Page 19 of Condemned By Secrets

“What? I’m not giving you my phone.” She took a step back, ignoring his outstretched hand.

“How am I supposed to give you the contact number and address then?” Luther teased.

She rolled her eyes. “For starters, you could write it down, or, here,”—she pulled her phone out of her work bag—“just tell me, and I’ll add it in my contacts.”

“Do you have an answer for everything?” Luther smirked.

Her eyes narrowed at him, and he admired the way the gold glowed as her irritation with him rose. “Do you have to mock me?”

Luther frowned. Is that what she thought he was doing? Tease her, yes, but he would never mock her. “I’m not mocking you.”

“Well, it feels like it to me.”

“Trust me, Anna. Mocking is the last thing on my mind when it comes to you.” He took a step toward her, and she swallowed and took another step back. His need for her was a hunger gradually eating away at him. It left him starving and half-crazed from deprivation if he dwelled on it. He dropped his gaze to her lips. What he wouldn’t give for one kiss, one little taste.

She cleared her throat, and he blinked, bringing his eyes back to hers. “The apartment?”

A slow smile started as Luther contemplated her moving into the apartment under him. He wanted her under him in other places too . . . like his bed. Luther swallowed, his throat dry from that tantalizing image. He was so thirsty for a taste of her, but he was going to quench his thirst sooner or later.He gave her Cassie’s number and told her the street address.

“Thank you.” She looked ready to bolt, but he was still blocking her path. “Goodnight, Luther.”

Moving aside with a grin, he told her, “See you later, Anna Hendricks.”

As she rushed by, Luther caught a whiff of her scent.Skittles.It made his mouth water. Yes, he was going to get that taste. Making a move or not was no longer the question. What he had to figure out was how to make her crave him too.

???

Anna shut the door to her room and collapsed against it. She was so tired. The events of the evening had left her emotionally drained.

Men!If it wasn’t Richard, it was Luther. Why couldn’t they leave her alone? The last thing she’d wanted after drinks with Richard was to run into Luther. She shuddered as she thought about what had happened with her co-worker.

Richard had hit on her, but it had felt like more than that. Or perhaps it had just been the way he’d done it. Men had shown interest in her before, but Richard’s had seemed . . . menacing almost. She was probably overanalyzing things, but she’d caught him ogling her more than once with a feral look in his eyes. Then he’d “accidentally” touched her and made her skin crawl. Anna shook her head. However he’d meant it to come off, she dreaded seeing him at work the next day. Pushing herself off the door, she locked it, ensuring she would be left alone for the night.

The sight of the beautifully restored antiques decorating her room usually served to brighten Anna’s mood, but tonight she barely noticed them. Silent tears leaked out as the unfortunate meeting with Richard replayed in her head. He’d made it clear he didn’t see her as an equal by hitting on her during their “work” drinks. She’d been excited to discuss his community engagement plans, but Richard had only given vague responses, choosing instead to focus on her. Anna rolled her eyes. She didn’t need nor want Richard’s attention on anything to do with herexceptthe farm project.

With legs that felt like jelly, she wobbled to the bed and sunk into it. Her whole body felt weighed down by her current situation and the memories clinging to it. Without any thought of wrinkling her designer suit, she curled into a ball. Staring up at the plaster molding on her ceiling, it wasn’t the decorative laurel leaves she saw. Her vision turned inward as the events of the evening blurred into flashes from her past, creating a turbulent image she wished, desperately, to escape.

She’d been a freshman in college, sheltered, naïve when Dan had taken an interest in her. An upperclassman, a leader of his fraternity, and an all-star on the baseball team, he was the jock Anna could never forget. She’d been beyond flattered by Dan’s attention, immediately falling under the spell cast by his baby blues, and two short weeks later, she’d been in love, ready to give him any and every part of herself.

Snorting in derision at her stupidity, Anna rolled over and squeezed her eyes shut. It didn’t stop the memories, though. They continued to play out behind her eyelids, and she couldn't look away like a rubbernecker at the scene of an accident.

She saw the party where she’d bolstered herself with a glass of punch, spiked with who knew what, to calm the nerves that threatened to overwhelm her, knowing it would be the night she lost her virginity to Dan. She’d known he was experienced and didn’t want to disappoint him. He’d been so patient and gentle with her up to that point.

A sob escaped her throat, and she placed her hands on her stomach against a spear of pain that sliced through her. How abruptly Dan had changed. The sting of his betrayal tore through her as flashes of that ill-fated night bombarded her. Anna hugged herself tighter as she fought against the memories—against a past, she couldn’t alter.

That night the world she’d lived in came crashing down on her. Dan had taken her virginity and broken her heart into so many pieces she was sure it was impossible it would ever be whole again. He hadn’t loved her as he’d said. It had all been lies, an act to get her into bed so he’d win the bet he’d made with his frat brothers.

Anna cried loud, noisy tears for the girl she had been. Dan had taken much more than her virginity, but she’d vowed never to be so naïve again.

When the memories released her, she dried her tears and dragged herself to the bath. She needed a hot soak in the claw-foot tub to cleanse herself of the stench of the past—of the smell of despair hanging about her in a cloud as heavy as the plague.

She may not be able to go back and save the girl she had been, but she wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. Scowling, Anna turned the water on as hot as it would go, then started shedding her clothes. She tossed the Valentino suit aside with hands that jerked in anger.

Luther may not be after her because of a bet, but Anna had no delusions about what he wanted from her. He’d gotten jealous when she’d mentioned her drinks with Richard. It was apparent Luther thought someone else was sniffing around his territory.

As if he has any claim on me!

She didn’t need any man, and she especially didn’t need one like Luther. Distracted by thoughts of him, she stepped a foot into the bath and yelped before jerking it back out of the scalding water. Rolling her eyes at herself, she turned on the cold and waited for the tub to reach a reasonable temperature before sinking into it.

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