“Here, sit down. Relax,” Anderson said, walking me over to the couch in the living room.
“I’m fine, really,” I said. “You don’t have to keep pampering me like this.”
Anderson smirked. It was the first time I’d seen him smile over the past few hours, which had honestly had me quite worried. I couldn’t recall ever seeing him so angry before, although I knew his anger was strictly toward Zander rather than the other circumstances around us. But it was hard, for both of us.
“You better get used to it. After all, you’re carrying my child. I’m going to spoil you rotten from now on.”
I smiled and shook my head, although that felt like the second weight that had been lifted off my shoulders. “What am I going to do with you?” I said.
He winked. “I have a few ideas. Maybe I’ll show you in a little while.”
I shook my head and chuckled.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, his tone turning serious once more.
“Um…yeah, hand me my phone. Let me call Tobias.”
Anderson nodded. “Yeah. I know he’s dying to hear from you by now. I told him you’d call once I got you settled in,” he said as he brought my purse to me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“I’ll be right back.”
I watched Anderson disappear farther into the apartment, and then I took a deep breath and called my brother.
“Joanna! Are you all right?” he said the instant he answered.
“Hi, Tobias. Yeah, I’m all right.”
“I’ve been so worried about you,” he said after a long pause. “And…I have to tell you that I’m sorry for the way I acted. For the way I overreacted. I was out of line. I’m sorry.”
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. “Thank you,” I said.
“So, you sure you’re okay? Everything else is fine? You can disagree with me if you want, but it’s time to do something about Zander now.”
“Yes, I know that.” And I genuinely meant it. I had gone into complete shock when Zander attacked me at Libby’s house. We’d got into a bad fight, resulting in me throwing a vase at his head, but missing and breaking a window instead. Neighbors heard the crash and began knocking on the door, trying to check if everything was all right. Zander had made a run for it, escaping out the back door. And then I’d sat on the floor for a long time, in complete shock I guess, more scared than I had ever been in my life. I didn’t know what to do, and I was terrified for the baby. Even worse, I had been terrified to call the police or ambulance. I was in denial, and had fallen into the illogical thinking that if I didn’t say anything, I could pretend nothing had happened, at least until I snapped back to reality and was ready to face it. The next thing I knew, morning had arrived, and then police and an ambulance started showing up on the premises even though I hadn’t touched the phone.
“Joanna, you still there?”
“Yeah,” I said, snapping out of my thoughts. “Anderson is already on the case. In fact, he said he was going to see you about finding some of the best private investigators and lawyers to handle Zander.”
“Yeah, I’ve already started looking.”
“And Tobias, there’s something else.”
“Yeah?”
I waited for a moment, halfway hoping he would tell me that he already knew because Anderson had already told him. But from the way he quietly hung on to the line, I realized I didn’t have that luxury. I took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant,” I said and laughed nervously afterwards. “Hope you’re looking forward to being as doting of an uncle as you are a big brother.”
There was another long silence and I halfway thought he somehow hadn’t heard me.
“Wow. Congratulations, sis,” he finally said. “I’ll be looking forward to meeting my future niece or nephew.”
Whether he really meant it, or was just being polite, I couldn’t quite tell.
I looked up to find Anderson returning, giving me a reassuring smile.
“Well, I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’m going to get some rest,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, Jo. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I said, and ended the call.
“Sounds like that went well,” Anderson said.
I nodded and smiled. “Yeah, it did. He’s really come around.”
Anderson came to my side and sat down, wrapping his arm around me and kissing my temple. “I figured you could use a relaxing bath after what you’ve been through.”
“Sounds heavenly,” I said, suddenly realizing just how stiff and achy my muscles felt.
“Come on,” Anderson said, gently taking me by the hand. I stood and let him guide me to the bathroom, where he had run a warm bubble bath that I already couldn’t wait to sink into.
I turned around, gently kissing his lips. He slowly began to disrobe me, tossing my clothes aside, and then holding my hand as I stepped into the tub.
I sighed as my body submerged in the warm water and I breathed in the fragrance of the bubbles.
“So,” Anderson said, taking a bath sponge and running down my back. “I’ve already talked to a few lawyers about what’s going on. They’ve advised me that I can’t—or that I shouldn’t, rather—set out to kill Zander on my own.”
I laughed. “Okay. I figured that much.”
“They’re more than willing to help me out on the case.”
“Good. And Tobias said he’s already looking into some lawyers and investigators too.”
“Yep,” Anderson said. “So to put it simply, Zander isn’t going to get away with this. His days of facing no repercussions are over. He’s about to learn the hard way that if he ever comes anywhere near you again… god help him.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead again. “Because no one messes with my family.”
Family. My throat closed up when I heard him say it, and my vision blurred with tears. After everything that happened with Zander and the revelation I was pregnant, I felt more emotional than ever. I leaned against him and let my head fall over his shoulder, closing my eyes.
“Thank you, Anderson. I…” My heart swelled with a potent emotion, and it dawned on me.
