Sex was just what the doctor ordered; except in this case, Ben was the doctor. Suddenly all the stress of her job had lifted away and she finally felt lighter. Anna knew there would be repercussion to her actions when Beth found out about the email, but she no longer cared. She knew Ethan adored her and doubted he would allow Beth to fire her from the project.
A large arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled close to a warm body.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Ben murmured in her ear. “Round three?”
Anna smiled. “Wishful thinking, cowboy.” She needed to get up, but she was so cozy snuggled against him.
“I thought I’d try.” He kissed the back of her neck and rolled away from her.
“Hey! Where are you going? I’m cold.” She wasn’t really cold, but he didn’t have to know that.
“As much as I would love to spend the day in there with you,” he pointed towards the bed, “I need to get back to my hotel to change. It’s frowned upon to show up in basketball shorts and a t-shirt.”
“What makes you think I’m going to allow you to leave this house in those clothes?” she said jokingly.
“Someone forgot to put my clothes in the dryer last night, but if you’d like, I can walk out of here naked.” Ben began taking off his shirt. Anna laughed and threw her pillow at him.
“You can wear them, but you have to promise to bring them back.”
“What happens if I don’t?” he asked playfully.
“Then you’ll have to explain to my father why he doesn’t have a spare outfit when he comes over.”
“Uh, yeah, I don’t want to have to do that.” He pulled on his shoes. “I’ll bring them back later this afternoon.”
“Why? Am I seeing you again?” She looked up at him innocently.
“Would you like to?” He bent down and kissed her lightly, then pushed her back to the bed and kissed her a little deeper.
“Well, I didn’t before but after that, I can’t imagine not seeing you again.”
“Ha ha.” Ben kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll text you when I’m done for the day.”
“I’ll be at the office most of the day today. I’ll let you know where I’m at with my day when you’re done.”
He nodded. “See you soon.”
The front door closed and Anna covered her face with a pillow and screamed. Ben was pretty amazing and she was really into him, but she was terrified the feelings weren’t mutual. She looked at the clock and blew out her breath. She had an hour before she needed to be at the office so she rolled off the bed to get ready for the day.
Upon her arrival, Anna found Ethan and Cara sitting at her desk. Her heart sped up and she panicked. “Mr. and Mrs. Sanders! What a lovely surprise!”
She prayed Beth wasn’t in the office yet. Her boss usually took her time coming in on Mondays, so she felt confident that she was safe. The look on their faces told her that this was not going to be a pleasant meeting. “What can I do for you?”
Cara opened her mouth but Ethan stopped her. “I know you’re a busy girl, Anna, and I apologize for popping in without an appointment, but it seems that there are some issues we need to address.”
“Of course. What seems to be the problem?” She sat at her desk and glanced between their faces. Cara stared at her intently, and when Anna made eye contact with her, she looked down, but not before Anna got a good look at her face. Faint bruising was evident on her right cheek and her lower lip had a small cut in it. She looked to Ethan, who was also looking at her closely, and wondered if she had misjudged this kind man. Anna witnessed a number of men abuse her mother. Growing up, she told herself that she would never allow a man to put his hands on her or someone she loved. Heaven help the man that ever did. Dread filled her when she thought of him punching Cara in the face.
“I wanted to let you know, in person,” he said those last words with fervor and sneered at Cara, “that we are not unhappy with your progress regarding the project. We are more than elated with what you have produced so far and are eager to see the finished job.”
His words were cold and his tone was harsh. The amount of hate she saw in Ethan’s eyes had her both sad and scared for Cara. She suddenly realized that there was a reason the wife was never present at their design meetings. The poor woman wasn’t invited by her husband.
Cara probably wrote that email to Beth under the impression that it would not be shared with her, which was the reason Beth told her not to contact them. All Cara wanted was to have some say in the remodel, and she was willing to throw Anna under the bus to get what she wanted. Fuck, Anna thought.
Stop it, she told herself. You don’t know if Ethan is abusing her. She could have fallen down the massive stairs they have in their home. But Anna knew better. A woman didn’t keep her eyes to the ground if she was confident. She should have listened to Beth. She should have kept her opinions to herself. Now, because of her, Cara had to endure the wrath of Ethan, a man whom she had come to believe was so sweet he couldn’t hurt a fly.
