Secrets: The Complete Collection

by H. M. Ward

  CHAPTER 7

  I cried my eyes out for the rest of the night and it shows. Sophia Sottero looks like perfection next to me with my puffy eyes and dark circles.

  She gives me a once over in my black skirt and white blouse. It was the same outfit that Cole told me was too formal for work. “Anna dear, you look like hell frozen over. If you want to work eighteen-hour days, you can’t stay up doing god-knows-what the night before. For the next three weeks, you’re mine. No one else. Understand? Tell this boyfriend he’ll have to wait, because I won’t have this.” She gestures to me like I’m disgusting.

  Offense flows through me. I don’t look that bad, but I also don’t look perfect, which Sophia obviously demands. I nod, “Yes, ma’am.”

  She puts her hands on her hips and says, “Good. I’m glad we understand each other. Now, go grab me a cup of coffee—two creams, no sugar—and bring it to my desk. You’ll do that every morning.” I nod, realizing I’ve been demoted to gopher.

  Thoughts of Cole flood my mind as I try to adjust to working with Sophia. She’s anal OCD to the max. If I think about her too much she makes my eye twitch. Later that afternoon, another intern found me in the ladies room.

  “You have been in here way too long,” she says zipping around the room, washing her hands and drying them before running for the door.

  “What are you talking about? It’s barely been three minutes.”

  She glances back at me, her dark eyes wide. “I know. Hurry up or she’ll bite your head off.”

  After washing my hands, I emerge from the rest room.

  “Ms. Sottero wants you in the shooting room,” says another intern. She glares at me like I’m irresponsible.

  I head to the shooting room and kick off my heels as I walk through the door. Sophia looks over at me, her dark eyes darting to my feet and then back to my face. “Shoes are required at all times, Anna dear.” She sighs and walks toward me. “It appears that I’ll be unteaching what Cole has taught you. Assuming nothing, all right?”

  I slip back into my shoes and nod. I don’t like the way she speaks about Cole. I sense some unspoken resentment there, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly. A bride and her entourage arrive a few minutes later. I become a coat rack. Then I help dress the bride, pulling corset strings and making sure she looks perfect. I fan her train. I bring her water. I do everything that Regina does. Sophia doesn’t trust me with the lights or the camera. I groan internally. This is going to suck.

  Sophia snaps her fingers in my face, “Wake up, Anna. Really.” She scolds. “Fan her train again and give her back her flowers.”

  When I hand the bride her flowers, I notice she’s fidgeting - which seems to irritate Sophia. “Is something wrong?” I ask.

  “Yes, the top of my foot is itchy. I think it’s from the petticoat. It keeps tickling me.” She moves again trying to get the itch. When she can’t she looks up at me, “Could you do it?”

  That sums up the rest of my first day at Sottero’s: scratching feet, fetching coffee, and being all around slave labor. Sophia is kind enough to remind me before I leave that this internship position is not paid.

  CHAPTER 8

  It is late by the time I walk through the front door. Emma is sitting on the couch with Jesse. Surprised, I stop in my tracks and look up at him. “Hey,” I say.

  Emma waves at me, “He came by about an hour ago. I told him to wait for you.” She pops a chip into her mouth.

  Jesse stands and walks toward me. “I hope that was okay.” He says, uncertainty lining his face.

  “Of course. It’s fine.”

  “I saw the papers for the new internship come through the office. Actually, I was the one to enter them into your account. I assume things with the dean didn’t go well.”

  “Hardly,” I say, taking off my heels and rubbing my feet. The idea of shoving those on again tomorrow sounds horrifying. “They scrapped my hours with Cole and made me start over.”

  “I’m sorry Anna. I know how much you were dreading that.”

  I try to sound like it’s a good thing, but don’t quite manage it. “It’s fine. I originally wanted this internship anyway. Life has a funny way of sorting things out. I just didn’t belong with Cole, I guess.”

  Jesse looks up at me. We gaze at each other for a beat, before I look away. “Uh, let’s go back here to talk, so Em can watch whatever’s on TV.”

  “I can leave. Damn, just say it Anna.” Em says getting up.