I was in love with him. I loved Anderson. And now, I couldn’t imagine my life without him, the father of my child.
“I love you,” I told him, my pulse skyrocketing. He was all I ever needed.
I held my breath as I waited for him to say something. He snaked his arms around my waist, holding me like he never wanted to let me go.
“I love you too, Joanna. I love you so much.” I broke into a huge smile, feeling like everything had come to its place.
He loved me. Anderson Lawrence, my brother’s best friend and my old crush, loved me. I was euphoric.
I turned my head and kissed him, showing him just how much I loved him. “You’re a true gem,” I whispered into his mouth and nibbled it.
“And you’re my everything.” He kissed my earlobe, which brought fire to my insides.
“I want to make you happy. I want you safe.” His lips grazed my neck before he took my earlobe into his mouth and licked it. “But right now I want to make you feel good.”
He lowered his hand from my stomach to my mound, and I moaned in response. His fingers found my clit instantly, while his other hand covered my breast.
“That does feel good,” I muttered, my whole body warming when he started pleasuring me. “Please, keep touching me. I love when you touching me…”
“I love it too. You just feel so good. Your lips, your body, your pussy… I can’t stop thinking about you and all those things I want to do to you. The mother of my baby.”
His fingers moved in circles, and I curled my toes when a bolt of pleasure coursed through me. My pussy started throbbing faster as he quickened his pace.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Just like that…” I writhed uncontrollably. I thought he was going to make me come like this, but he did something even better. He lowered his fingers and penetrated me with t
hree digits, which felt more than amazing now that my mound was pulsating like crazy.
“Ah! Yes… Don’t stop…”
I thrashed my head against his shoulder as he pumped me with his fingers, pushing me toward my much-needed release. I was so close, my moans getting louder, and I couldn’t stop rocking my hips.
“I’m so close… Ah… Anderson!”
I screamed when the first wave hit me, overcome with the sweet sensations.
“That’s it, my love.” His lips grazed my neck. “You’re so beautiful like this.”
As soon as the last tremor passed, I turned around and straddled him, taking his shaft into my hand. “I need you,” I said, unable to look away from his piercing eyes. They were devouring me, making breathing an almost impossible task.
“Take all of me,” he responded in a raspy voice.
I sat down on him, letting him slide inside me inch by inch. When he hit my cervix, I felt so full, getting exactly what I wanted desperately. I began moving on him, our lips joining together. This time we went slowly, each thrust filling me with immense pleasure as I rocked myself on him, and the world stopped to exist. His tongue caressed mine languidly, his hands on my hips guiding me up and down as our bodies moved in perfect harmony.
Soon, this wasn’t enough, and I started moving faster, chasing the orgasm that was so close.
“I love you,” he said and threaded his hand through my hair before he pulled me in for another kiss.
I let my hands roam all over his firm chest, basking in the feel of his skin against mine. His hand cupped my breast as our kiss deepened, everything in me tightening on the edge of another mind-blowing climax…
“I love you too. You’re so good to me… I’m going to come again…”
“Yeah. Come for me.”
As soon as his voice trailed off, my orgasm started, stronger than the previous one. Anderson didn’t stop, ripping through my spasming walls forcefully, and it was almost more than I could bear.
“Ah!”
I threw my head back, confounded when another orgasm started—before the first one even finished! Never breaking our eye contact, he impaled me onto him repeatedly until he reached his release too.
“Joanna! Fuck!”
He pressed me against his chest just when his climax started, his arms around me holding me tight.
“This was amazing,” I muttered, a bubble of laughter rising in my throat.
“You’re amazing.”
We remained silent for a while as he held me against him. Then, he said, “I want you to stay with me.”
“I will,” I muttered sleepily, letting my eyes close.
“I mean, I want you to move out of Tobias’s place and come to my place. I’ll feel better knowing you’re here, so I can keep you safe.”
I let my lips curl into a wide smile, overjoyed that he was actually asking me to move in with him.
“Yes. I will. I’d want nothing more than that.”
CHAPTER 28
Anderson
After bringing Joanna home from the emergency room after the Zander scare, the passing weeks had calmed down considerably. She returned to work, and each evening, the two of us went home together. She had moved out of Tobias’s mansion to stay with me at my apartment, and I didn’t want to jinx myself, but it practically felt like living the happily ever after that I never even realized I wanted.
Nevertheless, Zander never strayed too far from my thoughts. I always knew that if he had managed to find Joanna at Libby’s house, there was always a chance he could find her at my place too.
Tobias and I had managed to find some top-notch private investigators to figure out how Zander had managed to find Joanna in the first place. She remained adamant that when she left him, she had snuck out and hadn’t told him anything whatsoever about where she was going or who she would be staying with.
As it turned out though, Zander was a man who had some deep connections of his own.
The investigators we’d hired came to the conclusion that Zander had dug into Joanna’s past, figuring out where she grew up, what schools she had attended, and subsequently, places she was likely to have history with.
