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Cade cuts off as he enters the living room, his eyes flitting between me and Maeve. He makes straight for his sister, his face full of concern.
“Shit, Maeve, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says apologetically. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long.”
Cade frowns. “Your note said you were leaving for twenty minutes, but it’s been over an hour. I thought something had happened to you!” He turns to look at me and his frown deepens, but his words are still directed at Maeve. “What are you doing at Jackson’s this early?”
“It’s not her fault,” I say firmly. “Artemis bolted from the stable. Maeve was walking nearby and had to jump out of the way. Her knee was scratched up pretty badly, so I brought her back here to patch her up.”
Cade’s suspicious frown melts into concern. “Shit. Are you okay, Maeve?”
“I promise, I’m fine Cade,” Maeve says sounding exasperated. “Honestly, it was just a scratch. Jackson cleaned it up for me and bandaged my knee.”
Cade is silent for a moment, like he’s trying to decide whether to believe our story. Eventually, he nods. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” He turns to me. “Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you bandaging her up.”
A wave of guilt hits me at his words. Sitting here alone with Maeve in my living room, it was easy to pretend like she’s not my best friend’s sister. It was easy to forget that she’s nearly two decades younger than me. It was easy to forget all the reasons I shouldn’t want her. Now Cade has barreled in like a hurricane, completely shattering my illusions and reminding me of how crazy I’m being. This girl is only twenty years old. I can’t keep letting myself forget how young and innocent she is. I can’t keep letting myself forget that she’s off-limits.
Get it together, Jackson, I think to myself, running an agitated hand through my beard.
“It was no problem,” I say eventually, nodding at Cade and trying to pretend like I wasn’t just about to kiss his sister.
“Come on, Maeve,” he says, holding out an arm for his sister to grab onto. “Can you walk okay? I’ll help you back to the cabin.”
Maeve lets herself be guided out of the living room by her brother, craning her neck to look at me once more just before they reach the front door.
“Thanks again, Jackson,” she says, my name like honey on those sweet lips.
“You’re welcome.”
My voice is hoarse with pent-up emotion, and I feel my heart sink a little as Cade helps to pull Maeve over the threshold. I don’t want her to go. I hate watching her leave. But I don’t have a choice. I have to stay away from Maeve. So I take a deep breath and swallow down my frustration as the front door closes behind them, a barrier between me and the girl who is quickly turning my whole world upside down.
6
Maeve
It’s been a week since Jackson brought me into his farmhouse to bandage up my knee, and I haven’t seen him since. Unless you count staring at him from the window of the cabin, straining to catch sight of his distant figure on horseback. I’ve tried to think about other things. I’ve started to settle into life with Cade, and his cabin already feels more like home than I ever felt back in Chicago with my parents. The beauty of Snowfall Ridge and Blaze Valley takes my breath away every day, and I love visiting the quaint little town of Winterdale. I’ve started applying for jobs in the town so that I can start saving money. Cade refuses to accept anything from me and insists I keep every dime I make once I find a job. I tried to insist, but my brother is stubborn as hell, and his generosity means the world to me. Living with him is great, even if he can be a little overprotective sometimes.
Everything is going according to plan.
So why don’t I feel happy?
I know the answer, even if I don’t want to admit it. Something changed the day that Jackson bandaged up my leg. There was a moment, one crazy moment, where I could swear he was about to kiss me. The whole room felt like it was pulsing with electricity, and I was so sure that he could feel it too. But now, it’s like he’s avoiding me. Even Cade mentioned how strange it was that Jackson hadn’t been over to the cabin this week. I shouldn’t be upset—it’s not like anything could ever happen between us anyway. But I really felt like we connected that day on his couch while he listened to my dreams and cleaned my wound with his calloused hands. It felt intimate. Special. But obviously I was just imagining things. I’m always trying to make real life feel more like a story.
Jackson Ryder was just a fantasy.
Nothing more.
“Maeve?”
My brother’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I put down the book I’m holding. I’ve just been staring at the same page for the last fifteen minutes, my mind running over every second I spent with Jackson.
“Yeah?” I say, looking up at my brother. He’s holding his phone like he just ended a call.
“I need to head up to Denver tonight. I’ve got a buyer for all those logs I felled yesterday, and he’s willing to pay premium prices if I deliver them to his door as soon as possible.” Cade is smiling, but there’s a flicker of concern in his eyes. “I’ll have to stay there overnight—it will be too late to drive back. Do you want to come with me?”
“No, don’t worry about me,” I say with a smile. “I’ll be fine here for one night.”
Cade frowns. “You sure?”
