Hope - Book 1 of the Bad Boy Vibes series

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It didn't take Anna long to set her plan into motion. Conveniently, Rafe had to go out of town for a couple of days that very next day, and that just gave her free rein to carry out her plans and without any explanations.

It was without too much awkwardness, earlier that morning, that Rafe had woken up to find Anna lying fast asleep beside him. As was by then becoming a habit, Rafe found his gaze automatically drinking her in. With much of her covered beneath the bulky doona, he had to make do with settling his gaze on the invitingly lush contours of her soft-looking, plump, pink lips. His attraction to her was undeniable. And yet, deny it he would continue to do. She was still, to his mind, very much an innocent, despite all she had been through. His soul was already bogged down by his own feckless past. That was not a burden to be shared with an innocent.

Taking himself up and away was his first idea for overcoming his attraction to her. Space will give them both time to think. And as luck would have it, his latest job offer required that he turn up for an interview at an army base in the outback. Feeling strangely optimistic with this opportunity, Rafe didn't take long to make ready for his trip and take his able jeep out for a spin deep into the Victorian bushlands.

Anna woke that morning to feel the warm weight of an arm across her breasts. But was not unduly alarmed knowing full well to whom that arm belonged. So she laid there on her side beside the man of her dreams, enjoying the feel of having him that close. It was still dark in the early hours of the morning, so it didn't take her long to drift back to sleep shortly after and when she next awoke, he was already busy clattering about the kitchens. Anna laid there listening to his delicious voice speaking to his aunt, who was clearly back from her shift work. His plans for his day came out to her, and that instigated the formation of Anna's own plans.

Plans she put swiftly into motion as soon as she waved Rafe off. She dashed off to change, dressing in a warm, woollen skirt with a matching top, hoping the slightly more professional look would help impress the impeccable Tess Jordan to aid her cause. With his aunt Bella already fast asleep and knowing no better, Anna called an Uber and had it drive her to the precinct. Tess Jordan was a difficult woman to get a hold of, and, it appeared, an even more difficult woman to deal with without Rafe shadowing and influencing her every move. She was a completely different person without him in tow. Not that he had been towing after her to begin with, but Tess apparently didn't know that.

"This is highly irregular, you turning up to see me without Rafe. What can this be about? Does Rafe know you're here?"

In all of two minutes, she made it seem as if it were Anna who had put the wrong foot forward in coming to see her. It was an attitude Anna was not about to put up with. Having been put through enough shit as she had, Anna had no qualms in setting the record straight.

"Rafe has nothing to do with this. I am the victim seeking justice here. You deal with me."

But Tess's laugh at that was condescending at most. "But are you the victim? That is what this whole case is about, isn't it. Now that Rafe is not here, perhaps we can finally speak freely," she said before gesturing to a vacant seat before her desk. Tess Jordan had her own office at the precinct. A tiny, cluttered space that bore no evidence of a personal nature. The plaque on the wall showed her aptitude for psychology. A talent that had to be positively buried beneath that veneer of polished perfection. But Anna was not so easily deterred, she had dealt with tougher criminals and lived to tell the tale. Now she just needed to convince others of that very same tale.

"Look," said Anna, moving to lower herself into the seat proffered. "I don't know what it is between you and Rafe, but I would appreciate it if you kept it out of your dealings with me."