by Aubree Lane
Annie rubbed her forehead. She wanted more time to herself, but that wasn’t going to happen with Marissa hovering over her and Terence waiting at home. There was no getting around it, she had to face someone, and Terence felt like the better of two evils. “I’m going home,” she stated abruptly. “Wish me luck.”
Marissa gave her a quick hug. “You don’t need luck, but if you happen to need us, we’ll be home all evening. I hate to pressure you, but we need to set up a meeting with Terence as soon as possible.”
Feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, Annie picked up her belongings. She wanted to get out of there before something else could come up and make the day even worse.
“Annie, there is one more thing I have to tell you,” Marissa began hesitantly.
Annie shook her head and sighed.
Marissa sensed Annie’s frustration and changed her mind. “Never mind, it can wait. You’re exhausted, go on home.”
Annie opened the door, then suddenly pulled up short. “Marissa,” she said facing her friend once more. “How long has Eleanor worked for your father?”
Eleanor was Larry’s cook/housekeeper and a stand-in mother figure for both Marissa and Annie. The woman had been a tremendous source of wisdom and understanding for Annie as a teenager, and she knew the same was true for Marissa.
“Since before my mother died, why?”
“Did you notice that Larry didn’t give her any credit when he talked about how he raised you alone?”
“Once a lawyer, always a lawyer. He didn’t want to muddy his argument with any information that wasn’t pertinent to the issue at hand.”
Annie nodded and walked out. Eleanor was an extremely pertinent part of the Wright family, to dismiss her importance that easily was despicable. An uneasy feeling gnawed in her gut. This whole scenario felt horribly out of whack.
• • •
About a half hour later, Annie walked into her apartment and was pleased to see that Terence had moved in and set up shop. He cleared off the small table in front of the only window in her living room and plugged in his laptop. Its screen saver flashed a slideshow of Erika. In every photo she smiled brightly. Annie wondered how much longer the little girl would be able to hold on to the happiness she so abundantly felt while in Hawaii with Terence.
The place was quiet, and Annie thought Terence might have gone out. “Terence,” she softly called out.
He didn’t answer. She pushed opened the bedroom door and found him sprawled out on her bed. He was snoring gently. All he wore was a pair of midnight blue boxers, comically designed with puffy white sheep jumping over the moon. He looked fantastic.
Annie rarely had anyone to come home to. She liked her solitude. With Terence it felt different, she liked him being there. It felt even better having him lying practically naked in her bed.
She toyed with the idea of curling up next to him and sleeping until morning, but she had a job to do, and she didn’t want it hanging over her head any longer than necessary. She reached out and shook his arm. “Terence, wake up.”
His dark eyes fluttered open, and he grinned at the sight of her. Terence pulled her on top of his bare chest and kissed her. His lips were soft and coaxing.
When the warm throbbing ache of desire fanning out across her pelvis grew too distracting, she pulled away. “I have some news about Erika.”
“It can wait until tomorrow.” He curled his fingers through her hair and drew her back into his embrace. His gentle, yet persuasive touch convinced her to shelve all further conversation. “Turn off your phone. I don’t want us to be interrupted again.”
Annie let all the serious stuff she had to tell him slip away. It had been a long day. She didn’t want to think anymore, she just wanted to feel, and what she was feeling right now was phenomenal. “It’s in the other room,” she moaned, “way too far away to hear.”
Terence flipped her on her back and loomed over her. “It better be.” His eyes smoldered with lust and hunger. “Because you’re not going anywhere.”
• • •
They neglected to close the blinds, and when the morning sunlight poured through the large picture window above her headboard, it showed off a crisp, sunny December day. The light hurt Annie’s eyes. She wasn’t ready to get up, so she pulled the covers over her head and nestled against Terence’s back.
When her chilly hands touched his warm skin, Terence instinctively rolled over and wrapped her up in his arms. She moved deeper into his chest, and Annie swore she heard him purr. She drifted back to sleep, but in the back of her mind she hoped David wasn’t outside with his telephoto lens snapping blackmail pictures.
The next time her eyes opened, Annie was alone. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting in all around her. She pulled on a pair of flannel pajamas and went to investigate.
Terence was in her kitchen. He wore a pair of gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt, and was busily scrambling eggs in a frying pan. The toast had already popped in the toaster, and he was about to pour the wonderfully smelling brew into a pair of mugs.
Annie was impressed. She hadn’t known she owned a frying pan, let alone a decent set of mugs, and where had all the food come from?
“Hey, show me the moon,” she called out.
Terence smiled and set down the coffee pot. He dropped his pants, exposed his boxers, and wiggled his rear in her direction. “A gift from Erika.” He snapped his pants back into place and picked up a mug. “I was going to serve you breakfast in bed, but now that you’re up, make yourself useful and find me some plates.”
Annie ignored his request and sat down at her tiny little dinette, which was amazingly void of debris. “That’s okay,” she yawned. “I rather like the idea of being waited on hand and foot.”
Terence lifted a curious brow and brought her a mug of hot black coffee. He leaned down and kissed her neck, which caused an acute tingling sensation to shoot down her spine.
