Access Granted (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hurrying down the corridor Sabrina made her way towards the exit sign at the end of the hallway. She couldn’t believe how excited she was about her date tonight with Zander. The court case she was working on was over and for the next couple of days she was going to be off.

So, she had two days free now which was like a mini-vacation to her and she only wanted to spend them with Zander. After their conversation in the park and while she was walking back to work, Sabrina realized she wasn’t giving him a chance to make her see him as more than her brother’s best friend. If she had gotten jealous about him sticking up for Sahara against his brother then she did want more than a buddy relationship.

New and unexpected warmth surged through her as the shock of what was happening hit her full force. Zander was breaking through the image she had of him. He was making her see him in a different light...more as a lover and less as a friend.

The thought of telling Zander what was going on with her made her smile. She knew he was going to be happy since this was something he had been wishing for a while.

“Ms. Watley, can you wait for a minute please?” someone yelled behind her. Sabrina spun around and found Hayden Arthur, one of the attorneys she was a court reporter for two cases ago running to catch up with her.

“I didn’t think I would catch you,” he said, stopping in front of her. She waited while he tried to catch his breath.

She liked Mr. Arthur. He had a kindness about him that came out during his trials, plus he wasn’t bad-looking either with his sandy blond hair or hazel eyes. More than once she noticed the women in the jury taking a longer than necessary look at the handsome attorney.

“Yes Mr. Arthur. How can I help you?” she asked, curious why he had stopped her.

“I know your court reporting skills inside the courtroom are outstanding and I was wondering could I hire you to do any freelance work. I would pay you extra for your time,” he assured her.

“I’ve only done freelance work two other times,” Sabrina answered, wondering how soon he would need her to start.

“That’s great,” Hayden said, smiling at her. “I was a little worried you might not have done it outside the courtroom before, but since you have would you be interested in doing it for me? It will involve recording inquiries, depositions and a few other legal proceedings.”

Sabrina already felt like she was burning the candle at both ends between work and her growing relationship with Zander; however, this was a golden opportunity for her.

Hayden Arthur was one the hottest upcoming lawyers she had the pleasure of being with inside of the courtroom. If she did an excellent job for him, he might recommend her skills to another lawyer.  Maybe another corporation or private entity might need a kick ass court reporter to document board of director meetings or stockholders minutes.

“Yes. I’m very interested in working with you,” Sabrina answered before she changed her mind.

“Let me get everything together and I’ll get back with you in a few days. I’m waiting to hear back from my client,” Hayden told her. “How about you give me your number and I can call you with the rest of the details?”

“Okay...sounds good to me,” she answered.

Sabrina waited while Hayden pulled out his cell phone.  She quickly rattled off her phone number, so she could leave and get ready for her date with Zander. Next time, she would plan everything for their date. She wasn’t sure what he liked to do, so she would find out tonight.

“Thanks for doing this for me,” Hayden said, slipping the phone back into his trouser pocket. “Well, I better go. I need to head back to the office before I go home. Have a great night.” He touched her on the shoulder and then walked away.

Sabrina rushed towards the exit sign still excited about her surprise for Zander tonight.  She was going to give him something that he had been wanting for a while now...a chance for them to test the waters as a real couple.

Outside, she walked across the parking lot, her heels clicking at she made her way towards her car. She still couldn’t believe how Zander had gone out of his way to have it repaired for her. He brought up this morning that he would look into it. She never had a clue he would go that far. He went beyond what he should have and she was impressed by his kindness.

He was constantly looking out for her even before Avery died, but she had been too busy fighting him to see how well they worked together, but she was tired of that. She was ready to see where things could go between them.

Reaching her car, Sabrina was about to open the driver’s side door when her cell phone went off. She searched around in her purse, pulled it out smiling when she noticed the number on caller id.

“Hi, Zander.”

“Hello, sweetheart,” he answered. “What has you in such a good mood? Did you have a good day at work after we talked?”

“No, I’m very excited about our date. I have something to tell you and I know you’re going to be so happy about it.” Sabrina bet he would want to stay in and celebrate instead of going out to dinner.

However, she noticed the pause on the other end of the phone and wondered what was going on. Something was wrong because Zander didn’t seem at all thrilled about seeing her anymore tonight.

What happened in the last couple of hours to make him change
?

