Possessed by a Stranger (25 page)

The hurt filled glint in her eyes made him
feel like shit. He should feel like shit because that was exactly
what he was, a big pile of smelly inconsiderate shit. He was too
wrapped up in work to take a brief moment to call this woman that
gave him so much.

“Hannah, I was tied up all last weekend with
work. I thought I would be here but something came up at the last
minute. My duties at the Foundation increase this time of year.
From the first of November through the first of the year any free
time will be limited. We need to compare our schedules and carve
out times we can see each other. I should have called you. I’m not
making excuses but time just got away from me and I forgot. It
won’t happen again. Do you forgive me?”

She nodded her head yes, but he saw the
doubt. The hurt he caused wasn’t going to be so easily dismissed.
He would make it up to her somehow, someway. Whatever it took, he
would do. He captured her lips to reaffirm his conviction.

Climbing the stairs Garret rehashed the
events leading to his inconsiderate actions. Last week on Thursday
evening when he was packing his clothes for another weekend at
Hannah’s cottage his mother had called. She reminded him of the
party Friday night at Robert Lindale’s townhouse. An evening with
that boastful asshole had been easily forgotten. Unfortunately,
Robert was a generous contributor to the Presley Foundation making
the evening mandatory. With Robert’s party his whole frigging
weekend was ruined. He had planned on one night with Hannah before
leaving Saturday evening in time to attend another fund raiser. He
knew his work schedule would increase during this time of year.
That fact didn’t ease the disappointment of not seeing her. What
was once his safety net to wean himself off their relationship had
become a hindrance. He knew he would have very little time to split
between Hannah and Pops. He would find a way to squeeze them in
some way. He always found the time for the important things in his
life. He had planned on calling her to let her know of the change
in plans but he hadn’t and that was an oversight he would never let
happen again.

She followed him upstairs to wait while he
showered. She didn’t want to miss being close to him one second
that he was here. Last weekend was a heart wrenching reminder of
what she had known from the beginning. He wasn’t a permanent
fixture in her life. She was a layover on his journey in search of
whatever he was looking to find. He would continue his quest soon
enough. After all, she hadn’t even warranted a phone call.

He stopped in the doorway of her bedroom. His
heart dropped to his stomach where it was in danger of being
regurgitated onto the floor. “Where’s the portrait?” His eyes
riveted on her accusingly. His smile had vanished behind tightened
lips.

“I had a girl’s night last Saturday. I love
Cindy and Sharon to death but neither one of them can keep a
secret. I hid the portrait in the closet to protect it from showing
up on their Facebook pages.” She lied knowing she kept it hidden to
protect her heart from breaking when she walked into her
bedroom.

Garret opened the closet door slinging
clothes down the pole. He pulled the portrait from its hiding place
and leaned it against the wall. He walked into the bathroom with a
sick feeling in his gut. His breaths crushed against his chest. It
had been a week so she had time to destroy any evidence of another
man. He looked around anyway in case she overlooked a hair or
razor, maybe a toothbrush. A red lace bra was folded in the linen
closet. Damn, she wore sexy underwear for the bastard. He angrily
grabbed the bra that unfolded in his hand. It definitely wasn’t
hers. He glanced at the door to make sure she wasn’t watching him,
feeling immensely relieved, but foolish.

His dark mood concerned her almost as much as
her own. So, he had suspicions but it was his own fault. He
shouldn’t have left her uninformed with her imagination running
wild. She deserved something as simple as a phone call. But why
would he jump to the conclusion she had another man in her
bedroom?

He cleared his throat to get her attention
that was focused on her hands while she was lost in her thoughts.
He leaned on the doorframe with a bra dangling from his finger. It
was Sharon’s bra she left by accident. His smile had returned. Had
he searched her bathroom for evidence of another man?

“That’s Sharon’s boulder holder… And no, I’m
not introducing you to her or her double-Ds.” She had watched him
snap back and continue as if nothing happened. It was easy for him,
way too easy. He was uninvolved emotionally.