Places she might run away to…
“He may have gotten in contact with some old school friends of hers that had been keeping track of her from afar. Former friends who knew about the successful businessman her brother had become,” one of the investigators, Mike, told me one night over the phone as I checked to see how things were going.
“Hmm. That makes sense,” I said. “Any updates on where he is now?”
“Why? Are you planning to personally intervene?”
“No,” I said, even though it felt like an uncomfortable lie coming out of my mouth. My hands still itched to ring themselves around Zander’s throat. Every time I thought of that man, I wanted to hit something. It sometimes made me queasy to think that he could have seriously hurt Joanna and my unborn child…
“Anderson,” the investigator said, uttering my name like a warning.
“I’m not going to intervene,” I insisted. “I’m paying you top dollar, so I just want to make sure you’re doing your job, if you don’t mind.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get snarky with you.”
“Apology accepted. Now tell me, any recent sightings of that bastard or not?”
“We have reason to think he’s still somewhere in Chicago, or at least in a nearby suburb. He’s likely biding his time. I don’t know much about his intelligence level yet, but often criminals of his caliber don’t give up on their victims so easily. He’s clearly obsessed with Ms. Gentry and he will stop at nothing to get her back under his control. So I’m pretty sure he’s waiting for the opportunity to strike again.”
“So what do we do until then?”
“Be careful. Be watchful. I know it’s hard since she’s not a child, but if she can help it, make sure she’s not alone too often, because that’s obviously when he’s more likely to strike. If we don’t find him quickly though, we may have to use her as bait to draw him out. Under controlled circumstances, of course.”
“Of course,” I said, although I thoroughly hated the sound of using Joanna as bait. She was carrying precious cargo. “I’ve actually got another question though.”
“Go for it.”
“When we find Zander, what next? What charges can we put against him? I mean, we can get him put away for life, right? Breaking and entering? Battery. Causing mortal danger to a pregnant woman—”
“Anderson, come on. You know the law, and you know you’re not being reasonable.”
I sighed in frustration. “So what are you trying to tell me? All we’re going to be able to do is give him a slap on the wrist? A restraining order that he’ll undoubtedly break? That’s not going to work for me.”
“Well, let’s just look at what you want to accuse him of. First of all, breaking and entering isn’t exactly accurate, is it? Based on the statement Joanna already gave the cops, she opened the door for him.”
“She thought he was a Chinese food delivery guy!”
“Okay fine, let’s say we go with that. Then what?”
“Domestic abuse for one. He’s been beating her for how long? And we all know that just because there’s no paper trail doesn’t mean she doesn’t have witness testimonies, or maybe took days off from old jobs because of incidents. Listen I get it. She acted stupidly because she was afraid. And okay—so we can’t call it breaking and entering. But it was forcible entry. She didn’t want to let him in. He pushed passed her.”
“Valid point. So we get him on the abuse charge, and she’s pregnant right? If she said that at anytime to him, a jury would lose their minds.”
“Well this is going a bit better.”
“Yeah if we can find the bastard and get a conviction. Those are big IFs Anderson.”
“Yeah well, I’ll talk to you later, Mike,” I said, having grown tired of the conversation, especially since he
wasn’t telling me what I wanted to hear anymore. We’d have to do this the long way.
But I was prepared to play that game.
Anything for Joanna, and our child
CHAPTER 29
Anderson
“So, what do you want to watch tonight?” I asked, placing the bowl of popcorn on the table.
Joanna sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her legs. She smiled at me, positively glowing. Although she wasn’t showing yet, pregnancy had already made her even more beautiful than normal.
“I’m in the mood for a comedy,” she said.
“All right. Just don’t laugh so hard that you pee on my couch or anything like that.”
“Ha ha,” Joanna said. “I don’t think I’m quite at that stage of pregnancy yet, if you must know.”
I chuckled and flopped down on the couch beside her, giving her a quick peck on the lips as I reached for the remote to start the movie.
And as I expected, she fell asleep only a half hour in.
I simply sat there for a moment, smiling as I watched her sleep, trying to envision what life would be like in less than a year when there were three of us…
Ever since finding out Joanna was pregnant, I’d been elated—surprised by how exciting the thought of having a family had become for me. It hadn’t ever been something I’d given much thought to before, but now, it felt like everything I’d always wanted.
I was just about to pick Joanna up and put her in bed when my cell phone suddenly buzzed.
I grabbed it instantly, seeing that it was Mike.
“What’s up?” I said, keeping my voice low until I was far enough away to not disturb Joanna.
“Where’s Joanna?” he asked.
“Here with me. Why? What is it? Has Zander been spotted?”
“Yes,” Mike said.
The single word sent my heart pounding into overdrive. My ears prickled, waiting to hear more.
“He’s been spotted at some dive bar near you. More than likely, he plans on paying a visit. But he might be scared off if he knows you’re there.”
I grit my teeth. “The bar two miles down from my place?”
February Burning: A Firefighter Secret Baby Romance Page 34
