by L M Terry
He feigns ignorance. “What?”
I sigh looking up at the stars, wishing I would see a falling one. From here on out every falling star will be a wish for Dani’s happiness. “You know what. I think I do love her.”
“Good. See ya tomorrow motha fuckaaa!” He hangs up.
I laugh loudly, probably waking up half the patrons of this fine Eco whatever hotel. I’m doomed now, I admitted I loved her. Liam is probably calling every one of our friends to share the news that Anthony has finally, after all these years put his heart on the line. Ugh and the girls, great they will probably be planning the wedding.
She is worth it, a zillion times worth it.
I send Lizzie a quick text. I’m sure she is already in bed but maybe she will see this in the morning.
A: Hey, Dani and I will be having breakfast at the local diner tomorrow at eight if you want to join us. We are leaving after that.
A: Sorry about today.
A: It caught me off guard.
A: Seeing her like that made me lose my mind.
L: We will be there.
L: I’m sorry too.
L: I helped her write that story.
Interesting.
L: We were just being silly, a little tipsy. It was just a kinky, funny story.
L: I feel partially to blame.
A: I didn’t read it.
L: Why not? Would she not let you?
A: She offered, I refused.
L: Oh.
L: I’m glad she has you. See you tomorrow.
The door to our room opens and Dani comes out. She doesn’t notice me at first and when I clear my throat she jumps back up against the banister. “Oh shit. Anthony, what are you doing out here? Come back to bed.” She holds her hand out to me and leads me back inside.
“I don’t want to waste any more time,” she says climbing on top of me as she pulls her shirt over her head. She sits over my cock rubbing herself wantonly over it. Her nails scratch over my chest as she sets an easy pace.
“You are being a naughty girl. Did you forget how this works?”
She smirks. “Oh, I remember how this works.”
I watch my hand as it runs from her navel, between her breasts. I raise my eyes to hers just before reaching the base of throat. “Do you?”
Her lips part and I feel her pulse pick up beneath my palm. I shift my hips and buck against her almost painfully as I wrap my fingers around her neck squeezing lightly.
She drags her nails across me one more time before tucking her arms behind her back. Her eyes drop to mine. “Yes, sir,” she whispers. Two words.
I flip her over onto her stomach entering her from behind in one swift thrust of my hips. Oh god she feels so good. So good. My hands roam between her and the bed lifting her up on all fours. They slide over her beautiful heart shaped ass. I give it a good smack and she moans into the mattress. I offer her another good tap, this time she attempts to grind her ass back into my groin. “I’m going to take a guess on this one, but I think it’s safe to say that you do like this.” My hand lands hard this time sending little ripples across her flawless skin. She murmurs cute little pleas for me to fuck her harder. “Actually, I think it would be more than a fair assumption to say you love it.”
“Yes, sir. I love it, sir. Please fuck me harder, please,” she whimpers.
“Oh, I’m going to fuck you hard, I’m going to fuck the memories of that bastard right out of you.”
“Yes,” she hisses, looking at me over her shoulder.
“Who is your big bad fucking wolf, Dani?
“You are, sir. Thank you, sir.”
I feel her hand sneak up between her legs to tease herself towards pleasure. I tap her fingers lightly in warning. “Whose pussy is this?”
“Yours, sir,” she grunts.
“Thant’s right, it’s mine and I didn’t give you permission to touch it. Did I?”
“No, sir.”
“I’m going to punish you by wrenching as many orgasms as I can from your body before morning and then we are going to have breakfast with that crazy fucking friend of yours,” I say in broken pants as I thrust into her.
“Thank you, sir.” I hear the relief in her voice. She loves that insane bitch Lizzie, so I guess I’m going to have to learn to at least tolerate her.
Chapter Sixteen
Danielle
◆◆◆
No more waisted time. Everything is great, couldn’t be better. My parents are at peace, I have the story in my possession, I got my brains fucked out last night, Anthony and Lizzie made up, and the best thing of all…Ted has a broken nose.
