“I’m glad you think so,” he said with one of his heart-stopping grins. He had strictly avoided bringing dates to this restaurant because he didn’t want them to get the wrong idea. The only time he had eaten here was with family. Somehow it didn’t surprise him that when he decided to take Anna out on a real date, the place that came to mind was Giovanni’s.
Looking across the table at her, he could see her lips moving, knew she was talking, but found it impossible to concentrate. Jake was about to get lost in those violet eyes that seemed to see right into the very center of his being when the waitress came to take their order.
At first, they both seemed to be a bit tense and uncomfortable, but then Jake asked Anna about car shopping and before they knew it, they were back to chatting and teasing, talking like they had so many times before.
“Why a Camaro? What made you decide to buy it?” Jake asked as the waitress came with his plate of lasagna.
“Why not? I’ve never had a new car before and I’ve saved up my money. Before I moved back home, I lived pretty frugally and had a nice little nest egg. So I decided to get a car that would be a fun,” Anna said, as she broke a breadstick in half.
“And the new clothes, your new look? What inspired that?” Jake probed, hoping he had provided a bit of her inspiration.
“I was finally ready for a change. So why not do it all at once?” Anna answered, taking a bite of her pasta.
“Yeah, why not?” Jake said, watching Anna and wishing he could kiss the bit of sauce off her lip, especially when the tip of her tongue came out and licked it away.
When dinner was over, Anna asked Jake if he’d like to take the car for a drive and he jumped at the opportunity. They drove through town then out on the highway before turning down the road that led to Clay and Callan’s place. Before he knew what they were doing, they were out of the car and at the door ringing the bell. Jake admitted to himself that he really wanted to show off Anna.
“Hey Jake. Hi Anna. Come on in” Audrey said, as she opened the door, popping her gum in the annoying fashion that only a 13-year-old can manage. Turning inside, she yelled, “Mama, Jake’s here with Anna.”
Callan and Clay came into the front room, wearing big smiles.
“Hello you two,” Callan said, giving them both a hug. “My goodness, Anna, don’t you look wonderful.”
Anna thanked her. “I gave myself a little makeover.”
Callan turned to Clay and they both began to laugh. “Does this remind you of something, Callan?” Clay asked his wife.
Callan looked at Jake, continuing to smile. “Do you remember when I did a little makeover of my own, Jake?”
Jake burst into a huge smile. It had been a family joke for a few years now. Turning to Anna, he explained why they all were laughing. “Callan waited until Clay was out of town then spent the weekend getting a complete makeover. She looked so different when Clay got home, he didn’t even know who she was until she tried to kiss him. They even managed to fool me at school one day because I hadn’t seen Callan for a while. That was quite the joke,” Jake said.
“I’ll never forget it,” Clay said, giving Callan a warm look and a kiss on her cheek.
Anna watched Jake’s cousins and felt a sudden stab of pain. She wanted so badly to be in a relationship, but realized she wanted more than anything to have someone love her the way Clay loved Callan. It was as clear as day that they were deeply in love with each other, even after many years of marriage.
Callan invited them to sit down and offered to get everyone some iced tea.
“We can’t stay, Callan, but thanks for the offer,” Jake said, guiding Anna toward the door. “Anna just got a new car and was letting me take it for a spin.”
Clay, Callan and the girls followed them outside where Clay let out an appreciative whistle. “Nice wheels, Anna.”
“Mama, that is exactly the car I want when I can drive,” Audrey said, nearly dancing in excitement.
“Yeah?” Callan laughed, “I don’t think so, missy.”
Anna allowed both Audrey and Emma to climb inside and smell the new leather smell and see all the cool bells and whistles before Clay and Callan shooed them back in the house.
“Have a nice evening, you two,” Clay said, winking at Jake.
“Thanks for stopping by,” Callan said. “Come back some evening for dinner. We’d love to have a good visit with you both.”
“Will do, Callan,” Jake said, shutting Anna’s door before walking around to the passenger side.
