by A C Warneke
“I wish I could go back in time and hug that little girl,” he murmured, running his thumb over her knuckles.
“But you’re here now and that’s all that matters,” she returned, loving the strength he gave her just by loving her.
“I’m glad you’ve been away the past three years,” he said with a half-smile.
Her lips quirked upwards slightly as she asked, “What makes you say that?”
“Because if you had come back any sooner, Asher would have swooped in and stolen you away before we ever had a chance to meet,” he said, making her heart turn to mush. “And I would have been insane with jealousy.”
“You say the sweetest things, Harrison,” she murmured, wanting to spend the rest of the night sitting with him but she had to get back to work. Standing up, she went to his side of the table and kissed the top of his head, “Unfortunately, I really have to get back to work now otherwise Maris might fire me.”
He snagged her wrist, holding her in place as he searched her eyes with his. Softly, he murmured, “I think I would have fought him for you. You and me… we’re meant to be.”
Her smile was blinding as she blinked back the unexpected tears. “God, I love you, Harrison.”
Ana didn’t know why her heart was racing so frantically in her chest, why she couldn’t catch her breath. Keeping her smile in place, she walked away from him and all of the emotions he stirred up in her. Hadn’t she made peace with her life? Before Harrison, she knew how her life was going to play out and it wasn’t going to include a super close relationship with her mother. Now, she wished things had been different, that her relationship with her mother hadn’t gone to Hell and never came back, that she hadn’t sent it to Hell.
She was just being sentimental because she was going to get her period soon. She always got weepy around this time of the month. Being with Harrison only made it worse because he was stripping away all of the armor around her heart. Apparently the armor hadn’t been particularly strong but he had been the only one who had ever gotten close enough to knock it down. He had snuck into her heart before she even knew him. God, her aunt should have warned her that he was the author of her favorite books. Then she might have been prepared for the maelstrom of confusion and passion he brought into her life.
If he had been an asshole, she never would have given him a second thought but he wasn’t. He was amazing and he was turning her entire world on its head. Mostly, it was incredible because she finally found the place where she belonged. She was just terrified that it was all just a dream and when she left for California, she’d wake up.
As much as she hoped they’d be able to keep the relationship over the year she’d be away, she knew how difficult it was going to be. Harrison was an incredible man and she had seen the looks women sent his way. Once she was gone, he might start to notice and then where would that leave her? She would have been wise to protect a small piece of her heart that wasn’t already his. Peeking over her shoulder and seeing him sitting there watching over her, she snorted softly. Like that was even possible. Her heart was his and probably had been from the moment they met, even if she didn’t believe in love at first sight.
Jeeze, it was only a year. Even though she had only known him a short time, she already knew he was worth fighting for and no distance, no amount of time, was going to keep her from spending the rest of her life with him and his daughter.
“Ana,” Maris said, snapping her out of her snaking thoughts. “Can you take care of the Jester’s Court? A huge group of hungry baseball players just came in and you’re the only one not waiting a million tables.”
Looking over her shoulder at Harrison, wishing she could keep her single table, she opened her mouth to accept but Maris snorted, “Please, Ana. You’ll have plenty of time for him afterwards.”
Twisting her head back, she tried to protest but Maris was having none of it. “Just get into the Jester’s Court and enjoy the tips. Automatic fifteen percent.”
Ana snapped her mouth shut and heaved a sigh before she headed off to the party room. Snagging her co-worker’s arm as she passed, she asked, “Hey, Joanie. Do you think you can keep an eye on table 7 for me?”
Joanie looked at the table and a huge smile split her face, making Ana wish she hadn’t asked the attractive blond to take care of Harrison. “Officer Miller? Sure, no problem.”
Ana was sorely tempted to grab Joanie’s arm and take back the request but she caught Maris’s eye. Her boss’s gaze was narrowed on her as she nodded towards the party room. Ana realized she probably shouldn’t have eaten those fries and this was her punishment. Of course, it was a backhanded punishment because she was going to get a decent tip.
Pasting a smile onto her face, she entered the room. There’d be time to think about the past, the future, later.
*****
Harrison watched Ana as she walked away, not in a hurry to turn his laptop back on. For every word she spoke, every little thing he discovered about her, he wanted to know more; he wanted to know everything.
He wondered how much time she had spent with her aunt and uncle and why he had never seen her before she showed up in October. Even though it had only been a few weeks, it felt as if he had known her forever and he wondered if his neighbor might have had a hand in playing matchmaker. He was surprisingly okay with that since he liked Helen and James and he really, really liked Ana. From the moment he moved into the house, Helen and James Petersen had been wonderful. They had frequently invited him and Jolie over for dinner and when Helen expressed an interest in books, he had inadvertently blabbed the fact that he was a writer.
Thank god for that small slip of the tongue, since it indirectly brought Ana into his life.
He did wonder why Helen never mentioned how warm, generous, and beautiful her niece was. Helen had asked him if he had a girlfriend and when he admitted he was single, she had gotten a giddy smile that lasted the rest of the night. Was she playing matchmaker? If so, how in the world had she gotten the cat to go along with her plans?
