NATE
I woke up to the noise of two car doors slamming shut. Instantly, I was on my feet and heading toward the front door. I couldn’t have Chase and Jordan talking to Ana yet. I didn’t need her to go with them. After what had happened the previous night, I was sure the best place for Ana was right there with me.
We had worked through things and she had apologized. Well, she had done more than apologize, but I wasn’t going to tell them about what else had happened between us. It was very early in the morning for them to be there, and I instantly felt bad that I had called them so quickly when we arrived back home.
“Jordan,” I heard Ana’s voice say from the kitchen as she ran to the front door and swung it open quickly.
“Hey, Ana, you look great!” Jordan’s voice had a kind of surprise in it as she looked at me.
I stood in the living room and watched the whole scene as Ana hugged Jordan and then Chase. Jordan was right: Ana looked amazing. Her hair was freshly washed and she had hint of makeup and a huge smile. Her hands weren’t shaking at all and she looked relaxed and happy. It was so far from what she had been like the day before that I couldn’t wrap my brain around what was going on.
I kept looking at Ana and trying to figure out how she looked so good in the morning, yet had seemed so totally out of it the night before. Something wasn’t right, and I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Hey, man,” Chase said as he came over to stand near me. “She looks better than I’ve ever seen her. What’s up?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
Chase and I stood in awe watching Ana hug and laugh with Jordan. She was full of energy and smiling like I had never imagined was even possible for her to do. My first thought was that she was high on something. Old habits die hard, and I had seen plenty of my friends go back to using and drinking after they had tried to get clean. It was the only explanation I could come up with for the drastic change in Ana.
“You look really good, Ana,” Jordan said again as the women hugged some more and then went into the kitchen.
My skepticism was high, but I followed the women anyways. I wasn’t use to having any woman around my house, but the mood swings with Ana were of epic proportions and it was difficult understand.
Women weren’t my strong suit. I was ski
lled at seeing threats from miles away and protecting people. That was what I got paid to do. In my work life and when I had been in the military, my job was simple: protect people. When I got sent out on assignments, I had a very clear set of guidelines of where I was picking a client up at and where I was bringing them to. Sometimes it was in the middle of a war zone, other times it was simply a dangerous city or town; but the rules were always clear.
With Ana, the rules of engagement weren’t clear at all. I felt myself constantly wondering what I should say to her or how I should say it. Then she kissed me. That had put my head into a spinning whirlwind that still hadn’t stopped.
The rules of how to deal with Ana certainly weren’t anywhere near clear enough for me, but I couldn’t help but feel a little happy that she was looking so much better that morning. I hoped it was going to be a new change for her, but deep down I thought that she was putting on an act for her friends so they wouldn’t worry about her. I had done a similar act when I first got out of the military and pretended I was really happy with the choice. But I wasn’t all that happy with leaving the military and didn’t find happiness again until I got a job in private security.
The night before I certainly felt something between us, but I hadn’t met a beautiful woman who I could resist, so it didn’t seem all that unusual for me to be aroused by her. But as she placed her bare hand onto my chest and moved her lips to mine, I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t stop myself. My brain was screaming that this woman didn’t really want to be kissing me. She was in desperate need for security and my presence was giving her that. My brain knew it, but my body reacted all on its own.
The smell of her body still lingered for me and I closed my eyes while in the kitchen and remembered her touch. It had taken every last bit of my energy to pull away from her and send her back inside the house. She didn’t want me. It was a stress reaction to all that she had been through. No matter how badly I wanted her, I wouldn’t take advantage of her when she was vulnerable.
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep so I got up early and worked out, took a shower, and baked these little mini quiche,” Ana said with a wide grin on her face.
“A little sleep deprived mania seems to be doing her well.” Chase snickered as he stood next to me.
I wasn’t at all happy to hear that Ana hadn’t slept, but I wasn’t going to make a scene with Chase and Jordan there. Instead, I would go along with her act just until they left, but then we were going to have a serious talk about what she needed to do if she actually wanted to start feeling better.
“Yeah, she’s in a much better mood,” I added. “So, are you serving us this delicious breakfast you made?”
My voice cut through the kitchen and the smile on Ana’s face instantly froze. She didn’t look at me at all, but turned and grabbed a plate and filled it up. The quick move to total silence was strange and Jordan gave me a look like I had done something wrong. I hated that look, and when it came from Jordan I hated it even more. Jordan had turned into the mother figure of our little group and I didn’t want to do anything to disappoint her.
I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what I had done that had Ana unwilling to look at me or talk to me. It was she who had kissed me and I simply put a stop to it. If anyone should be embarrassed, it would be me for actually stopping such a beautiful woman’s advances. If I had been a lesser man, I would have let her continue. I would have kept her hand wrapped around my throbbing cock and maybe even brought her inside to my bed. But I was better than that and Ana deserved better than making out with me in my makeshift gym.
“Can you hand that to Nathan, please?” Ana asked Jordan softly without looked toward me at all.
“Sure.”
I saw Jordan’s eyes staring me down as she walked over and handed me the plate. I continued to shrug and tried to figure out what the heck I had done. Let’s be honest, I thought I had done something for sure. As a soldier, I was very observant, as a private security guard as well, but as a man around a woman, I couldn’t figure out a damn thing.
Chase laughed and covered his mouth as he watched Jordan chastising me with her eyes. He seemed particularly amused by the trouble I was in. Chase and Jordan were so perfect together it made me sick to my stomach sometimes. But not because I hated it; I wanted what they had someday, I just didn’t know how long I wanted to wait before I went after that domestic lifestyle.
“What did you do? Why does Ana hate you?” Chase whispered.
“Let’s go out to my shed I’ll tell you.”