In Love with a Stranger (5 page)

"Yes, I'm actually feeling much better this morning. Shall we?" I opened the door for them.

I let the girls walk ahead of me, and I watched the sway of Hannah's hips like a starving man. I’d missed that and ached to be near her, to touch her again. The memory of her moving against me flooded my mind, and I was lost in my daydreams, until we reached the coffee shop.

"You ladies go ahead and find a table, and I'll get our drinks," I told them. I remembered how she liked her coffee and smiled as I ordered it with one and one half teaspoons of sugar. The half always made me laugh. I grabbed two creamers for her and brought the drinks to the table. She was surprised, when I slid both creamers in front of her.

"Thank you, Mr. Greyson."

HANNAH

Camille was already drinking what he’d bought her, and I wondered how he knew I’d like two creamers, but I pushed that thought aside. It was probably just an odd guess. I reached for the sugar on the table, but he stopped me by placing his hand over mine. Another charge shot through my body, and I blushed deep red again.

"Just add your creamers and try it. I think I got it right."

I looked at him as if he had a third head. I mixed the creamers into my cup and sipped it. It was just how I liked my coffee.

"It's perfect. Thank you, Mr. Greyson."

"Please, call me William."

"Thank you…William." When I said his name, my mind filled with an image of me saying his name again. But I was whispering it like a reverent prayer in the throes of passion, and he was groaning my name, saying “my beautiful Hannah” in return. I blushed darker and jumped up, as if something had bitten me. I’d never thought of anything like that about anyone before.

"I need to go."

Camille looked at me worried, and William looked pained again as he asked, "Hannah, are you alright?"

The way he said my name made it worse, and I couldn't breathe. What was wrong with me? Was I fantasizing about William? I knew people did that, but I never had before.

"Thank you, for the coffee, but I just remembered something, I need to..." I ran for the door and stumbled into Ophelia.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ophelia asked, as she read the deep blush on my face. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head no and quickly pushed past Ophelia. I had to get out of there.

I ran to my store and then quickly closed up and locked the door, before I slid down it. I didn't know what was happening to me. I’d never thought that way about any guy, so why was I all of the sudden fantasizing about William Greyson? Even as his name and face came to my mind, more images pushed forward, and I blushed across my entire body. I’d never been touched or held the way I was imagining him doing it. It scared me how quickly my body responded just thinking of him and his touch. What the hell was wrong with me?

Chapter 6 – Chaise

HANNAH

My thoughts of William scared me and made me want to hide. I ran to the back corner of the shop and quickly curled into a small ball on my favorite chaise, wrapping my arms around myself. I was fighting off my thoughts, mad at myself for imagining things about a complete stranger. What was wrong with me? I heard the door handle jiggle and then the lock click. It had to be Carter or Ophelia.

"Hannah," Ophelia called out, "Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath before I answered, "Yes," but it came out shakier than I would’ve liked.

Ophelia stepped into the aisle and looked at me with concern. I was finally settling down, that was until Camille came into view and then William. My heart jumped, like it was trying to escape from my chest. He looked at me, worried and sad.

"May I have a moment with Hannah?" he asked, and my breath hitched when he said my name. Ophelia and Camille nodded, leaving us alone in the darkened corner of the store.  Suddenly, the air seemed too thick, and my body was on fire.

Stop thinking about him!
I screamed in my head to myself, but I couldn't, images were rolling through my mind like a movie, and I couldn't stop it. I wanted to tell Ophelia not to leave me alone with this man, but my voice had escaped me. What the hell was my problem?  And why did my lady parts feel like they were curling with excitement? This was so wrong, so embarrassing that he could do this to me.

He walked so carefully towards me, each step measured, as if he was afraid I’d bolt.

"Hannah," he whispered my name, and I closed my eyes, hoping if I didn't look at him, I’d imagine less, but it made it worse.  "I'm sorry if I did something to offend you."

I was trying to hear his words, but his rich voice was just too much.

"Hannah," he said much closer to me now.  I opened my eyes to find him kneeling right in front of me on the chaise. I suddenly couldn't breathe, as his eyes met mine. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, leaning in much too close as he crawled over me.  It was all I could do not to wrap my limbs around him.

My body was screaming for him, and I was ashamed of my reactions. He smiled softly at my flushed face and my ragged breathing, but I wasn't crying. He gently touched my face, as he moved between my knees, pressing his body down into mine, and that same energy pulsed between us.  I clenched my eyes closed tightly and held my breath. My trembling body was exploding under his touch, and I had to fight to keep from crying out and arching into him. I couldn’t believe I could come undone so fast.

