13. Ambrose #3
Clearing my throat, I lent Zeth a hand. “You really don’t have to help me fix the chair. The leg was already broken. I couldn’t resist messing with you.”
“Alright, in that case, I won’t,” Zeth teased with a wide grin as he accepted my hand and stood up next to me. For a moment, we locked gazes. My hand remained in his gloved one, my cheeks heating.
Then Zeth averted his eyes and pulled his hand out of my grasp to swipe at the back of his jacket and trousers. I frowned and watched as he perused my other pieces of furniture.
“I’m running out of room to store everything,” I said. “If you see anything you’d like to take off my hands so I can fit more in here, you can have it.”
“So when I thought you were offering cast-offs for the laundry, you were actually offering me your handmade furniture?”
“Oh… um, yes.”
“Then I’m sorry. I was ungrateful in the face of your generosity.”
I shook my head. “Please, Zeth, I didn’t think anything of it.”
Zeth nodded and strolled over to the table set, running a hand along the top as he passed. He stopped when he reached a porch rocker and repositioned it. “Are you starting a business with all this?”
“Well… I suppose it’s a dream of mine. I thought about setting up a tent at the Founders Day Fest and selling a few pieces.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Amby. You should do it.”
My head whirled from his compliment. Was he no longer angry at me?
He was using my nickname, so perhaps not.
Annabelle was gone, and yet he was still being kind.
I wasn’t sure why. When Zeth’s eyes finally crossed the barn to find mine, they were warm, full of zeal and something hidden that made me feel good inside.
“What’s stopping you?” Zeth continued. “To sell at the fest, I mean.”
“Nothing.” I rubbed my thumbnail. “I’m not sure I can make enough money off something like this, just me. It’s exhausting work.”
“And your dad doesn’t approve, does he?”
That only brought back Father’s words at the breakfast table, of tearing down the barn. When I looked down, Zeth clicked his tongue.
“I understand,” he said. “But I think you have a promising start here… as long as they don’t all break when someone sits on them?”
“Maybe you should try them all out for me to see if they hold up.”
His lips tilted as he held my gaze. He removed his riding gloves from each finger with slow precision, and I caught the glimmer of silver on his right pinky.
My stomach fluttered. I couldn’t see the color of his ring, but I hoped it might reflect his contentment as he brushed his hand against the rocker’s smooth seat with a sigh.
Zeth turned to sit and settled into the chair’s embrace with his legs spread. Then he leaned back to start moving the chair, his smile growing wider with each rock. “You know, this may be my new favorite chair.”
“You like it?”
“Mmm,” Zeth hummed, closing his eyes and settling back even more. He looked incredibly comfortable as he murmured, “Thank you, Amby.”
“For what?”
“You’re a better man than me. You didn’t tell her.”
I blinked at him in confusion. “Tell her what?”
When the chair stopped, Zeth opened his eyes and leaned his elbows on his knees.
He steepled his fingers and stared at them before taking a deep breath.
“Amby, I gave you the perfect chance to tell Anna that I’m deceiving her, that I have nothing but fucking water.
But you didn’t. I knew it the moment she asked us to go riding today.
Your… fairness was all I could think about as we rode. ”
I looked away, my neck flushing. “Well, perhaps not completely fair. I did try to distract you from Annabelle.”
Zeth whistled. “Damn, so you were flirting on purpose. And making me think you both were together?”
“Guilty. I’m a naughty boy.” I turned my head back and raised my eyebrow at him.
Zeth sat straighter in the chair and splayed his fingers out on his right hand before curling them into a fist. Then he gave me a lopsided grin.
“But…” I tilted my head. “I swear to you I’m not a spy. I’d never rat you out to anyone.”
“No need to swear. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry at you, not when I’m hiding my poverty behind a fancy facade. You have every right to think ill of me.”
I laughed as if he were crazy. “No. Despite this… stupid quarrel we seem to be in, you’re still my best friend.”
“Your best friend?” Zeth rose and walked toward me with a scoff. “You didn’t replace me?”
“Replace Zeth Washer?” I smiled crookedly at him. “Never.”
“You’re the only one who finds me irreplaceable, I assure you.”
As much as I wanted to tease him back, I couldn’t. Because the comment bothered me. It was a truth masked behind a nonchalant wave of humor. So, I couldn’t help but move forward enough to rub Zeth’s arm in a comforting way. “You don’t realize how admirable you are, do you?”
