Sunny Anderson had been married now for eighteen years. Funny how that happened. Malcolm had approached her one day at her local university after she'd turned eighteen. And then. Eighteen years later. He died. He'd been thirty years her senior already when she'd met the man but he was the picture of perfection even at that age.
And during the length of their relationship the pair had heard and seen it all. Every bad name. Every dirty look. All of it. But their love knew no bounds and they cherished each other nonetheless. And then... he died. And her world became bleak and filled with misery.
The only good thing to come of it in the aftermath of his death was that neither of them had any children to speak of so when he'd left his money and his home and everything else he possessed to her as the sole beneficiary no one really tried to fight her for it. She'd been silently thankful for that. And now here she was, a year later, sorting through everything as she worked to assess what else could be let go of and what had to be built anew. Sunny had had her time to grieve. Though truthfully she never believed anything could quite fill the void that now gaped in her heart.
Sitting in his massive study she searched through his files until she'd found the one she was looking for. Most of the cars she'd already sold. They were Malcolm's treasures not hers and she'd felt it best they got good use rather than to collect dust in their massive garage with no one to drive them. Though, she did keep one vehicle he'd collected. She'd kept the Neiman Marcus Limited Edition Fighter he'd purchased for her when it had first came out.
Man she loved that bike. And more than ever before she found herself driving along empty scenic roads near Snoqualmie through the peace of the woods and wilderness. It was on one of these drives that she'd finally decided on what it was she was going to do. Which brought her back to the file in her hand. Ethan Flint had been a good friend and colleague to her late husband. Malcolm had invested in the start of Ethan's architecture firm and as a result Ethan had been on call now to personally help Malcolm any time he needed additions built onto their beautiful home.
Now, it was her turn to contact the man and enlist his services. Her stomach clenched as she picked up her cell and looked at the number on the business card. The last time she'd seen Ethan was at Malcolm's funeral. How the man had cleaned up so nicely she could never guess. Tattoos pretty much covered most of his body. Not that she was far from that herself. Malcolm had been more than happy to indulge in all of her... decorations.
But when she spotted him at the funeral he'd looked like what she could only describe as a dapper as fuck silver fox. At one point their eyes had locked, and it was like a bolt of electricity had pierced through her being in that intent gaze. But when the funeral was over, he only came and gave her his quiet condolences before she never saw him again. The number dialed, she paused a moment over the send button.
Her stomach tightened again and before she lost her nerve she thumbed over the screen and put the phone to her ear. "Ethan Architecture, this is Ethan speaking." For a moment her voice caught in her throat and she couldn't seem to think clearly enough to respond right away. "Hello, this is Ethan speaking." Sunny cleared her throat quickly and tried to find her voice again. "H-hi Ethan. This is Sunny. Um. Ms. Anderson. You worked often with my husband Malcolm?"
There was a distinct pause on the other end and she held her breath as she waited for him to respond. "Er. Yes Ms. Anderson. How can I help you?" came his short if not slightly startled reply. Sunny took a breath and continued on. "I.. I'm working on selling the big house here. It's.. it's gotten to be too much for me. I'd be much happier in a smaller place. I was also thinking of moving from the suburbs to someplace more.. wild."
Another long pause. "I was hoping to contract you for the design and structure," she finally went on. And again another long pause. She moved the phone from her ear to make sure the silence wasn't because they had become disconnected when Ethan began speaking again. "When can you meet?"
Sunny smiled wider than she thought she would have and set up a time and place to meet with him to go over her plans. After hanging up she reflected a moment. She was really going through with this. The house she was in was worth 3.8 million, and she'd already found a buyer willing to pay as much. Malcolm had left her the ability to not only live comfortably for the rest of her life but to live extravagantly. And this sale was going to put her over the top.
Not that it really mattered. If she had really wanted to she could have lived in this house for the rest of her days but the memories she had in them now only brought sadness and she'd rather live someplace quiet and small and all to herself. The rest of the day was spent in giddy excitement as she navigated Google and printed out the plots of land she'd been considering as well as to outline some of her own schematics in what she wanted for her new home. It was well past midnight by the time she finally shut off the computer and light in the study and finally made her way to her bedroom. A few bong hits later and Sunny was fast asleep in her bed.
--
Ethan had gone to the funeral of his good friend Malcolm. It hadn't been the first human he'd grown close to that had passed away on him over the years. Malcolm had been one of the few human friends to know of his nature though. To know that he was a wolf. And not just any wolf but the alpha of the local pack that ran the woods throughout Washington state. His pack house resided in Snoqualmie, just beneath the summit on a private patch of land that his pack owned not far from the falls.
It wasn't until Malcolm's funeral however that his wife of many years had a sudden and drastic change in scent. Or perhaps it was always there and his morals wouldn't let him butt into the marriage of what had turned out to be one of his closest friends. But when he entered the church where the funeral had been held, the strong scent had overwhelmed his senses and he was taken aback when he'd realized it was coming from none other than his friend's widow.
The entire procession he had tried to ignore it, telling himself that it couldn't be possible. Not after all this time. But when his blue eyed gaze locked with her hazel one there was no mistaking the instantaneous connection he'd had with her. And he was sure she had felt the sudden shock as well. Knowing what he now did he resolved to leave her be until the timing was right. Ethan knew that she would come to him. It was only a matter of time. All he had to do was wait.
