Fear was a hard emotion for me and I struggled with it more than I wanted to admit in my life. I wasn’t going to let it control me though, and this situation was no different. I took in a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever was going on inside of Brandon’s house.
I had promised that I wouldn’t go inside, but that was before I knew what the unknown felt like. I needed to know he was all right. I was willing to risk everything if I had to.
“Brandon, are you okay in there?” I yelled again from the doorway.
“Ahhhhhhh!” I heard a woman scream.
It was a blood-curdling scream, and I rushed into the house, not thinking about anything except making sure Brandon was all right.
“Maria!” Brandon yelled.
“What’s going on in there?”
“It’s fine. Come in and punch five-two-eight-one into the keypad by the door, please,” he shouted.
I quickly punched the numbers into the alarm so the loud sound would silence and I could go find Brandon. My ears continued to ring as I went down the hall and found the room where he was standing with a slightly older woman who was holding a mop. She looked terrified, but so did Brandon.
“Mr. Baker, I’ve not been able to get into clean the house all week. I lied about being here legally and did not want to be arrested by the police. The alarm goes off and I was scared always. But today I stayed because I do not want to be fired, so today I stayed to clean.”
“Maria, I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you I had the alarm set again and I got wrapped up with a big disaster. Please, accept my apologies. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
“I’m sorry for the noise. I left the last couple times I set the alarm off, but I have not been able to catch you at home. I was very afraid that you would not let me clean if you knew I was not supposed to be working here. I was also afraid the security men would think I was breaking in, and I did not want to have trouble.”
“Oh, it’s my fault. I am so sorry,” Brandon said as I stood in the doorway. “Maria, this is my girlfriend Delilah. Delilah, this is the most amazing house keeper you’ll ever meet, Maria. Who I’m going to have to give a big bonus to since she’s had to put up with this alarm all week.”
“Really?”
“Yes, now don’t worry about all this. Take the day off and again, I’m very sorry. This was all my fault. I’ll pay you for the week and make sure there is a nice bonus in your check.”
Maria seemed to calm down very quickly as Brandon talked to her. I felt so bad for her.
“It was nice meeting you, Miss Delilah,” she said as she shook my hand. “I look forward to seeing you again soon. You are the first friend of Mr. Baker I’ve met.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you, too, Maria. I think we will see each other again very soon. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
As she was leaving, the security company was pulling up. It only took a minute or so to explain to them what had happened and they were on their way. The security guy didn’t seem to think the whole incident was as funny as Brandon thought it was. By the look on his face, the guard looked pretty annoyed that they had come out to the house so many times throughout the week and it was all because Brandon hadn’t told his housekeeper the new alarm code.
“Now that was funny.”
“I know! I spent the whole week thinking that the big-necked thug was going to come in the house and murder me while I was sleeping. It turns out it was just Maria trying to do her job.”
We stood in the entryway of his house as his arms pressed me up against the wall and his lips devoured mine. I’d been waiting to have him near me like that again. Everything that had gone on throughout the week had made our lives so chaotic, it was a relief to be there with him and in the safety of his arms.
“I’m pretty sure you promised me a massage,” I teased him as his hands moved toward my shirt as if he was going to take it off.
“Oh, yes. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to give you a massage. Head over to the couch and I’ll work every muscle you have,” he winked.
I could barely walk as his arms stayed wrapped around me and his lips moved up and down my neck while we made our way into the living room. I walked down the two steps and toward the couch when I saw the beautiful painting hanging on the opposite wall.
“What’s that?” I said as I noticed the painting I had admired from the art show a few weeks ago.
Brandon pressed up behind me and wrapped me in his arms as we stood in front of the large painting. I looked at the details again, just as I had done when I first saw it at the art show. It was a beautiful painting, that was for sure. But it also had so much emotion to it. Each little detail told a story that I felt like I could stand and look at for a year and never get tired of it.
“I bought it at an art show the night I saw you.”
“What? You saw me there?” I said in total surprise. “I didn’t see you.”
“Oh, yes. Josh and I saw a man grab your arm, and you looked like you were going to slice his head right off of his body. I didn’t know it was you until after we met. But Josh thought it was, and so I messaged you on the dating app.”