I paused before telling him the truth. “Notreally.”
“You want to get out of here instead?” he asked, butIsaw the way he watched my lips with rapt attention.Thelook on his face also said he was perfectly happy to just stay put and keep on chatting.
I wasn’t, though.Iwas on a high of being done with school.Readyto start the real world.Winningat a gameIhad never played before.Iwanted to give myself another thrill.Thethrill of the incredibly sexy man in front of me.
“Yeah,”Iresponded. “Howabout my place?”
His smile grew and his eyes sparkled with promise of what was to come, andIcouldn’t wait.
5
ANNA
PRESENT
I had toldArcherthatIbecame a journalist to help cover important stories—stories that could help make a difference—and this was the first story he was seeing me cover?
A 5k charity race.Moreimportantly, aT. rex 5k charity race.
Yes, that’s right—a 5k race made up entirely of participants wearingT. rex costumes.Oh, and even better, my executive producer,Adam, was all in and decided thatI, too, needed to wear aT. rex costume for this live shot.
If he weren’t such a damn goodEP,Iwould likely kill him for this.Orat least leave a few chocolate bars in his car on a hot day—with the wrappers off.MysisterIristaught me that trick.
She wasn’t my sister by birth, but close enough.IrisandIwere placed in the same foster family when we were kids.Therewere five of us girls in total—Gale,Hazel,Iris,Cora, and me—that theO’Harawomen took in.WinnieandTiaO’Harawere sisters who had also grown up in the foster system, constantly bumping around because no one wanted two older sisters.
They made it their adult lives’ mission to try to take in as many foster girls as they could so that no one had to go through constantly moving around.Sure, we had some girls who didn’t stay—those were the ones who usually went back to their family or a relative who stepped in to take care of them.Butfor the ones whose families never wanted them back or were told by the court that theycouldn’thave them back, they would always have a home with theO’Harawomen.Iwas one of those lucky ones.
TheO’Haraslived on a small property in theNorthernCaliforniacoastal town ofStratusCove.Itwas beautiful, with so much green, fresh air, and friendly people.Granted, it was a small town, so everyone knew everyone’s business.Butthat also meant they knew what theO’Harasisters did, so there was just a level of acceptance when we randomly showed up.
Some people just couldn’t understand what it was like to not know if you would have a family to celebrateThanksgivingwith or whether anyone remembered or even cared that it was your birthday.Normalchildren would always have that security blanket.Fosterkids like me did not.Intotal,Ithink there were more than fifteen girls theO’Harawomen fostered, but only five of us stayed.
Iris andIhad arrived around the same time—Iwas ten andIriseleven.Ihad bounced around a few foster homes before coming to theO’Haras, but they were the first stop onIris’sjourney, andIwas glad for that.
In my case, my mother never wanted me.Shegave me up whenIwas a toddler and her baby daddy walked away.Apparently,Ihad an attitude problem as a child and didn’t fit in well in my first five foster homes.Ihad even been almost adopted once, but that family fell through when a brand-new baby became available.Finally,Iended up with theO’Haras, andI’dnever been happier.
Iris andIhad shared a room and instantly bonded.Notjust because we arrived at the same time, but also because we realized over time that we shared a lot in common.Wehad never had pets growing up but always wanted them.TheO’Harashad them.Wehad two dogs, three barn cats, two llamas, and an ostrich.Weall had chore duty on the small farm, helping out, butIloved it.Animalsdidn’t judge you like people did.Youcould just be yourself around them, and they didn’t care.
MaybeT. rexes wouldn’t judge me either, which was good since there were about a billion of them here today.AtleastInow had aHalloweencostume ready to go.Istood off to the side of the road where the runners were.Iwas about fifty yards beyond the starting line, which was also the finish line since this was a loop.Wehad interviewed multiple runners and charity staff members this morning before the race began, but now we were just getting some extra video of the runners and recording a piece that would run on the shows tonight.
Archer stood off to the side, wearing tan cargo pants and a black tee.HehelpedTerry, my cameraman, from time to time with setting up the tent and such, but otherwise just sat nearby and worked on his computer.Toany passersby, they likely thought he was just part of the camera crew.
Terry had been informed he was my temporary bodyguard, but no one else would have been any wiser, andIliked that.Peoplealready stared at you enough when they realized you were onTV, but it got exponentially worse if they saw a bodyguard.Forsome reason, that made people think you must be anA-list celebrity.
While they set up all the equipment,Ikept glancing around looking for anyone suspicious.
“You worried?”Archerasked me, bringing my gaze back to him. “Youkeep scanning your surroundings.”
“Just trying to be vigilant, that’s all,”Iresponded.
Archer did have two other people there—Diego, whomI’dmet last night, and a woman namedDeliathatI’dmet this morning.Deliawas amazing.ShehadEgyptianheritage, which you could clearly see in her rich, tawny-colored skin and long black hair that was currently pulled into a ponytail.Shewas a retiredAirForcepilot—not just any pilot, but anAirForceHurricaneHunterpilot.Itold her about my sister,Iris, who was a meteorologist with theNationalWeatherService, and how they would be perfect to have an in-depth nerd conversation together.Shelaughed and told me she would love that, since there aren’t many women in her profession.
Delia stood along the sidelines, not far from me, pretending to be a bystander cheering on one of the racers.Sheeven held up a sign from time to time that saidGoMike!Shesaid it was a super common name, so no one would think anything of it.
Diego was pretending to be an event photographer, taking pictures of racers, the podiums, event booths, and more.Really, it was just his way of blending in, but it also allowed him to take photos of any suspicious people and send them toArcheron his laptop.Diegowas nice, though not a big talker.I’dlearned he wasMexican-American, had also served in the military, and came from a big family.
When we were all finished up for the day, having made it through without any hit men coming after us,ArcherandIhelped pack up and made our way to his car.Normally,Iwould have just hopped into the vehicle with the cameraman, butArcherinsisted we drive separately.
I had to choose my battles carefully with him, soIlet this one go.
