"Bad news?" Kate asked.
Annie's face was pasty-white, her hands shaking, as she walked to her office without answering. Once she was behind the door of her own private space, she sat at her desk, laid her head down and began to cry. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
Her boss, Baxter, poked his head in and asked, "Annie, may I come in?"
She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes and said, "Yes."
"What's going on? Kate said you got served with some papers and ran in here looking as if you'd seen a ghost."
She handed the papers to him and said, "Dane has filed for divorce."
"Dane? You? Divorce? Is this some sort of joke?"
"I'm afraid not. He moved out a few weeks ago. We'd been… we hadn't been getting along, but I wasn't prepared for this. We haven't talked since he left."
"I can't believe he'd serve you with the papers without at least talking to you about it first, Annie, that just doesn't sound like Dane. I've gotten to know him pretty well since you married him."
"I can't believe it, either. I tried to call him Friday night, but he never returned my call."
"Annie, you need to talk to him. Take the rest of the day off. Hell, take tomorrow off, too. If Maci did this to me, I know I wouldn't be able to concentrate on work."
"That's very kind of you, Baxter."
"Hey, you need to straighten this out. Family comes first. You know that's the rule of thumb around here. Your job will still be here. Now, go, talk some sense into that man of yours."
"I'm going to take you up on that. I need to talk to my husband. This has gone way too far."
"Good luck, Annie."
"Thanks, I have the feeling I'm going to need it."
Annie shut off her computer, put her work away and locked everything up before she grabbed her purse and the manila envelope then headed out the door. She told Kate goodbye on her way out and rushed to her car. Not knowing what to do first, she drove to Dax's apartment and rang the bell. When her handsome brother-in-law answered, she asked, "Is your brother here?"
"Come in, Annie," Dax offered as he stepped aside to let her in.
"Is he here?" she asked again.
"No, I'm sorry; he's still at work. He said something about working late tonight."
"Dax, do you know anything about these papers?" she asked, holding up the envelope.
"Sorry to say, I do. Come sit down. Let's talk."
"I suppose you hate me now, Dax."
"On the contrary, I think my brother's a damn fool. But I want to hear from you, just what the hell is going on, Annie?"
She sat down. "W-what do you mean? How much did Dane tell you?"
"First of all, can I get you anything? Water, soda, something stronger?" Dax asked.
"Please, I'll take whisky, beer, anything you have. I need something right about now. Thank you."
Dax went to the liquor cabinet on the other side of the room and poured out two glasses of whisky. He added ice cubes, turned to her and asked if she wanted Coke with hers.
"No, I'll drink it straight."
"I don't doubt it," he mumbled as she walked back to her and handed a glass to her. "Now, talk to me."
"We had another fight the other night. The next morning, I was all ready to apologize, but when I got up, he was gone. He'd left a note that said we both needed some space. I've wanted to call, but every time, I hung up. I wanted to honor his wishes. I finally left a voicemail the other night, but he never called back. Then, today, these were served to me at the office. Baxter gave me the afternoon off to find Dane and straighten things out. I don't want a divorce, Dax."
Dax rubbed his hand over his face and took a drink. "Damn, it's not for me to say, hon. But you do need to talk to Dane. You need to do it soon. Let me ask you this. Do you love him?"
"Of course, I love him."
"And there is no one else?"
"No, of course not. I love Dane, and I want to work this out. Will you at least tell him I stopped by?"
"Yes, I will. Good luck, Annie. I'm sorry it's come to this. I really am. When he saw you with your old lover, he just went off the deep end, kind of gave up. I've never seen my strong older brother that defeated."
"H-he saw me, at the club? Dax, that was innocent. Angela insisted on getting me out of the house. Russ was there, and he sat down to chat. He asked me to dance, but when he got out of hand, I told him in no uncertain terms that I was married and I intended to stay that way. You've got to tell Dane."
"I think you should tell him, but I'll try to talk to him when he comes home."