“I hope that I haven’t caused any animosity between the two of you. You are my clients and it is my job to make you as happy as possible,” Anna spoke quickly.
“Are you willing to do anything, Anna?” Ethan replied, smirking.
The look on his face shocked her. It wasn’t his usual kind eyes that she was used to. Cara finally looked up and if looks could kill, Anna would be dead.
“Of course, Mr. Sanders. Anything that will make your home look exactly as you envisioned it.”
Ethan blinked rapidly, as if he just woke from a dream and was trying to figure out where he was. “That sounds agreeable. Thank you for your time this morning, Anna. I sincerely apologize if we took you away from anything.” His kind eyes were back.
“Not at all. I’m happy to set time aside for all my clients.”
“Let’s go, dear,” Ethan whispered loudly in Cara’s ear. The woman rose slowly, still staring at Anna. Without another word, the couple walked from her office and out the front door.
She sat at her desk feeling melancholy. Something shifted in that meeting and her plan to use the money from that job to open her own business drifted away and became almost non-existent. There was no way this meeting was going to stay hidden from Beth. She assumed Cara would run to her computer right away, tattle on her, and Beth would throw her out on her ass. Nowhere in the contract does it say that you’re allowed to piss off the client.
Thank goodness her thoughts were interrupted by the phone vibrating beside her.
“Hello?” she answered, not even looking at the screen to see who was calling.
“Is everything okay?” Karlie asked. “You never answer the phone that way.”
Anna choked back a sob. “I think I may have screwed up.”
“What do you mean? Is it Ben? I will chop off his balls if I have to.”
Anna laughed lightly. “No, no. This has nothing to do with Ben.” She took a deep breath to control her emotions. “I went against my boss’s wishes and I think it’s backfiring.”
“Shit, Anna. Anything I can do to help?”
Anna thought for a moment but shook her head. “No, nothing. Thank you, though. I need to figure some things out. I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?” Concern was evident in her tone.
“I’m sure.”
“If you say so.” Karlie paused. “How about we change the subject?”
Anna nodded even though Karlie couldn’t see her.
“I’m extremely disappointed that you didn’t call me right after your date night the other night.”
“You’re gonna laugh when you find out why…”
“Why? What happened?” Karlie nearly shouted.
“Apparently I can’t hold my liquor. I got so drunk, I threw up and Ben had to take care of me.”
“Shut up!” she yelled. “Anna, that is not like you at all. What the hell happened?”
“I blame you. You hyped this date up so much that I got nervous! I practically chugged my drinks.” Anna recounted what she remembered and shuddered.
Karlie laughed. “Don’t blame me, you bitch. I only told you to go on this date and have fun.”
“It doesn’t matter. Even though I barfed all over the back of his car, he still wanted to see me again.”
“Then you should barf on men more,” Karlie joked.
Anna was so grateful to have such an amazing friend like Karlie in her life. She always knew how to make her feel better when she stressed the most. “I’d rather not. It’s kind of messy and smells.”
“That’s true. Can’t make out with a man when you have vomit on your breath.”
Anna snorted. “Is there another reason you called other than to harass me?”
“Duh. I want more details on your date. How was it before you got drunk? When do you see him again?”
“Actually,” Anna started, “I’ve already seen him again. We went to an early dinner and…” The scene of Ben’s head between her thighs took over her mind and she ached for his touch. She remembered of the way he moved his tongue across her most sensitive spot and her body began to tremble at the thought.
“You slept with him, didn’t you?” Karlie asked, cutting into her delicious daydream.
“Huh?”
“Oh, you heard me. You don’t just start a sentence and trail off like that unless you’re replaying a highlight reel!” she hooted.
One thing Anna could never do was hide anything from Karlie. “Why do you assume I slept with him? Maybe I was trying to remember what we did after dinner.”
“Yeah, remembering the sex you had with him!”
“Fine!” Anna shouted. She covered her mouth and looked around the office to see if anyone had heard. “I did have sex with him,” Anna whispered, “and it was life changing.”
“That good, eh?” Karlie laughed. “You are a dirty little hoe! I thought you didn’t sleep with a man on the first date?”
“Technically, it wasn’t a first date. It was the second.”
“If you want to get technical, the first date didn’t count since you don’t remember most of it.”