“Could you at least point me in the direction of the plates?”
She pointed to the cabinet above the dishwasher. “And how about some cream for this coffee?”
“I see I have a demanding customer,” he said making a quick detour to the fridge.
Annie let her mind drift to the night before and smiled. “Demanding, yet quite satisfied.”
Terence looked pleased with himself when he handed her the cream. “Well, you get what you give.”
He filled the plates and returned to the table.
As Terence buttered a piece of toast, the smile slid from his face. “I hate to ruin the mood, but I believe you have something to tell me.”
Annie frowned and tried to figure out some way to tell Terence that the lawyer he hired was actually Erika’s half-sister. She took a bite of egg and decided she was just going to have to spit it out. “I have some good news, and a whole lot of bad. Marissa still wants to represent you, sort of.” Trying to delay the grim news for as long as possible she took a sip of coffee and another bite of eggs.
Terence nibbled his food and patiently waited for her to continue.
She took a deep breath and blurted out, “Larry Wright is most likely Erika’s father and Marissa will be representing him as well.” Annie bit her lip and waited for his reaction.
He sat stone-faced for several minutes. Finally, he blinked. “Larry Wright? Marissa’s father?”
The food in her mouth turned dry as sand. She nodded and once again waited for the storm to hit. It never did.
“That’s an intriguing development. It seems entirely too coincidental to me.” He rested his chin in his hand. “I’m not sure how Marissa can represent the both of us, but I guess I’ll find that out at our next meeting. We’re having one today, aren’t we?”
Annie bobbed her head. She was stunned by his lack of reaction. Annie forced the rest of the food in her mouth down her throat. “Is that it?” she asked. “You’re not going to freak out?”
Terence got up and cleared the table. “I’m extremely up
set, and I’m finding it difficult to comprehend how all this happened, but I already knew I probably wasn’t Erika’s biological father. This is the information I needed in order to plan my next move.” He brought the coffee pot to the table and refilled their mugs. “I assume he wants custody.”
Annie was dumfounded. “You’re too mature for words. I fell apart yesterday. It took me hours to pull myself together and I’m an outsider. This directly affects you and you’re as calm as can be.”
His eyebrows shot upward. “I wasn’t calm the other night and you are not the outsider. I am. Mr. Wright is like a father to you. I imagine this information was difficult for you to hear.” He sat down and rubbed her arm. “I don’t have those feelings. I also have firsthand knowledge of how persistent Hannah can be when she wants something.”
Terence was remarkable. His empathy for the situation was astounding, but she wasn’t sure Larry deserved any of it.
He gave her a reassuring smile. “Will you call Marissa and tell her I’ll be there in about an hour? I want to speak with her father as well. I’m going to take a shower.” He sniffed his armpits, then leaned over her with a wolfish grin. “I smell like you.”
Annie slipped her hands inside his t-shirt and ran her fingers over the bare flesh of his back. She kissed his chin. “Why don’t I schedule that meeting for about two hours from now, and we share that shower?”
“You are a demanding customer,” he said, walking off in the direction of the bathroom. “Well, hurry up. I don’t want to run out of hot water.”
Annie grabbed her bag off the floor and dug around for her phone. When Marissa didn’t answer on the second ring, she hung up. Not wanting to waste any more time, Annie called Marissa’s office, left a quick message with her secretary, then hurried after Terence. She didn’t want to run out of hot water either.
Chapter 9
“She did what?” Marissa half screamed.
“Hannah,” David smugly stated as he hitched his rear up on the edge of Marissa’s desk, “participated in the Strip Down - Switch Around game at the Meet Market.”
“What exactly does that entail?”
“I’m not clear on the details, but I hear she’s pretty good at it.”
Marissa’s mind swirled a million miles per minute and happily swayed side to side in her desk chair. “It probably sounds much worse than it really is.”
David leaned in a little closer. “Does it really matter?”
Marissa countered with a devilish grin of her own. “No, I guess it doesn’t.” She reached out to touch his cheek and caught a whiff of rotten bananas. “Have you’ve been stealing trash again?”
“I do not steal trash,” David stated defensively as he straightened his shoulders. “Once the can is out on the curb, its contents are considered abandoned property, and I have every right to it.”
All Marissa could see was that he was sitting on her desk after he rummaged through someone’s garbage. “Get off!”
David laughed and reached out for a hug. “You think I smell bad, wait till you get a whiff of our car.”
She pushed off the edge of her desk and rolled her chair safely out of his reach. “That’s your car, not mine. This is a disgusting habit you’ve acquired, David Crandall. You have to stop.”
“Hey, trash talks.” He pulled a miniature can of air freshener out of his pocket and spritzed the air. “You’ll make my job much harder if you deny me the pleasure of dumpster diving.”
Marissa sucked in some of the fumes and coughed. She waved the air in front of her face to disperse the aerosol. “It amazes me that in this day and age, when identity theft is so commonplace, that people don’t shred and burn everything.”
