Change (Finding Anna Book 5)

by Sherri Hayes

  He didn’t hesitate. “We can be there by six-thirty.”

  As I disconnected the call, I noticed Brianna standing in the doorway. She’d wrapped her robe around her body, the silk brushing against her legs about four inches above her knees. Her hair was tousled from sleep and she still had a crease from her pillow on her cheek.

  I tucked the phone into my pocket and beckoned her to me. “How long have you been standing there, love?”

  “Not long.” She bit the inside of her lip. “Was that Cal?”

  “Yes. He and Jade will be joining us for dinner tonight.”

  “I’ll make a roast. It’s Cal’s favorite.”

  Running my hands through her hair, I tried to straighten it. “How did you sleep?”

  “Okay.”

  I tilted her head up so I could look in her eyes. “It’s early. I thought you’d sleep longer.”

  “I woke up and you weren’t there.” She frowned. From any other woman I would have thought she was being coy, but Brianna didn’t do coy. She was stating a fact and letting me know she was sad about it.

  “I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you.”

  Her frown deepened. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

  Pulling her into my arms, I kissed her temple. “I had a lot on my mind, and I couldn’t get it to shut off.”

  “About John?” Of course, she’d get to the heart of the matter.

  “Yes. Him and how you’d feel if something happened to him.” I avoided saying when.

  She stared out at the river for a while. “When I think about John, I can’t remember the good times when I visited him in the summers. All I can see is when he came to the condo and tried to take me away from you.”

  I held her tighter.

  “Can we have my name removed as his emergency contact? I don’t want to know if anything happens to him. I don’t want to know if he gets hurt. Or . . . or if he dies.” She choked on the last part and it nearly broke my heart.

  I cupped her face between my palms and brushed my lips against hers. “Let’s get some breakfast, and then we can see about calling Emma and asking her about our options.”

  As it turned out, it wasn’t as straightforward as I’d hoped. Given what had happened and John’s role in it, Brianna never should have been added as his emergency contact in the first place. Emma said it was likely that he’d gotten someone to ‘do him a favor’ and put Brianna’s name on the paperwork.

  Getting her name removed was going to take some work. Emma was going to contact the Adult Victims Parole Advisory Board to see if they could help. Best case scenario, we could have things cleared up in a couple months. If things didn’t go our way, and given John seemed to have friends who were still willing to pull strings for him, we could be looking at three years before her name could officially be removed. It wasn’t what either one of us wanted to hear.

  After speaking with Emma, I knew we needed to do something positive. It was a beautiful day, so it was the perfect time for Brianna to practice her driving skills. She was nervous at first, but with every minute she spent behind the wheel she got better.

  “Try parking between those two trees.” There were about two car lengths between the trees, which would give her plenty of room to try her hand at parallel parking.

  It took three tries, but she was finally able to get the car to go where she wanted it. “I did it.”

  The smile on her face was priceless. All the worry lines from earlier that morning were gone, which is exactly what I had hoped would happen. “You did.”

  To my surprise, she put the car in park and unbuckled her seatbelt. “May I sit on your lap, Sir?”

  The instant she made the request, my cock began to twitch. “You may.”

  She lifted her leg over the center console and straddled my lap. I rested my hands on her hips, positioning her crotch directly over the bulge in my pants.

  Her eyes sparkled with joy. “I’m getting better.”

  “You’re doing well. A little more practice and we can give the road a try.”

  “Do you think I’ll be ready to drive by myself by winter?” she asked.

  “Why winter?” I hadn’t realized we were on a specific time frame.

  She averted her eyes, looking outside the car. We were on an area of our property where there were no houses in sight. It was a beautiful day and there was a nice breeze blowing off the water. “I was looking for GED classes and there’s one that has openings not far from Le Sueur starting in January.”

  Brianna had mentioned she’d wanted to go back to school, but I hadn’t realized she’d been looking at classes. “And you want to go.”

  “I do.”

  I made her look at me. “If it’s what you want, we’ll do everything we can to make it happen. If you can’t drive by then, I’ll drive you.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but I covered her lips with my finger.

  “However, we have five months till January, which means we have five months to practice.”

  Her lips curved up into a smile, and then her tongue darted out to touch the finger I still held over her mouth. It was such a subtle gesture, but it changed the mood in the car. I pressed my finger into her mouth, and she began sucking on it as if she were sucking on my cock.

  I closed my eyes and groaned as the memory of the last time she’d taken me in her mouth came back to me. Reaching between us, I slid my hand under her skirt and zeroed in on her clit. Her panties were already wet as I ran my thumb over the fabric.

  “You’re very wet.”

  She hummed sending more sensations from my finger straight to my groin.

  I took a quick glance around, confirming once again that no one else was around, before removing my finger from her mouth and laying the seat back as far as it would go. “Unfasten my pants and pull my cock out.”

  Brianna unbuttoned my pants, and then lowered the zipper down. The confining space meant it took her a few minutes to move the fabric out of the way so my erection could spring free. She skimmed her fingers against my length, and I had to grit my teeth.