"Come to dinner with me, Hannah," he whispered into my ear, as his cheek pressed against mine, and his hot breath stroking my neck. My mind was fresh with the words, “Come with me, Hannah.” He placed an open-mouthed kiss on my neck then moved back and smiled, as if he knew what he was doing to me.  "I’ll pick you up at seven."

He didn't wait for my response. He just stood and left.

I was still gasping for air, when Ophelia found me again. "What’s going on with you?" she asked.

I shook my head in frustration.  I had no idea what was going on with me. I’d never felt anything like that, or had thoughts like that about anyone before, ever. No one seemed to grab my attention enough to make me even consider thinking about them like that.

I was blushing, horrified with myself. I wanted to talk to Ophelia, but I had to make sure no one came in while I did. I stood on shaky legs, baffled that a man could have such an effect on me. I quickly locked the door and turned to see a concerned Ophelia.

"What did he do to you? Why did you run out of the coffee shop?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what’s wrong with me, Ophelia.  He just bought me a coffee and asked me to call him William, and I lost it when he said my name, and then I said his. I don't know what’s wrong with me."

Ophelia looked at me as if I was an alien. "He said your name, and you said his?"

I blushed at her question. "God, Ophelia, I can't believe I’m about to tell you this." I slid down the door and hid my face in my hands. "I was thinking…things…about him when he said it."

"Thinking things? What things were you thinking?"

"Things I shouldn't. I don't know. Things I’ve never thought about before."

"You’ve never…Oh, my God, you were thinking about having sex with him?"

My face turned a deeper red than it ever had in my entire life.

"Hannah, that’s fantastic!"

"No, it’s not, Ophelia! He asked me to dinner and touched my face, and I was a complete mess. I can't go out with him!"

"Why not?"

"Because I’m not that kind of girl."

"What kind of girl?"

"The kind who goes out with a guy and has sex with him. I don't do that!"

Ophelia rolled her eyes. "I know that."

"Ophelia, how am I supposed to control myself around him, when he can do…that…to me just by saying my name and touching my cheek? I’m a disgraceful mess."

"You need to get the upper hand on him."

"What?"

"It’s simple, honey, and don’t worry, I’ll help you. When are you going to dinner?"

"He said he was coming at seven o’clock this evening."  I blushed at my own words. God, I was a mess. Could I do this?

Ophelia just smirked at me, as if she knew what my dirty mind was thinking. "Well then, we’ll have you ready and in control by seven."

I looked at her unsure, but nodded okay.

What in heaven’s name was I getting myself into?

WILLIAM

My heart was leaping out of my chest. I was going to tell her tonight, and my mind was running wild with ways to say it and how she’d react. I rehearsed my speech a hundred times and tried to prepare for every question she might come up with. My biggest fear was trying to explain the reason I’d stopped looking for her. Well, I hadn’t actually stopped looking for her. I still had a private investigator searching for her. They’d just never found anything, though.

She’d always been a daddy’s girl, since she’d lost her mother at the age of eight.  The way she talked about her father that first night we’d met, I could tell she’d thought he could do no wrong. He was a Detective in Silver Springs. She still thought of him as a superhero, even beyond where most kids would’ve grown out of that notion and stopped believing it at a very young age. She hadn’t, though, and that was why her father not supporting our relationship had hurt her so much and made her furious at the same time. If she couldn’t remember Scott’s fall from grace, then that meant he most likely still hadn’t fallen in her eyes. She’d be more likely to take his word over mine. I needed her to believe, more than anything, that I loved her.

I was at the shop at seven o’clock sharp.  I’d brought another bouquet of hyacinths, but they were a different color. The bell rang as I stepped inside. I could hear my daughter laughing upstairs, and my chest ached. I wanted to see her smile. My silent request was answered, as the little girl came running down the stairs. She tripped on the last step, and I caught her and helped her up, thinking she did take after her mother, at least in that department.

"Hey, beautiful girl, is your mother ready?"

My little girl smiled up at me with a cheeky grin I could easily recognize from my own face. "Oh, she’s ready."

I couldn't help but smile widely. "Wonderful." I held out the flowers. "I brought you something."

My little girl took them and inhaled deeply. "They smell good. Thank you."

I let out a laugh. "Thanks for letting me borrow your mum for the evening."

"Sure, but next time, bring candy. She’s doesn’t like me to have it. You get me candy, and I’ll let you keep her."

I laughed at her cheek. "You’ve got yourself a deal."

I stuck my large hand out and shook my daughter's tiny one, sealing the deal. I heard a giggle from the top of the stairs. There stood Hannah, and she was breathtaking.

