I grab his out of his hands. “Ethan Santiago Ryland?”
“My mom’s last name.”
“It reminds me of that game Where in the World is Carmen Santiago?” I laugh, and he plucks the plastic from my hands.
“That was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”
“Oh.” I cover my mouth. “Whoops.”
After going through the rest of the security steps and riding a jam-packed elevator, we wait in the small reception area to be called in.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.” I knock his knee and lean in. He’s been quiet since the Santiago thing.
“You didn’t.”
“Are you sure? I wasn’t stereotyping or anything.”
He finally puts down the magazine and looks at me. “Relax. I’m not offended.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” He picks the magazine back up.
“So, you know astrology?” I ask.
He chuckles and the other man in the reception area peeks at us from over his magazine.
“Not exactly. My mom is a big believer in it.”
“What sign are you?”
“Aries. As my mom says, the classic Aries.”
“I used to read about it when I was younger to see if I was compatible with the guy I was into. I’m a Sagittarius so what does that mean?”
He glances like ‘are you serious’ and I nod. Again, he closes the magazine and puts it down on the table. “Of course Aries and Sagittarius are compatible.”
“We’re compatible?” My giggly schoolgirl voice needs to disappear before I start writing Blanca Ryland or Mrs. Ethan Ryland on my folders at work.
“Did you really question that?” he asks, a bit sardonically.
Our eyes lock. I love the gold flecks in his eyes that light up when he’s flirting with me. “I suppose not.”
“The problem with you being a Sagittarius is that you always get bored. You need a lot of adventure. But I come with some faults too.”
“I don’t think wanting adventure is a bad thing.”
His eyes lock with mine for a moment. “Except when you don’t accept the adventure. When you push the adventure away.”
“Mr. Ryland. Miss Mancini. We’re ready for you.”
Ethan winks and stands, grabbing his messenger bag from the floor. The other man tips back the corner of his magazine and smiles at me because he was eavesdropping.
“Blanca?” Ethan calls out and I scramble to my feet, grabbing my own bag and purse.
I meet them at the door, but my mind is anywhere but on what’s going to happen when we’re inside. I don’t even catch the guy’s name we’re following down the hall.
By the time I’m across the table from Ethan with a pair of headphones and a man and woman’s voice in my ears, I’m reminded that we’re apart because of me.
“It’s great to have you both here today. Thanks for coming in,” the male host says.
Ethan nudges my foot and I look up to see the interview is starting.
I smack on a smile. “Yeah. Hi.”
The young DJ laughs at me but says nothing. “It was Katie over here that first read the article about five things a male or female wants in the bedroom that their partner probably isn’t delivering. Now tell me, do you guys try these things out together?” Everyone in the room laughs and brings his magnetic personality up a notch.
“No. We actually make it a point not to read each other’s articles until they release.”
“So you two aren’t a couple or anything?” The guy waves his finger between us.
“No. Right, Blanca?” Ethan asks, testing me with those intense eyes.
“No. We’re not.”
“I have to say the hatred in the articles for the other one seems so genuine, I figured it was a love-hate thing. Like you’re screwing in the copy room once it’s over.”
Everyone seems to think it’s a joke and laughs. Little do they all know.
“Strictly professional.” Ethan winks at me. “In fact, I’m her best friend’s ex.”
“WHOA!” the woman chimes in. “So, you’re off-limits.”
He can’t be serious that we’re going to talk about this. Why would he bring that up?
“Why is that? I mean, I think if I wanted to date my best friend’s ex-girlfriend, it wouldn’t be a huge deal,” the male DJ says, and the woman laughs.
“You’re crazy. Yes, it would be a problem,” the woman says.
“What do you say, Ethan? I mean are guys just more chill about things like that?”
Ethan glances over to me and I wish I had any idea what he would say.
“Maybe others put their friendships in a higher regard than you do,” the woman co-host jokes.
Everyone laughs again, but I sit in silence waiting for Ethan to respond.
What would he have done if Sierra wanted to date Dylan? Would that have been okay?
“What’s the saying, bros before hoes?” Ethan says.
“Whoa now, Ethan, I was liking you before that statement.” The woman shakes her head at me, but I’m smiling because whether he agrees with my decision or not, he’s sticking up for me. On public radio.
Just as we’re about to share a moment, his head snaps forward to the DJ’s booth. “But that doesn’t pertain to us because there’s nothing between us except that we like to argue.”
“Well, watch out you two, all that aggression can turn up the heat and lead to the bedroom. Just ask Cara.”
Cara, as I now know her, throws a ball of paper at him and the room cracks up in laughter once more.
My phone chimes and I pull it out from under my thigh to sneak a peek.
Carm: You better get your little celebrity ass down to the Trading Post and bring your sidekick too.
Shit. My brothers must have been listening. Why did I mention it to them at all? How do you bring your crush to meet your overprotective brothers when they’re sure to give him the fifth degree? Then again, maybe this will scare Ethan off for good.
Somehow that doesn’t make me happy.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Blanca
“We’re going to lunch with your brothers?”
Ethan was even less excited as I was to hear about my brother’s text. He’s asked me that question twice now as though the answer would change three blocks down from the radio station.
“Yeah. Just think of them as my brothers, nothing more.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know. We’re not a thing so it shouldn’t matter what they think of you.”
“We’re not a thing only because you pushed me out of the picture.”
I stop at the streetlight and laser my eyes to his as people sigh and shuffle by us to get to their destination. “What does that mean? So you didn’t mean what you said in there?”
He shrugs. “I get the nobility of what you did, but I don’t agree with it. I did in that newsroom because I didn’t want him to pry anymore. I didn’t want us to lose face and lose our jobs when Phil finds out we’ve slept together. But if you want my honest opinion, I wouldn’t have thrown you to the curb if roles were reversed.”