  Gripping the back of her neck, I pulled her down on top of me and crushed her mouth to mine. Brianna met my tongue stroke for stroke, rubbing her body against me. She was as turned on as I was.

  I lost track of time as we kissed and touched, making out like teenagers. Eventually, though, the need to be inside her proved too much to resist any longer. Somehow, I managed to snake a hand between us, push her panties to the side, and line my cock up with her entrance.

  “Take me,” I growled against her lips.

  What happened next had me seeing stars. Instead of gently lowering herself down on my shaft, she impaled herself with it. Within seconds her juices were flowing down my cock as she rode me.

  Neither of us lasted long. I drove my hips up to meet her with each downward motion. It was like riding a wild bull, but better.

  When I gave her permission to come it was as if the flood gates had opened for both of us. We each let out a strangled cry that would have caused concern had we had neighbors close enough to hear.

  As I lay there sweating, with an exhausted Brianna in my arms, trying to regain my breath, I realized how blessed I was. If everything else in my life went away and all I had left was Brianna, I would be good for the rest of my days.

  Chapter 16

  Brianna

  By the time Cal and Jade pulled in the driveway, I had already removed the roast from the oven. The table was set, and Stephan went to get the door while I brought the food to the table.

  “You made my favorite,” Cal said as he ambled over to where I was standing.

  “Yes, I—” I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence before he picked me up by the waist and wrapped me in a bear hug. “—did,” I said as he put my feet back on the ground.

  After a brief and much more subdued hello from Jade, we all sat down at the table. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about the baby,” Jade said after we’d started e
ating.

  “I wouldn’t have told anyone if you hadn’t wanted me to.”

  Cal frowned. “It wasn’t that, Anna. The doctor said a lot of people choose to wait until after the baby is ten weeks along before telling anyone in case they miscarried. We didn’t want to tell anyone in case something happened.”

  “How far along are you?” Stephan asked. He hadn’t said much up until now.

  Jade pressed a hand to her stomach. “Around eleven weeks.”

  While their reasoning made sense, I still couldn’t help feeling hurt. “If something had happened to the baby, you wouldn’t have told me?”

  Cal’s brow got a deep crease in it like I was asking him a hard question. “I don’t know. We hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  “We’re sorry we didn’t tell you, Brianna. We just wanted it to be between us for a while. We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Jade took hold of my hand. “I was hoping, though, that maybe now that you knew you could help with the baby shower.”

  “You want me to help?”

  “Of course.” She smiled. “You’re the best cook I know. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with making sure the food was perfect. Think we can get Lily to help with the decorations?”

  “As long as it’s after the wedding, I’m sure Lily would love to help,” Stephan said. “She can’t say no to organizing a party.”

  Jade nodded. “It won’t be until closer to the due date. There's plenty of time.” Then, she frowned. “I hope I’ll be able to find a nice dress to wear to the wedding. I’ll be six months along by then.”

  Cal put his arm around her shoulders. “They have great maternity clothes these days. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something.”

  She didn’t look convinced.

  “I can ask Lily to help if you want,” I said. Lily knew everything there was to know about clothes. I’m not sure about maternity clothes, but if she didn’t know she could find out.

  My suggestion seemed to make her relax some. “Maybe she has a suggestion on where I should look.”

  I smiled, happy that I was able to help in a small way. “I’ll ask.”

  Cal cleared his throat as he served himself a second helping of roast and glanced over at Stephan. “I heard you were dipping your toes into the business world again.”

  “Nothing’s confirmed yet, but I’m exploring an opportunity.” It was obvious by the way Stephan answered Cal’s question that the two didn’t really get along. Stephan was rarely that formal in his speech anymore.

  “I hope everything works out. Give you something to do during the day.”

  Cal was careful not to attack Stephan verbally or physically anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get his digs in on occasion. I knew Jade had picked up on his underlying implication as well when I saw him jerk. She’d most likely kicked him in the shin.

  When Stephan had stepped down permanently as president of The Coleman Foundation, Cal had been more upset by it than anyone else. I hadn’t understood why at first, until he’d mentioned one day during a conversation that Stephan would have extra time to dream up more games for us to play.

  He wasn’t talking about board games, either. Cal knew that Stephan was a Dom and liked kinky sex. It was what had caused so many problems at the beginning. Even after all these years, I didn’t miss that Cal gave me a good once over every time he saw me. I wondered what he would think if he knew Stephan had spanked me the other night.

  I couldn’t completely stifle the giggle that bubbled up. Everyone looked at me and I felt my cheeks heat. “Sorry.”

  Luckily, Stephan moved the conversation along, and I was able to wallow in my embarrassment alone. Or mostly alone. Jade gave me a knowing grin. She may not know exactly what I’d been thinking, but she could guess the direction. Mainly because I rarely giggle about anything else. This wasn’t the first time I’d had an inappropriate thought at the dinner table.

  After dinner, we moved onto the deck. Stephan lit the citronella candles to keep the bugs away, and then eased into one of the lounge chairs. He lifted me onto his lap, and I rested my head on his shoulder, taking up my favorite position.

