~ Ashton ~
As I walked out of her room, I couldn’t keep the triumphant smile off of my face. I headed into my room and flopped onto the bed, thinking about what had just happened. I’d wanted her since that first moment I’d laid my eyes on her. Anna was an incredible person, so vulnerable, hurt, and beautiful. Sure she was damaged, but maybe I could fix her. I could help her heal if she’d let me. Clearly she tried to play the bitch because she didn’t want people close to her, but I could see through her act easy enough. She literally blew my mind, and I’d never met anyone like her.
Even though I was attracted to her, I never would have made a move on her because of what she’d been through. Just now though, she was the one that had instigated things between us and took the first step to move on. I loved that. I was so physically attracted to her that it was unreal, I wanted her so much, but more importantly, I wanted something I’d never wanted before, I wanted to be with her. The sex wasn’t important – not that I hadn’t wanted to make love to her, of course, because I’d actually wanted that so badly I could have died from the need – but the thing I wanted most in the world was to see her happy. These feelings I had for her scared the life out of me. I’d never even had a girlfriend before, yet I was already crazy about her and I’d only known her for three days.
A soft sigh escaped my lips as I thought about her face as it had looked just now. She’d looked so happy that I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself. Usually her eyes were hard, closed off and sad, but just now they’d sparkled with a happiness that made my heart fly. She truly was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life, even with the messed up bed hair, she had still taken my breath away.
My mind wandered to her naked, writhing under me as she moaned my name. I wouldn’t be forgetting that in a long time, that was for sure. I could actually die right now and be a happy man. The sex had been incredible; better than anything I had ever felt in my life. It had felt different to the usual flings I had; it was more intimate and special.
We hadn’t used protection which was a little worrying, but I knew that if the worst did happen and she did get pregnant, I’d be there for her. The chances of that happening were slim, but we’d cross that bridge if we needed to. A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as a cute image formed in my mind – a baby with her brown eyes and cute, little button nose. Although I’d never imagined having kids before, that would be one gorgeous baby if it looked like its momma.
I sighed contentedly and rubbed a hand over my face. I genuinely wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen when I took this assignment. I’d never felt anything for a girl before, it all happened so suddenly too. She’d stolen my heart in three days, well, she’d actually had it in about three seconds. As soon as she’d walked into her father’s office, I knew I was done for.
I pushed myself up off the bed, stretching my arms above my head and feeling the familiar burn of after sex muscle tightening. I grinned and grabbed some jeans and a button down shirt, deciding I should probably go and speak to the senator and see what he wanted. Once I was dressed, I shoved my gun into its ankle holster and headed out. I stopped outside her door, wondering if it would be a little too forward if I knocked just so I could see her again, kiss her again and pull her close to me. I wanted her so close that she’d melt into me. It was probably a little fast for her, after all, I’d only met her three days ago and I’d already slept with her. That certainly wasn’t something I was expecting, even with my reputation for a quick score.
I traced my hand across the wood of her door. My eyes closed, and I laughed quietly as I realised something – I was turning into some sort of weirdo stalker. I was standing outside her door, thinking about her; normally I’d arrest guys that did that. I forced myself to walk away from the door. I needed to speak to her father, and then maybe I’d take her for a picnic or something, show her what a good boyfriend I could be.
As I was walking through the house, I decided that my new favourite place in the world was here with Anna; it used to be the shooting range at the training academy, but she had that beat easily. I was certainly going to be guarding her body extremely closely from now on. I grinned at the thought of that happening again, and again, and again. Man, I love this job! And pretty soon I had a feeling I was going to love her too – I was already half way there and I had only known her for three days. I’d never believed in love at first sight until I met Anna.
When I got to his outer office, his PA buzzed me straight through. Senator Spencer was sitting behind his desk with a grim expression on his face. He stood as I entered. “Agent Taylor, I need to speak to you,” he said, smiling sadly, nodding towards the chair opposite him. I sat quickly and waited for him to speak. “Agent Taylor, we’ve received another letter from him, I just needed to make you aware,” he stated, sliding a piece of paper across his desk.
