by Anna Collins
Chapter 11
I had to calm myself down by throwing cold water on my face to shock my system back to reality. I felt like I wanted to keep screaming. I had a feeling he was in my bedroom, but I didn’t even bother to turn on the lights before turning in.
I lay there for quite some time in the dark watching the shadows outside dance across the room. I had no choice. I brought the sheets over my head and made it into a safe cocoon. I didn’t sleep well. I kept waking up every hour to search the house for intruders. I was beginning to think investing in a gun wasn’t a bad idea. I knew the statistics of owning a firearm. Most gun accidents happened at home. I finally settled down at 4 am. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them again until the sound of wildlife made me open them.
I threw the sheets back to see the first sliver of light coming through the curtains. It wasn’t my proudest moment. I was hesitant to look around, but I did notice a few dresser drawers had been left askew. I didn’t find anything missing, but my underwear drawer had been ruffled through like he was getting a perverse thrill. He probably just wanted me to know he could get to me anywhere at any time; making me feel uncomfortable was his stock in trade.
I heard something downstairs and thinking it was the intruder coming back, I grabbed an old looking cane from the closet. I carried it in a menacing fashion downstairs. I heard the clanging of dishes, and I turned the corner to see Casper was cooking breakfast.
“Jesus Christ…doesn’t anybody around here knock anymore,” I said as I put down the cane and walked around the island to see what other delicacies he was making.
The one delectable dish not on the menu was standing right there in profile. His body was a masterpiece. I had already been privileged enough to explore the many different contours of his body. I wanted to do it all over again and make it a daily occurrence; the thought had me salivating like a dog in heat.
“I’m sorry, but I had this idea of returning the favor about breakfast. You were so kind making one for me; it seemed unfair I didn’t give back in kind. If you don’t mind me saying, you look exceptionally sexy this morning. I don’t know how it is possible, but you seem better and better every time I see you. You give me the strength to carry on. I thought after my wife tossed me to the curb, I would be a drifter meant to walk this earth alone. I’m just another heartbroken man looking for somebody to save me. I know how it might sound, but before you came along I was rudderless,” Casper said as I went and danced around him, every so often touching him inappropriately to see what kind of a reaction I was going to get.
I needed him to be in a right frame of mind to answer my questions. To get him on the defensive side would only make things more difficult. I put the plates down, and I was happy to see most of the cutlery had been left behind as part of the rental agreement. I did have to give them a good scrubbing, but it was worth it in the end.
I had on a threadbare pair of jeans with the knees, and ass cut out in them; it was the style of the day. I also had on a light crimson colored shirt tied at the waist giving him a bird’s eye view of my naval. I saw him stealing glances every so often, and the result was pretty damn clear from the bulge in his pants.
“I would ask how you got in here, but I don’t think I really want to know the answer. I don’t like men thinking they can invade my personal space any damn time they want to. I don’t mean to get upset, but last night I had an unusual visitor. I don’t mind telling you I was scared and this man had his sights set on you. He was trying to warn me I should be weary of who you really are underneath the handyman I see every day. Do you want to tell me what he was talking about, or am I supposed to guess? Don’t even think about lying; I can’t stand when someone thinks they are in a position to tell me something that’s not true,” I said hoping I was gonna be able to do this with a more casual attitude, but last night did turn me into a basket case.
“I’m not sure I should tell you anything about my past. It’s better you don’t know and having that plausible deniability might come in handy one day. Tell me what the man looked like. I don’t think I would know who he was even if I was standing right next to him. I’m guessing from the way he forced himself into your life, he didn’t identify himself as any authority. That can only mean he’s freelance, so he is even more dangerous,” Casper said as he walked over with the pan in hand to give me a breakfast I was going to stick to my ribs.
“It stands to reason this man has it out for you, but it’s not because he has made it personal. This man wants only what is due to him which of course comes at your expense. I get the feeling there’s some sort of bounty on your head, and this man came to collect. He had me a little frazzled last night, and I wasn’t able to think straight. However, when I finally was able to calm down enough to do so, it became abundantly clear you have a checkered past. I just have to decide whether or not I want to stick around and face this with you or leave you to fend for yourself,” I dug into the eggs; they were unusual but still tasty enough to go well with the aroma of bacon. It all tickled my taste buds.
“I was wondering how long it was going to take for one of them to find me. I just recently learned there is indeed a bounty on my head. I thought it would be a lot more than $250,000, but that kind of money can change a life in the blink of an eye. I’m grateful you brought this to my attention. If you think for a moment this is going to stop me from doing the work around here, then you have another thing coming,” Casper said laying the bombshell on the table and letting me wonder when it was going to explode in my face.
I called my realtor to see if he was going to show up with Maria, but there was only a dial tone. I tried several times in the morning, but all I got was a messaging service. He was a busy man, but it would not preclude Maria from showing up to finish what she started yesterday. She’d done such a remarkable job on the place, I wanted her to come back weekly. She would give me a break and make it unnecessary for me to clean during my sabbatical from my own life.
