“Ranger,” he says quietly. “We must have tripped some kind of alarm coming up here. Get in the truck, I’ll sort it out.” Withthat, he kisses the top of my head, hesitating for a moment before letting me go. Casper’s eyes are dark, full of tumultuous emotion, and when they meet mine, I feel my own rise with uncertainty.
He releases a sharp breath before stalking off towards the ranger’s truck. As soon as he’s far enough away, I inhale the icy air sharply. My heart pounds like it wants to break out of my chest, and my skin still prickles from where he touched me—held me. I’m not entirely sure how I should feel about this turn of events.
Walking back to his truck, confusion swells within me. Part of me feels light with happiness over this dream coming true. How many times during high school had I wondered what it might feel like to have him want me as badly as I wanted him? Dreamed of how his lips would feel on mine? What it would be like to be held by him?
And he’d met every expectation without even really trying.
But there’s also a part of me, a darker, insecure part that wonders what the catch is. It’s wondering whether this is some big elaborate joke and I’m the punchline.
This is the kind of thing Stella would have planned as a way to torment me. Convince the boy I like to pretend he likes me back, have him earn my trust, then humiliate me without any remorse.
I know Casper isn’t capable of hurting me like that, but it’s been ten years. We haven’t spoken in that time. What if I don’t know the man I’m with?
What if he’s doing this to hurt me more than he already has?
What if I don’t know what he’s really capable of?
I shake my head of those thoughts and stop at the truck just as the ranger pulls away. Casper has his back to me, looking so at ease that it makes my stomach turn.
Is he at ease because he likes me?
Or because his plan is working?
God, I haven’t felt this insecure since high school. When I left Willow Ridge, I reinvented myself. Forged myself a shiny new backbone with a brand new identity and never looked back.
Now that I’m home, I feel it slipping away, like it was never really mine.
Casper never used to make me feel this way. He’d always been my greatest champion—until Stella entered the picture.
I’m not so sure anymore.
As I get back into the truck, my desire to take photos gone, Casper slides into the driver’s side. There’s a light in his eyes when I meet his stare, one that makes my heart flip.
“You can take photos,” he says, shifting in his seat so he faces me. “The ranger is fine with us being up here.”
I shrug, letting my camera fall into my bag. “It’s okay,” I reply, offering him a strained smile. “I could actually kill for some coffee though.”
Casper blinks, almost in surprise, maybe partially out of confusion, but he doesn’t fight me on it.
“You want to talk about what just happened?” he asks, taking the winding road down the mountain from the lodge.
“We kissed,” I reply, not looking at him. “Well, you kissed me. And I?—”
“You kissed me back.” I feel the weight of his eyes on me for a moment, but I’m too scared to look at him. Like if I do, it’ll confirm every fear I have. “What’s the matter, shortcake? Did I do something wrong?”
I swallow hard past the lump in my throat, shaking my head. “Not a chance, horse boy.” I can’t bring myself to tell him the truth. I might have, once. But now…now it lodges in my throat, my mouth unable to form around the words. “I don’t scare that easily.”
From the corner of my eye, I watch as he shifts so he has one hand on the steering wheel and the other takes my hand, which has been resting in my lap. Immediately, I stiffen at the casual intimacy—and the feelings his touch dredges up.
“You know that I know you’re lying, right?” he says without looking at me. “I know you better than you realise.”
The lump in my throat seems to thicken. “I don’t think you do,” I reply quietly. “Ten years changes a lot.”
“Not between us.” He finally looks at me, eyes betraying him completely. “Never between us, Hattie. If there is ever going to be a constant, it’ll always be us and what we feel towards each other.”
I tear my gaze from his and close my eyes against the onslaught of emotions. Because I know this could be meant two ways; either he sees me as his clingy sidekick Hattie who didn’t have any other friends besides the two Sterling brothers she basically imprinted on and the kiss meant nothing, or he sees me as more—and that means danger.
My basic instincts are telling me to run, to escape the definite heartache that will come if I trust Casper Sterling with my heart.
