Forbidden Heat: A Prequel

by Winters, Bella

  I sat down my things and took a seat beside him. “Well, how do you even know so much about my dating life? It’s not like I spread the word around here much.” It was true. I tried to keep my personal life separate from my work life, even though I’d become fairly close to several of the guys over the years.

  “Well, it’s easy to see. I happen to be an expert in these things,” Lance said with a smile.

  “Good for you,” I replied. “Actually, I was just thinking about breaking things off with Tracy.”

  He looked surprised. “Really? You two seemed to have a good thing going.”

  “That’s the thing. We have an amazing thing going, but I’m afraid that I’m getting too close to her. You know about my divorce a few years ago?”

  “I might have heard something about it. Sure.”

  “Yeah, I made a pact with myself to never get married again.”

  “Is this girl asking you for marriage?”

  “No, but she is getting very attached to me, and I’m crazy about her. She’s already said she was fine with no marriage when we first started going out, but… I don’t know…”

  “You think she lied to you about that?”

  “No, but people change. Their ideas and priorities in life change. What if we go along for a while and she suddenly decide that she does want marriage. She does want kids. By that time, I’m too attached to her to imagine a life without her and then I give in and get married anyway. And then the whole thing goes down the tube as marriages often do.”

  It was strange to talk about this with someone else, but I had to admit it felt good. I decided to speak with Tracy about this.

  After work I headed to her place. When I got there, I knew that something was wrong. The door was open and it looked like it had been kicked in. Tracy…

  I went inside quickly ready for anything. My adrenaline was pumping. My heart was beating loudly in my chest. “Tracy! Tracy!” I called.

  The place was a wreck. Furniture was overturned. The television was smashed. And several of her paintings that she was working on and had in storage for customers to pick up had been knifed and ripped apart.

  I found Tracy sitting on her couch. She was not crying. She did not appear to be hurt either.

  “Tracy… are you alright?” I asked sitting down beside her and putting my arm around her shoulders.

  “I’m fine.”

  “What the hell happened? Were you robbed?”

  “No. This was just a message,” she said coldly.

  I was dumbfounded. “A message? From who?”

  Tracy didn’t answer me. I saw a sadness in her eyes.

  “Tracy, you have to tell me what is going on, or I can’t help you.”

  She placed a hand on my face lovingly. “You can’t help me. This is my fight. You need to go. If you stay, then I’m putting you in grave danger.”

  I looked deeply into her eyes. She was so strong, so brave. I could tell she was scared, but she was facing those fears head on as she did everything else in life.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Whatever is going on, I’m here. You are not going through this alone.”

  Tracy smiled warmly as I caressed her shoulders.