Page 91 of Heartsong
A quick check out the window showed that the big SUV was gone from across the street. Poking her head out the window, she didn’t see it or the creepy van anywhere on the street.
Anna pulled on shoes and coat and grabbed her keys and purse within a minute. The pantry and fridge were in dire straits, and even Frey’s culinary creativity wouldn’t be able to pull off another dinner. So off to the grocery store she went.
The day was fairly clear and sunny, boosting Anna’s already decent mood.
A good night’s sleep and an incredible orgasm can do that for a girl.
Nope, she wasn’t thinking about last night. Not in public, where everyone could see how her cheeks burned and her nipples hardened with the memory of Frey’s fingers. Still, despite her best efforts, she stood inspecting the apples and bananas a littletoolong.
Even waiting at the pharmacy laden down with groceries didn’t sour her mood. No, the only thing that managed that was catching a dark SUV out of the corner of her eye.
There were hundreds if not thousands of dark SUVs and white vans driving around SF, of course. It wasn’t until she saw another one drive past while she ducked into a Greek bakery that she finally got a good look at the license plate. By now, she had the number of the one parked on her street memorized, and sure enough, same plates, same vehicle.
The sight tarnished her outing—not even fresh naan and baklava could turn it around.
Anna headed straight home after that, heart caught in her throat. She nearly ran up the stairs, out of breath by the time she made it to the top floor. Peering out the narrow window at the end of the hall, she could just see the black SUV pulling into its usual space.
Fucking shit!
Fumbling with her keys, Anna didn’t notice the package sitting on her stoop until she’d nearly tripped over it. After putting down the grocery bags and petting Captain, she went back for her one-day delivery.
If she hadn’t seen the SUV everywhere she’d been, her paranoia wouldn’t have noticed something slightly off about the box. She swore the box had been double taped. Plus, one of the corners was damaged, the cardboard wrinkled and the very tip of the corner missing, leaving a small hole into the box.
Setting it on the counter, she retrieved some scissors to carefully open the package. She inspected the top flaps and yes, she was sure there were two layers of tape. Had the first been cut and the second added to hide it?
Anna chewed her cheek as she pulled out all the items. The lube was plastic-wrapped and vacuum-sealed, so it got set aside. The coffee seemed sealed too, but she still dumped all of it into a bowl and sifted through the fragrant grounds, looking for…something. Same went for the big bottles of acetaminophen, vitamins, and shampoo. Everything got poured into glass bowls and inspected.
Nothing seemed off.
But itfeltoff. Like she wasn’t the first one to see the items after they’d been packed.
Anna’s heart kicked sharply in her chest, the muscles in her neck tightening.
Stepping back, she took a deep breath.
It’s okay. You’ve gotten damaged packages before. The delivery guy probably just tossed it from the top step rather than walk to your door. Deep breath.
Didn’t the police need a warrant to go through mail? Opening it without one was super illegal. But could that mean they had enough probable cause to get a warrant? Fuck, what if they did and whatever they found in the box gave them reason to get another one for the apartment? What if they came during the day—she couldn’t move or hide Frey.
“Shit shit shit!” Anna paced the apartment, hands on her head to contain the throbbing.
She couldn’t just put clothes all over him and hide him! They’d look in all the closets. There was no way to hide a giant, hulking gargoyle in her apartment. And she didn’t dare Google police warrants and mail inspection for fear they were or would track her search history.
Her feet carried her into her bedroom, where Frey stood in the corner. Had it really only been a few hours since he’d woken her with deep kisses and dirty promises? Waking up to him had been amazing, sharing soft words as they lay in that velveteen place between night and day. It made watching him withdraw and turn to stone with the sun even harder, like he took part of her with him.
Now, she counted down the minutes to sunset.
“What do we do?” she asked the statue, wishing with everything she had that he’d answer.
Of course, he remained stony and silent. It made Anna wish, for the first time, that she understood what he meant with his mate bond ideas. Was that the solution to all of this? Her touch had somehow broken part of the curse, but why hadn’t being together been enough to fully break it? Was it because their kissing so far hadn’t been true love’s first kiss or something?
Well, she wasn’t there yet but she was dangling precariously close to falling. Was that it, true love’s kiss? Or was it a bit more X-rated than Disney—would sex finally break the curse?
With all his talk of Anna being his, of being his mate, the only one he could have kids with, she had to assume sex was a big part of the bond.
God, if so, she’d sex him so good.
Even if it didn’t, she planned on using that lube and finally finding out what his cock felt like inside her.
