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“Bring us both burgers and fries.” He looked at Anna’s angry face and changed the order. “Um, one with fries and one with salad.”
Anna smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Blake. That wasn’t so hard was it??
??
Melody and Sam both laughed and left with a promise to be back soon with the food.
“Is Victor gone, too?” Anna asked, getting up and opening up the folders she had found in a drawer.
Blake watched her work with interest as he sat in a chair. “He’ll be back soon. He goes home to our parent’s house to eat. He is a Momma’s boy. None of us live at home but Victor knows Mom always had something good cooking for him.”
Anna watched him, too, out of the corner of her eye. She remembered how those hands felt exploring her body the night before and she shivered. That was dangerous territory. They had agreed on one night, and thinking of how great that night was would not help her body stop reacting to being near Blake.
“And you’re not a momma’s boy?” she teased, wanting to see him smile. He always looked so serious.
Blake shook his head. “All I’ll get is a lecture of when am I going to settle down and do my duty and produce grandbabies for Momma to spoil. Sam is a good son because it looks like Melody is the one for him. Victor is still young and has time where apparently I’m on my way to being an old man on his death bed.”
Anna laughed at that statement. “Well it must be nice to have parents and siblings.”
“Don’t you have a family, Anna?”
A sad look came over her face. She played with the piles of papers. “I never knew my dad, and my mom was a drug addict. I took care of myself mostly. She died of an overdose when I was eighteen.”
He pulled the chair next to her and grabbed her hand, loving the silky feel of her skin. “I’m so sorry, baby. Didn’t she have any family to help out?”
“No, she said she grew up in foster care. I had a friend, well more like a brother, Ben. We went to the same school and lived across the hall from each other. His mom was a single mom and loved him. Ben and his mom looked out for me more than my mom ever did. His mom remarried and moved away when Ben was in college.” She smiled for the first time in a long time when she thought of Ben. His memory wasn’t so painful and that made her happy. She wanted to remember the good times they had shared. He had been a big part of her life for so long and she didn’t want to cry every time she thought of him. He didn’t deserve that.
“Where is he now?”
Anna whispered softly, looking away from Blake. “Dead.”
“Shit, honey. I better just shut my mouth,” he muttered.
Anna patted his hand in a comforting gesture. “It’s okay, Blake. I survived and here I am to clean your office.”
She got up and started putting papers in files. Keeping busy was the easiest way to banish bad memories.
* * * *
Blake watched her work quietly, keeping the rest of his questions to himself. Maybe she had lived through her dark days but had her soul been damaged? He found that a sad thought and he wanted to promise her life would be better but he couldn’t promise her that. He knew nothing of what was going on in her life or what she was running from. She made him feel protective toward her. She tried so hard to act brave, but he could see the apprehension in her eyes. He had seen a lot of awful things in all his years in the military and a part of him he thought had died was coming back to life with a vengeance—his heart. He knew she had a story to tell and he wanted to hear it as soon as she was ready. He got up and let her clean without disturbing her. He had to rethink his whole policy of not getting involved with a woman. He was afraid he already was.
Chapter 7
“I’m done for today, Blake,” Anna announced at the end of the day.
Blake watched her stretch her arms over her head and arch her back, making her full breasts stand out. Desire hit him pretty quickly and he was glad he was still wearing his blue jumpsuit so she wouldn’t see how she affected him. He was as hard as a rock and he hadn’t even touched her.
“I’ll finish the last little touches tomorrow. Maybe my truck will be done and I can move on.” She had a hopeful look on her face.
“Maybe.” He shrugged, not liking the thought of never seeing her again.
He looked at his office and saw his desk was clear. He had the same confused look Sam had worn a few hours earlier. She laughed and patted his arm in a comforting gesture. “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to find everything. I swear.”
He couldn’t resist any excuse to touch her and get close enough to smell her perfume. She smelled like wildflowers. “Thanks, honey. That was a lot of work you accomplished today.”
“I’ll drive you to the motel,” he offered graciously, thinking of a way he could ask her to have dinner with him. He was man enough to admit that one night with Anna was not enough. Usually women came on to him and he didn’t have to make much of an effort but Anna wasn’t flirting with him or giving him hints that she wanted more than the one night they had. It confused him. This was why he didn’t like relationships. Relationships were confusing and involved too many emotions.
“That’s okay. Victor is taking me to the grocery store. I need to buy a few things,” she answered, grabbing her wallet that she had laid on the desk. “But I’ll be here tomorrow bright and early to finish up. I really liked getting my hands on this office.”