“Are you sure you don’t want to drive, Jake?” Anna asked, as she backed the car around and started down the road.
“No, you drive. Thanks for letting me take it for a spin and going in to see Clay and Callan. They are two of my favorite people, but you probably already knew that,” Jake said.
“They are so nice. I can see why they are special to you,” Anna agreed.
Anna didn’t turn back toward town, instead heading the car further down the highway. When they turned off onto a little-used paved road, Jake was shocked speechless when Anna floored the car and took off like a shot. She was a skillful driver and handled the car expertly. Even so, he was restraining himself from grabbing a hold of the dashboard and stomping the floorboards in an effort to get her to slow down. Why was it just a short while ago he was wishing she’d not drive so cautiously?
Looking over, Anna saw Jake was uncomfortable and slowed down. The tension drained from him and he relaxed until she deliberately took a corner a bit sharp and did a few fancy maneuvers with the car. Watching his eyes grow wide, she decided she’d terrorized him enough for one evening. Laughing she turned around and headed back toward the highway.
Jake finally realized she wasn’t going to willingly cause his demise with her driving and relaxed. If Anna ever got tired of working at the library he was fairly certain she could easily get a job as a stunt car driver.
“Where in the world did a girl like you learn to drive like that?” Jake asked when his breathing returned to normal.
Anna tensed, glaring at him from behind her sunglasses. “What do you mean a girl like me? What kind of girl would that be exactly?”
Jake realized his next choice of words could have a huge effect on how this evening ended. And he really wanted it to end well.
“Your kind of girl is sweet, and shy, and wonderful,” Jake said, smiling in a way he hoped she found endearing. “But I should have learned by now that you, my sweet Sugar, are full of surprises.”
If Anna’s heart hadn’t already melted ten-times over this evening, Jake’s comment would surely finish her off. Did he always know just the right thing to say to soften her heart and her head?
“I’ve been driving since I was 12. Daddy taught both Sam and I to drive young because he needed the help. Sam and I taught ourselves how to really handle a car with a video game and an old mustang Dad kept from his wild and wooly youth. We never did anything too perilous with it, but we sure had loads of fun,” Anna explained.
The drive back to town passed way too quickly, even with Anna driving the speed limit. She didn’t want the evening to end anytime soon, but they both had to work the next day and she was nearly back to the library parking lot. Pulling up next to his truck, she turned off the ignition and sat looking at him through her sunglasses.
“Anna,” Jake whispered, looking at her with a new light in his eyes, one that seemed to be speaking volumes from his heart. He unbuckled his seat belt, tipped back his hat and then slowly removed her glasses.
Softly brushing his thumb across her cheek, he looked deep into those violet pools and knew he was losing a part of himself there.
“Anna, may I kiss you, please?” Jake didn’t know what he would do if she said no. He couldn’t remember ever asking permission for a kiss. He was more inclined to kiss first and wait to see if an apology was needed later. To date, it never had been.
He’d waited so long just to kiss Anna, he thought he’d suffer some incurable malady
if he couldn’t taste her lips tonight. He’d wanted to kiss her numerous times, but tonight he was ready to take a chance and hoped Anna wouldn’t reject him.
“Yes,” Anna whispered as she closed her eyes and leaned closer to him. Her exotic tropical scent floated around him, filling his senses.
Jake settled his lips on hers gently, tenderly. Her lips were warm and sweeter than he imagined they could be. He planned to give her one quick kiss and be done, but once their lips touched he felt drawn to her in a way that completely baffled him.
Placing a hand on either side of her face, he drew her deeper into the kiss, slanting his lips harder against hers.
Anna drew back first and looked at him with her huge, trusting eyes. If she hadn’t been sitting down, she was sure her knees would have buckled beneath her. Being kissed by Jake had to be one of the best things that had ever happened to her.
