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“I have no words to tell you how sorry I am. You’ve had to be an amazingly strong woman,” he said with feeling. “I’m here for you. No matter what you need.”
“Thank you,” Raina said, amazed at how easily she said it. It had never been easy for her to accept help from anyone, but she felt at ease with him.
“I promise you that things will get better,” Christopher said with a conviction that gave Raina hope.
“I thought you’d run off when I finally told you everything,” Raina said in a shaky voice.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Christopher teased and Raina held on to him tighter. “Not now that I’ve found you. I gave up on finding someone like you years ago.” he whispered fiercely. She was leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, and he brushed her forehead with his lips.
She heard something in his voice that she couldn’t quite place.
“Why?” Raina said her interest piqued.
Christopher was silent for a moment and she sat up to look at his face. He appeared to be wrestling with his next words and she waited patiently.
“Well, people are rarely honest, aren’t they. There’s always something they want from you and you realize that the relationship is not genuine. I love honesty between two people who care for each other, that’s all. I’ve never met a more real person such as you Raina and I’m glad you’re in my life.”
Over dinner that evening, Raina’s mind was on Christopher’s words about honesty. She hadn’t been completely honest with him, and it ate away at her. She didn’t want him to think she was asking for anything from him.
She hadn’t told him how close she was to losing her job. With the loss of her job, there was no chance that she could keep the Arizona house or the one she and the kids were living in. And as to where she and the kids would live, she had no idea.
Roger meant every word, Raina knew. He would do everything in his power to get her fired from her job if she did not sleep with him. She shivered at the thought.
It was too high a price for Raina to pay. She had to live with herself and if she gave in to his demands, she would never hold her head high. Besides, she was in falling for Christopher. They had—well, they had something, even if she wasn’t sure what to call it yet.
She would never betray him and the trust he had in her. Raina shook her head miserably. She felt trapped.
She played around with the food on her plate until she felt Christopher’s eyes on her. She forced the peas into her mouth and shot him a fake smile. The peas tasted like stone, but so did everything she ate these days. What was she going to do?
Her mind drifted to a frequent daydream she had. If only she had some capital, she could start a small bed and breakfast. She could picture it now—cooking muffins and scones in the kitchen bright and early. Being home to send the kids off to school and there to pick them up from the bus in the afternoon. Cleaning and tidying up, which were things she loved doing.
That had always been her dream.
To own her own business.
All she wanted, she thought fiercely, was for her future to be in her own hands. She never wanted to have to depend on people like Roger again.
Raina’s nights were bliss as she spent them in Christopher’s arms. But her days? Her days were hell as she tried to avoid Roger at any cost.
She never went to her office anymore, preferring to set up a mobile office in a well populated area like the front desk lobby, where Roger would be afraid to make his moves in front of important guests.
Raina was jumpy, always certain Roger would jump out at her from a corner. She had not seen Roger at all, but she knew that he was lurking on the premises and that he could strike at any time.
She was proven right when she saw him one afternoon approaching the front desk. Raina gasped, shaken by his presence. She had not seen him come in. Her mouth went dry and her hands trembled.
“Beautiful Raina,” he said, edging closer.
“Roger,” Raina said, smiling until her lips ached. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought the entire lobby must be able to hear it.
He walked round to her desk and stood behind her. The hairs on her neck rose and she could feel his presence sucking all the air out of the room. He laid his hands on her shoulders and massaged her. Raina forced herself to be still. If only a guest would walk in, Raina thought desperately, glancing at the revolving door with pleading hope. But the lobby remained deserted
Raina froze. She could not believe that Roger would be so bold in the open like this and she didn’t know how to react.
Roger did not stop his movements and at that moment she felt his mouth on her neck, and his hands slipping between the buttons of her shirt. Her mind however did not register what Roger was up to as she was planning her next move.
What she did not see was Christopher turning a corner and entering through the back door behind the check-in counter, just out of her and Roger’s point of view.
“I take it you’ve made your decision about the promotion then? You and I will have a lot of fun together and you’ll get a nice little chunk of change.” Roger’s words filled the room.
