tight embrace.
"Anah..."
She heard him suck his breath.
"Anah..."
She heard him curse under his breath.
Anah couldn't help pulling back even as a teary laugh spilled past her lips. "You, too?"
Ethan's grimace was all the answer she needed, and she choked out another laugh. Hopeless, she thought helplessly. This moment was years in the making, and yet neither of them could even say the words out loud.
Maybe they needed something to kickstart things?
Ethan reluctantly let go when Anah suddenly started wriggling out of his hold, but when he saw her head straight for the fridge—-
Déjà vu, Ethan thought with a smile, recalling the last time they had a similar confrontation, and he had started heaping food on her plate.