Chapter 32 First Day Jitters

Anna woke the next morning and stretched. The muscles in her arms and legs were sore and her body felt the lovemaking from last night. She smiled trying to push away her worries about their future. She chose to believe john when he said he would try hard to keep his emotions in check and trust her. She worried that his emotional nature would come between them if he didn’t learn to control it.
“Good morning Princess,” John said softly, his voice sexy and gravely in the early morning light. “First day at the office.”
“Good morning.” She replied softly as she snuggled against where he was spooned against her.
John growled and rolled her over so he could kiss her. His lips caressed hers and his hands wandered to her breasts that lay bare under the sheets. Anna moaned and pulled him down on top of her so that their naked bodies were against each other. Even now she wondered at the perfect way they fit.
“Wow, good morning to me.” John said against the shell of her ear “what an awesome way to wake up, holding the most beautiful woman on earth.”
“That is so corny,” she said with a laugh as she wrapped her legs around him “But since you are so sexy I can pretend I didn’t hear it.”
“Really, what else can I do to convince you to ignore it?”
She acted like she had to think about it but she smiled as she pulled his lips down for another deep kiss. His tongue slid into her mouth as she moaned appreciatively. Her body felt hot and needy even after last night. She wanted more, always more. He was like a fire burning in her blood.
He sighed and broke the kiss laying his head against hers. “Unfortunately we have to go into the office. Today is your first day of work.”
Anna sighed as she watched him walk naked to the bathroom. She rolled back on the bed and wished she didn’t have to go anywhere. Now that she was going to work she worried about a lot of things if they would accept her or even if it was safe given what happened last night.
“John, “Anna called as she entered the bathroom “do you think it’s safe to go after last night?”
John peeked his head out of the shower and smiled at her. His dark hair dripped onto the bathmat but he didn’t seem to notice. “I actually got a call earlier this morning from the police while you were dead to the world, and they think it was just a random incident. “
“What about the picture? Doesn’t that make it seem like this is more than just a random incident?”
“They don’t think so, but I did order more security for us both until we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Do you think we really need that, it’s sort of scary” Anna said as she handed him a towel.
John wrapped the towel around his waist and pulled her into his arms. “I will do whatever it takes to protect you, Anna, it’s just a precaution.”
“Ok,” Anna said kissing him before shooing him out of the bathroom and stepping into the shower herself. She pushed aside her worry and focused on the day ahead, or tried to. Every few minutes she stopped and caught her own reflection in the mirror wondering who would have been following her and taken the picture.
***
Anna sat her things on her desk and made her way to the manager’s office. Stella Maxwell was a well-dressed older woman with a kind face and shrewd eyes. She welcomed her and gave her a rundown of her job expectations. Anna would be using her degree in the food marketing division. To her surprise and delight, she was expected to start where everyone else was, at the bottom. Anna liked the idea that she got to prove herself, not just be John’s wife.
At lunch, she took the elevator up to the 10th floor and was surprised to see a new young woman sitting at Erin’s desk.
“You couldn’t stay away huh?” John asked as he came around the desk and kissed her.
“Nope, I couldn’t.” She said with a smile as she pulled back “I just wanted to come to tell you thank you.”
“For what?” John asked with a smile as they sat on the sofa in his office.
“For letting me start at the bottom, work my own way up. It makes me feel like you believe I can do this.”
“I do think you can do this,” John said with a laugh as he kissed her hand. “You finished almost the top of your class in business school, so why wouldn’t you.”
“Well, most husbands would have given me some cushy job that had no real responsibilities. This job is really going to push me to prove myself. I like it.”
“I’m glad, Stella is a great manager, and she mentored me when I started here.”
“She seems great. Where is Erin? Not that I have any love for her but I was surprised to find her gone.”
John sighed and looked away for a minute as if he wanted to tell her something but didn’t know-how. A creeping suspicion slithered up her spine but she waited patiently. “I moved Erin to another office. I didn’t think it was appropriate for her to be here after what happened.”
“Wow, just like that huh? I really didn’t think you’d do it.”
“I had to, especially after what Erin told me.”
Anna raised one red eyebrow in question and John sighed as if resigned to what he had to tell her.
“Anna, if Erin is to be believed, Isabel set her up to believe that I wanted to have an affair with her.”