“Hey, Officer Miller,” a perky blond said, stopping at the side of his table and pulling him out of his thoughts. “Can I get you a refill?”
“I’m good,” he said, trying to keep an eye on Ana without being too rude. Even though she was in the other room, he still had a few glimpses of her. No one would ever have guessed the turbulence that hid just beneath the surface as she worked the room with her charm and grace. If he wasn’t mistaken, most of the men in that room were already enchanted by her.
The blond girl bent down and blocked his view so he was forced to look at her. With a smile, she said, “Ana’s going to be swamped in the party room. In fact, she sent me over to take care of you.”
Harrison blinked his eyes as he heard the blatant flirtation in her voice. Maybe the girl was one of the few people who hadn’t witnessed the way he stole away with Ana on Halloween night. Clearing his throat, he pulled his laptop closer and offered a smile, “I’m good.”
“Well, if you’re going to want to continue sitting here, you’re going to have to order something.”
Would it be okay if he ordered an Ana to go? No, she had to work. If he was a wise man, he’d let her work and he’d head home to write since she was still a distraction by just being in the same vicinity as him. Except he had driven her in and, to be honest, he didn’t want to leave. And why the heck did he have to order something? His brother and cousin were co-owners of the place….
Turning his head, he caught Maris’s mischievous grin and he sighed, “Could I get another burger?”
He would have ordered dessert but Ana had spoiled him and he discovered that he couldn’t eat any sweets that weren’t prepared by Ana’s hands. Glancing past the waitress, he saw Ana laughing at something one of the guys had just said. The guy puffed up his chest and asked her something but she shook her head no and moved on to the next guy. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the little prick had just asked her out. If he had persisted, Harrison
might have stormed in there and made a repeat performance of Halloween.
This possessive streak was definitely stronger and he still wasn’t used to it. Was it wrong to admit he was tempted to follow her out to California? He was certain Jolie would love it but it was impractical beyond belief.
For an hour he watched Ana going in and out of the room, working harder than a dozen waiters. Her hair was falling out of the ponytail, tendrils of the silky strands were clinging to her flushed face, but her smile never faltered. When she got off work, he’d run a bath for her. Then he’d wash her hair and scrub her back and if things led to the bed, he wouldn’t object.
As soon as the last ball player left, Ana came back over to the table and plopped down onto the seat. Her arms crossed in front of her on the table and her head fell forward as she rested her cheek on her arms. She smiled up at him even though he could see the exhaustion in her eyes. “So, did you miss me?”
“Very much,” he said, brushing a strand of her hair from her face, letting his fingers linger on her temple.
“Did you get any work done?”
“Not a single word,” he admitted nodding towards the computer that had fallen asleep nearly an hour before. Rubbing her temple, he asked, “How long is your break?”
“Five minutes,” she said, letting her eyes slide close. “Will you wake me up?”
He chuckled as he continued to massage her head, just needing to touch her. “I think I’m going to put a sign around your neck that says you’re taken because some of those men looked ready to beg you for your hand in marriage.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” she said on a sigh, her lips curled into a sweet smile. “I told them all that I’m already married.”
His heart shuttered to a stop and his hand stilled on her head. “Excuse me?”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him with amusement, “I’m not really married, Harrison. Unless you’re asking?”
“When I ask you to marry me, it isn’t going to be at Jesters on your break,” he scoffed. Trying to pretend he hadn’t thought about marrying her at least a hundred times, he added, “Besides, we haven’t known one another long enough to think about marriage.”
Color climbed into her cheeks as she let her eyes drift shut, this time to shut him out. Was she as certain of their future as he was? Swallowing against the lump in his throat, he asked, “Would you marry me?”
Her smile widened as she kept her eyes closed and asked, “Are you asking?”
He chuckled even as his blood started to pump furiously through his veins. “My parents got married seven days after they met.”
“My parents never married at all,” she said, reminding him of a previous conversation.
Knowing that he was treading on dangerous ground, he asked, “Right.”
“It’s the reason my relationship with my mom was fractured,” she answered, pushing herself up into a sitting position, her lips in a pained smile.
“Is she the reason you held off on having sex?” he asked, his heart pounding in his throat.
“Sort of. I wanted the fairy tale my mom told me so I waited for love.” Color flooded her cheeks as she looked down at her hands on the table. “When I was young and stupid, though, the reason I held off had more to do with your cousin than it did with my mom.”
The heart that had been thudding away in his throat suddenly stopped and it took a few moments to get it started back up again. Clearing his throat, he asked, “How so?”
“I can’t believe we’re discussing this here,” she said with an embarrassed laugh.
“Me, neither,” he agreed, needing to hear her answer before he could take another breath. “Well? What does Asher have to do with you holding onto your virginity for so long?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard the story about how we met?” she asked. At his tight nod, she huffed out a breath and said, “There was a little bit more to it. A few hours after I hit his car, we were kissing behind one of the booths that were set up and my aunt appeared. She reamed him a new one for even thinking about kissing her sixteen-year-old niece and then she dragged me back to my car and told me to go back home. That night, my aunt sat me down and had The Talk with me, which was incredibly awkward for both of us. It was obvious that she didn’t trust Asher to not try anything with me so she made me promise to get my education before I gave up my V card since pregnancy is the natural outcome of sex, especially since birth control occasionally failed. She begged me until I promised I’d hold off until I graduated before I did the deed.”
