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.”Anna’s heart thumped in her chest.“Okay.” The whispered acquiescence shocked even her.As did Colton when he stretched across the table and gently put his lips on hers.The sweetness nearly did her in.She felt the ache in her throat signaling tears and begged them not to fall.She needn’t have begged.Sherry did an awesome job of cutting through the tension by plunking the plates with their paper-wrapped loose meat sandwiches on the table with a low growl.Chapter FiveThis house is yours, baby.Come take a leap with us.Anna nearly cried the second she stepped out her door and spied the huge arrangement of flowers gracing her stoop.The rest of yesterday’s meal had been eaten in a queer sort of silence, both of them doing their damndest not to laugh while their chaperone glared daggers at them.It kept Colton in line at least and kept him from not only touching her again—though she could tell it was clearly hard for him—but kissing her too.If she were being one hundred percent honest with herself, she’d wanted him to kiss her again.Badly.And that pissed her off.She shouldn’t be wanting anyone after the way her last relationship had ended in complete disaster.She should be using this time to her advantage.Living it up, going through men…Eh, who was she kidding? She wasn’t built for that kind of life.Since her childhood, all she’d ever envisioned was being married and raising her two-point-five kids in a cute little house with a fence and a dog.With a sigh, Anna bent and scooped up the fragrant mass of mixed flowers.She was no gardener, so she didn’t know all of the types, but there were several.Roses, tulips, carnations…a bunch of things that probably shouldn’t go together but somehow worked.She set the vase on the table inside the door and headed out for another day of hell.Surely things would go better today.She was going to venture farther out.It didn’t make her happy, but then, this was her being selfish.She’d been so looking forward to the few minute drive to and from work, and now she was facing at least a thirty-minute trek one way.She prayed this one last lead would pan out so she wouldn’t have to leave town.While exiting the diner yesterday, she’d seen a dingy old ad for a garage apartment for rent.Anna had decided during the predawn hours—when she hadn’t been able to sleep for the lustful images of two certain men—that she could do a garage apartment until something else came along.Provided, of course, the ad was still good.This was questionable since the paper seemed nearly as old as the diner itself.It would be her first stop of the day.Once she had scratched it off her list, then farther out she’d go.Her phone rang as she was exiting her car where she’d parked in front of a pretty shabby, run-down, two-story house that at one time, in its heyday, had probably been a very respectable mansion.Instead of getting out, she answered her phone while spying the garage behind it and just off to the side.It too seemed a little suspect.“Hello?”“Anna.I don’t have great news for you.I’m sorry.”Great.Any conversation starting with I’m sorry was never a good thing.“What?”“Peter seems to have disappeared.He’s changed his number and so has Vanessa.”“Who?”“Vanessa.Peter’s girlfriend?”“Oh.” Candy Apple.Anna had never taken the time to learn her real name.Matter of fact, it peeved her to know it now.She’d never think of her as anything other than the hooker-red shade of lipstick she wore.“Anyway, I contacted his employer, discovered he’s been away on business since Friday evening and won’t be back for several more weeks.They, of course, refuse to give me a way to get in touch with him without a warrant.I did speak to his attorney, who assured me he would talk to Peter.He wasn’t aware of the house being sold, either.So for right now, we’re stuck.”“I have nowhere to live, James.”“There’s nothing in your complex?”“No.My complex is only six apartments, and since I gave up my lease when Peter gave me the keys to the house last week, there’s nothing.The manager already gave mine away.I have until Saturday to be out.”“I’m really sorry this is happening, Anna.”“It’s not your fault.” She was sure he’d hear her complete dejection, but there was no way to keep it out of her tone.Besides, it really wasn’t his fault.“I’m looking now.And expanding my search to nearby towns.I really can’t move back to Kansas City.It’s too far since I took the teaching job here.” At least that part of her life remained stable.Peter couldn’t take her work from her.But then she never would have thought he could take the house, either, and he had.“Do your best and I’ll put out some feelers from this end.Oh, and I’m also working on the stolen car deal
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