An unladylike snort left me. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Z.”

“Maybe.” He shook his head as he pulled back. “I’m no good for you, Annabelle. You shouldn’t want me. I’ll only bring you down, baby.”

My fingers tightened in his hair. “Don’t ever say that to me again, Zander Brockman. I’ll accept anything else that leaves your lips, but don’t you ever put yourself down to me.” It was my turn to force him to meet my gaze. I kept a strong hold on his hair, knowing that I was probably hurting him as I did it, but what he’d just said had not only pissed me off but hurt me. “You are the best man I know, second to no one. Not even my brother. You are a strong, kind man and I care about you. Very much.” With my whole heart.

“Anna—”

“If you’re going to say something to try to talk me out of it, you might as well hold your breath, because I don’t want to hear it.” I glared at him. “Hearing you say you aren’t good enough for me only pisses me off, Z. I know what I want and that’s you. You are the best thing in the world for me. No one else will do.”

His lips twisted in a disbelieving smile. “Stop it. You know…”

I couldn’t stand to hear another word coming from that sexy-as-sin mouth a second longer. I tugged his head down the few inches that separated us and sealed my lips to his, stopping whatever he might have said. His entire body stiffened.

All my anger at him over the way he’d put himself down evaporated in the force of the heat that consumed my entire body as I kissed Zander. His hands at my waist contracted but, after only a brief uncertain moment, he pulled me against his hard body, taking control and deepening the kiss. Surprised and thrilled from the way he was taking over, I opened my mouth.

His tongue brushed over mine and my senses stopped everything they were doing in that moment to take stock of his taste. Holy God. He tasted of the cinnamon candy he liked so much but also something else. It was just as spicy as the cinnamon but something much more potent, yet it was sweet too. Like the honey his grandmother put in her oatmeal cookies.

With a curse Zander pushed away from me and raked his hands through his hair. “Fuck. Fuck. Ah fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Still lost in his taste, it took me a few seconds before I was able to make a coherent thought. I felt a sudden sense of loss. I’d only had it for a moment, but I already missed the feel of his hands on me, his lips on mine, his body heat soaking into my own. The next was disappointment. I wanted more, so much more.

“Zander.”

“I didn’t bring you out here to do this, Anna.” He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes as he breathed in deep breath after deep breath through his nose. “I just wanted to talk. To make you understand…” He broke off and shook his head without opening his eyes. “I told you I’m not a good man.”

“Was kissing me so wrong?” I whispered, hating that look of self-hate I saw on his face. Was that because of me? Had I forced this and made him hate himself because of it?

His eyes snapped open and he turned on the bench seat to face me. “Baby, kissing you feels like the most right thing in the world. But you’re sixteen and I’m almost nineteen. In this state, that makes you underage and me a bad man in the eyes of the law.”

I lifted a brow at him. “You’re only two years older than me, Z.”

It was his turn to glare. “That doesn’t mean anything, Annabelle.”

I smirked at him. “Actually it does. I’m going to be seventeen in a little over a week, and you’re still eighteen for several more. Even if you were up to four years older than me, you wouldn’t be breaking any laws. It’s called the Romeo and Juliet Law.”

“How do you even know that?”

I shrugged, still smirking at him. “I might have gone to the library and looked it up.” His brows lifted and I couldn’t help but blush. “I spent all summer daydreaming about you wanting me as much as I want you. I knew you would think your age would be a problem and I wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t get in trouble if by some miracle you decided you did want me.”

Zander growled something under his breath and started the truck. “Swear to me you aren’t joking, Anna.”

My smirk vanished. “I have a copy of the law in my backpack. Do you want to see it?”

“Fuck, yeah I do.”

My stomach did a little flip. Did that mean he wanted it to be true? I dampened my suddenly dry lips with the tip of my tongue. “Okay.” I reached for my backpack and pulled out the folded and creased sheet of paper that I’d photocopied from the library.

He pulled it from my fingertips and his green and gold gaze scanned over each word as he read it. Twice. I watched as he swallowed once, twice, a third time. Then, without looking at me, he put the truck in gear and drove me back to the garage.

Stepping out on his side, he offered me his hand and helped me out. I was about to turn to go into the office when his hand tightened around my fingers and I watched in fascination as he lifted my hand to kiss my knuckles. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”

My heart did a summersault in my chest and I grinned as I left him standing there and went into the office to get to work.

C HAPTER E IGHT

Zander

“You sure this is what you want, man?”

Noah leaned his head back on the couch in the back room at Floyd’s Bar. He wasn’t drinking his usual beer, and he’d had a faraway look in his eyes ever since he’d gotten to the bar half an hour ago. I’d known this was coming tonight, just as Devlin and Wroth had, but Liam had been busy elsewhere all week—meaning he’d been getting high with Tawny—so Noah’s decision was news to him.

“Yeah, man. This is what I want,” Noah assured Liam, but I could see the pain in his eyes. He might have decided that this was what he needed to do, but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that it was what he wanted.

I was a million percent sure that it wasn’t what I wanted. Noah was leaving the band right when we’d been starting to get noticed. We’d had two managers stop in to Floyd’s over the last few months, all saying we had potential, but none of them had made us an offer to sign with them. Still, we were sure that it was only a matter of time now until we found the right manager.

Noah was worried that even if we did get a manager and then a record deal afterward, he wouldn’t be making the money he needed to support himself plus Annabelle. I knew he was only thinking about his and his sister’s future, but that didn’t make his leaving any easier for my fucked-up mind to understand.

Or maybe it was the thought of what would happen once OtherWorld did actually get a record deal and we had to leave Tennessee. Would I be able to just follow my band-brothers and leave Annabelle behind? Especially after she’d confessed that she cared about me just as much as I did about her.

“But country music? Really?” Liam lifted his beer to his lips and took a long pull from the bottle. I didn’t think he needed the added buzz of a few beers. From the way his eyes were dilated I could tell he’d already been into the coke.

Noah’s lips lifted in a forced smile. “Yeah, man, really. Chelsea and I actually went up to Nashville last week and I played for some radio executive. He was impressed with me and said he’d be in touch.”

That wasn’t news to me and the other’s either. We knew he was going to go the country route and that he was even talking to Chelsea’s dad about asking her to marry him. Her old man liked Noah and was pretty cool about their relationship. He’d even offered to help them out with money if they decided to move up to Nashville, promising to pay their rent if it came to that.