“Sweetheart, that’s why I’m calling you,” he said. “I won’t be able to keep our date tonight. Something came up and I have to cancel our plans.”

“Zander, when are you going to get off that phone so you can come back in the bedroom,” a female yelled in the background, shocking Sabrina.

“Who was that?” she asked, stunned. “Never mind, I honestly don’t want to know.  I can’t believe I was actually thinking about giving you a chance. I can see now you were only interested in seeing how fast you could get someone into your bed. Have a great night with your new friend.

“Sabrina, hold on, wait a─”

She hung up the phone and then put it on mute before tossing it back into her purse. She wasn’t interested in hearing any kind of excuses from Zander. She always thought he might like playing the field and now she knew that he did.

God, she almost allowed some
hot
foreplay and a few steamy kisses to take her off her professional goal, but her momentary lapse of weakness was over and she was back on track. Zander could do anything he wanted with his personal life as long as he understood she wasn’t going to be involved with it.

Sabrina got in her car and slammed the door behind her. She blinked back sudden tears as she heard the woman’s voice again in her head telling Zander to come back to her bedroom.

Damn him for making her believe they could move on to something more meaningful. What was he doing with that woman anyway, giving her one final goodbye?

Well, he wasn’t even going to get the chance to do anything with her again. Not even hold her hand because she was now going to move forward building her career which would start with the freelance job Hayden was going to assign her.

Sabrina started her car and drove off towards the end of the parking lot.  She turned to the right instead of the left because she wasn’t ready to go home yet. Her emotions were still too hyped up after her phone call with Zander and she needed someone to talk to and she knew the perfect person.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Cursing underneath his breath, Zander snapped his phone shut when his call went directly to Sabrina’s voice mail for a fourth time. She was pissed at him and had every right to be. He knew he shouldn’t have answered Ms. Case’s call but she lived only a few blocks from the courthouse.

Some of the cameras he’d installed weren’t working. Now, this was the second time this had happened to him. So, he was going to check with his supplier and see what was going on. He didn’t have time to be running back and fourth out here dealing with her.

“Are you done with your phone calls?”

Turning around, Zander’s eyes narrowed at the sight of his client wearing a tiny polka dot bikini that barely covered her toned body, but the sight of her wasn’t turning him on at all. His heart, body and soul belonged to a caramel skinned beauty who was ignoring him at the moment.

“Yes, I’m done with my phone calls and I think I should leave. I’ll send another guy out tomorrow to work on your cameras. I apologize for them not working properly.”

Spinning around, he headed for his work bag in the hallway. He wasn’t interested in getting into her bed now or ever. He’d sensed she was up to something when he first met her; however, he never counted on her throwing herself at him in such a blatant way.

“Don’t go,” she begged, rushing up to him.

Jill slid in front of him and placed her hand in the middle of his chest. “Why don’t you stay and go for a swim with me. I mean, you can even stay for a late dinner.” Removing her hand, she pressed her body against his chest. “What do you say? I bet we can even find something fun to do after our swim.”

Grabbing her by the shoulders, Zander moved Jill back from him. Nothing she came up with or said was going to keep him here with her. “No, thank you. I have other plans for tonight. Someone is waiting for me and I don’t want to be late.”

“Are you serious?” she snapped, glaring at him as she took another step back. “You’re turning down this.” She waved her hands up and down her surgically enhanced body. “Men have gotten into fights to be with me.”

“Why don’t you go and find one of them instead of throwing yourself at the man who doesn’t want you?” Zander said, brushing past her.

Bastard... I’ll make you pay for this. No one insults me or turns me down.

Zander read Jill’s thoughts as he continued towards his supplies across the room. He wasn’t even going to comment about them because he had to find Sabrina and clear things up with her. He picked up his bag and then went for the door. He knew she had heard Jill in the background and there was no telling what she might be thinking about what was going on.

“Zander, you have made a mistake by not staying here with me,” Jill hollered after him. “You could have made a lot of money from me.”

“No amount of money is worth having you toss yourself at me. Either you can stay with Access Granted or leave. Let me know by tomorrow,” he said back over his shoulder.

Opening the front door, he went out closing it behind him. Outside on the porch, Zander blew out a breath and mentally kicked himself again for coming over here. How could he have done something so stupid when he
knew
Jill wanted more than a business relationship with him from the very beginning?

