Single, Available, and Completely Attached (25 page)

“Oh, I—
”
 
She
realized she had almost said she already had a date, but that wasn’t true.
 
She and Drew had never talked about it—and again, she heard Alice’s voice encouraging her to date other guys.
 
She remembered the way she had responded earlier, seeing Drew and those girls…

Was she actually forming an attachment to Drew?
 

“You know what?
 
I think that sounds like a good idea.
 
But—as friends, okay?”
 
Anna agreed, biting the inside of her lip.

“That’s as good a place to start as any.”
 
He grinned at her as he pulled her door open, and she climbed into her car.
 
“Have a good night, Anna.”

“You, too, Johnny.”
 

And as an odd sense of guilt rushed through her, she knew she’d made the right choice.

~*~

Anna stood in Drew’s kitchen, stirring the pot of sauce she’d been cooking all afternoon.
 
She’d had it all planned out for a week now—and winning the auction had just been coincidence.
 

She had racked her brain for at least a couple of days before she’d finally come up with a way to thank him—and once she had, she’d spent a good deal of time actually working on the project.

Now, there it was, leaning against the couch, wrapped in pretty blue paper with a white bow tied around it.
 

The sauce had only been an afterthought—she’d called Nana and asked her for the recipe, deciding that, in addition to her gift, she wanted to
do
something special for him.
 

So there she stood, dressed in a pair of knit shorts and a tank top, stirring away.
 
She had a dress laid out in the bedroom, and her plan was for him to come home and find her sitting there wearing heels and a short dress…and the rest didn’t matter, because she heard his key in the door much earlier than she’d anticipated.
 

Drew stopped dead in his tracks the moment he saw her, and she bit her lip as she tried to smile at him.
 
“Surprise?”
 

“You could say that.”
 
He dropped his
keys
 
on
the table near the door as he walked toward her.
 
“What’s all this?”

“It’s not done yet.”
 
She frowned.

“Annabelle
Maloy
, are you cooking for me?”
 
Anna shrugged.

“Trying to.
 
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though—I’m nowhere near as good a cook as Nana—”

“Is this Nana’s sauce?”
 
He asked, and she nodded, feeling silly.
 
Drew reached out and took the spoon from her, blowing for a second before taking a taste.
 
“I’m definitely not complaining.”
 

“I wanted to do something special.”
 
She told him, shrugging again as she took the spoon and stirred one more time.
 
“I even had a dress all picked out, so you could walk in and there would be dinner, and a sexy girl, and a present…”
 
She felt his hands on her hips as he came up behind her.

“I don’t think you could get much sexier than you are at this very moment, Anna.”
 
He nipped at her ear and she shivered, dropping the spoon.

“You didn’t see my dress.”

“I don’t need a dress.”
 
He assured her.

“Or my lingerie.”
 
At that, Drew raised an eyebrow, and Anna smiled.

“There was lingerie?
 
Well, we can save that for later.”

“Are you hungry now?”
 
she
asked.

“Starved.”
 
He told her, and she had a feeling he wasn’t just craving food.
 
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to the latter part of the evening herself.
 

“Let me just get the pasta going, and we can open your present while we wait.”

“Anna, you didn’t have to get me anything—”

“Nonsense.”
 
She shooed him away and turned to the boiling pot of water, dumping the noodles in and setting a timer.
 
Drew was already sitting on the couch, holding the rectangular gift out in front of him.
 
She hurried toward him, pulling her knees up to her chest as she settled in beside him.
 
“Go on, you can open it.”

He hesitated for a long moment before he began, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she thought he might be shaking a little.
 
Anna wondered if he was nervous.

As soon as the paper fell away, she saw the expression on his face.
 
His eyes shimmered with tears he refused to shed as he looked at the charcoal drawing of his mom.
 

“Did you draw this?”
 
Drew asked after several moments and she only nodded.
 
Anna was surprised by how well it had turned out, considering she’d only had a picture she’d snapped of the photo on his dresser for reference.
 
If she was being honest with herself, she would have to admit that it was her best work.
 

Drew couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
 
“It’s…I don’t even have words, Annabelle.”
 

“I just—I wanted you to have something more than a little frame.
 
She obviously meant the world to you, and I…”
 
Anna let the sentence go, knowing she didn’t need to explain herself.
 

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,
”
 
she
told him.
 
His eyes still shone and she had a hard time looking at him without feeling her heart ache.
 
He was always so guarded—and seeing him struggle with his emotions was almost more than she could take.

The timer sounded, and Anna jumped from the couch, grateful for the escape.
 
She busied herself with the dinner for a few minutes while Drew set the table, pouring wine into the glasses she’d set out.
 

Halfway through the meal, Anna finally broke the silence.
 
“I’m so glad that the drawing turned out okay.
 
I’ve literally spent every possible moment this week working on it.”
 
Drew set his fork down, looking at her from across the table.

“You mean you weren’t out with Johnny-Do-
Gooder
?”
 
Anna rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head.
 
“I thought that’s why you were blowing me off.”

“No, silly.”
 
She inhaled slowly.
 
“But he did ask me to prom.”
 
She found she was holding her breath as she waited for him to respond.