  Cal and Jade sat next to each other, but in separate chairs. They were affectionate, but not as much as Stephan and I were. Stephan was almost always touching me, even in public. I’d seen Cal and Jade hold hands, or Cal put an arm around her, but they rarely did anything more. Not where others could see, anyway.

  I was relaxing, listening to Stephan’s heartbeat, when Cal spoke. “Were you able to get a hold of Emma?”

  My eyes flew open.

  “Yes.” Stephan’s voice rumbled under my ear. “She going to contact a victim advocacy group to see if they can help. It’s not a fast process, though, so for now we’re in a waiting game.”

  “That’s screwed up. They can’t petition the court or something?” Cal asked.

  “Apparently not.”

  “How do you feel about this, Anna?” Jade asked.

  “I don’t like it. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to know if something happens to him. But even if I do know, it won’t matter.” While that all sounded good, Cal knew me too well.

  “Bullshit, Anna.”

  I startled a little at his outburst and Stephan tightened his hold on me while sending Cal a warning look.

  Cal sighed and ran a hand over his face. “You may not want to care, but I know you. You care. Even after all he did to you, you care, and you always will.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Stephan decided to step in. “Emma’s going to contact the prison and see if her name can be put on the emergency contact form instead, but she isn’t hopeful given she’s not family and Brianna’s who John wants listed.”

  “So, he has more rights than Anna does?”

  “Trust me,” Stephan said, “I’m not any happier about it than you are.”

  Cal huffed, but didn’t say anything else.

  After a few moments of tense silence, Jade asked if Lily had picked a venue for her wedding.

  “I’m sure she has,” Stephan said. “But she hasn’t announced it yet. Normally, I would say The Four Seasons. She loves it there. But they’re usually booked at least a year in advance for weddings.”

  “Well, if anyone can pull it off, Lily can.”

  Stephan nodded. “Very true.”

  They stayed until the sun disappeared from the sky. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as some of our dinners had been over the years. Cal and Stephan could even have a conversation now without snapping at each other.

  We watched from the front door as they backed down the driveway and made their way home. It had been another long day and I was eager to get to bed. My eyes were already feeling heavy.

  “You look as if you’re about ready to fall asleep standing there.” Stephan skimmed his fingers over my cheek.

  I leaned my head into his hand, closing my eyes. It felt so natural and so comforting.

  The next thing I knew, he was sweeping me up into his arms. I circled my arms around his neck, holding on tight.

  “Come on, sleepy head. Let’s get you to bed. And hopefully we can both sleep better tonight.”

  I sighed and relaxed against him as he carried me into our bedroom, laid me on the bed, and slowly undressed me. He left me there, naked, while he went into the bathroom. When he came back to the bedroom, he was naked as well and he slid into bed beside me.

  As much as I loved having sex with Stephan, it was in moments like this that I felt precious to him. He pulled the sheet over us and cradled me to his chest.

  “Good night, Brianna.”

  “Good night, Sir.”

  Stephan

  I tried to keep things simple the next three days, giving us both a chance to relax. We took the car out for another drive around the yard, spent some time reading together, and watched a movie. On Sunday we went to Richard and Diane’s. Luckily, it was only the four of us and we were able to have a quiet meal together.

&nbs
p; Brianna had written about John in her journal on Friday, but that was the last mention she’d made of him. When Emma had called again on Friday afternoon, she’d shared with me what had been said, which wasn’t much beyond her checking in to make sure Brianna was doing all right. It was that conversation that had prompted the journal entry.

  I kept searching for any signs of distress, but there weren’t any. At least, I hadn’t thought so until Richard pulled me aside before we left their house Sunday evening. He placed a hand on my arm to get my attention while Brianna was saying goodbye to Diane and motioned for me to follow him into the adjoining room.

  Once the door was closed behind us, he sighed. “Normally, I wouldn’t say anything, but given the . . . type of relationship you and Brianna have . . . well, I thought maybe I should.” He shifted his weight as if he were uncomfortable with the conversation. “Brianna told me about her father being in the hospital. She asked.” He blew out a breath. “She asked if I could look at his medical records and see how sick he is.”

  I wasn’t sure how to take this information. “Did she say anything else?”

  He shook his head. “I asked if she was sure and she nodded. That was the whole of the conversation.”

  We could hear voices in the hall and we both knew we were running out of time. “Thank you for letting me know.”

  Richard opened the door in time to see Diane and Brianna approaching.

  “There you two are,” Diane said. “We were wondering where you’d taken off to.”

  Before Richard could formulate some generic reason for us to have snuck off, I brushed past him and addressed Brianna directly. “Are you ready?”

  I saw something flash in Brianna’s eyes before she answered. “Yes.”

  “Good night,” I said, giving my aunt a kiss on the cheek.

  “You two drive safe.”

  Not five minutes had passed since we left Richard and Diane’s house before Brianna asked, “Are you upset with me?”

  I glanced over at her, and then back at the road. “No, I'm not upset.” And I wasn’t. I hated John for what he did to her, but I also understood the conflicting emotions. What I didn’t understand was why she would want to know the status of his health if she had no desire to see him. “Did you change your mind about wanting to see him?”