“I get this feeling you’re purposely trying to keep me in the dark, and I don’t like it one bit. If I’m going to be with you in the Biblical sense, then I think it would be a good idea to be on the same playing field. I’m not going to demand you to show me the courtesy of being honest. I would think this is something you want to do. Give me the benefit of the doubt and let me decide if I’m going to stick around or run before it gets too messy,” I said staring at his wild looking eyes and that trepidation on his face coming from not knowing whether he could trust me with the truth or not.
“I want to tell you, but to do so would only put you in more danger. Let’s just say it’s a huge misunderstanding. What they believe about me is a total falsehood perpetrated by somebody who wants to see me out of the way. I haven’t been able to figure out who that is, but they have done remarkably well making sure I’m not going to be a threat to whatever they have up their sleeve. I can’t even reach out to my wife because the authorities are monitoring her calls. It’s probably better this way, and I really don’t have anything good to say to her right about now anyway. No doubt she’s shacking up with some hunky looking young thing; she’s trying to distract herself from the press staking their claim to the front gate of our estate,” Casper said making it sound like he had money to burn; I had already come to this conclusion myself.
“You haven’t said as much, but I gather from how you easily immersed yourself into the elegance of Wes and Rita’s lifestyle, you are quite content in those surroundings. Do I take it you have a lot of money? Are we talking about the kind you can roll around on the bed and throw it up into the air? Do you have millions, or is it more like billions tied up somewhere you can’t seem to reach?” I asked as we finished off the plate of food. I was quite happy to see a man looking as sexy as he could still bring a semblance of romance cooking for me.
“I have more money than I know what to do with. I can’t access any of it because of the way the authorities put a freeze on my accounts. I have one account for a rainy day they
are not aware of. I have used it to help me live modestly in Bali. I have a nice place not too far away from here on the beach. It’s secluded and away from everybody else. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy roughing it, but I find getting back to what makes a man something I have lacked,” Casper said as he picked up the plate I had just finished and took it back into the kitchen along with his own.
There was no dishwasher, and he had to do everything by hand. He seemed a little like a fish out of the water, but it kind of gave him a humbling experience. I had to sit there and cross my legs repeatedly to give myself a little bit of relief from the heat he was causing me doing chores. I didn’t know why it made me so damn hot to see him scrubbing the dishes and drying them by hand. I imagined a lot of x rated movies started off exactly like this. In this case, it was the man instead of the woman at the sink doing the dishes waiting to be surprised by the opposite sex.
I couldn’t help myself. I got up and very slowly and carefully approached him from behind. I didn’t want to do anything to startle him. I did, however, want to wrap my hands around that hunky piece of beef. I put my hand underneath his open shirt and the impact of my cold hands really did make him jump almost 3 feet into the air. One of the dishes almost slipped from his manly hands, but he was able to hold onto it. It was covered in soap and slippery to touch.
“I haven’t decided anything about you yet. I do know the man who came here last night had this air of military experience. I’m guessing from what you have told me he most likely is a mercenary. If I were him, I would stake out this place all morning until you showed up and then make my move. You say you won’t allow this man to run you out of my life, but how can you say that when he could have his cross hairs on you right now?” I stated with this need to touch him with the danger persisting in the air like an ax over my head.
“I’m tired of running from my past. It’s been a few months, and I’m still not any closer to learning the truth. I have a few friends still looking out for my best interest. They have been digging discreetly. I told them not to do anything that was going to attract attention. They have come up empty each and every turn like somebody has been one step ahead. I don’t like my life being manipulated like this. I’m always on edge, and there isn’t a day that goes by I don’t feel like I have my own personal shadow. I know it’s just paranoia. I’m beginning to see the hours grow shorter as the days go by. You helped me open up my eyes. I’ve been waiting for you to come into my life for a long time,” Casper said looking a little haggard, but there was also a look of somebody in love in his eyes.
“I have no breath to waste on someone who doesn’t feel I’m worthy enough to be his equal. We might be lovers in a tumultuous time in your life, but that does not give you the right to treat me like I can’t handle whatever this is. You may not know this about me, but I can be quite stubborn. Whatever crime you have committed or are accused of is something I need to know,” I said with my hands touching his waist no longer discreetly and getting more brazen by the second.
The only real weapon in my arsenal was my sexuality. I really didn’t have any experience using this part of myself to make a man whimper in defeat. I was starting to see it was ingrained into me from the moment I was born. I was trying to make him feel guilty for leaving me wonder. I’d always been a dreamer, but now I saw the dream of becoming a writer was something more tangible than just a ghost between my fingers. I loved this intrigue, but it also had me tied up in knots.
“That’s not fair, and you know it. I’ve told you everything I can without making you an accomplice after the fact. By knowingly harboring a criminal, it could make you complicit and turn you into a criminal overnight. I would rather you stayed innocent and not have to worry about my life crumbling down around me,” He said as he tried to pull my fingers from his waist, having no luck whatsoever.