“I’m sure there was more to it than that,” he said, unable to believe someone as passionate as Ana would truly keep such a promise, no matter how grateful he was that she had. A part of him wished he would have kept his dick in his pants after his divorce since each and every fuck had been so damned hollow, especially compared to his time with Ana.
“She talked about respecting one’s body and the emotions involved, the possibilities of disease, yadda yadda yadda,” Ana said evasively before her eyes lit up. Leaning closer, she said in a hushed voice, “But then she told me that the right man would come along and everything she had just said would get blown away. I was just waiting for you.”
He stared at her for a moment before he choked on a laugh, “She did not say that.”
Shaking her head no, Ana sat back in her seat and laughed. “No, she didn’t but she should have. Instead, there were pictures… pictures, Harrison, of diseased body parts. I’m certain she found pictures of the plague and threw some of those in there as well. After that, there was no one that was tempting enough to make me forget. Well, until you but I think that had more to do with the fact that I am madly in love with you.”
“I’m honored, I think,” he said with a slight grin. Whatever her past, he wanted her to be his wife, the mother of Jolie, the mother to his future children and he wanted to practice making said children even if it would be a few years before they’d start their family. Jesus, he was so far gone. Wanting to get her home and naked and into his bed, he leaned closer to her and ask in a husky voice, “What time do you get off tonight?”
“I don’t know,” she grinned, leaning towards him so that their noses were almost touching. “It depends on what you do to me once we get home.”
His cock surged upwards at the sultry promise of her words and it took him a moment to find his tongue. “Jesus, Ana. If you’re not careful, I’ll steal you away right now and fuck you in the front seat of my truck. Again.”
Her eyes darkened and her breath hitched in her throat and he knew it wouldn’t take more than a gentle nudge to get her to go along with the idea, even if her break was nearly over. Glancing around the restaurant to see if anyone was paying any attention to them, he grimaced when he saw Asher sitting at the bar glaring right back. Ever since the confrontation the day after Halloween, his cousin had been acting like a royal prick, which was understandable since he had let Ana slip through his fingers
Ignoring his cousin, he lowered his voice and crooned, “I don’t want to rush anything. When we get home, I am going to savor every inch of you.”
Her smile was soft and sweet and he never wanted to see her without it. “I’m going to hold you to that, Harrison. I should be getting off in about an hour. So, are you going to wait for me?”
“Absolutely,” he murmured brushing her hair from her face and letting his fingers linger on her smooth cheek. “Since we came in my car.”
“Right,” she grinned. “That’s good because I think I’d drive anywhere with you.”
“We can take a road trip next year,” he said, willing to promise her everything. “We can go camping. Unless you don’t want to.”
“Harrison,” she smiled, cupping his jaw. Smoothing her tongue along her lower lip as her eyes darkened, she murmured, “I’d love to. Now, I really have to go before Maris fires me.”
His lips curved up into a huge smile because he was going to marry this girl. Grabbing his laptop, he p
owered it back up and started typing, the words filling up the screen almost as quickly as the images popped into his head. Every now and then, he’d glance up and catch Ana smiling at him but then she’d turn back to her customer and he’d return to the world of Justice and Mercy.
Around ten, Harrison was pulled out of his world when he heard Ana’s name followed by a loud crash. Jerking his head up, he saw Maris standing on the low stage, smiling at Ana. Ana, on the other hand, was as white as a ghost, her eyes wide and her lips curved into a strained smile. Now that he knew her better, he knew that look of terror and he wondered what he had missed. She staggered woodenly towards the stage as her coworkers urged her on, her limbs suddenly moving very un-Ana-like.
“Give a round of applause for Ana Smithfield,” Maris continued as Ana stepped onto the stage, her skin now faintly green. “She’s been here for over a month and we haven’t gotten her up here to sing.”
Maris pressed the microphone into Ana’s hands and then stepped back to the controls to start the song. Despite the frozen smile on her face, it was apparent to anyone with eyes that Ana was terrified. As the music started to play, Ana just stood there with that painful smile and those wide eyes. She was looking right at him but she didn’t seem to be able to see him. Crap, he was going to have to do something he never thought he’d ever do. He was going to have to get up on that stage and sing.
Roughly, he pushed through the crowd until he reached her side. Her fingers were frozen as he pried the mic from her hands. “Ana.”
She flinched as she slowly turned her head and faced him and it took her a few moments before she recognized him. Her voice was whisper soft as she said, “I’m going to be sick.”
Touching her cheek, he murmured, “Focus on me.”
Her pupils had swallowed her irises, making her green eyes black, and he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to make it through this without puking or passing out. He hoped she chose the second option because he had no problem carrying her out of there. The notes of a familiar love song started to play again and he swallowed thickly before he opened his mouth and let the first words come out.