After her conversation with her brother-in-law, she went home, hopeful that Dax could talk some sense into his older brother. Surprised and delighted that Dax was actually on her side, that fact gave her reason to think things might work out after all.
She put the divorce papers in the desk drawer in the den and walked into the bathroom. She decided to soak away her tension in warm, lavender-scented bath, so she stripped out of her clothes and filled the tub. As she sank into the luxurious bubbles, she leaned back, allowing herself to relax for the first time since receiving the awful delivery at the office.
Totally drained from the afternoon, she was almost asleep as she relaxed in the tub. She didn't hear the front door open or the footsteps in the hallway.
His footsteps silent on the thick carpeting in the bedroom, Annie jumped when a familiar voice said, "Annie, are you here? Dax said I needed to come over here. So, here I am. You want to talk, all right. I'm here. If you want to tell me to my face what's going on, get in here and talk. Let's get this over with."
"Dane, is that you?"
"Of course, it's me. Who do you think it is? Unless you've already given your lover a key to my house," he replied in a sarcastic tone.
She got out of the tub, dried herself quickly and walked into the bedroom wrapped in the towel.
"My what?" she asked.
"Annie, I didn't come over here to fight with you. The fighting is over. I'm giving you what you want, anything, take it all. I'm setting you free to be with the love of your life."
"Dane, you've got it all wrong, baby," she said as she ran to him and put her arms around his neck.
He sighed, closed his eyes and removed her arms. "Annie, what the hell are you trying to do? You want both of us; one man's not enough for you anymore? What, you want to take turns, or you want a threesome? Maybe you're into the reverse harem thing nowadays. How would I know?"
As tears pricked her eyelids, she asked, "Didn't Dax tell you what I told him? How can you say such vile things to me?"
"Dax told me to get my ass over here and talk to you. He said you stopped by. I don't know why you didn't just sign the damn papers and leave them at his place. Why did I have to come over here and get them?"
"Dane, I'm not going to sign the papers."
"Why the hell not?" he asked as he tried to keep his eyes on her face and not her luscious naked body beneath the skimpy towel that covered it.
"I don't want to," she replied stubbornly.
"The sooner you sign them, the sooner we can put this whole farce of a marriage behind us and the sooner you can move on with your lover."
"Is that what you really want, Dane?" she asked as she gently caressed his face.
He took her hand from his face and answered, "Annie, I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing here."
She moved closer to him, letting the towel drop to the floor. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled his face down to hers, letting her lips touch his gently. She bit his lower lip before she kissed him. He surrendered to the kiss, pulling her to him and forcing his tongue between her teeth as she willingly opened her mouth to allow him access. He caressed her back, and her hands went to his thick dark hair. She moaned as she ran her fingers through it.
"Make love to me, Dane," she whispered.
Abruptly, he released her. "Get some clothes on, Annie."
"What's wrong with you?" she as
ked as she grabbed a robe from the bed and wrapped herself in it.
"What's wrong with me? You're all over that guy on the dance floor, now you try to cozy up to me, and you ask me what's wrong with me? I didn't know you could be such a slut, Annie. I guess I was wrong about you all along."
"Dane, I… wasn't all over him. I know you saw us. Dax told me, but it's not what you think. He walked over to our table, asked me to dance, and we talked. He kissed me; I didn't kiss him. If you'd stuck around long enough, you'd have seen me pull away and tell him I was a married woman. I left right after that."
"Mighty convenient that he shows up in town after I tell you to go find him, don't you think, Annie? I wasn't born yesterday. Like I said, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but it's not going to work. I'm not going to share you with him or let you compare us so you can make up your mind which one of us you want. Sign the damn papers. I'm giving you an easy out here."
"I don't want out," she replied.
"Could have fooled me, baby," he said. "If you're not going to sign the papers, I'm leaving. There's nothing more to be said until you sign them. Goodbye, Annie."