“Where does it say you have to take this on alone? Let me know what’s going on, and I’ll decide if it’s something I can deal with or not. You would be surprised at how much I can handle,” I said as I wanted him to tell me, but at the same time wanted him to pick me up into his arms and carry me like a heroine in a romance book, up the bedroom to a night of passion.
“I don’t want to involve you anymore than I already have, Angel. I know I said I’m innocent, but I haven’t always been that way. A part of me thinks I deserve everything coming my way. I have a lot to make up for. I’ve treated people like puppets. I’ve used them as pawns on a chessboard, and I’ve sacrificed many for my own selfish purposes. I’ve already said I have more money than I can spend in a lifetime, but I’ve always wanted more. It was never good enough. It didn’t matter if I stepped over the little guy to get power. It could be somebody who has taken exception to the way I treat people or maybe it’s someone in general who has decided to treat me to a dose of my own medicine,” Casper said, and I helped him wash the dishes with my soapy fingers around his.
“I don’t want to push this, but you’ve already made me a target. I don’t think it was a coincidence with the land rover. They apparently found you and maybe the man who came to see me last night was not a part of that. I would say you have more than one trying to track you down. What concerns me is the man who found his way into my home last night. I could have let him tell me himself what you were accused of, but I told him I needed to hear it from you. Don’t make me regret my decision,” I said as he was running his fingers through my own. He was trying to distract me, and he was doing a damn fine job of it.
“I think we can find something more to do than talk about my past. I was hoping I could surprise you with breakfast in bed and maybe an early morning delight. I wanted to find you naked, wanting me and crying out my name in your sleep. I know how foolish it sounds. I’ve been watching too many old movies on television. It’s the only real entertainment I’m able to enjoy without risking being discovered. I don’t want this to get out, but I’m really into romantic comedies. I kinda want their lives to be my own. I found my own princess right here underneath my nose. I fantasized and lived vicariously through those characters on the screen, but it wasn’t the same,” Casper said as I made him gasp with my soap covered hands moving up along his rib cage and touching briefly on his nipples.
“I think you have failed to recognize I’m the one in the driver’s seat. I have you all hot and bothered; I could leave you like that and use my own hands to relieve me of my own sexual desires. I don’t want to do it, but you’re placing me in an untenable situation. I don’t like you think you have to protect me all the time,” I said as I pinched those tiny buds and made him thrust out against the counter with the hardness between his legs.
“You’re this close to getting what you want. Are you sure you really want to know? The people coming after me are not going to be very kind to somebody standing behind me. I should walk out the door and make it impossible for you to see me ever again,” Casper said as he stood there and didn’t move a muscle indicating he had no place he wanted to go.
“I’ve always been a straight shooter kind of girl. I never found the perfect fit when it came to a man. You are heaven to this lonely girl. I know what I’ve got for you, but it comes with conditions I’m not sure you can live with. I close my eyes, and I wake up cold and alone. I’m through living like that. I want to show you this raw emotion. Show me my trust in you is not misguided,” I said knowing there was no way I could live on his promises.
Chapter 12
I felt the time was slowing down and he was standing and trying his best to wait me out. I stayed the course and didn’t allow his chiseled physique to distract me.
“I have been subjected to an investigation into a Ponzi scheme. I may cut corners, but I’ve never purposely taken the money and deprived my clients of their retirement funds. There’s always a risk in any investment, and somebody used that against me. I don’t even have any suspicions. I have so many enemies it’s hard to think one of them wouldn’t want some kind of comeuppance. They want me back for
the trial. This place gave me safe passage. They can’t get to me legally, so they send these clowns to try to take me by force. I’m a little surprised it has taken this long, but also a little upset they were able to find me at all. Somebody has been talking and most likely for a cut of the bounty on my head,” Casper said looking like he was sincere, but there was really no way to know the full story unless I was able to cut through all of the lies.
“I know this relationship has been something of a surprise for the both of us. I don’t know where this is going, but I do trust you’re telling me the truth. You have no idea how hard it was for me to admit. It couldn’t have been easy for you to tell me any of this, especially when you know it could lead to your imprisonment. You have to take solace in the fact that this bounty is most likely for you to be taken alive and not dead. That is of course if the person framing you hasn’t decided to take you off the playing board permanently,” I said as I heard the snap of his pants coming undone underneath my agile fingers.
He was literally shaking, and I unzipped his pants on purpose. I pulled them and his underwear down to his knees and with both of my hands covered his equipment, feeling the warmth burn my fingers.
“I can’t believe after everything I’ve told you, you still want to be with me, Angel. I think anybody else in your shoes would reconsider. Are you sure you don’t need time to think about this before we pick up where we left off yesterday? Casper said as my fingernails trailed up and down the length of his pipe.
