While love wouldn’t be a part of the equation, Sara and I did get along and were extremely compatible in bed. Committed friends with benefits actually sounded appealing to me. But would it be enough for Sara? Right now it was, but I suspected that was because she was coming from a life that stifled her. Now that she had the financial resources to do and have more, would she be content to be a corporate wife and mother? It was alright with me if she wanted to pursue her education or even hobbies, as long as the child was cared for.
And, if she wanted, she could leave, although not with the child. But the thought of her leaving didn’t sit well in my gut anymore. There was something about Sara that brought out the protective side in me. I couldn’t help but think somewhere in her past someone wasn’t good to her.
She also brought out jealousy in me. First Hunter and now Ash made comments about her sexiness. She was sexy. But she was also smart and sweet, and I’d kick their fucking asses if they hit on her. She was mine.
I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. Not mine. I couldn’t think that way. It wasn’t just a sexist attitude, but it wasn’t true. She wasn’t mine nor was I hers in the way other couples belonged to each other. We had a business deal. That was it. Now if only I still believed it.
18
Sara
I was bored. I hadn’t been married quite a week and, as it turned out, living a life of luxury was boring. Not that I wanted to go back to being poor and struggling, but I definitely needed to find something to fill my time. My goal in life had been to get an education and a good job. To that end, I had an internship that I enjoyed for the week I was there. Maybe I could still help Chase instead of sitting idle all day or shopping. I didn’t grow up to be a kept woman. If I was pregnant, I wanted to show my child that hard work and having goals and a passion were important. I hoped Chase didn’t fight me on that. I didn’t want to raise a spoiled brat. Chase was definitely spoiled, but he did seem to have some sense of right and wrong. He didn’t seem entitled, at least not too much.
On Thursday morning, unable to take the boredom any longer, I decided to visit Chase at his office. A man had to eat right? Maybe I could entice him to have lunch with me. Wouldn’t a real wife do that sort of thing?
I dressed in my Mrs. Raven clothes, a pretty seafoam green dress that fitted over my curves but wasn’t risqué. I wore cute strappy sandals and opal earrings. I considered putting my hair up, but my goal was to look like I fit with the Raven family, not like I was a stuffy old woman.
I called James and asked him to pick me up and take me to the Rookery Building. I sat back in the car, reflecting on how much had changed in two weeks. When arrived in New York City, I was alone and barely had two nickels to rub together. Now I had a husband and twenty-five thousand dollars a month. Perhaps I even had a baby growing inside me. It seemed to me something would be wrong if I didn’t, considering the amount of sex I’d had with Chase.
James pulled up to the curb outside the Rookery and then got out and opened my door. “Do you want me to wait for you, Mrs. Raven?”
I always inwardly snickered when he called me that. He wasn’t much older than me, and it was strange having a peer call me Mrs. Raven. I might have told him to call me Sara, except I worried that would break some sort of rich-people’s rule.
“No, thank you James. I’ll call or have Mr. Raven make arrangements for me.”
“Very well.” He got back in the car and pulled away from the curb.
I stood on the sidewalk, looking up at the building. Someday all this would be my child’s. Oh, how I hoped it would make him or her happy. Chase seemed to love his work, but what if our child wanted to do something else?
I was about to enter the building, when all the hairs on my neck stood on end. I wasn’t sure if it was an energy or maybe a scent, but all of a sudden, those old feelings of wariness and fear filled my body.
I looked up the walk one way. Nothing there. I turned to look the other way.
“Glenn.” My heart leapt to my throat. I stepped back, wanting to avoid him but his fingers wrapped around my arm and gripped hard.