Being a student of human nature, that didn’t surprise David at all. In fact, he was grateful for it. “People don’t like worrying about that kind of stuff. You and I are careful. We don’t carry our checkbook or our social security cards. Our computers have the latest and greatest security software, and we change our passwords regularly. The credit cards we carry are secured within anti-skimming cases, and we don’t leave mail in the mailbox for the carrier to pick up, but we aren’t most people. We’ve seen firsthand the problems it can cause.” He shrugged and reluctantly admitted, “But even we don’t do everything we could to protect ourselves. There comes a point when you feel like you’re just being paranoid. You have to draw the line somewhere.”
Marissa had stopped listening ages ago. She was through with this conversation. David stank, and she wanted him out of her office as quickly as possible. “Getting back to Hannah,” she said curtly. “What else did you find?”
“I took pictures.” He smiled. “I’ll have the good ones printed and on your desk within the hour.”
The last thing she wanted was to look at pictures of Hannah’s trash, or was it pictures of Hannah he had taken? Either way, it sounded gross, and she didn’t want any part of it. “Just write up a report,” she said hastily. “Then go home and get cleaned up. Have the car detailed and don’t tell the kids what you’ve been doing. I can just see them playing in the trash cans wanting to be a private-dick just like daddy.”
David snorted. “I get what you did there with that dick comment, but I’m on to you. You’re just afraid they’ll find all their treasures you tossed out.”
“Will you please stop messing with me and leave. Terence is going to be here soon and now I have to fumigate.”
David headed for the door but couldn’t resist taunting Marissa one last time. “Hey, I’m with you. I don’t want the kids bringing all those remarkable drawings they were saving on the floor of their bedrooms back into the house, and don’t get me going on the toys. It’s been days since you cleaned out their rooms and neither one of them have noticed that anything is missing.”
“David―”
“Christmas is coming up,” he continued. “Santa is bound to bring them a ton of new crap. It’s tradition. Then next year you’ll toss it all out and we’ll start the cycle all over again.”
Marissa’s eyes were already focused on the papers in front of her. “Let me know when you’re finished talking so I can get back to work.”
She tuned him out, an occupational hazard when you both lived and worked together. David opened the door but gave it one last shot. “I’m sure all those garbage bags full of their favorite clothes haven’t been missed either.”
Marissa took off a shoe and threw it at him.
He quickly shut the door and heard the sexy stiletto-heeled weapon bounce harmlessly to the floor.
Man he loved that woman.
Chapter 10
“Come in and have a seat,” Larry Wright said, welcoming Terence into his office. “I hope you don’t mind if we talk privately.” He gestured to the plush brown leather chair that faced his desk.
Terence took the seat and looked around, trying to get a feel for what kind of person Marissa’s father was. The only contact he had with the man was at Alexander Turner’s funeral. Since Larry had added to the laugh factor, Terence was pretty sure he possessed a sense of humor, but that was the extent of his knowledge.
The walls of his office were light tan with one exception. The one behind his massive cherry wood desk was dusty blue. Annie would have called it an accent wall. Large works of original oil paintings framed in the same dark cherry wood decorated the walls. He glanced around looking for the diplomas, awards, and certificates that had been the standard decor of every other lawyer’s offices he had been in. But in this office, they were blatantly absent.
Terence remembered a friend from college who hung all of his diplomas and credentials in his bathroom because in the end, as his friend eloquently put it, that was where they belonged. Terence wondered if Larry felt the same way. Anyone could earn a college degree. All it took was time and money. Hell, he even had one.
Generally, the overall effect of Larry’s office was warm, comfortable, and professional. He hoped Annie reflected his personality in her design.
&nb
sp; Terence didn’t know if he gained any insight into Mr. Wright with his examination of the office, but he had on Annie. She had exceptionally great taste. It was easy to see why she was so successful.
Larry gave off a sense of power. His hair was gray and balding, but it only enhanced his look of authority. He was tall with a slight paunch developing throughout his midsection, but it was Larry’s piercing blue eyes that unnerved Terence the most. They were exactly like Erika’s.
Terence was determined not to like him. Larry Wright was an adversary that needed to be dealt with. “All I want to know is what your plans are where Erika is concerned,” Terence stated sharply.
Larry smiled and nodded his head. “You want to get down to business. I understand completely.” He moved behind his desk. Larry sat in a chair similar to the one Terence was in, but it was on a much larger scale. The thing was massive. The chair was like a throne on wheels. “The answer to that question is simple. If the paternity test proves I am Erika’s father, then I will be petitioning the court for custody.”
That’s all Terence needed to hear. He stood up to leave. “Then you’ll have a fight on your hands because I’m not going to give up my daughter easily.”
Larry Wright rose out of his chair. “Sit down, young man,” he commanded.
The words echoed in Terence’s ears. They were the same words his mother screamed at him after he informed her he was not going to go to college. Terence still held a lot of guilt about walking away from her that day. If he had known the next time he would see her she would be in the emergency room of a hospital fighting for her life, he would have stayed.
“Don’t let your testosterone get the best of you. Right now, neither one of us has a good chance of gaining sole custody of Erika. I’m old and no matter how good a father I’ve been in the past, the only thing a judge is going to see is that I am a grandfather.”
