My voice was sucked dry of any remorse. “She was.”
With the pad of his thumb, Andrew swiped away a tear that escaped. He titled my chin up and brushed his lips against mine. While brief, it was electrifying.
Andrew’s gaze was a concoction of endearment and lust as he pulled back. “You’re mother did do one thing right.” He smiled. “She had you.”
I stared up at the ceiling, restless and unable to sleep. Andrew had generously given his bedroom to me while he slept upstairs in his office. Frustrated, my feet shoved the covers to the end of the bed. The kiss we’d shared gave me a worse caffeine jolt than coffee. I felt energized from head to toe. Also, it didn’t help matters that his room smelled like his cologne. Spicy with a hint of danger.
“Damn it,” I groaned.
Why did Andrew have to be such a gentleman? It was as if he was born in the nineteen hundreds or something. Having sex wouldn’t ruin anything between us, unless it was bad. I could say with one hundred percent certainty though—it would be the opposite of bad. His lips were just as talented as his hands. I should march up to his office and claim the orgasm I desperately needed. Flipping over on my stomach, I threw a pillow on top of my head. My two-year dry spell was turning me into a crazed lunatic. A couple beats passed as the ache at the center of my sex ebbed.
Dishware crashing sounded from the kitchen. Nerves skittered down my spine as I sprung upwards. I cocked my ear thinking I was mistaken. Another crash was heard but this time it sounded like glass shattering. My street kid instincts kicked into high gear. On the balls of my feet, I walked across the hardwood floors and cracked open the door. Andrew’s apartment was pitch black. Grabbing the nearest object, an umbrella, I ventured into the hallway. Adrenalin sent my pulse to rise. If Big Ted was in the apartment, he was in for a surprise. I raised the umbrella like a baseball bat as I neared the kitchen. Muttered curses floated in the air. The voice sounded male, although, it was hard to distinguish whom it belonged to. My money was on Big Ted because why would Andrew be burglarizing his own apartment at 3:00 a.m.?
Big Ted had showed his true colors this afternoon and they weren’t pretty. He was desperate enough to kill but armed with only an umbrella, it wouldn’t be easy to take Big Ted to the ground. Feeling my way along the last three feet, my hand groped for the light switch. Located, the kitchen was bathed in blinding white light.
I jumped from my hiding spot around the corner and swung before looking. “You can’t get me that easily, motherfucker.”
The umbrella cracked against a body part—which one I had no clue—but it connected followed by a manly scream.
“WHAT THE FUCK, HAVEN?”
Andrew’s voice snapped me out of ninja mode. Blinking, a pissed off Andrew glared at me with a red bump already forming on his forehead.
I stared at him dumbfounded. “You’re not Big Ted.”
“No, I’m not.”
Looking around, I saw the kitchen in a state of disaster. Plates lay cracked on the floor, glass littered the counters, and cupboards were wide open. “What happened?”
Andrew rubbed his forehead. “I came downstairs to grab a glass of water and forgot my glasses. I’m incredibly blind without them.”
“Can you see me?”
“Kind of. You’re a very pretty blob.”
Laughing, I set the umbrella to the side. Relief it was Andrew and not Big Ted in the kitchen dropped my adrenaline rapidly, causing my hands to shake. Big Ted had planted a seed of fear in my mind.
“Do you turn into the Hulk when you’re blind? You made a huge mess.”
“I went to go grab a glass but my elbow knocked off a plate instead. It was like a bad game of dominos.”
“So you’re just incredibly clumsy?”
A blush heated his cheeks. “Guess so.”
“Ok. I’ll grab your glasses and then we clean up.”
“Thank you. They are in the guest bathroom.”
“You got it.”
Andrew’s office was what you would describe as neat chaos. The pull out bed had his laptop and a pile of sketches piled near his pillow as if he’d fallen asleep working. Standing on the threshold, an overwhelming urge to snoop came over me. I knew it was wrong. However, I wanted to know more about the mysterious woman attached to the bath products found in the guest bathroom. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. Swiftly, I walked to Andrew’s desk and searched the top drawers. Paper clips, highlighters and other office supplies. The bottom ones proved more interesting. Shoved toward the back sat a pile of letters and faded Polaroid pictures tied together with a string. As my hand reached to grab them, I ignored the blatant breach of trust between Andrew and me. Setting the evidence on his desk I carefully untied the string and read the first letter.
My dearest Andrew,
You are my heart, my soul, and the air I breathe. Without you I’m nothing.
Jealousy stabbed me in the gut as I realized they were love letters. Moving on to the pictures, they were just as beautiful and laced with undying affection. A woman’s red hair flowed behind her as she ran through a meadow of sunflowers. Her brown eyes locked on the person behind the camera. A secret smile titled her sensual lips. Flipping over the picture, the date and description was written.
August 12 th , 2013 – The day I proposed.
Shock stole the air from my lungs. That was a little more than a year ago. What had happened to Andrew’s fiancée? I was about to reach for another Polaroid when he called out my name.
“Haven? Did you get lost?”
Hastily, Andrew’s past was hidden away in the dusty confines of his desk drawers. “Sorry, I’m coming.”
I found his glasses and dashed down the winding staircase, my thoughts racing. Andrew didn’t have an ex-girlfriend. He had an ex-fiancée, which proved a hell of a lot more messy than expected. On top of that, what had caused the demise of their relationship? It seemed Andrew had a secret past I didn’t know about.
Andrew and I worked quietly as we transformed the kitchen back to its original state. Every few minutes, I snuck a glance at him; confounded he was once somebody’s fiancée.
He dumped the last remaining shards of glass into the trash. “I think that’s it.”
“Next time wear your glasses, will ya?”
“Pinky promise. I’m not normally that clumsy though.”
“Uh-huh, sure.”
Grinning, he poured water into a teakettle and turned on the heat. Amidst the chaos, I hadn’t noticed his silk striped pajamas. All he needed was the smoking jacket and his Hugh Heffner impression would be complete.
A laugh rose out of my throat. “Where’s your blonde bimbo and pipe?”
He looked over his shoulder baffled. Gesturing to his outfit, awareness dawned but his
expression rapidly closed. “My ex gave them to me.”
The elusive ex whose ghost haunted the halls. I jumped on my chance and pried open the door Andrew cracked. “Your ex?”
“Yeah, she gave them to me for my birthday because I was always complaining about being hot at night.”
“She sounds like a thoughtful lady.”
Andrew didn’t comment. He opened the cupboards, grabbing a bag of raw sugar and a honey bear. It was a blatant attempt to appear busy.
I didn’t give up easily though. “What was her name?”
“Camilla.”
The wistfulness in his tone made me hate this Camilla with vengeance. It was such a rare emotion I was at a momentary loss. I wasn’t an envious woman. Whenever a guy and I were dating, it didn’t bother me if they had a wandering eye. They could sleep with whomever they wanted. My relationships were never serious enough to demand devotion. Andrew’s past poked the green-eyed monster to the point where I wished it didn’t exist. However without his past, Andrew wouldn’t be the person I’d fallen for. The teakettle whistled. Andrew prepared the mugs and poured the hot water inside.