“I’m glad you made me go. I think things worked out perfectly,” I say as we lug our bags out of the airport in Denver.
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better. I really do feel bad,” he says reaching down and picking up my suitcase.
“I’m not lying I’m really glad I went.” I stop him before we get to the rental car window. “Anthony, thank you…for everything. I will talk to you about Ted. I will. I just want to have some fun for a while. I’ve wasted so much time. But, when we get home, we will talk.”
He sets the bags down and pulls me into his arms raining kisses on top of my head. “Thank you, princess. You don’t know how happy it makes me that you are beginning to trust me.” He pushes me back to look into my eyes. “You have been doing very well with your fears too. I think your doctor must be a quack, he sure got it wrong.”
“Or, maybe you are just the antidote,” I tease.
“Okay, so we put all the serious stuff on the burner until we get home. Don’t think I didn’t notice you called my place home. I like that.”
I smile up at him. “You sir, are impossible.”
He groans looking over my head at our surroundings. “I’ll show you what’s possible when we get to the hotel.”
“I thought you said we were meeting your friends there?”
He groans again. “I keep forgetting that I’m going to have to share you the rest of the week.”
We get the rental car and make our way towards the hotel. “I’m a little nervous to meet all of your friends.” I tell him, looking at my phone, to see how close we are. Yes, he actually gave me back my phone this morning. He was on the phone with my dad’s attorney all morning. He told me that Ted doesn’t deserve anything that belonged to my parents. I agree but he can have it. I’m never going back there. I just want to move forward.
“Don’t be nervous. They are going to love you. They’re all excited to meet you.” He takes my hand in his.
“Did you warn them I’m crazy.”
“You are not crazy. Don’t say that, I mean it,” he scolds giving me that look. If we were at home he would have had me scurrying into position, I have no doubt.
“I don’t do well around lots of people and you made it sound like there were a lot of guests staying at this cabin. What if I freak out, I don’t want to embarrass you,” I chew on my nails, my anxiety rearing its ugly head now that meeting his friends is imminent.
“If you become overwhelmed just come find me or excuse yourself to our room. They know about your panophobia, they won’t think anything of it I promise you.”
“Easy for you to say, you aren’t afraid of anything.”
He laughs as he pulls up to the hotel. “You will be fine. We are meeting Liam and Addy first and they are going to ride with us up to the cabin. Addy is sweet, you will like her.”
“You work with Liam?”
“Yep, he is a good guy, the best of the best.” He shuts the car off and turns in his seat. He wraps his hand just under my ear, rubbing his fingers over the back side of my head. I lean into his palm. He is the best sort of drug. He can calm me with a look, a touch, a word….he is so much better than the Xanax my doctor used to push on me.
“Dani, we all have problems and quirks. You aren’t unique in the fact that you have issues that you are working on.” He sighs and then continues. “Four years ago,
we saved Addy from a trafficking ring. She was in bad shape when we found her. It took her a long time to work through everything that had happened to her.”
“She was taken?” I whisper, my eyes widening from this new information. Oh, my god, this is hitting too close to home.
“Yes, she was kidnapped. Actually, Anna was too, during her captivity she learned of Addy and we knew we needed to find her. I tell you this because I want you to know that my friends will soon be yours and they will do anything they can to help you. We are more than friends we are family. They will love you, fears and all. I’m sure they will love you just as much as I do.”
My heart jumps and lodges in my throat. Did he just say…
“Oh, Dani, you are so screwed aren’t you?” he says tipping his head, enjoying my reaction to his bold admission.
He said he loved me, surely he doesn’t mean like in love with me. No, he just loves me like a good friend. Yeah, like I love Dorothy and Mrs. Chan.
“I am in love with you, Dani,” he says.
Did he just read my mind?
“Do you want to know the moment I realized it?”
I shake my yes, unable to find any words.