  “Sit down, grump. Eat your chocolate. You’re acting like the PMS Troll again.” Jesse’s eyes go wide as I toss Emma a Hershey bar.

  She catches it and laughs. “Sorry. And thanks.”

  “No problem,” I say, and indicate Jesse should follow me. As he walks into my room, I say, “Now don’t get the wrong idea. The apartment is really small and for some reason you know more about me and Cole than Emma does.”

  Jesse nods and looks around for a place to sit. He chooses the chair in front of my desk. “I didn’t think it was an invitation for a booty call.” He grins. “I’m not that dense.”

  “And that’s why I like you.” I peel off my jacket as I talk and put my shoes in the closet. Jesse watches me. He dangles his arm over the back of the chair.

  “So,” he says, looking at me shyly. It’s a very different gaze than the intense looks Cole gives me.

  “So,” I reply and smile weakly at him. The corners of my mouth fall and my worries can be seen plainly on my face.

  “It’ll be all right, Anna. You can do this. Think of the time with Sottero like trying to sit through Peters’ class if it was a short course.”

  “That’s about the only thing that would be worse.” Professor Peters was so boring I never even noticed Jesse sitting in front of me. I had to drink two Red Bulls to keep my head from hitting the desk. Thinking about Sottero, I say, “She’s nothing like I thought she’d be. Cole let me shoot...on my own. Sophia has me getting her coffee and scratching people’s feet. Feet, Jesse.”

  He nods sympathetically. “So, I’ve heard.” He pauses for a second, leans toward me. His gaze falls to the floor and then back up to my face. “You know, there have been some interesting remarks about her when all the internship papers are handed in.”

  “Such as?”

  He smiles at me, and I get the feeling he’s telling me stuff I’m not supposed to know. “Nothing you can’t handle, not after putting up with Stevens. Sottero can be thoughtless and pushy. The interns didn’t feel they really got a hands-on learning experience. It was more like going through the motions to get to the next phase of life. But on the bright side, Sottero’s name is gold. You’ll get a job when you’re done without a problem.”

  Pulling off my thigh-highs from the toe, I wad them up and toss them on my bed before sitting down hard. “I had a job. It was a great job.”

  Jesse asks, “It sounds like you miss it.”

  “A little,” I glance up at him.

  Jesse glances at his watch. “I should get going. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you were okay.”

  I nod and stand. “Better. Today was definitely better than yesterday.” Yesterday, when Cole jerked my emotions around like it didn’t matter. Yesterday, when I finally gave up on him even though I didn’t want to.

  CHAPTER 9

  Sophia snaps her fingers at me, “Anna, dear, we must hasten.”

  Hasten? Really? Sophia Sottero is like Mary Poppins on crack. She smiles widely and makes everyone love her, well, everyone who doesn’t work for her. It seems like the interns scatter when Sophia is around. She’s constantly snapping her fingers and smacking people with newspapers and magazines like they’re wayward puppies. It’s getting on my nerves, but I made it through a week. Jesse was right. I can do this. The shorter time span meant longer hours each day, but it meant less days as well.

  I jog toward her and she frowns at me, snatching the prop out of my hand, “Do not run.”

  I smile and nod. I want to tell her that she�
�s friggin’ crazy and then quit, but I can’t. I deal with her the best I can. If I was stuck here permanently, I’d bash my brains in.

  My mind drifts back to Cole. That night on his bed still floods my dreams and I can’t stop thinking about it—about him. Sophia is telling the bride how stunning she is and it sounds sincere, but she sneers when she turns to take the other camera in my hands. It’s clear she thinks the girl looks like a train wreck, but when she turns back around Sophia is all fake compliments. I get tired of this. Day after day, it’s the same thing.

  I finally ask, after a shoot one afternoon, “When will I be allowed to assist with the lights? Or a shoot? Or tag along to a wedding?”

  Sophia turns slowly and looks at me like I’ve said something funny. When I wait for an answer, she places her hand over her heart and says, “Oh my God, you’re serious. You think you’ll get to shoot. How sweet.”