Anna growled. “I’m three seconds away from terminating this conversation. Three, two…”
Karlie burst out laughing. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop. We’ll save the filthy details for a girl’s night over wine.” Anna moved the phone from one ear to the other. “I actually called you because I wanted to see if you wanted to go to another game with me on Saturday. Nate thinks he’ll play in the big league game again.”
“Sure, Karlie. Assuming Ben and I are still talking.”
A snort sounded on the other line. “Life changing sex, remember? He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
“Oh shit, Karlie, I gotta go.” Anna hurried to set her phone down and pretended to be on her computer. Beth walked in the front door and stopped at the reception desk. Anna watched her out of the corner of her eye to see if the girl at the front desk revealed her secret. When Beth walked past her office with a smile on her face, she knew she was in the clear.
For now…
The thought of Cara emailing Beth again popped in her head again and she shuddered. If the woman did, then Anna knew there was nothing she could do. If Beth didn’t fire her ass, she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Not wanting to sit there waiting to see if the dreadful email was sent, Anna shut her computer down and snuck from her office.
Her meeting with the Sanders had her mind reeling. It wasn’t uncommon for a client to call a meeting with the designer to explain that they didn’t like the direction a design was going, but never to say that they weren’t unhappy, and in such a hateful way. It almost made her wonder if she should continue working with them. The last thing she wanted to do was divide a husband and wife over a silly remodel.
Anna decided she needed some retail therapy, so she went in to a few stores at the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall to waste some time before heading home. She pulled into her driveway and noticed something hanging from her porch light. Once she got closer to her front door, she realized it was a reddish-brown squirrel hanging from a noose.
Flinching in disgust, Anna’s hand flew to her mouth to stifle the bile that rose in her throat. She turned and ran back to her car. There were only two people in the world she could call to help her get rid of the dead animal and the fear that came with it; her dad, who was too far to handle the situation, and Ben. It was a cruel joke that someone was playing on her, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get him involved, but there were no other men in her life that she could depend on.
Anna pulled her phone out of her purse and clicked on Ben’s name.
“Perfect timing! I was literally just about to call you!” Ben said when he answered the phone.
“Ben, something awful has happened at my house and I need you immediately!” she rattled out quickly.
“What’s happened? Are you okay? I’m on my way.”
“Please hurry,” Anna said without answering his questions. She went to the curb and sat down, making sure her front porch was not in view. Ten minutes later, Ben arrived.
He hurried to her side and cupped her face in his hands. When he searched her face, she saw such tenderness there and it almost made her want to cry. “What’s happened, Anna?”
She took a deep breath to control her emotions. She was very much an animal-lover and to find one murdered at her door was gut wrenching. “I came home to find a poor squirrel hanging from my porch light.”
He looked towards her door. “Huh? A squirrel?”
Something changed in his features. “Yes, a squirrel. And I cannot enter that house until it is gone!”
“Alright. Stay here.” Ben walked away.
Who would do something like this? She thought of the people she had come across the past couple of weeks in her neighborhood but couldn’t think of a single soul who was this harsh. Yeah, she would yell at the neighborhood kids occasionally, but never enough that one of them would want to place a dead animal on her doorstep.
“It’s all taken care of.”
Anna wasn’t prepared for the boom of his voice and she jumped.
“Oh, Anna. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He closed his arms around her and pulled her closely. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s not like it was your fault.” She nuzzled her face into his neck.
“Actually,” he started, “I’m afraid it may be my fault.”
Anna pulled away and gave him a puzzled look. “How could this be your fault?”
He shook his head and shrugged. “I have a restraining order against a woman I dated a year ago. We went on a few dates and she developed stalking tendencies. She even went as far as telling a local paper that she and I were trying to start a family. She’s never gone as far as killing animals, though, but she’s done small things to female friends thinking I was with them.”
“What kind of things?” Anna asked, annoyed. Of course she would meet a great guy who came with baggage.
“Threatening notes on their car, rocks through their home windows, following them around town and telling them that they are just a stand in until I’m ready to marry her. The woman is bat-shit crazy but harmless. Makes me wonder if she’s stepping up her game.”
“Oh, well this makes me feel great,” Anna said rolling her eyes.
“You don’t even know how sorry I am for this.” He pulled her close again. “I will find out what she’s up to and I promise that she will not bother you again.”
He was definitely right about one thing; the dead animal was extremely excessive and it made her nervous. If this woman was capable of killing an innocent creature, what else would she be capable of killing? Anna wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.