"Dane, don't leave me," she cried out as he turned and walked out of the room. She heard the front door slam behind him. She sank down to the floor and held her head in her hands while she sobbed her heart out.
When she'd finally composed herself, she called Angela. "Angela, my God, what am I going to do?"
"What's happened? Did you talk to Dane?"
"Yes, and it's bad, Angela. He saw me with Russ at the club and imagined the worst. He had divorce papers drawn up."
"Did you tell him you don't want Russ, and you sure as hell don't want a divorce?"
"I tried. I spoke to Dax, and he knows the truth. Instead of telling Dane, he sent him over here for me to tell him. Only Dane thought he was coming here to collect the signed papers. I tried to talk to him, I tried to seduce him and nothing worked. He thinks I'm with Russ, and I'm trying to compare them so I can make up my mind. H-he called me… a slut."
"Dane called you a slut? That's not the Dane I know. He must really be pissed about the whole Russ scene, I guess. Oh, Annie, what are you going to do? What did Dax say? Was he an ass to you?"
"Believe it or not, Dax wants Dane and me to work it out."
"I think I need to have that talk with Dax. Maybe between the two of us, we can bring Dane around."
"I really think Dane's mind is made up. And Russ coming to town has just made things ten times worse than what they already were. I love Dane. I'm as sure of that as I'm sure my name is Ann Margret Slade Daring. But he won't believe me."
"Leave things to me. I'm thinking of a plan right now, but I'm going to need Dax's help. I'll get back to you."
"I don't think it's going to do any good, whatever it is you're thinking," Annie replied sadly.
"Calm down, drink a glass of wine, and leave it to me."
"I'm going to bed. I can't deal with this anymore today. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Baxter told me to take a few days off to sort all this out."
"I knew I liked that guy," Angela answered. "I'm going to hang up and go to the gym to see if Dax might be there; you get some rest. I know you have to be emotionally drained by now."
"That's the understatement of the year."
Annie hung up and fell into bed. After mulling everything over in her mind several times, she finally fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
When she woke, she checked her phone and saw that there were no messages. Then she reluctantly got up and went to the kitchen to warm up a can of soup. She didn't have an appetite, but she needed to keep her strength up. She was going to need every ounce of strength she could muster to fight for her marriage in the days and weeks to come.
"You're in for the fight of your life, Dane Daring. I won't give you up, no matter what it takes," she said as she poured the soup into a bowl.
Chapter 4
Angela walked into the gym and looked around. She had been hoping to find Dax there, and she wasn't disappointed. He was lifting weights on the other side of the room. Determined to enlist his help, she started to head toward him. She stood for a moment first, drinking in the sight of his muscles, his sweat slickened skin, and the pure animal magnetism of the fine specimen of a man in front of her. He looked a lot like Dane, but his hair wasn't quite as dark, and he sported a neat goatee and mustache, where his brother was clean-shaven. Finally, she forced herself to stop drooling and get down to the business at hand.
As she approached him, Dax looked up and said, "Angela, hello."
"Dax, I was hoping you'd be here. We need to talk about your brother and my best friend."
Dax set down the weights and walked over to her. "I agree," he said as he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the snack bar. "Let's go in here and get some juice."
After they were seated with tall glasses of orange juice in front of them, Angela began, "Dax, I'll get right to the point. Dane and Annie need our help. I'm afraid this whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion, and with Russ back in town, it doesn't look like it's going to get any better. I was hoping you'd be willing to help me. Any ideas?"
"I've actually been thinking about calling you. As I said, I agree with you wholeheartedly. They do need help; that's for sure. Dane won't listen to me. He thinks he's doing the noble thing, giving Annie her freedom. He's hurting like crazy, but he loves her enough to let her go, because he thinks it's what she wants."
"It isn't what she wants; that's the problem, Dax. She loves your brother. She didn't ask Russ to come back here. She has no use for that jackass."