He turns to look out the windshield, appearing slightly apprehensive now that he let the cat out of the bag. No not a cat, more like a fucking lion. This is…this is too much. “It was when I asked you if you had thought of that word for me when we were going at it against the windows. The sun was setting behind you, kissing your skin with a tinge of pink, hmm, beautiful.” He pauses caught up in the memory. “Anyhow, I thought you would answer with some smart-ass response. You know bossy, crazy or some shit like that but when you said mine, that was when it hit me.”
My heart feels shaky in my body, maybe I’m having a heart-attack.
“I’ve been looking for something for a long time now and that day I realized it was you. No one word has ever had such an impact on me, Dani. I’ve wanted to be something to someone for a long time, I want to be yours. So, I’m telling you this now because I don’t want you spending the rest of our vacation questioning whether or not you belong with my family. You belong because you are part of it.”
Fear is creeping up my spine. This is too good to be true. No, this is downright spooky. I have fantasied about this man for eight years and he just told me he is in love with me. Maybe I’ve been in accident and I’m in some sort of coma. I must be dreaming or some shit like that. This is like a damn fairytale and we all know that fairytales are just that…. tales. Men like him don’t fall in love with girls like me, it just does not happen.
He leans over and runs his nose up my neck, inhaling me. “I can smell your fear, Dani. Your mind is grinding gears right now isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I breathe out. “I…I don’t know what to say, Anthony. I mean you are…um…well I am…”
His nose nudges under my ear and he whispers into it, “I know what we are. I am yours and you are mine. So why are you so afraid I wonder?” His mouth covers mine in a hungry kiss. I guess he was asking for his own introspection, not really needing an answer from me. He groans into my mouth and I melt into him. He pulls away with a smoldering smirk on his face. “Don’t fight me on this, Dani, you won’t win.” He kisses me again. I am more than ready to finish this conversation in the room.
A loud knock on the window makes me squeal, breaking the imaginary bubble that Anthony and I were in. “Holy shit!” I place my hand over my chest and see a handsome man standing by Anthony’s window laughing his ass off and a beautiful young woman beside him jumping up and down on the balls of her feet.
Anthony looks at them and then back to me. “No worries, they will love you,” he winks at me making my tummy flutter and then he opens his door and gets out.
“Get a room why don’t you,” the handsome man says. The woman beside him hits him in the shoulder and bumps him out of the way with her hip. She moves in on Anthony jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. For a minute a tinge of something hits me in the stomach. Jealousy. He is mine. It doesn’t last long because the man she is with strolls around the car opening my door and pulling me out by my hand.
“You must be Danielle.” He spins me out away from his body but keeping a hold on me. “I’ve always wondered what you would look like.” His eyes roam down my figure and I blush but he does it in way that doesn’t feel skeevy, it feels complimentary. Like I’m Anthony’s secret prized possession and he is curious about me. He nods as his eyes lock onto mine. “It’s nice to finally meet you, I’m Liam and this is my wife Addison.”
Addy comes around the car and pushes Liam away from me. “Oh, Dani. I am so excited to finally meet you!” She says enthusiastically as she pulls me into a hug. She is fucking adorable. She is a few inches shorter than me, with long dark hair and big friendly brown eyes. I feel guilty for hating her in that brief second of my jealousy. “We are going to have so much fun! We’ve missed Anthony so much. Whatever you did to him to get him out of his funk, we love you for it.” She looks over my shoulder giving Anthony the stink eye and sticking her tongue out at him.
I can’t help but giggle. She is just too cute. “I didn’t do anything to him but thank you, it is nice to meet you both. Anthony has been looking forward to seeing you all again.” She takes my hand leading me into the hotel. Antony tosses the keys to the valet after he and Liam get our bags out of the trunk.
Addy chats away as Anthony checks us in. “I made Liam promise to take me to the zoo while we are here, I got four tickets and thought we could all go tomorrow before we head up to the cabin. Do you like animals?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess, as long as I don’t have to touch them.” I tell her. She is a burst of energy, but I like her. Anthony said she had been kidnapped. You would never be able to tell she had been in a situation like that. She is so happy go lucky.
