by Timms, Lexy
“You rented a private room,” I said stupidly. I wasn’t sure that things would feel any better if we were out in public. In fact, that might feel even worse. There might be even more pressure in that case. But all the same, back here with his whole attention focused on me, I couldn’t help but feel terrified with nervousness.
Even though that, theoretically, was how it was every time he asked for my opinion on business matters. This was far from the first time that he and I had been alone together in public. And yet...and yet.
Daniel seemed to realize that. He leaned toward me, smiling comfortingly. “I know,” he said. “But you have to understand, no matter where I go in this city, everyone seems to recognize me. So I’m just trying to make sure that things stay between us for now.” He sounded so earnest that I couldn’t protest that.
But he continued: “If you want to go somewhere else, we can,” he said. “Actually, that’s why I never told you where we were going, because I’ve been debating and debating and debating where to take you. I thought about just taking you for a picnic, but I wanted to do something nice. Something that you deserved. And I also wanted to...” He trailed off, looking uncertain.
And that put me instantly at ease. “Thank you,” I said quietly.
He smiled at me, the expression flourishing on his face. He tapped the menu with his finger. “So for food?”
I grinned quickly back at him and turned my attention to the menu. “You’re going to have to give me a minute for that,” I told him. “I’m notoriously indecisive.”
He snorted. “Fine,” he said. “But drinks? Wine?”
“Sounds perfect,” I told him honestly. “But you’ll have to pick the one.” I didn’t mind picking a meal to go with the wine he chose, and I didn’t feel comfortable ordering a drink before I ordered my meal. But at the same time, I knew that I would feel a hell of a lot more comfortable when I had a drink inside of me.
Daniel smiled at me again. “All right,” he said. “Take your time.” While I perused the menu, he went out to talk to someone in the main room.
When he came back in, he gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t places like this supposed to send waiters to the back rooms?” I asked, the words spilling out of me before I had really considered them.
I blushed, but Daniel laughed. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. “But I’m a business owner. I know that it’s easier for them to serve me at the bar than at the table. So might as well make things easier for them. I guess.”
I laughed. “You’re a good guy, aren’t you?” I asked.
Daniel stared at me for a moment and then silently nodded. He didn’t try to defend himself, and he didn’t bring up those stories that were always in the tabloids. Instead, he just left it at that, leaving me to draw my own conclusions.
And all I wanted to do, just then, was climb across the table and kiss him—or more. I’d never been like this with anyone else, so I didn’t know where the feelings were coming from. But I did know that I was definitely powerless to stop it.
Daniel grinned across the table at me, though, and somehow, that eased my nerves. I grinned back at him and then tapped my fingers on the edge of my menu. “So you’re ready to order?” I asked him.
Chapter 19
Daniel
I WASN’T SURE I HAD taken Abby to the right place. I could tell that from the moment she entered, she was uncomfortable and uncertain. As though she thought that she didn’t belong here. As though she was expecting this to be some kind of elaborate joke I was pulling on her.
I wished there were some way that I could convince her that this was far from a joke and that she was the most attractive woman in that bar that evening.
But I found myself inexplicably feeling tongue-tied and uncertain. At least, until she finally grinned across the table at me. Then, I’d found myself grinning back at her, and I’d realized that everything was going to be all right.
When I realized that she had finally relaxed, it gave me free rein to relax as well. And think about how damned sexy she looked. Her work clothes, of course, were tailored to fit her. So it wasn’t like her curves were any sort of surprise. But at the same time, I had never expected her to look like this. In heels and a fitted black dress, well. I didn’t even know what to say to her.
“Work has been going well,” I said lamely.
Abby flinched, actually flinched. I watched her swallow hard. “Right,” she said. “Work has been going well.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said, only to watch her emotions plummet. “I mean, it is. I’m not saying that I want to fire you or anything. You’ve been doing a great job. Just, all I’m saying is that...you look really good tonight.”
Abby stared at me for a moment, like it was taking her a while to figure out what it was I had said. Then, she gave me a small grin. “You think so?” she asked, preening and flirting like there was no uncertainty there.
I couldn’t help feeling that maybe there was more than one of her inside that head of hers. That she didn’t know how to act around me, that she didn’t know how to respond to me. I wanted to put her at ease, to let her know that everything was okay, but I didn’t know what to say. Or do. I fidgeted for a minute with my hands, and she grinned at me.
“I thought you would be the kind of guy who didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of him,” she said. Then, immediately afterward, she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her.
She still looked unsure. “Just, I don’t think of you like this,” she said. “Not that I read the tabloids, and not that I spend that much time thinking about you. But you’re the famous billionaire. You’re the guy who’s well-known throughout all of Chicago.”
“The player,” I said flatly. Is that all she thought that I was? She probably thought that this whole date was just about me finding her attractive. She probably thought I wanted nothing more than to fuck her. But it was so much more than that.
