“The flowerpots and a window are shattered, but the material damage is the least of your worries, I think.”
“What do you mean?” An uneasy feeling creeps over me.
“She was high and completely out of control. You can’t hear it on the footage, but she was raging like a maniac. She was hurling curses at you, but especially at Nora. It was really nasty, Andreas. I don’t know how dangerous she really is, but she’s crazy and drugged up enough to do stupid things.”
This is everything I feared. My past is a swamp I can’t seem to escape, no matter how hard I try, and now Nora is being dragged into it too. If anything happens to her because of the mistakes I made long ago, I’ll never forgive myself. Maybe I should let her go. I don’t deserve her, and she’d be safer without me and the ghosts of my past. But I can’t. Not now that she’s given me another chance, not now that I’m really getting to know her, not now that I’ve touched and tasted her. Is it so selfish and wrong to let myself want her, to finally let myself have something good?
“Okay, I get what you’re saying. Where are you now?”
I choose my words carefully and try to make sure Nora doesn’t catch wind of any of this.
“Still at B-Tech, I’m taking a few photos and will file the report later.”
“Would you mind picking up Nora first and taking her home? I’ll walk to B-Tech in the meantime, meet you there, and we’ll file the report together.”
“Sounds good, send me your location. I’m on my way.”
“Okay, will do.”
I sigh. This is not how I imagined today would go. Nora’s questioning eyes are fixed on me. Apparently, we’ve been standing still for a while, and it doesn’t help that I’m lost in thought, caught up in all the worst-case scenarios running through my mind—especially the ones I need to prevent, for her sake.
“Andreas, can you tell me what’s going on? You’re scaring me a little.”
“Sorry, love.” I cup her cheek and stroke her soft skin. I didn’t mean to call her "love”, but it slipped out. “There’s a vandal who smashed the flowerpots at B-Tech. Eric and I are going to file a report and see if we need to tighten security.” None of that is a lie. “Nothing to worry about. I’ll call you if Eric and I need help picking out new designer flowerpots, okay?” I laugh and try to keep the mood light.
“Oh, that’s so annoying for you, hopefully that’s the only thing that’s broken?”
“Yeah, that and a window, but I’m going to check it out myself just to be sure. Eric will pick you up and take you home. I can order something to eat and have it delivered if you want?”
“No, I’ll find something in the fridge, and I need to do groceries today anyway.”
“I’ll give you Eric’s number, it might come in handy. If you need anything, you can always call him too. In case you can’t reach me for example, don’t hesitate, okay? Give me your phone so I can add the number.”
Luckily, she hands me her phone without protest so I can add the number. I hope she never needs it, but it reassures me that she can now contact Eric in case of an emergency.
“Okay. Will I see you this weekend or next week?” Those puppy eyes.
“I believe I still need to see you in one of those new purchases of yours.”
“That can be arranged.” She smiles seductively, and I’m frustrated that I have to send her home.
“I’ll come by this weekend. I want to see what you look like when you come in your new set,” I whisper.
I wrap my arms around her waist, pull her close, and kiss her tenderly before making it clear with my tongue that I mean what I said. She moans with desire and responds to my kiss with her tongue. Her hand grabs my hair, and I forget that we’re blocking the sidewalk for passersby. Eric’s honk abruptly ends our kiss.
“I enjoyed our time together,” I say honestly.
“Me too,” she replies.
With one last quick kiss, I reluctantly say goodbye to a radiant Nora and her seductive lingerie sets and walk to the office. A little less than half an hour later, Eric is back. After contacting the police to file a report, we spend the rest of the afternoon at the office discussing B-Tech’s security—especially for Nora. I’m probably more thorough than necessary, but Eric doesn’t try to convince me to back down at any point, so I suspect he’s just as concerned. The most important thing is that Nora will be discreetly monitored by our security starting Monday. That’s a huge relief for me.
“We’ve earned these,” I say as I grab two beers from the fridge. I sit down on the couch next to Eric and hand him his beer.
“You’re serious about Nora, huh?” Eric asks, catching me off guard, even though I should’ve seen it coming from miles away.
“I really don’t want anything to happen to her. Isabella is so hard to predict.”
“I get that. She’s capable of a lot, even though she’s a mess, or maybe because of it.”