“Come in here and join me in the shower.”

She had cried for a solid week over his
inconsideration of her feelings. Then, he accused her unjustly of
something she would never do under any circumstances. Now, he wants
sex as if nothing had changed.

“What did you think I did last weekend?” She
asked warily with her eyes pointedly glaring into his face.

“I put the portrait over your bed because I
knew you wouldn’t let anyone else see it. When I saw it gone …
well, I didn’t like it.” He hated the thoughts its absence had
caused. That was a feeling he hoped he never felt again.

He had hurt her feelings, put her through
hell and that was his answer, that pitiful excuse wasn’t going to
get him off the hook. “So you automatically assumed I jumped into
bed with another man. When have I ever given you any indication I
was interested in anyone but you?”

She couldn’t see how beautiful and desirable
she was. She didn’t know what men were capable of doing to get a
woman. The combination of both those things scared the hell out of
him.

“Damn it Hannah, men would kill to be with a
woman like you. I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

God, he was thick headed. “Forget about other
men. It’s what you think about me that’s the issue. I can’t talk
about this right now.”

She walked out of the room with tears
streaming down her cheeks. She was wasting her breath on that
clueless man. He might think he had the ability to see when a woman
wasn’t in love with him, but he was blind to seeing the love in
her.

Garret caught her at the top of the stairs
trapping her in his arms. He wouldn’t allow her to walk away, not
now, not ever.

“I should have called last weekend to tell
you I was tied up with business. I saw it in your eyes. That made
me think you might have done something to punish me. After all,
that’s how we started out.”

That sounded so much better in his head
especially when “I’m sorry” would have sufficed. His feelings were
private not to be shared. His one attempt to express them with
words made matters worse. She repeatedly slammed her small fists
into his chest. Her anger derived from the pain he had caused. He
had to fix this.

“You don’t know me at all, do you? I didn’t
sleep with you to punish Jay. Hell, he doesn’t even know for sure
what happened. We had an instant chemistry … at least I did. I had
never felt like that before and I wanted … or needed … to
experience those feelings. I’ve never had those feelings for anyone
but you … Why don’t you know that?”

“Okay, now I really feel like an ass.”

He wanted to calm her to relieve her of any
doubts. He wasn’t letting her out of his arms until he thought of a
way to fix this mess. Her attempts to get free were useless. They
fortified his determination.

Flames from her anger and pain shot out of
her mouth. “That’s because you are an ass. And that’s all I am to
you. A piece of ass. You made me feel like a whore. That’s all I
am. Your weekend whore …”

Her words burnt through him. He grabbed her
upper arms and shook her. “Stop it. Stop right now. No, I don’t
think you’re a whore and I don’t like hearing you say that. I won’t
stand for anyone saying bad things about you … not even you.”

Oh God, now he scared her. He took a deep
breath to calm himself. He touched his forehead to hers. For the
first time in his life he spoke from his heart. “You are my sanity.
The place I leave everything else behind. You keep me grounded.
Hannah, I don’t want to lose that. I can’t lose you.”

He sat on the top step pulling her onto his
lap. He held her as she cried into his chest. His chest tightened
against the dull thud of his heartbeat. Every tear she shed seemed
to shrink his chest crushing his heart.

When her wails turned to sobs he continued.
He held her head to his chest not wanting her to see the pain this
memory would hold in his heart.

“Hannah, I have trust issues with good
reason. I was in love once. We had been together for three years
and she was the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
I was in the service with six months left before my discharge. I
came home on leave to ask her to marry me. Only to find she just
married someone else two weeks before. He was my friend and we
joined the service together. When he was wounded and returned home
I had asked her to keep in contact with him. She had plenty of
contact with him. She didn’t know how to break the news to me. She
was pregnant with his child. She didn’t have to say anything
because the moment I saw her I knew the love was gone. The rest of
that mess was just icing on the cake.”

