Page 106 of The Brave and the Reckless

“How is she?”

“Sick. I think she has a virus or the flu or something.” I glanced down the hallway toward the living room, but nothing stirred at the other end of the house. “She’s asleep now.”

“Okay. I’ll stop by first thing tomorrow.”

“You don’t want to know why she came to the ranch?”

“Aw man, give me some credit. I have more than two brain cells. I know she didn’t ditch our parents and come back here for the horses.” Sanny laughed, apparently completely unbothered by the revelation. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

That went better than expected. There was a possibility that he’d just been relieved Esra hadn’t gone missing, and I’d still get sucker-punched tomorrow, but I’d deal with that when the time came. For now, I just wanted to get Esra through the night.

I got her phone from the car and left it in the kitchen to charge before returning to the sofa. I rearranged the cushions on the far end, so I could settle in somewhat comfortably without costing her any space to stretch in all directions. Someone else’s body heat was probably the last thing she needed right now, but I wasn’t leaving her side. She woke up four or five times that night, sweating through her shirt and downing water. I kept refillingher cup, refreshing her cold compress and smoothing the sweaty strands away from her face.

“Noah?” she whispered around 4 a.m., stretching until her toes reached my thigh. I cupped her ankle. Even her usually freezing feet were unnaturally warm.

“I’m here.” I’d left the light in the hallway on, so she could have easily spotted me, had she opened her eyes.

“How’s Tornado? He was so nervous that day.”

“He’s all right. He picked up on our mood, that’s all. I should have held him still while you were dismounting. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I was just so worried he was getting sick.” She heaved a deep sigh, turned her head and went back to sleep.

How was a sane man not supposed to fall for her when she did things like that? She was on the brink of delirium, but what was important to her was my horse’s wellbeing. The horse she’d fallen off after he sidestepped her, no less. Something she didn’t blame me for, either. The guilt that had been wrecking me unhooked one of its sharp claws from my chest. I still felt responsible, but at least Esra wasn’t holding the accident against me.

She had just fallen back asleep when Sanny showed up the next morning. Instead of using his key, however, he knocked on the door. He never knocked on the door.

I opened it for him, brows raised in a silent question.

He sported a wide, shit-eating grin. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

The implication was obvious, but I only shook my head. “She really is sick. Her fever seems to have gone down a bit, but she’s passed out on the sofa.”

Sinan walked in and paused in front of the to do lists taped to the wall. He’d praised those lists not too long ago and had tackled a few tasks with me. Today, he narrowed his eyes at them, wandering along the wall toward the living room to inspect them. His gaze swiveled to me, then in the direction of the living room. It finally clicked. I hadn’t just magically become a list person.

“You’re not going to rip my head off, are you?” I asked, only half-kidding. Knowing that his little sister and I had become an item was one thing, but he had to realize how long it had been going on. That we’d been lying to him for months.

I watched him, my shoulders tense as I waited for his reaction.

Sanny rolled his eyes at me in a move that reminded me a lot of Esra. Funny. A few months ago, she had reminded me of her brother. But now all her little movements were the benchmark and Sanny could only try to live up to them.

“Why would I rip your head off? Noah, you and I, we’re planning a whole future here together.” He circled his hand through the air to indicate the ranch. “I know who you are behind that resting-bitch-face. So, in my opinion, out of all the men my sister could date, you’re the best-case scenario. You’re practically already my work husband. Might as well make you my real-life brother-in-law.”

He was jumping many steps ahead. So was I, but in a different direction: “What if something happens between her and me, or between you and me, and you end up having to choose sides?”

“Jeez, we have to work on your optimism, cowboy,” Esra croaked from the living room.

I slipped past Sanny without another word. Esra had a magnetic pull on me. “Good morning,” I said, even though she’d technically been awake twice before today. Her eyes had cleared up a little. That was a good sign.

“Hey, remember how I told you not to be messy?” Sanny leaned over the back of the sofa, grinning down at his sister. “You owe me a drink. The new Annie Lou is a Mess. Capital M. She can do the horse tricks but can’t stay in character for shit.”

“I didn’t know there was a new Annie Lou already.” Esra’s voice quivered, and she pushed herself up on the sofa. Even that bit of movement must have been too much, because the little color in her cheeks turned pale and she squeezed her eyes shut again. “That was quick.”

“Let’s get you better before you think about getting back on the horse,” I said. “For what it’s worth, you’re a much better Annie.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I arranged the cushions around her until they held her upright.

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