I stiffened, and my heart took off in a sprint. Another letter from Carter. I wanted to run from the room and wrap her in my arms, never letting go. I would die before I let him hurt her again and if I ever saw him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to restrain myself from killing him.
I took the note and read it over quickly; it was addressed, ‘Dear Princess’. Realisation hit me: that guy on the CCTV footage had called her princess too, that’s why she’d gotten kicked out of school. It was essentially a love letter expressing how much he missed her, how he couldn’t wait for them to be together again, and how he was expecting her cooperation at the appeal, should she be called upon to give evidence against him again. He wanted to take her away and treat her like the princess that she was. He went into a lot of crude detail about all of the things he wanted to do to her. I felt the bile rise in my throat, so I quickly swallowed it down, trying not to picture the images that were trying to force their way into my head.
I was so angry that my hands were shaking. I looked up at the senator; he looked extremely sad and tired. “This came this morning, sir?” I asked, folding the note and handing it back to him.
He nodded. “I have the others if you want to read them,” he offered, rifling through his desk drawers.
“Er… No thanks, sir. Unless there’s anything in there I need to see,” I said uncomfortably. I wasn’t sure I could read another one of those.
He waved his hand at it, a look of disgust on his face. “No, they’re basically the same as this one.”
“How many have there been, sir?” I asked curiously. That information wasn’t in the file.
He sighed. “He sends one a week, every week for the last three years. Always the same thing,” he answered. I gasped at the revelation. One a freaking week for three years and they haven’t told her? I’d assumed that it was only since the retrial was ordered. “We get one of those love letters from him, and a death threat from somewhere within his organisation,” he added grimly.
“Sir, you’re sure we can’t tell Miss Spencer? I really think she would be better off knowing. It would help her guards if she was more cooperative with us.” My mind shot to her naked in the bed, where she’d seemed very cooperative indeed.
“No, Agent Taylor. It’s my decision, and I feel that she’s too fragile,” he refused, shaking his head fiercely. I nodded in agreement. I knew she was fragile; I’d seen her sobbing her heart out, shaking. Fragile didn’t even seem the right word to describe Anna’s state of mind. “I think she’s gotten much stronger since you came. She seems to like you. I’ve never seen her like that with anyone since it happened. I mean, she smiles for goodness’ sake, and the contact you have with her boggles my mind,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Oh yeah, it boggles my mind too alright! I bit my lip to suppress the smile that was trying to escape at the thought of the contact I just had with her, and hopefully would have with her again in a little while.
Suddenly my cell phone rang; I looked at Senator Spencer apologetically and reached to reject the call, but then saw it was from Dean, Anna’s far guard. “I’m sorry, sir, I need to take this.” He nodded, so I answered it quickly. “Dean, what is it?”
“Where the hell are you? For fuck’s sake, you can’t just keep taking off and leaving me! If the senator finds out I’m not with you, he’s gonna have my balls!” he shouted angrily.
Where am I? What the heck is that about? “I’m with the senator right now. What’s the problem?” I asked, confused.
He gasped. “Well, fuck it! She went on her own then!”
I jumped out of the chair as my heart started crashing in my chest. “Anna? What? She left?” I cried, annoyed. Damn that girl! The senator jumped up too, looking at me curiously. “Did she take a car? When did she leave?” I asked quickly, double checking to make sure I had my gun in my ankle holster.
“She sped out of here about ten minutes ago. I thought you were with her,” he growled. She obviously did this little disappearing act a lot.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, my mind whirling. Where would she go? I thought about what I knew about her, and all my thoughts led me to just one place. Jack. She’d be at the cemetery.
“Get a car, I know where she is,” I ordered, disconnecting the call and pushing the phone into my pocket. I turned back to the senator. “Sir, Miss Spencer’s left without guards; I think I know where she is. I’ll come and speak to you later.”
“Where do you think she is, son?” he asked, looking at me desperately.
“At the cemetery with Jack.” I turned and rushed out of the door, running as fast as I could to the carport. “I’ll drive.” I snatched the keys out of Dean’s hand and jumped in the driver’s side. I waited impatiently for him to run to the passenger seat, and took off while he was still doing his seat belt. “Why the hell weren’t you watching her?” I snapped accusingly.
