Anna had been staring at her computer screen for an hour. She was supposed to be drafting tile design for the master bathroom, but instead she was thinking about Ben’s supposed stalker, who in reality, was stalking her.
Her anxiety was at an all-time high.
Ben promised that he would find out what she was up to and put a stop to her tormenting, but Anna had little faith. A determined woman will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Whoever this person was knew where Anna lived, and she assumed that it was because she followed Ben there. Anna would say she regretted having him in her home, but she knew that would be a lie. Since he came into her life, she not only had great sex, but she was feeling more like herself again. Until yesterday, thanks to the stalker.
Her office phone started to ring and she was thankful for the distraction.
“Anna speaking,” she said into the mouth of the phone.
“Hey there, Anna. Ethan here.”
Her heart sped up. “Ethan!” she said a little too loudly. “I am staring at your master tile design as we speak.”
“That’s wonderful, Anna, but that’s not why I’m calling.”
Ugh, he’s calling to remind her of their awful meeting.
“I don’t feel like I’ve apologized enough to you regarding yesterday. It was highly inappropriate for Cara and me to stop in the way we did and unload some of our marital drama on you.” He chuckled. “I know this is none of your business, but apparently Cara finds our professional relationship a bit disheartening. She has it in her head that we are having a secret rendezvous.”
Anna winced. That was the last thing she expected. “Wow, Ethan, I’m not sure how to respond to that.”
“I don’t expect a response. I felt that I owed you an explanation for her behavior. You can trust that from here on out, you will receive nothing but professionalism from Cara.”
“I feel like I owe you an apology as well. I don’t know what I have done to make her feel that way. Maybe you can tell her that I’m seeing someone to make her feel a bit more secure.”
A crash sounded on the line before Ethan responded. “Seeing someone? Anna, I thought I was the only man in your life?”
No wonder Cara thinks they are having a secret affair. “It’s new. We’ve only been on a few dates.” She felt odd having to explain her love life to a client.
“Hmmm. I hope this new man in your life doesn’t take you away from the job at hand. I expect to see results in a hasty manner.”
Anna was offended by his response. She had always been prompt and on time with her designs, and for him to assume that she would become lazy with her job because she had a new beau was offensive.
“I can assure you, Mr. Sanders, that nothing will change.”
“I trust that it won’t. I presume the plans for the master bathroom will be emailed to me by the week’s end?”
She became panicked. They had previously agreed that he didn’t need them for another week and a half. Not wanting to upset him further, she replied, “Of course.”
“I look forward to seeing the results.” The line went dead. Anna replaced the phone on the receiver in a daze.
“What the hell just happened?” she said aloud to herself. Her temples ached and she pressed her thumbs to her forehead. Today was Tuesday and she had until Friday to finish the master bath tile plan that she had just begun that morning. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was time to focus on nothing but tile design.
* * *
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Ethan listened to the ticking of the clock and leaned back heavily in his chair until the springs threatened to break under the pressure of his weight. He replayed the conversation he just had with Anna in his head and wrinkled his forehead.
“She has a new boyfriend,” he muttered under his breath. He couldn’t fathom the thought of her with a man.
When Ethan first met Anna, he had become quite smitten with her. She had a great smile and an infectious laugh. Her bubbly personality was contagious and he found it uplifting, and she happened to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Her not having a boyfriend when she accepted him as a client was a bonus to him. It meant that he would have her undivided attention for both professional and personal reasons. At least that was how he saw it. Anna looked like the kind of girl who wanted to have a good time. He made it a priority to put that theory to the test, except she had gone and done something he wasn’t prepared for—she started seeing someone.
He often dreamed of being inside her bedroom where he would watch her slowly strip her clothes off. Her eyes were always filled with lust and her body was hot for him. Once she was naked, she would stroll to the bed side and he would revel in the way her hips swayed and her breasts bounced with each step. When she reached his side, he would run his hands the length of her body in a sweet, seductive manner.
She would stand beside him, panting and moaning with every caress until her knees began to buckle. When that happened, he would jump off the bed and rip his pants down. Without missing a beat, he would bend her over the bed and slam in to her. In his dream, she liked it rough and begged for more. Ethan would repeatedly pump into her in a frantic motion until she screamed his name and he was spilling in to her.
Knock, knock.
