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Blake walked away, looking happy for someone who was about to deliver bad news.
Chapter 4
Anna sighed into the phone. “I know my truck is old, Blake. I bought it in Colorado when I was passing through there but it was all I could afford. I had an accident with my other car and didn’t have time to look around.” She didn’t mention that her car had been pushed off the road with her in it. That had been a scary night when one of Santiago’s men, Kyle, had found her and tried to run her off the road. She had escaped with her life but she knew sooner or later her luck would run out. She just hoped it was later. Maybe she should think of heading out of the country. If she could access her secret bank account she could have a lot of money and disappear anywhere. Santiago knew all her favorite vacation spots but maybe she could go somewhere new like Australia or Canada. It would be too dangerous to head back to Reno just to get her money.
“I’m low on cash. If I have to stay here at the motel longer I might not have the money to pay you,” she explained. Maybe she could use her credit card. She would be long gone by the time Santiago tracked her. She could skip Phoenix and head east to New York. Or she could try to pawn some of her jewelry for extra money.
“I have a suggestion. You can come to my office and clean it and organize it and I’ll discount the work off the bill,” he offered. “I seen that look in your eyes when you saw my desk. You were dying to reach over and straighten up all the papers lying around.”
“Oh, was there a desk under all that mess?” she asked with complete innocence in her voice.
“Brat,” he muttered and she could picture his frown even over the phone. He would have lines on his forehead from wrinkling his eyebrows but she wasn’t as scared of him as she had first been. She was kind of getting used to his grumpiness and thought it was cute, a sure sign that Blake was dangerous to her heart. She needed to get out of this town and soon.
“Okay, I’d love to organize your office,” she said excitedly. “When? Now?”
Blake sounded amused at her eagerness. “It’s almost quitting time, Anna. I live above the garage, but Victor lives r
ight in town. I can have him pick you up in the morning at eight a.m. and bring you here.”
“Okay.” She sighed in disappointment. She was bored of being inside the hotel room already and had taken enough naps to catch up on her sleep.
“What, are you so anxious to see my charming face so soon?” he remarked, hearing her little disappointed sigh.
“No,” she denied defensively. “I’m just so bored sitting in this room already. I walked up and down Main Street alone all day today and that was fun. I haven’t window-shopped in so long. But what else is there left to do in this town? I asked someone if there was a movie theater and they told me it was only open on the weekends.”
“How about going to have dinner with me?” Blake suggested impulsively.
Anna was quiet for a minute. The offer sounded so tempting but she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea either. “Okay, as friends, right?”
“Of course. You saw my ex. Do you really think I am anxious to get involved with anyone? I’ll pick you up in an hour. I have to close up shop and shower.”
She hung up the phone and pictured Blake’s muscular, naked body in the shower full of soap. If she was there she wouldn’t mind washing his back for him, running her soapy hands over his muscular chest and lower. She wondered if his chest was silky smooth or covered with hair. She’d give his butt cheeks a squeeze because she had noticed even through the jumpsuit he was well built. She wondered if his cock was big and thick. He was a big man after all. She felt her panties getting damp and she groaned and counted to twenty.
“I obviously have not learned my lesson when it comes to men,” she muttered to herself, getting clean panties out of her bag. It was times like this she wished she could pick up the phone and call Ben. He would have given her advice and boosted up her confidence level.
“You are woman, now let them hear you roar.” He would have told her with a wide grin. He laughed a lot and she had loved that she could never be depressed around him because he would act silly and joke with her until she was crying with laughter instead of sadness. She would run her fingers through his dark curls that he hated and tell him what a stud muffin he was. He would playfully push her away and fix his hair and tell her about his classes at college. He wanted to be an architect and promised to build her a magnificent house one day. Now all his dreams were dead along with him.
Anna looked through her clothes. When she had moved in with Santiago, he had thrown all her old clothes away saying she had no fashion sense. She had felt comfortable wearing jeans and T-shirts. Now all she had was fancy designer clothes that she hated. She’d give anything for a raggedy T-shirt and pajama pants to sit around and be lazy with.
She finally chose a red tight dress that was short and clung to her curvy figure. All her dresses and skirts were short because Santiago said she had nice legs and she should show them off. She put a black sweater over the dress because it was low cut and buttoned it up as far as she could. She added black heels. She brushed out her long curls, deciding to leave them loose. She darkened her lashes with mascara. She skipped the eye shadow and lipstick but put red ruby earrings on and a matching necklace.
Anna took one last look in the mirror. Santiago had been right to make her work out. She liked her new toned body and she felt strong. Andrew had showed her self-defense moves on the side one day when he had seen her arms and legs covered in bruises. He knew Santiago hit her and he told her one day she would have the confidence to fight back. He had been right but it had been too late to save Ben.
She pasted a smile on her face when she heard knocking and opened the door. Blake looked handsome with a black buttoned shirt and dark blue jeans. His hair was damp and had a slight wave to it. He gave her a wolfish whistle and she felt her cheeks get warm.
“Sorry if I am overdressed. I didn’t bring any casual clothes with me.” She felt like she should apologize. So far everyone in this town seemed to dress casually and although at home she would have fit in anywhere, here she stood out like a sore thumb.
Blake took her by the hand and led her to a silver truck parked in front of her room. He opened the passenger door for her to get in. “So you were taking a fun road trip that required nothing but fancy clothes?”
Anna buckled her seatbelt. When she looked over at him and into his pretty eyes, her mind went blank. Any excuse would sound like a lie so she just nodded and decided saying nothing was probably the best way to go.
“I thought we’d go to a steakhouse,” he said, dropping his questions for now. He started driving out of the motel parking lot and out to the main road. It was a quiet night and when she looked up into the dark sky she could actually see the stars shining brightly. It was a nice peaceful view without the blinding city lights overpowering the scenery.
“They have salad but I hope you order real food, honey. Cleaning my office will be quite a workout.”
Anna laughed, looking forward to the task. “That’s true. How can you concentrate with all that mess?”
He looked like he was really thinking about it. Finally he shrugged. “I don’t know. Me and Sam just throw the bills and receipts there. It works for us. Victor does the bodywork and has a home office where he keeps his stuff. He says our method is too confusing.”