He glared at me. “As if that girl could be watched! She does what she wants! She doesn’t want guards. She’s always running off like this, it annoys the hell out of me,” he growled, folding his arms over his chest.
As I pulled into the cemetery parking lot and stopped next to her car, Dean looked at me curiously. My muscles loosened now that I’d found her. “Just wait here. She won’t want to come away, so I’ll have to give her some time there,” I instructed, jumping out of the car without waiting for an answer.
I ran up the path that we had walked the other day and stopped at the top of the hill, looking down. She was sitting there at his grave, cross-legged, trailing her fingers along the letters of his headstone. She was sobbing uncontrollably. My heart broke at the sight of her, she looked so terribly sad.
I stood there, just watching her for a few minutes. I couldn’t think of anything that had made her act like this. When I’d left her earlier she was fine. Then I wondered if maybe I was the problem. She was probably conflicted with what happened. Her fleeing to his grave was a clear indication that she felt guilty or something. I frowned, hoping I was wrong there. I didn’t want her to feel guilty. Maybe she felt like I was trying to replace him and what they had. I wasn’t trying to take his place in her heart though; I actually wanted my own place.
When I could stand it no longer, I headed down there. She jumped, startled, when my shadow fell over her. Her eyes met mine and I fought back my urge to recoil. Her eyes were the cold, hard eyes of the broken girl. The heartless bitch was back.
She didn’t speak; she just turned her head back to the gravestone. I read over it as I sat down behind her, putting my legs either side of her body and scooting forwards so that her back was pressed against my chest. The scent of her still damp hair was all around me, confusing my senses.
I wanted to wrap my arms around her and rock her soothingly, but I had a feeling that would just make matters worse. So instead, I just let her cry. I was dying to ask her to give me a chance, but I knew I needed to give her more time. She was obviously having trouble dealing with what happened this morning. I’d just have to wait and be here for her. When she was ready to try and move on from what happened, then I’d be there. I closed my eyes and waited for her to tell me she didn’t want me.
~ Anna ~
After breaking the speed limit the whole way to the cemetery, I made my way up the familiar path to his grave, zigzagging amongst some of the gravestones to pick a few dandelions. When I got to his resting place I brushed the old dandelions away and sprinkled the new ones across the top of the headstone.
I plopped down on the grass and closed my eyes, hating myself. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I know I shouldn’t have done it, I know, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me, baby, please?” I begged, unable to stop the tears this time.
My heart was breaking all over again, and I didn’t know what to do. I was starting to like Ashton, I could feel it building, and I wanted his body so much that it was almost painful. I still wanted him now. But how could I have done that to Jack? Sweet, loving Jack, who never even looked at another girl? The love of my life died because of me, and how did I repay him? I slept with someone that I only met three days before, and not only that, but Jack hadn’t even entered my head until Ashton left the room. It was like my new near guard had some kind of spell on me.
I traced my fingers along the lettering of Jack’s name. I felt like a worthless piece of trash, a horrible person and a downright useless girlfriend.
Suddenly a shadow fell over me and I jumped, looking around quickly. Ashton smiled down at me sadly. I turned away, afraid to look into his beautiful green eyes in case I got stuck there. My heart was going crazy because of his presence. I felt him sit down behind me, setting his legs either side of my body as he scooted close to my back.
I closed my eyes, hating the comforting feeling of being close to him. I didn’t deserve to be comforted. My body hitched with sobs again, but he didn’t move to hold me or anything, he just sat close to me. His body heat was seeping into my back and made my skin tingle. I cried harder because the reactions he caused in me were both unconscious and unwelcome. I didn’t want to feel anything for anyone else; in fact, I didn’t want to feel anything at all. I liked being numb and emotionless. But lately, all of that seemed to go out of the window.
“Are you okay?” he whispered in my ear, a little while later. I couldn’t speak, so I just shook my head. “Please tell me what’s wrong,” he begged. He sounded so upset that I wanted to turn and hold him. But I couldn’t do that. Not to Jack. I wouldn’t do it again, never ever again.
“Nothing. Just leave me alone,” I croaked.
“Anna, talk to me, please? Is it what happened this morning?” he asked quietly.
