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sheet. A cold bed. He opened his eyes, leaned up on his elbows and looked around. No clothes. Anna had gone. He sighed. It might have been for the best, but Jax found himself very disappointed. The sex had been spectacular. He’d been looking forward to more. He liked Anna. She was fun and quirky and Jax had begun to nurse a little hope that there might be a way to make her part of his life. Clearly she had other ideas.
    He sat up, rubbed his eyes and froze. Christ, he hoped that story she’d told him about her former boyfriend that wasn’t, was true. What if it had been the other way round and Anna was the one who became obsessed with guys? Jax thought about the damage to her backside. She’d been desperate to get away. No, she was telling the truth.
    Jax flung off the sweaty sheet and grimaced. Laundry to do before he left. He hadn’t meant to stay the night. His sister Kelly, her husband Pete and their four-year-old son Tom, were in the States for three months while Pete worked on an engineering project in Colorado. Jax had instructions to visit once every couple of weeks to check the postman hadn’t delivered mail he was supposed to hang on to, and to make sure the house hadn’t sprung a leak, been ransacked by burglars or fallen into a bottomless pit.
    When a business trip to Zurich had ended a day sooner than expected, Jax decided to pay a quick visit to his sister’s place in Greenwich rather than go straight home. After the taxi had dropped him off, he’d changed out of his suit and taken a can of beer into the garden. Jax was glad he had, otherwise he’d have missed out on Anna, but now he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get her out of his mind.
    Will was due to pick him up from Gatwick that afternoon, so Jax needed to call and tell him to come to Greenwich instead. He should have called him last night. A clatter of unease rattled down his spine. Will was going to be pissed off with him. Jax pushed open the bedroom door and groaned. Fuck. The door to Tom’s bedroom was ajar. Jax closed his eyes and banged his head on the wall. Shit. Not hard to figure out what had happened. He’d never had a chance to tell Anna this place wasn’t his. But then, there was a lot he hadn’t got around to telling her.
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    Anna in the Middle

Chapter Four
    Anna wondered if she dare leave her parents’ house without staying for lunch.
    Actually, she wondered if she dare leave without saying goodbye. She hadn’t slept after she’d crawled back into her childhood bed, her mind swimming with thoughts of Jax and his family until her head pounded with pain. She’d had the most fabulous sex of her life and she wasn’t even going to be able to remember it with pleasure because anger, guilt and regret had poisoned her joy.
    She lay listening to the rest of the house begin to stir and waited until they’d gone downstairs before she crept to the bathroom. Even after a long shower, she had dark circles under her eyes and a cold ache in her heart. Anna suspected that both would remain with her for a long while.
    A resurrection of teenage skills and an accurate recall of creaky steps three and seven enabled Anna to reach the bottom of the stairs without anyone hearing her. The front door was in sight. Five paces. No more. Anna’s head dropped. She couldn’t do it.
    Shit , she was a wimp. The lunch she could get out of, but not the goodbye. She put down her bag in the hall and as she reached to open the kitchen door, she heard her name.
    “What about Anna?” her father said. “You don’t think this is too soon?”
    “We don’t want to wait.” Whiny Beth with her squeaky mouse voice.
    Wait for what?
    Anna shoved the door open and walked in. Four faces turned toward her.
    Concerned looks from her mum and dad, a wide-eyed look of guilt from curly-haired Beth and a smug grin from Gareth the slimy bastard.
    “Morning, Anna.”
    Anna gritted her teeth. Of course it had to be Gareth who spoke to her first.
    “And