She squeals and then goes back to Anthony hugging him from behind as he talks to the girl at the counter. He just laughs and pats her hands which are gripped over his stomach. Liam guides me to a sitting area by a huge fireplace. “She has missed him like crazy,” he says.
I laugh. “I see that.”
“She’s been through a lot and Anthony was there for her during the toughest times,” he adds, pulling me down to sit by him. “So, Dani, is it okay that we call you that or do you prefer Danielle?”
“Either is fine,” I tell him glancing back to see if Anthony is coming. When my gaze wanders back to Liam he is studying me.
“I’m happy that you came with Anthony. He has been a little out of sorts. He seems happier than I’ve seen him in a long time, and I think you have played a big part in that,” he says looking at me thoughtfully.
He is handsome, he has that boy next door look. Anthony and Addy move closer to us laughing. His arm is tossed over her shoulder. I chew my bottom lip and give Liam a little nod. “He is happy, I guess but I don’t think I have anything to do with it. He is just helping me overcome my panophobia,” I say wondering if Anthony told them, he said he did, but they are acting like we are a couple.
We aren’t a couple…are we?
Liam roars with laughter. “Ah, Dani, I think you are in for a big surprise if you think he is only interested in helping you. From what I witnessed outside I think he may be trying to corrupt you,” he teases, cocking an eyebrow at me.
I blush and stutter, trying to pull a response out of my head but luckily I don’t need to as Addy plops into his lap. “So, what are we going to do next,” she asks after placing a kiss on his cheek.
“Why don’t we let these two get settled in their room and then we can all meet up for dinner,” Liam suggests.
Anthony stretches his long legs out in front of him and yawns loudly covering his mouth with the back of his hand. “I could really use a nap,” he says. Anthony is not a napper. Nope, he isn’t going to nap, he has something else on his mind. I don’t look at him for fear my face will burst into flames.
Liam chuckles and pushes Addy off
his lap. “Whatever man. How long do you need?”
“Oh, a few hours should suffice, I’m awfully tired,” he drawls sitting up and reaching over to trail his hand down my spine. I convulsively shiver and peek up hoping no one noticed…no such luck.
Liam shakes his head wrapping an arm around Addy. “We’ll see you in a few hours then. Meet back here at eight?”
“Sounds good,” Anthony says standing and offering his arm to me.
I watch as Addy and Liam walk away a nervous anticipation building in my stomach. Liam looks back over his shoulder. “Enjoy your nap,” he says sarcastically.
Anthony doesn’t miss a beat, he picks up our bags and heads towards the elevator, I follow cautiously behind him. The elevator door opens, and he enters, placing his hand over the door so that it doesn’t shut before I get in. My fear of tight spaces enters the back of my mind, but I step inside despite it. The minute the door closes he is on me, pushing me face first into the side of the elevator. There are mirrors on each side. My eyes meet his in the glass as he presses against me from behind. His hand reaches over to press the button to our floor and then he brings it up to grab me at the base of my throat our eyes still locked.
“So, what do you think of them?” he asks leaning in so that his mouth is level with my ear.
“They…um they seem nice,” I say then swallow hard. The intensity in his eyes makes my heartbeat pound at an uneven rhythm.
“They are,” he says holding me hostage. “I hate the zoo,” he adds out of the blue.
The random change in discussion makes me laugh. “Why do you hate the zoo?” I ask.
“Well for one it stinks. Two, I feel sorry for the animals being caged. Wild things should be just that…wild.” His eyes turn dark, almost pitch black. Oh. Fuck. “Do you think an animal should be caged, Dani?”
I get the feeling that we are playing so I answer how he likes. “No, sir.”
“Even if they are dangerous?” he asks and then bites my ear.
He doesn’t release his bite as he waits for my response. I can’t think straight. He is so god damn intense. He has this uncanny ability to overpower my brain and completely shut it down. “If they are dangerous then maybe we should just keep our distance.”