Ethan looked up and saw Cara standing in the doorway to his office. He growled. “What do you want?” He had never hated his wife more than he did at this moment.
She cleared her throat. “I’m running some errands. Do you need anything while I’m out?”
He sneered at her. “What makes you think I want anything from you?”
He took joy in the frown that formed on her bruised face. A bruise she acquired when he found out about the email to Beth. He hadn’t meant to hit her, but he was so angry and she had moved into the path of his fist as he aimed for the wall beside her.
Without another word, Cara turned from the doorway and left. He started to picture Anna’s naked body with the intention of picking up where he left off, but his wife had killed his erection. He threw a notebook across the room.
Ethan started thinking of Anna’s new boyfriend. He wondered what it would be like to wrap his fingers around the man’s throat and squeeze until he took his last breath. He knew he would enjoy witnessing that. Any man who was taking his Anna from him deserved a slow and painful death. Maybe, he thought while snickering, I would coil my fingers around his neck with one hand and stab him repeatedly with the blade of my knife with the other.
The direction his thoughts were going should have been a cause for concern. He was not a killer, but Anna was supposed to be his and he was willing to take a man’s life in order to make that happen. The thought of it aroused him again. Ethan began rubbing his erection through the thin fabric of his jeans and he sighed heavily.
Needing fulfillment, he opened the buttons and freed himself. He grabbed hold and began moving his hand up and down his shaft, slowly at first, and then aggressively. He thought of Anna and how he would punish her for going against what she said. If I had a boyfriend, I wouldn’t have any time for you. He would fuck her so hard, she wouldn’t be able to sit for days.
Ethan grabbed his desk for balance and continued assaulting himself. When he was nearing an end, he stood and grunted and spilled himself all over the top of his desk. When he finally controlled his breathing, Ethan wiped the sweat from his brow and stared at the milky substance in front of him. He was disgusted at what he was looking at, yet aroused again at the thought of fucking Anna to near pain. She would be his—she just didn’t know it yet.
* * *
Ben knocked on Danielle’s front door ready to give her a piece of his mind. Stalking was one thing, but killing an animal was a completely new game she was playing. When she didn’t answer, he knocked louder. After a few minutes and still no answer, he pulled his leg back, ready to kick it down when a sleepy-eyed woman ripped the door open.
“Have you lost your mind? Or do you enjoy scaring the daylights out of single women in this town?” She eyed him and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I apologize for disturbing you, Miss. I was under the impression that a Danielle Winters lived in this home.”
“Your impression is wrong, sir. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t come pounding on my door again!” the irate woman yelled. She began closing the door but Ben held his hand out.
“Wait! You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find the woman who last occupied this home?”
She sighed. “This woman you speak of? Danielle?”
Ben nodded.
“Well I hate to be the person to break this to you, but she died.”
He hesitated. “I’m sorry. It sounded like you just said she died.”
“That is correct. Drug overdose, two months ago. She was found by the owner of this house. I moved in here a month ago and, because of laws and such, was told about her passing.”
He stared at the woman for a long moment, wondering if she was just messing with him, but the seriousness on her face told him that she was not. “I, uh,” he cleared his throat. “I apologize again for disturbing you.” He started to back away and waved. “Thank you for your time.”
The woman’s face softened. “I’m sorry for your loss. I heard she was a lovely woman.”
Ben nodded once and continued down the paved path to his car. Dead. Danielle was dead. D-E-A-D. No matter how many times he thought it or spelled it in his mind, the reality of it wasn’t sinking in. A woman he spent almost a year of his life with was dead. Yes, she had lost her mind after their break-up and harassed all the women close to him, but to imagine her no longer part of the living was hard to comprehend.
Ben started the engine and pulled away from the curb, still in a daze. He made a mental note to call her parents to offer his condolences. Even though he had placed a restraining order against their daughter, they continued their kindness towards him, understanding that he, as professional athlete, had to do what he had to do to protect his name and team.
“Anna,” he said aloud. If Danielle was not the person behind the hanging of that tiny creature, then someone else was. And then a new problem came to mind. Who was that threat aimed towards? Had he broken another heart without realizing it, resulting in an even more challenging case than the first one? Or did someone out there have it in for Anna?
Alerting her of the situation would only make matters worse, so he decided to keep Danielle’s passing from her for now and hope, no, pray, that nothing else happened.