Is it about this morning? Damn, that’s just a stupid question! Of course it’s about this morning! I danced all over my boyfriend’s memory. And I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do it again, and again, and again. But I won’t.
“That won’t happen again.” I pushed myself away from his warm, safe body, taking one last look at Jack’s grave.
“Anna?” he whispered. His pleading voice sent a little quiver down my spine that I refused to acknowledge. I shook my head and looked at him, positive that it would never happen again. If he kept pushing me then I’d have to get him transferred; I didn’t want to do that, but I would if I needed to.
“No. It won’t happen again. If you want to keep your job, Agent, then you’ll stay the hell away from me,” I spat nastily. I saw the look of hurt and pain cross his eyes, and I turned away quickly so I didn’t see it again. Touching the smooth marble of Jack’s headstone, I sniffed loudly. “Bye, baby,” I muttered, swallowing another sob. I walked off quickly before I started to cry again, I refused to cry again today.
When I got to the parking lot, Dean jumped out of his car, slamming the door angrily. His hard eyes narrowed as he stalked towards me. “What the hell, Annabelle? For the last fucking time, you need to take us with you when you leave!”
He sounded so angry that my stomach clenched in fear. I frowned and carried on walking, trying to ignore him. “Screw you, Dean. Just get lost, okay?” I replied venomously when he continued to glare at me.
“You’re a little bitch!” he spat, his face radiating anger. He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me to stop. I flinched, thinking he was going to strike me. I held my breath, readying myself for the blow. Before anything happened, Ashton gripped his shoulders and yanked him away from me, slamming him against the car, making a huge crash echo in the empty parking lot. I whimpered and looked at the scene, shocked.
Ashton’s jaw was tight as he stepped closer to Dean. “You don’t ever touch her again! I don’t care who you are, I will put you down if you even look at her harshly again. You got that, Agent Michaels?” Ashton’s voice rang with authority and menace. Dean nodded quickly, his mouth popping open in shock. Ashton shoved him away, making Dean stumble and almost fall. “Go. I’ll ride with Anna,” Ashton ordered. He turned back and waved his hand for me to get into the car, but I couldn’t move, my body was frozen on the spot. “Anna, get in the car,” he said softly, taking the keys from my hand and opening the passenger door. That snapped me out of it and I climbed in quickly, looking down at my lap.
From the corner of my eye, I watched him walk to the driver’s side; he looked like he was trying to calm himself. I needed to say something to him, what he just did was so sweet and protective. Dean wouldn’t have hurt me, but Ashton hadn’t hesitated for a second in protecting me.
I waited for him to climb in and buckle his seatbelt before I spoke. He didn’t even glance at me as he started the engine. “Thank you,” I mumbled, still not able to look at him. I needed to stay strong, and his eyes wouldn’t let me do that.
“You don’t need to thank me, it’s my job,” he replied sarcastically. I cringed at the tone of his voice; he was obviously annoyed that I’d suggested I’d get him fired. I felt like a first class bitch. He hadn’t done anything wrong at all – it was my fault that I cheated on Jack, not his.
He put the car into drive and he didn’t speak to me again. In fact, he didn’t even glance in my direction, but I couldn’t help stealing little glances at him from the corner of my eye as he drove. He looked so handsome in his blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up at the elbows; blue worked really nicely with his skin tone. I bit my lip and ripped my eyes away from him to watch the road, hating that I’d noticed.
We finally pulled up at the house after what seemed like a week of driving in an uncomfortable silence. I grabbed the door handle, but the ominous click of the lock told me I wasn’t going anywhere until he’d said his piece. If anyone else had trapped me in a car with them, I would be totally freaking out, but deep down I knew he wouldn’t physically hurt me. Mentally he would probably hurt me a lot when I agonised over what we’d done and how he’d somehow made me open myself up to him.
“Open the doors,” I instructed, focusing my gaze on the house, wishing I could get inside and away from him.
“I just need to say something first, and I need you to look at me so you know I’m serious,” he replied flatly.
I didn’t want to look at him; I hated to see that hurt expression on his handsome face. I knew I had to do it though; he obviously wasn’t going to let me go until I’d been reprimanded for sneaking off without guards. I willed myself to stay strong and turned to look at him, avoiding his eyes and looking at the spot just below his eyes instead.