  “Of course I thought I’d get to shoot. You told me over the phone that I’d be doing all of these awesome things, and I’m not doing any of them. I’m not learning anything.” Sophia has me sorting extension cords and wrapping them with zip ties. A large orange cord dangles from my wrists as I speak.

  “I told you about the things you would do if you were hired here. I wasn’t referring to the internship, dear.” When Sophia says “dear” she really means “idiot.”

  Remembering the conversation, I shake my head. “No, I specifically recall you telling me to intern with you—that Cole couldn’t teach me the things you could. Then you went into detail about what those things were. Bundling extension cords wasn’t on the list.” I sound snitty, but I don’t care. I feel like this was the biggest bait and switch I’ve ever fallen for.

  Sophia steps toward me, her stiletto heel clicking on the tiled floor. “Cole, is it? Not Mr. Stevens?” She arches a brow at me. When I say nothing, she smiles as if she knows how hard I’ve fallen for him. “Do yourself a favor and get over him.”

  I hate the way she’s talking to me. I smirk, “I’ve never been under him and I don’t plan on it, so there’s nothing to get over. He was just more casual in how he conducted his business.”

  Folding her slender arms across her chest she says, “I see. And tell me, Anna dear—did he keep you around? No. He fired you like all the rest. Every year it’s the same thing; interns calling up, crying their eyes out that Cole Stevens fired them. Please hire me, Ms. Sottero.” She tilts her head at me, “I would have thought you had more sense.”

  I never told her that the university was the reason I didn’t finish with Cole. I can’t reply without making it known, so I just look away.

  “Thought so,” she says, and saunters away, spewing verbal vomit at the next client.

  CHAPTER 10

  After two weeks of non-stop Sottero I want to rip my ears off and my nerves are shot to Hell. Jesse offers to meet me at the bar on the way home. Still wearing my work clothes, I see him standing outside waiting for me. He looks good, wearing dark washed blue jeans and a black blazer. When he turns his gaze in my direction, his eyes slip over my tight skirt and sheer blouse. My jacket is over my arm. I would have thrown the shoes away on the subway, but walking barefoot in the city was a surefire way to contract cooties.

  “Thank God,” I say, when I get close enough. My entire body wants to fold in half.

  Jesse grins and takes my jacket. “That bad?”

  “Worse,” I say heading for the door. “Take the worst thing you can imagine and multiple it by a hundred. Then add the word idiot to the end and that sums it up. I plan on getting completely and totally drunk. I’m afraid you’ll be responsible for me for the rest of the evening.”

  “Sure, but won’t Sophia go crazy on you if you show up with a hangover?” He holds the door for me. I look into my purse, trying to fish out my ID in the dim light. There are a few people in line in front of us.

  I shake my head, “Nope. Tomorrow is Sottero-free. I have the day off. My only day off, so I plan on getting every annoying thought of her out of my head so I don’t accidentally claw her face off Tuesday morning.”

  Jesse laughs. “Your eye is twitching again.”

  I feel it flutter and press them closed, listening to Jesse chuckle. His arm wraps around my shoulders and pushes me forward. When I look up, I hand my ID to the guy at the door. He nods and let us pass.

  The bar is dark and fairly crowded, but there are so many people in Manhattan that, at times, I go weeks without seeing a familiar face. I don’t expect to see him sitting there at the bar, hunched over a drink. When Cole looks up, his gaze makes my heart convulse. My feet don’t move. Whatever Jesse was saying is lost.

  Cole’s gaze slides from me to Jesse, to Jesse’s arm at the small of my back pressing me toward the bar, and Cole. I stiffen and feel Jesse’s gaze on my face. He follows my stare across the room as he asks, “What’s wrong?”

  I don’t answer. Instead I watch Cole get up and toss cash on the bar. He walks toward me and I’m caught in those sapphire eyes. There’s nothing else there. There’s no bar. There’s no Jesse. There’s no Sophia making my life hell. It’s the way it was last time we were together. It’s all tension and tingles. It’s all sweaty thoughts and scandalous surges of lust.

  Cole stops in front of us. “Miss Lamore,” he says.