“That’s kind of adorable.
 
Little Annabelle, going out on her first date since—what was his name?
 
Alex?”

“Alec.
 
Don’t forget the accountant.”
 
She corrected.
 
“And don’t act like you haven’t taken advantage of rule number one yourself.”

“Actually, I haven’t.”
 
Anna nearly choked on the wine she’d just taken a drink of.
 

“You mean you haven’t been with…anyone else?”
 
Drew shook his head slowly, his eyes on the plate in front of him.

And suddenly, Anna knew why she’d reacted the way she had last night.
 

She’d recognized the look in his eye.
 
She’d seen it before, time and time again, as he’d picked up a girl at a party, or a bar, or a baseball game.
 

Jeff’s voice sounded in her head, reminding her that the quickest way to push Drew away was to sleep with him.

She was starting to lose him.

“Well, that makes two of us.”
 
She told him, rising from the table and heading to the kitchen to rinse her plate.
 

“Looks like we’re terrible at following rules then, huh?”
 
He appeared beside her, taking her plate into his hands.
 
“I’ve got this.
 
You made dinner.”

“You don’t mind?”
 
He shook his head.
 
“I think I’ll go shower really quickly, then.”

Rather than change into the lingerie she’d brought, she packed it away after her shower and slipped into one of his t-shirts, the mood having taken an unexpected turn.
 

Deep down, she knew what the right thing to do was—but convincing herself to go through with it…that was going to be the difficult part.

With a deep sigh, Anna opened Drew’s bedroom door to find him sitting on the couch, staring at the drawing.
 
She padded quietly from the room, settling on the couch beside him.
 
“It’s really beautiful, Annabelle.”

“She’s beautiful.
 
I just drew it.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”
 

“Please don’t,
”
 
she
asked him.
 
“This was my way of thanking you.
 
For…all of this.”
 
She turned her head so that she could meet his eyes.
  
“None of it would have happened without you—the auction, the prom, the studio.”
 

She paused a long moment before making herself smile at him, her eyes tearing up even as she did so.
 
“And for me, too.”
 
She gave a small shrug.
 
“I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have you these last few months.
 
You’ve been—you’ve been exactly what I needed, Drew.”

“Well, I aim to please.”
 
He told her, and she could see there was a sorrow in his eyes once more.
 

“And please you have.”
 
He reached out and wiped a tear as it slid down her cheek and Anna turned her head, rolling her eyes at herself.
 
She hadn’t meant to get so emotional.
 

“Why does it sound like your saying goodbye, Annabelle?”
 
Anna forced herself to smile again.

“Oh, Drew.
 
I think…I think we should take a little time, maybe.”
 
She cursed herself as her eyes welled up once more.
 
“You’re dangerously close to realizing you’ve been in a monogamous relationship for the last three months, and I…I just think that’s asking for all sorts of trouble.”

She couldn’t lose his friendship just because they’d gotten carried away with the benefits.

Drew studied her for a long moment, and she longed to know what he was thinking—but she couldn’t bring herself to ask, for fear that he would tell her she was right.
 
And then he reached out, taking her face in his hands.
 
His thumbs trailed over her cheeks, his eyes searching hers, and she flashed back to a night several years ago when he’d first barreled into her life.

She would never have thought all those years ago that she would be sitting here, her heart suddenly aching at the thought of losing Drew Whitman.
 

“Could you stay—just tonight then?”
 

Anna didn’t trust her voice, and so all she did was nod—and within moments, his kiss consumed her.

~*~

Drew lay there for hours after Anna had fallen asleep.
 
He watched her sleep as the night sky faded and the sun rose quietly through the heavy curtains upon his window.
 
He dreaded morning, knowing that Anna was going to wake up, and she was going to leave—and he wasn’t going to stop her.
 

So he memorized it all, as he’d already done.
 
He remembered the curve of her neck, the feel of her body alongside his, the soft sound of her breathing.

He remembered the feel of her—the desperate way they had made love to each other, so much more intensified tonight than it ever had been before.
 
He had clung to her as she had him, and he had done everything he could to make sure she would remember, too.

When he had walked onto his floor earlier this evening, he’d been greeted by the smell of
real
food and he’d thought someone must be lucky tonight.
 
And when he’d stepped through the door and seen her standing there, at the stove, her hair up in that messy ponytail…

He’d imagined for just the briefest of moments that it was his life.
 
That he could come home from work and he would find Anna there, so incredibly sexy without even the faintest amount of effort…and she would smile at him, as she’d done earlier today—and he would feel that love he’d so long ago sworn off.

This was the closest he’d ever come, he knew.
 
It was his best chance, and he couldn’t bring himself to take it.

Morning came, as Drew knew it would.
 
He stayed in bed while she grabbed the few items she’d brought with her, and when he knew she was ready, he pulled on a pair of torn up old jeans and walked her to the door.

“Friends?”
 
she
asked him, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

“What else?”
 
He reached out and touched her cheek, trying to ignore the glimmer of hope in her eyes.
 

It was obvious that she was hurting, but he told himself that it was better this way.
 
Better that she hurt now, while it was still easy to recover from.