"She told me. You know I was against the two of them getting married so quickly at first, but I've grown fond of my sister-in-law over the past few years. I think, though, maybe I'm better off without a steady woman, or a wife, after all this. Having said that, I would want a woman like Annie if I ever decided to tie the knot. I've seen how she looks at my brother. To have a woman care for me that way would be great. Or at least I was beginning to think so before this latest fiasco."
"Are you willing to help, then?" Angela asked, holding her breath as she waited for his reply. "You see, too, that they belong together?"
"What are you thinking? Do you have a plan? I'm not sure we can do anything to make this better."
"I think we need to do the old-fashioned interfering routine. You get him someplace and I'll get her to the same place… they can take it from there."
"Where'd you have in mind, Angela? He'll never go back to the club where he saw her kissing Russ."
"There's always Eclipse," she replied with a grin.
"Ah, yes, Eclipse. I've spent many a night there. Okay, Saturday night, eight o'clock, I'll get him there, and you bring her. But don't be disappointed if this doesn't work. It may be too late for Dane and Annie."
"He loves her. You said so yourself, and she loves him. How can it ever be too late?"
"Typical female reasoning; love conquers all, and all that," he replied with a chuckle.
"Try it sometime. You might like it," she retorted as she got up to leave.
"So, Angela, are you going to dance with me Saturday night?"
"Are you asking?"
"I reckon I am," he said with a wink.
"We'll see." She smiled and walked away, leaving Dax staring after her with an open mouth and a glint in his eye.
As she got into the car, she sighed. One down, two to go. Dax was on board, now she had to worry about Dane and Annie.
She drove to Annie's house after work the next day. Annie should be at home, since her boss had given her a few days off. Angela pulled into the driveway and sat for a minute before getting out of the car. Finally, she went to the front door and rang the doorbell. As she looked around, she remembered when Annie and Dane had bought the house a year ago. Annie had worked hard on the landscaping as well as the interior. She had decorated it in the latest style, farmhouse modern, with a white kitchen and white,
beige and navy accents throughout. It was an older house that had been recently remodeled before they purchased it. There were three bedrooms, one of which they were currently using as an office. Dane managed a busy mechanic shop and did a lot of his paperwork at home. Besides the beautiful kitchen, there was a living area in the open house plan. Since there was a large island in the kitchen with several bar stools, the dining area was small. The master bedroom was large with an ensuite bathroom. There was a second bath and bedroom for guests. A two-car garage completed the picture. The house was cute, in a nice neighborhood, a great place to raise a family, with a nice-sized back yard. That had been the plan, and now, sadly, it might never happen.
Annie opened the door. "Angela, hi, come on in."
"How're you doing today?" Angela asked as she followed her friend into the living room.
"Not good, I'm afraid. I must have picked up the phone a hundred times to call or text Dane."
"But you didn't?" Angela asked.
"No, I didn't. I was afraid he'd hang up on me or not even answer."
"Saturday night, let's go out again. We can go to Eclipse. It's been ages since we've been there. What do you say, get out of the house?"
"After what happened the last time you and I went out? Are you crazy?"
"Probably, but what are the chances of Russ being there? You just need to get out, to pass the time a little, until you can get Dane to see reason. We don't have to stay long. You can't stay cooped up in this house hiding from the world forever."
"I'll have dinner, and we'll see about staying for some of the entertainment, but I'm not making any promises. I guess I have to get used to girls' night out again, since it looks like I'm going to be single eventually. Dane's not going to give up on this divorce thing."
"Good girl. Now, I've got to run. I'll call you Saturday." Angela stood up. "I'll let myself out. Are you going to work tomorrow?"
"If I can force myself to get out of bed in the morning, yes, I am."
"I'm so sorry, Annie; it'll get better, one way or the other."
"Yeah, right," Annie replied.
Angela left her then and drove home to her own apartment, the one she used to share with Annie when they'd first moved to Florida. Ten minutes after she'd sat down, her cell rang.
The Daring Doms Page 4