The only reason he let Thorsten talk him into accepting Jill as a client was to get his name out there to a wider clientele. He wanted Access Granted to be successful for him and Avery despite the fact his best friend wasn’t here anymore.

But now he was thinking twice about jumping into this so quickly without thinking it through more first. What if agreeing to work with Jill had cost him something with Sabrina? He had worked so hard over these past few months to make her open up and after a stupid mistake on his part He didn’t want to ever think about what he heard Sabrina tell him before she hung up on him. She actually was going to let things more past the friendship level and he fucked it up by coming over here instead of going straight home.

No... he couldn’t let this go on any further. He hadn’t done anything wrong and he would make his woman understand the only female he could ever take to his bed now was her for the rest of their lives.

Stepping off the porch, he dug out his phone again and tried to reach Sabrina. It rang a few times before his call got sent over to her voice mail again.

Where in the hell was she
?

Zander wasn’t happy with the ideas coursing through his head. Sabrina was quick to make a decision when something threw her off balance. Once he found her, he would sit her down and have a very long talk with her; it was way past time that he laid all the cards out on the table. She belonged with him as much as he belonged with her and it was past time she knew it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sabrina brushed debris off the headstone, laid the flowers on it then sat down on the ground. Before coming out to the graveyard, she had made a quick trip to the store to buy some flowers to place on her brother’s grave.

“Avery, you don’t know how much I miss you right now,” she said. “I was able to talk to you about anything. You were always my shoulder to cry on or the person to shake some sense into my head when I started acting too crazy for my own good.

“I wish you were here each and every day. I can talk to mama, but it isn’t the same as talking to a sibling. She thinks everything is black and white without any shades of gray. I love her, but our conversations aren’t like ours used to be.”

A hot tear rolled down her cheek as she traced her brother’s name on the headstone with her fingertips. “You idiot,” she sighed. “Why didn’t you listen to everyone when we told you over and over to stop all the thrill seeking? Everything looked so good that day at the track, so I don’t know why you died.

“Okay, enough tears. I came here to talk to you, not cry for the millionth time. So, let me fill you in on what’s going on with me. Work is better than I could ever imagine it. I got offered another freelance job today. This could be the opportunity I’ve been waiting for since I started being a court reporter.”

Hearing a snapping sound behind her, Sabrina jumped and glanced around until she spotted two gray squirrels off in the distance. She watched them play around for a few minutes before looking back at the headstone. This was only the second time she had visited him since his death.

The first time she had gathered up enough courage to come out here Zander came with her. He was that kind of guy. If she needed him he was here for her, until today. When he cancelled their date to be with another woman in her bedroom, it was something she wouldn’t stand for. She wasn’t about to come in second to anyone not even for Zander.

“Well, I guess you see up there what is going on between me and Zander. I tried to do as you told me and give him a real chance. Things were going pretty damn good too...until he decided he would rather be in another woman’s bed instead of on a date with me.

“You know that he even had enough nerve to call me from the other bitch’s house? No, I’m not going to stand for that.”

Sabrina knew she was talking to her brother like he was actually going to answer her back, but she knew it wasn’t going to happen. Yet, it made her feel close to him even in death. Avery was here for her which was what a big brother should do.

Glancing around, she noticed it was getting late and she hadn’t planned on staying this long, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone tonight. After Zander backed out of their date, all she wanted to do was come here and get some of her anger off her chest.

“Okay, Trouble maker,” she teased. “I need to get going because I haven’t had anything to eat since I picked over my lunch earlier. I’ll try to get around to coming out here again and maybe next time Mama will come with me.”

Sabrina stood, brushed off her pants and made her way back over to her car. She unlocked it and got inside. She couldn’t believe how much better she felt after talking to her brother. Even in death, he had a way of knowing exactly what she needed from him and today it was a long talk.

She drove towards the front gate thinking about what restaurant she might stop at to grab some carry out before heading back home. Earlier this afternoon after talking to Zander, she didn’t think her day would end like this but she was glad it did.

Now, she honestly knew she had read him correctly. Just for a minute she had been dreaming about having a future with him the way Sahara had with his brother, but that wasn’t ever going to occur for them. Sabrina drove out of the graveyard and onto the highway while pushing lingering thoughts of Zander to the back of her mind.