Jake took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. How could one kiss completely shake him to his core? He felt like he was about to be consumed by something he didn’t fully understand. He’d kissed a lot of girls in his dating years, but not once, not ever, had anything affected him like this one simple kiss with Anna.
Frustrated with the gear shift between them, Jake jumped out of the car and ran around to open Anna’s door. Reaching inside he unbuckled her seatbelt then pulled her out to stand in front of him. For a moment he just stood and looked at her. She was so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet.
All Jake’s good intentions to take things slowly disappeared as he put his arms around Anna and pulled her close. Heat and something else, something wild and unnamed, crackled between them. He looked into her eyes and felt himself drowning in the violet depths. Burying his hands deep into her hair he pressed his lips to hers again, losing himself in the sensations racing through him.
Anna slipped her hands up Jake’s arms and clung to his shoulders, sure she would melt in a puddle at his feet if he let her go. She opened her mouth to catch her breath and Jake wasted no time in using that to his advantage. Before Anna knew what was happening, she was being kissed more thoroughly than she’d ever been in her life. Startled, she found herself only wanting more. As close as they were now, she could feel his heart racing, nearly keeping rhythm to her own runaway pulse.
She felt the warm stirring of Jake’s breath near her ear, his hands fiery on her back. Afraid he’d said something she couldn’t hear, she gathered her courage.
“Jake, I don’t want to miss a word you say. I’m completely deaf on that side. Please say it again?” she asked quietly, embarrassed to interrupt a passionate moment with her hearing problem.
“Anna,” Jake groaned, pulling his head up and looking her full in the face. “I’m sorry. I said that you are every bit as sweet as I dreamed you’d be. I can’t believe how beautiful you are. So very beautiful and wonderful and here with me.”
Jake, who was fairly certain there was not a shy bone in his body, felt a bit bashful saying something out loud and to a girl’s face that would have been so much easier to whisper in her ear. But at least Anna knew he meant it.
Anna responded by kissing him, much to his surprised pleasure. He marveled at how right it felt to hold her. She fit so perfectly in his arms, like she was the one person God created to be in them. He deepened the kiss and stopped only when they both were breathless. Giving her one more tight hug, he took a step back, putting some distance between them.
He’d hoped and dreamed the real Anna, the Anna she was starting to be around him when she left her defenses down, would be passionate and exciting. He had no idea she’d be all that and more. If he didn’t get a handle on what was happening, they were going to get carried away and he didn’t want that for Anna. He wanted each moment they spent together to be special.
Grabbing her hand and kissing the inside of her palm, he opened her car door and gently guided her inside. Squatting down, he buckled her seat belt, glad for any excuse to be close to her, touching her.
“I think you better get on home while we both still have a few wits about us,” Jake said with warm grin. Kissing her palm again, he couldn’t remember ever having as hard a time telling a girl goodnight. “Thank you, Anna, for one of the most amazing evenings I’ve ever had.”
Anna smiled up at him, adoration and something more written on her face. “Thank you for asking me, Jake. It was wonderful.”
“Well, then, Sugar, you get yourself on home and have sweet dreams,” Jake teased.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The air was stifling for late June. Pounding another staple into the fence post, Anna looked back at her handiwork. She’d been out since six that morning, repairing fence. It was muggy down in the draw and sweat trickled down her back, soaking through her tank top. She wasn’t exactly sure how she ended up with this job. It wasn’t her ideal way to spend a beautiful Saturday. She, Sam and Ken had divided up the chores that needed done today and thanks to Sam’s inability to get around on the uneven pasture and Ken’s need to attend a meeting in Portland this morning, Anna got stuck with fence repair.
Pulling off her ball cap, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a long drink of water from the bottle she’d brought along. Setting it back in the bucket with all the fencing supplies, she plopped the hat back on and walked to the next post, tightening the wire.
She was tapping a staple into the fence post when a navy blue pickup came driving down the lane and stopped next to the 4-wheeler. Anna could have crawled in a hole and died when she realized it was Jake. She would have to be sure to thank her mom for sending him down here, knowing Anna would look like she had clawed her way out of a briar patch and smell like she’d wrestled a goat. At least she had her sunglasses on and could hide behind them to some small extent.