HANNAH

I’d been watching the whole exchange between William and Penelope, so thankful he seemed to be reigning himself in and wasn’t so intense tonight. I really wanted our date to go well. My heart ached, as my daughter seemed to take so easily to this stranger.

Was she hurting for a daddy?

The smiles they had shared made William seem like a natural with her, which was a little shocking.

I was surprised by his speechlessness, as he stared up the staircase at me. I laughed when my daughter climbed up a step and shut William's mouth for him. He blushed, realizing he was gaping at me in front of my daughter.

"Sorry about that," he said to Penelope.

"It’s alright, I know she’s drool-worthy.  She
is
my mom after all.  Just have her home by eleven o’clock. It’s a school night, you know."

William chuckled and answered her with a salute. "Yes, Ma'am."

I giggled and tried as gracefully as possible to make it down without killing myself, but heels were difficult to walk in on stairs. I managed all but the last three of the steps, when I tripped and fell into William's arms.

"Now I see where she gets it," he smiled at me and held me a little longer than he should’ve, but I didn’t mind.

Suddenly, flashes of William kissing me passionately filled my mind, and I tried to push the thoughts away, but they wouldn’t stop. I heard Shawna call Penelope to come upstairs, and William led me deeper into the shop toward the door, but stopped when we came to the aisle with the chaise lounge in it. “Hannah, I really need to tell you something, and I think it’d be best to do it in private. Do you mind if we sit and talk for a moment?”

He looked so nervous, but not in a shifty way. “Of course.”

He took my hand in his, the familiar hum I’d come to expect from him buzzed between us, as I sat waiting for him to speak. He sat gingerly across from me, and I was both disappointed and relieved that he wasn’t trying to kiss me.

“Hannah, Ophelia had mentioned that you were hurt seven years ago.”

I didn’t know why he was bringing that up, but I didn’t like it. I shook my head at him. “I’d rather not talk about that.”

“But what I have to say is important and is related directly to that.”

I looked at him confused.

“Hannah, you forgot me.” His eyes filled with tears, as I tried to comprehend what he was saying to me.

“I…”

“It was me you met in the café that night, and we talked for the full three hours you were waiting for the bus. I knew if I didn’t see you again, I’d regret it the rest of my life. I had to keep you. I’d never felt anything like what I had with you before, Hannah, and I haven’t ever since.”

“I don’t understand.”                                                                                                                                                          

“It’s me you ran away with. It’s me you lived with in New York. Our daughter looks just like me, and I can’t believe you named her Penelope,” he chuckled, and the memory of the conversation in the shower came to the forefront of my mind again.

“You said to name…”

“I know, and you remembering that little bit gave me hope.”

My eyes darted all over his face, looking for the similarities, finally landing on his eyes that I’d been trying to avoid this whole time. They were exactly like my daughter’s, now that I thought to compare them.

“My hair was lighter when I was a kid,” he motioned toward it.

“You left me.” I didn’t know where it came from, but it was the one thing that had been plaguing me for years.

His brow furrowed. “Is that what he told you?” He was getting upset.

“Who?” I didn’t know who he was talking about.

“Your father, did he tell you I left you? I swear I didn’t, Hannah. You have to believe me. I searched for you everywhere, but he threatened to charge me with kidnapping and murder, when I showed up in Nevada looking for you. I believed him, because he brought other officers with him. My father insisted I come home with him. He said I couldn’t keep looking for you in jail.”

I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to believe him. I really didn’t, because if what he was saying was true, my father was responsible for keeping us apart. He’d known exactly who William was, and he didn’t tell me. My dad had lied, and even though I didn’t want to believe William, I did.

“My father lied, he said he didn’t know you, and the only memory I had of you for a long time was of you leaving me. You left me, you really did!” I accused him.

“No, never!” He took my hands in his, and I wanted to believe him so badly.

“You told me I shouldn’t have come, and you put me in a cab.  You wouldn’t kiss me. You said we’d said our goodbyes the night before. My throat was sore from crying, and you were sneaking out on me. You left me!”

I could tell he was trying to put things together in his head, when something clicked. “Your throat,” he took a deep relieved breath, “Hannah, you had a sore throat, because you had strep throat the day I left, the whole week before I left. I didn’t wake you, because you were up sick with a fever all night and needed to stay in bed. I wanted to stay. I told you I would. I didn’t like leaving you sick, but you’d overheard my boss threatening me if I didn’t check in. I had to go, but I was coming back for you. I came back for you, as fast as I could, worried out of my mind when you didn’t answer your phone. I didn’t leave you, Hannah. I just had work, and your passport hadn’t cleared yet. Can you remember that? Please, please tell me you remember that.” His hands were holding my face, his eyes begging me.