  I don’t correct him. I try to steady my voice even though my heart is beating wildly. “This is Jesse.”

  Cole turns his gaze to Jesse. “Mr. Oden.”

  Jesse finally figures out who this is, “Wow, Mr. Stevens.” He sounds like a star struck teenager.

  Cole glances at me once more and says, “So this is what you’re doing now?”

  Smirking I say, “This and Sottero. Bet you wish you could watch.”

  When I say Sophia’s name, Cole’s eyes snap to mine. I have no idea what possessed me to say it, except I don’t like his innuendo and I can’t let it alone. Saying I know how he likes to watch seems harmless enough, but I know he does. Remembering the way his eyes moved across my body the last time I was with him is enough to make me damp just thinking about it.

  “You’re mistaken, Miss Lamore.” His tone is flat, like he couldn’t care less. “Good night.” Cole walks out the door without a backward glance.

  My entire body is strung so tight it feels like my head will burst. Jesse takes my hand and pulls me to the bar. He waves down the bartender and orders us shots.

  “So, that was Cole, the guy who’s been giving you a mind-fuck since before we met?” Jesse asks and I nod.

  The drinks are placed in front of us. I’m not a heavy drinker and I know that if I swallow that I’ll fall out of my chair, but I’m not thinking. I take the tiny glass and throw back the contents. It burns my throat as I swallow and I open my mouth wide.

  Jesse watches me and laughs, “What was that?”

  “I don’t drink a lot. I like to be in control of things, and being drunk is kind of the opposite.” I glance at him. “I usually drink wine.”

  “How many glasses ‘til you fall over?”

  I shrug, “Three, maybe four.”

  He laughs, “Well, no more shots for you. Part of this therapy is venting and you can’t do that if you pass out after one shot.” He orders me wine. Grateful, I take the glass and sip it. “So rant. Pick one, because now I suspect Stevens is going to be part of what’s driving you crazy. If he looked at you any harder, he’d need a condom.”

  Grimacing at him, “He doesn’t like me like that.”

  “Um, are you blind? Did you not see that back there?” Jesse’s brows shoot up his face and he points to the spot where Cole stood. “He wants you bad.”

  “Well, I told him I was doing you.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that one, by the way. He’s probably waiting for me outside so he can chop my nuts off.”

  I spew my wine and try to use the tiny napkin to wipe it up. “He is not. He’s not like that.”

  “Not like what? A guy? Anna, I may be wrong about other things, but not this.
” He switches to beer after doing the shot. “Hell, I don’t even—”

  Taking his jacket lapels in my hands, I pull Jesse toward my mouth. His lips land lightly on mine. Shock silences him and I feel his lips move against mine. When he pulls back he’s grinning, “You always make guys stop talking that way?”

  I smile softly and down the rest of my wine. “Wait until you see what I do later.” I waggle my eyebrows at him.

  Jesse is too sweet for his own good. He takes my hand. “About that, I don’t mind being your plaything—I mean I’m actually really excited about it—but let’s keep it to one thing at a time, okay? Check off your list in order. Number one: Get drunk. Number two: Get home. Number three: Kiss Jesse good night.”

  Smiling at him I say, “You don’t want to be the rebound guy.” The softness in his voice and the way he looks at me makes me think he wants more than that, when I’m ready to give it.

  He shakes his head. “Definitely not. The more I’m around you the more I can see that you’re worth waiting for.”

  CHAPTER 11

  I no longer know what I’m saying. My heart spills over my lips as Jesse alternates between walking me home and carrying me home.

  “I just want to be with someone who likes me the way I am. It seems like such a major thing.” I stumble and Jesse holds my elbow, righting me. I glance at him and the streetlights continue to spin. “Whoa.”

  He smiles at me and helps me along, occasionally saying soothing words. It finally dawns on me that I shouldn’t be saying this stuff to him and I grow quiet.

  I stare at the sidewalk, at my feet as we walk. I’m barefoot. My thigh highs are in my right hand. I don’t really consider where I step. Jesse steers me around things that might puncture my feet.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” he finally asks as we walk up my front stairs.