Jake waved and sauntered toward her. He had on a light blue T-shirt, jeans, and straw cowboy hat, looking way too handsome for her own good.
“Hey, Anna, could you have picked any muggier a spot to work this morning?” he teased, giving her a peck on the cheek. “It is stifling down here.”
“Why don’t you tell me something I don’t know, fancy boy?” Anna grinned. “Did you come to volunteer to take over, or are you afraid you might break a nail or mess up your hair?”
“Now, see here, I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of fence building,” Jake said, grabbing the wire stretchers in one hand and the bucket of fencing supplies in the other. “But maybe I’ll just pack the tools and watch you work.”
Anna gave the staple one last hit then started walking toward the next post. Jake walked beside her, glad he’d decided on the spur of the moment to come out and visit. He was disappointed to find she wasn’t home, but Sue quickly gave him directions on where to find her. Anna was hot, sweaty and dirty, but looked absolutely tantalizing to him. Her tank top was soaked with sweat and clung like a second skin while her tanned arms and shoulders glistened in the morning sunlight. His head had a hard time wrapping around all the different sides of Anna – the library mouse, the gorgeous race car driver, the hard-working farm girl, the domesticated cook. He wondered how many other sides of Anna he had yet to discover. The thought intrigued him altogether and he chuckled.
“What’s so funny,” Anna asked, swinging the hammer in her hand as they walked.
“Oh, nothing, I just…” Jake looked over at Anna and caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Right in front of them was a snake, stretched out in the sun. Involuntarily, Jake shuddered and jumped a step back. “Anna,” he warned, stretching his arm out toward her.
Anna saw the snake the same time Jake did and instead of taking a step back, took a step forward and leveled a deadly blow with the hammer to the snake’s head. Its body twirled and twisted, tail rattles shaking.
Jake dropped the bucket and stretchers, grabbing Anna’s arm. His knees felt weak and his pulse was galloping madly. “Are you insane? That’s a rattlesnake! What if it had bit you? That was a fool crazy thing to do!”
Anna studied
Jake, trying to figure out what had him all in a dither.
“It wasn’t crazy, it was smart. I can’t hear the rattles, so I make it a habit of killing snakes first and asking questions later. This is only the third rattlesnake we’ve ever had out here, but we have to be careful. It’s no big deal, Jake. I knew I was going to kill it, and I did. That’s all.”
Well, here was the crazy and reckless side of Anna, Jake thought. He understood the reason behind her action, but it was a rattlesnake. She could have been bitten. She could have been out here down in this draw where no one would see her and died of snakebite. He didn’t even know there were rattlesnakes in the area, but the Zimmerman farm did have some open rangeland behind it. Everything in him demanded he shelter her. Forbid her from working outside where there were dangers she couldn’t hear. Drag her to a cave and keep her out of harm’s way under his Neanderthal protection. He didn’t know what it was, but the more time he spent with Anna, the more he felt the need to keep her safe and secure.
Anna, however, didn’t seem bothered in the least. In fact, she picked up the bucket, stepped around the snake and moved on to the next post where she expertly pulled out old staples while she spoke. “So what brings you out here today, anyway?’
When Jake didn’t answer, Anna looked back at him, still watching the snake intently. She noticed he was a little pale and seemed to be breathing hard.
“Are you okay, Jake? You look a little green around the gills.”
“I’m fine,” he said weakly, picking up the fence stretchers and taking a wide berth around the snake. Seeing it reminded him of the snake that terrorized him the summer he worked for Josh and Jenna. “I’m not so fond of snakes and I’m really not fond of the idea of you being out here by yourself. What was your dad thinking?”
Starting to feel a bit of her temper rise, Anna leveled a cool glare at Jake, one even he could sense through her sunglasses, as she set her chin stubbornly.
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