“I know you were upset, but you will not leave without me again. If you don’t take me, you take someone else, but you do not go out on your own again. Do you understand me, Miss Spencer?” he asked angrily.
I recoiled at the use of my name. Somehow, him using my title like that showed me how angry he was with me. I should have been glad. If I’d annoyed anyone else as much as I appeared to have annoyed him, I would think that a successful morning, but with Ashton it actually pained me to know that he was upset with me. Irrational anger was building in the pit of my stomach because I couldn’t seem to treat him the way I treated everyone else.
“Is that understood?” His voice was hard and authoritative as he prompted me for an answer.
“Yes. Now open the door,” I snapped.
His gaze held mine for another couple of seconds before he flicked the lock button, dismissing me. I frowned and pushed the door open, ignoring Dean watching me from the other car. I turned on my heel and ran into the house, needing to get away from everything and everyone. My thoughts turned to the gym. I didn’t even bother changing into my workout clothes before heading in there to try and work out some of the frustration that was crushing me inside.
Needing to do more than run today, I put on the training gloves and went straight to work on the punch bag, hitting and kicking it until my fingers arched. Spent and exhausted, I stepped back, putting my hands on my knees as I caught my breath. Sweat trickled down my back, and I silently wished I’d stopped to get a bottle of water before coming in here.
“I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that anger.”
I twisted on the spot, gasping because I hadn’t heard anyone come in. Ashton was leaning casually against the wall, watching me. “What the hell do you want?” I asked, frowning. Why can’t he just leave me alone?
“Want to go for that walk now?” he offered, raising one eyebrow.
Is he kidding me? I told him to stay away from me! “No thanks. Want to train me how to fight?” I countered, shrugging.
He sighed and nodded, kicking off his shoes and walking over to the mats. He pulled his shirt over his head and a wave of desire shot straight through my body. I bit back my moan of desire as memories of this morning flooded my brain. I kicked off my shoes and socks and followed him, pulling off the gloves and tossing them in the corner.
His eyes were cautious as he shifted his weight onto his back leg. “Same as yesterday then, I’ll try to grab you and you fight me off, okay?”
I nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath and waiting for him to move. Anger was bubbling through me, I used it to help me focus. He came forward, so I punched him in the stomach, but he saw me move so he jumped back again to avoid it, my hand barely grazing his skin.
He came forward again, and this time I channelled all my hate and hurt into it. I punched him in the chest and slapped his hand away as he tried to grab me, bringing my leg to kick him in the thigh, but he blocked it with his arm, pushing my leg away, making me lose my balance. I regained control quickly and hit him a couple of more times, each one he blocked easily.
I got even angrier because fighting him made me feel so vulnerable. How am I supposed to hurt Carter if I can’t even land one hit? As soon as I thought about him, Carter’s smiling face swam in front of my eyes. Something seemed to snap inside me. I really went for it, punching and kicking at him, but he blocked me easily. I pretended to punch him in the stomach but quickly moved and elbowed him in the face. As he grunted in surprise, I took my opportunity and put my leg behind his, shoving him as hard as I could.
He fell backwards, grabbing me tightly and pulling me down with him. As soon as he hit the floor, he hooked his legs over mine and flipped me easily onto my back, pinning me to the mat with his weight.
“Calm down, Anna,” he said soothingly. I couldn’t calm down; I could barely breathe through my anger. I wanted to kill him; I wanted to rip his head off. I wanted to tear him apart. I thrashed, trying to get him off me, but he was just too heavy and strong. “Calm down, Anna,” he repeated. I closed my eyes and willed myself to calm, but all I could see was Carter. I didn’t realise I was crying until he wiped my tears away tenderly. “Shh, it’s okay, Baby Girl,” he whispered, sitting up and pulling me onto his lap, rocking me gently. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sobbed onto his shoulder. “You did great, Anna. That was really impressive, you definitely kicked ass,” he said, rubbing my back.