“No, that’s hardly the word I would use.”
“I know. But that’s the way I see you. I’ve always admired you growing up.
The way you’d help others with school work and your family at the laundry.
The way you helped me…” I trailed off. It didn’t feel like the right time to mention our mothers.
Instead, I said, “And now you know all about antiques. Working as an appraiser. I could never do that. You want what’s best for you and Millie, and will do anything to attain it.
You know what you want and are going for it. That’s admirable, Zeth.”
A prickle dug into my heart, and I pulled my arm away to rub my chest. If I had Zeth’s determination, I would no doubt already be living on my own with my furniture business.
Next to me, Zeth shook his head, as if he didn’t believe anything I said.
Then he let out a heavy breath and removed his cap to toss it onto the work table.
His dark hair was disheveled as he turned back to me with a playful smile.
“Why are you buttering me up, Rosie? Is there something you want while we’re alone in this barn? ”
“There’s no butter on my words. I spoke truthfully.
I never meant to insult you the other day, but I did, and I’m sorry.
I was concerned for you and Millie when you told me all you had was water.
And also… Annabelle called me her friend the other day.
She pointed out the obvious, that we have no spark.
” I crossed my arms and met his eyes. “You win.”
The way Zeth’s head tilted told me he took in my words and was struggling to understand. But his expression changed into the mischievous one I remembered from our youth. The one that told me he was about to pull some big prank.
“Zeth…” I started, eyeing him carefully as he took a step toward me. “What are you about to—”
He suddenly dipped down to sweep me off my feet and hoisted me up into his arms. I gasped, flailing my arms before grabbing onto his stout shoulders.
Zeth chuckled softly and jostled me to adjust his grasp as he began walking to the back of the barn, carrying me like some maiden in distress. Goodness, he was strong.
“Since you admire me so much…” Zeth growled against my ear, “I thought you might wish to see more of me. Or am I wrong?”
My eyes widened in both excitement and anxiety at his insinuation that we should roll around in the hay. I couldn’t help but tighten my hold around the back of his neck and move in close enough to press my forehead against his, making Zeth grin.
Without warning, his support under my legs disappeared. My arms clung onto his shoulders but gravity won, and my legs dropped before I fell backward. Zeth went right with me as we crashed into crisp softness. Hay exploded around me, as did his laughter.
I laughed with him, flicking a piece of straw at his face. “Ass,” I teased.
“You should’ve seen how scared you looked,” Zeth hummed with pleasure.
Smiling, Zeth sat up to straddle my lap, and I wrapped my arms around his hips, locking him against me so he couldn’t move. He’d put me in this position, and I wasn’t letting him go.
I stared adoringly at him as Zeth trailed his fingers along my arms, so featherlight that goosebumps rose on my bare forearms. When he reached my hands, he pulled them away from his hips, and I feared he might get up.
Instead, he curled his fingers around my wrists and pushed my arms back into the hay, near my head.
Leaning over me, Zeth held me down. I blinked at him, my face burning under his eyes.
Eyes that sparkled like a glowing sunset as they watched me closely. Perhaps calculating.
“Zeth,” I whispered.
“Yeah, Rosie?”
That name on his lips did things to me, things I shouldn’t give in to, but I couldn’t help my next words. “You’re… incredibly handsome.”
When Zeth’s gaze dropped to my lips, I wanted him to kiss me so badly.
If I let him, I was done for. I’d crumble and never be able to put myself back together.
But temptation was hard to resist when it was staring me right in the face.
Especially as he lowered onto his forearms until his solid stomach grazed against mine.
I froze. Was he going to kiss me this time?
He certainly appeared to be pondering it as he raised one of his hands to trace the edge of my jaw with his fingertips.
I sighed into his caress. It felt wonderful to have him so close, to feel his chest rise and fall against me, his breath so near it tickled my cheek.
My heart was racing like a river in spring.
“Zeth, if you keep touching me like that… I won’t be able to pull away,” I told him, closing my eyelids against temptation.
“I enjoy seeing you react to me, and hearing what my touch does to you.”
“Oh?” My lids parted slightly. “You like seeing me lose control?”
“Yes.” Zeth ran his fingers through my hair. “I shouldn’t, but I have this crazy desire to touch you, taste you, and leave my mark on your skin.”
“Who said that’s crazy?” I whispered. “What if I want you to do all those things to me… and more?”