That tall tree didn’t look quite so challenging tonight, especially since she’d come equipped with loose pants and running shoes. Her heart fluttered as the light in Daniel’s room flicked on. Wanting to surprise him, she grabbed a branch and pulled herself up.
As she neared his window, the voices in the room stilled her forward momentum. Damn, he had company. She was about to climb back down, when snippets of the conversation stopped her cold and brought her head around. She glanced into the window to see Daniel with his long-time buddy Justin Hollis—the same guy who’d been harassing Daniel about nailing Anna over a decade ago.
“So that’s what the romance novels are all about then,” Justin said. “Learning what she likes so you can finally get into her pants.” She watched him flip through the dog-eared pages then slap the paperback against his palm. “I got to hand it to you, pal. It was a damn smart move.”
When Daniel didn’t respond or defend his actions, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat.
“Come on, Daniel, tell me. Did you finally get her to beg for it?” She heard a noise, what sounded like a deep-throated chuckle coming from Daniel. Then he walked across the room to Justin, took the book his hands and tossed it to the floor, discarded, just like she felt. Used and discarded.
“So did she beg for it?” Justin probed again.
Anna turned her back on the conversation unraveling in front of her as she recalled every moment in Daniel’s arms. Oh, Jesus, she had begged for it! Repeatedly. With that sobering reality, her vision went a little fuzzy, and she nearly lost her footing, Anna didn’t wait around to hear anymore. She practically slid down the tree, anger rising in her. Angry that she’d thought he’d changed, and angry that she was a fool to think he had.
As tears threatened she bolted through her parents’ house, locked up behind herself and spent the next hour driving aimlessly around the town, trying to wrap her mind around the idea that Daniel had used her. That he hadn’t changed. That he was that same bad apple from high school.
Even though she’d heard snippets of that awful conversation with her own ears, and her brain warned her to steer clear of him, something in her heart told her no man could fake such emotions. But it was time to stop thinking with her heart, because letting her emotions rule was how she’d found herself in this predicament in the first place.
Deciding to head back to the inn to put the final touches on the room so she’d never have to step foot in the place again, she turned her car around. When she reached the inn, she bolted to the bedroom, determined to get in and out before Daniel arrived.
As she perused the room, her heart pounded against her rib cage. Daniel was right. No woman stood a chance in such a romantic room. She was a prime example. With a lump lodged in her throat, she began to hastily put the pieces together, and that was when Pamina entered, an apple in her hand.
“Anna, what’s the rush?”
When she turned to see compassionate green eyes looking at her, something inside Anna gave. Feeling emotionally battered, she dropped to the bed and blurted out the whole damn story. Everything from how she’d loved Daniel in high school to the conversation she’d just overheard.
Pamina brushed Anna’s hair behind her ear, then polished her apple on her pretty floral dress. Anna spotted the bruise on the outside skin and was about to stop Pamina from eating it, but it was too late. Pamina bit off a huge chunk.
As Anna looked at the crisp white meat, Pamina tapped Anna’s leg. “Just because the skin has an imperfection, a bruise on the outside, doesn’t mean that I should just toss it away.” Pamina held the apple out for Anna to take a bite, but she declined, having long ago lost her appetite. “You see, Anna. Your Daniel is no different from this apple.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes things aren’t always as they appear. You thought this apple was bad because it had a mark on its flesh. But after a sampling, it’s clear that it’s perfectly delicious.”
Anna shook her head, unable to think straight. “Pamina—”
“Daniel might not appear so perfect on the outside, but maybe there is more on the inside than you realize.” As she sorted through matters, Pamina added, “He’s here you know.”
Anna sat up straighter and glanced at the door. “I didn’t see his van.”
“That’s because it’s parked out back.”
“Why?”
“So the supplies were close at hand.”
“Supplies? What supplies?” Why would Daniel have supplies? He’d finished the room already.
“He asked me to send you outside.” A sparkle lit in Pamina’s eye. “Why don’t you go see what he’s up to?”
With curiosity getting the better of her, she walked to the window to peer out. What she saw nearly stopped her heart.
At least now Daniel finally understood why Anna had cooled on him back in high school. She’d overheard his friends rousing him, but if she’d stuck around longer, she would have heard Daniel shutting them all down. No one talked about Anna like that and got away with it.
Honestly, he had no idea it was he who’d hurt her all those years ago, the one who’d shattered her belief in Prince Charming and happily-ever-after. Hadn’t he sworn that he’d kick the ass of the guy who’d hurt her? So apparently it was his ass that needed a good swift kick. Not to mention Justin’s. Daniel clenched and unclenched his fist, thankful that he’d taken care of that matter earlier.
Her comment about him faking nervousness finally made sense as well. She thought he was putting on a show to get in her pants. Dammit, he hated how that one