She heard the pain in his voice and she knew
it was still fresh in his heart. She always wondered about the
woman that had broken his heart. Now, after hearing he had been in
love ONCE she had heard enough. The once was in his past with
another woman, not now with her. Some stupid bitch, she had never
met and probably never would meet, had ruined her life. Hannah was
the unlucky woman that had to live with that woman’s consequences.
The past couldn’t be changed but the painful subject could.

“What did you do with the ring? I assume you
had a ring. You’re always prepared.”

“I gave it to a buddy that was saving up to
buy a ring. What in the hell kind of question was that?” He had
poured out his heart to her and she wanted to know about a fucking
ring.

“I just wondered if you believed in bad
karma. That ring might be jinxed. Is your buddy still married?” It
wasn’t the ring that was jinxed it was her. The bad karma from his
heart break had engulfed her. His only love had moved on leaving
Hannah with all the pain.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to explain why I
jumped to the wrong conclusion and you’re more concerned with the
frigging ring.” This change in her attitude wasn’t about the ring.
He wasn’t certain it was about last weekend either. It stemmed from
something deep inside her.

She raised her head from his chest. “Okay,
I’m sorry. It’s the first thing that popped into my head. So, she’s
the one who ripped out your heart. Do you want me to kick her ass?
What’s her name?”

She wasn’t joking about kicking her ass. She
would love to kick her ass and his. Here she sat on his lap filled
with enough love to heal his broken heart and he refused to see
something staring in his face. Or he had seen her love and wasn’t
able to return it but wasn’t ready to give up the convenient sex
filled weekends.

“Lorraine and no, that won’t be necessary. If
you ever decide to start a fight, please make sure I’m there to
finish it. Right now, I want you to tell me about your parents. I
showed you mine. Now it’s your turn.”

Oh great, was this a test to find out how
much pain she could endure? “I don’t like to talk about my
parents.”

He shook his head with determination in his
eyes. She reluctantly continued using the short, sweet and to the
point version. “They were who they were but they were still my
parents. They had limited space in their hearts. Each other, money
and a really good time didn’t leave any room for me.”

She refused to look at him concentrating on
her hands. “Keep going.” He caressed her back for comfort.

“My parents worked hard. They played hard.
They ignored me with ease. They were the typical middle class
couple working toward a better life, a life full of fun, parties,
vacations and keeping up with the Joneses. My untimely conception
was an accident. Kids weren’t in their plans. Grammy lived with us
and took care of me until she died when I was six. After that, I
was just excess baggage. They provided a home and the necessities,
nothing more. I was left to fend for myself, which I did.”

Her voice was constrained telling her life
story without any show of emotion. A lonely little girl sat on his
lap. The pain in her eyes ran deeper into her soul. No, you
couldn’t change the past but he wondered what consequences her
childhood produced. Abandoned by the people that should have loved
her unconditionally had to cause some lasting effects. Did she
think he deserted her last weekend? Of course she had.

“Are you looking for the perfect family with
a white picket fence and two point five kids?”

He got what he wanted, a look into her
childhood. He would never understand, no one would. She wouldn’t
tolerate him pretending to care about something so personal.

“Don’t psychobabble me. I can’t relive my
childhood with a family of my own. It was what it was and it’s
over. There’s no such thing as a perfect family. I’ve already went
down that road with Jay. That was a total disaster and I don’t plan
on making that mistake again. I have an iron fence and a cottage
where I belong. No one can take that from me.”

Her warning glare slammed the door on the
subject. She shut him out of that part of her life. He wondered if
he had asked about her past before last weekend if the results
would have been the same. He had a sick feeling the answer was no.
He had destroyed her trust in him, if she ever had any to begin
with. With that much pain just below her surface, she might not
have the ability to trust anyone. Why hadn’t he noticed it before
now? He gathered her in his arms, stood, and then carried her to
the bed. He laid her on the bed then joined her. He held her in his
arms snuggled into his chest for hours.