When I was finally in control of my emotions, I sniffed loudly and pulled back to look at him. His eyes were sparkling with excitement as they locked onto mine. A flash of red caught my eye so I looked down at his mouth, seeing that his lip was bleeding a little.
I gasped, reaching out to touch it hesitantly. “Holy shit, Ashton. I’m so sorry,” I mumbled weakly.
He shook his head dismissively. “It’s fine. It was worth it to see you fight like that. You fight like an alley cat on speed,” he replied, grinning at me proudly.
I burst out laughing at his randomness. “An alley cat on speed? Where the heck did that come from?” I pulled my T-shirt up and dabbed his bottom lip with it to stop it from bleeding. My face was inches from his and I could feel the desire building inside me. I pulled my T-shirt away from his mouth. The bleeding had stopped, but there was a small cut there. Wanting to somehow take the pain away, I bent my head and kissed it gently. He made a moaning sound in his throat that made my insides quiver as he kissed me back immediately. His arm tightened on me, holding me securely on his lap as his other hand tangled into my hair.
The way he kissed me made my whole body tingle; it was so passionate, yet so soft and tender at the same time. It was perfect.
His mouth left mine only to kiss my neck instead. Digging my fingers into his shoulders, I pressed myself to him, loving the heat that emanated from his skin. My heart was flying as the sensations were taking over. Something was pulling at the edges of my subconscious, a thought or feeling, but I was trying my best to ignore it and just enjoy his attention and the feel of his mouth on my skin. But something was most definitely telling me that this was wrong and that I shouldn’t be doing this... Jack.
I gasped, jerking back out of his lap, pushing myself awkwardly to my feet as I shook my head, horrified with myself once again. I needed to leave, I needed to get away, this couldn’t keep happening.
“Anna?”
I shook my head, turning on my heel to leave, but he jumped up and blocked my path to the door, holding up his hands in protest.
“No! Tell me what’s wrong. Let me in, please? I swear I won’t hurt you! I swear.” He was giving me the puppy dog face, begging me with his eyes.
“I can’t,” I answered, shaking my head as my eyes overflowed with tears. “I’m sorry. I’m still in love with Jack, and I can’t do this.”
He stepped forward, catching my face between his hands, tilting my head up so I had to meet his eyes. “I know you still love him, and that’s okay, but if you could let me in, maybe, in time, I could make you love me too.”
I tried not to react to his pleading tone. I knew that if I let him in like he asked then he would break my heart; there was no doubt in my mind about that. And I just couldn’t stand any more heartbreak. His mouth inched towards mine again, so I pulled my face out of his hands and gulped, trying to find the right words.
“Look, Ashton, you’re really hot, and that’s all there is to it. I just wanted your body, I don’t want you. I don’t want anyone apart from my Jack,” I replied confidently, maybe even a little harshly.
His forehead creased with a frown. “Your Jack died, Anna. You can’t have him.”
I gasped at his insensitivity. “Don’t you dare talk about him again! I’m serious. And if you ever touch me more than necessary for your job, Agent Taylor, I will have you transferred, and it won’t be to the stupid front line either!” I spat.
“Bitchy doesn’t suit your beauty, Anna,” he said simply, looking hurt.
My anger started to deteriorate instantly but I fought to hold on to it. I couldn’t keep letting this guy change the way I lived my life; I was doing fine before he came along. “Stop being such a nice guy all the time! You’re making my life hard, Ashton. I can’t cope with any more, please, please just stop this. This isn’t a game for me,” I begged weakly, dropping my eyes to the floor.
He stepped forward and hooked his finger under my chin, lifting my head. “It’s not a game for me either. I’ll stop if that’s what you need, but whenever you decide you’re ready, if at all, I’ll be here,” he whispered, bending forward and planting a soft kiss on my cheek. Then, without another word, he was gone and the gym door swung closed behind him.
I stared at the door for a full five minutes, not knowing what to think. I knew only one thing for sure – next week we were going to be pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, so we were going to have to get this little sexual tension speed bump out of the way before then.
Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t quit his job before the allotted time was up, which meant I had eight months of his presence to cope with before he would poof into a puff of smoke and the problem would be solved. We needed to set some ground rules if this was going to work and then maybe, just maybe, I could get through the eight months unscathed.