I couldn’t find the words to convince her, though. The more I thought about trying to convince her, the more sure I was that I was just going to sound desperate or overly excited.
I didn’t want either of those things.
“It’s not that you’re a player. Or a socialite,” Abby said, though, shaking her head. She frowned. “Or a bad boy, or whatever else they call you.”
“So it’s about my money?” I asked jokingly, trying to hide how hurt I was.
But that had Abby herself looking hurt. “No, of course not,” she said. “It’s just that...” She trailed off, and I could tell that it was bad, whatever it was that she wanted to say to me.
“What?” I asked tightly.
Abby gave me a considering look. “It’s just that all of those labels somehow seem to get you but at the same time not encompass you.” She gave a short laugh. “I don’t know, that probably doesn’t make any sense at all. But it just seems like somehow, you fit all the labels but also don’t fit them, at the same time.”
I stared at her for a moment and then offered her a small smile. “I feel like I understand you too,” I told her.
“You’re just not used to people doing what you don’t expect them to do,” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Either in business or otherwise.”
“Oh really?” I asked, amused by what she had said. “And I suppose you think that because you know for sure that most of the women that I’ve ever been out with weren’t as smart as you, or as fun.”
I could see the way she blushed. And I liked that she wasn’t afraid to call me out and that she wasn’t afraid to treat me like a normal person. Because she definitely wasn’t acting like I was her boss. She wasn’t even acting like I had the ability to never see her again, if she said the wrong thing. She sounded more like she was worried that she might do the wrong thing.
She acted like the fact that everyone in the city knew me was
whatever, and like it was old news that I was one of the richest business owners in the country.
I couldn’t help but appreciate that. She made me feel as though I was a normal person. And I hadn’t felt like that in a long time, maybe since I had taken over the company for my father.
Sure, I was a billionaire. But I wanted to date people like her. I held back before I could say that, though. Because I wasn’t sure I could really explain just what it was I meant.
I was still staring at her when the waiter came back in with a bottle of wine. “Thank you, David,” I told the man, but I couldn’t seem to drag my eyes away from Abby.
We ordered our food, and the rest of the dinner and our conversation just seemed to flow. After dinner, I had to admit that I just wanted to take her home with me. I ached with it, in fact.
But I knew I couldn’t do that. The night hadn’t gone badly, but that didn’t mean it had gone the way I’d wanted it to go either. Maybe it was my fault, for the place that I had chosen. Or maybe it had to do with the paparazzi that had cornered her out in front of the building that week. I knew she was probably hoping for something different in working for me. That she could never have expected that.
She should never have had to bother with the stupid kinds of questions they had asked her.
There was nothing I could do about any of it now, though. Just resign myself to the fact that she hadn’t gotten what she wanted out of this. Leave it at that. Let her go.
I didn’t want to, though. And not just because I knew that Austin and everyone else that I knew was going to ask about it. No, it was more that—I didn’t want to lose her from my life.
But as we slipped into the back of the hired car I had sent to pick her up, Abby spoke softly. “Are you going to take me home?” she asked in a soft voice.
I blinked over at her for a moment. “Is that what you want?” I asked finally.
“Not really,” she said, and I felt my heart drop. But she quickly clarified. “It’s just that I left things a mess before I left.”
I stared at her, wondering if she was telling me the truth. Then, seeing the look on her face, I couldn’t help laughing. “All right,” I told her. “All right. Do you want to come back to my place, then?”
She stared at me for a long moment and then turned away from me. I imagined that I could see her blushing. Then, she shrugged. “I mean, if you want me to,” she said. “I don’t have to go home just yet.”
I laughed and put an arm around her, trying to be friendly without being overpowering. I didn’t want her to think that I was desperate to have sex with her tonight. Because I respected her, in ways that I had never felt before.
I gave her a slow grin and slowly reached over to roll up the screen between the driver and us. “Let me take you home with me,” I told her. And then, I slowly leaned in to kiss her. She didn’t pull away. In fact, she shifted closer to me, until her thigh was pressed against mine.
“Let’s go,” she said quietly.
I looked deep into her eyes, almost seeing the want there, as much as I wanted to feel it. I grinned at her and didn’t ask any questions. “Let’s go,” I agreed. And off we went.
Chapter 20
Abby
I KEPT TELLING MYSELF to go home. That nothing that Daniel could want to do to me tonight was anything I was interested in. I had told Leanne that I wasn’t going to do anything stupid, but the lines all seemed to be blurring now. I didn’t know. I wanted to go home with him.
Even if I was sure that this was just...
But what? What was this? I had gone out on a date with him, and he had been so unfathomably courteous the whole time. I had expected that he might try to make a move on me. I had expected him to try to kiss me again, at least. I had expected him to be one of those guys who judged me on what I ordered or, well, I don’t know.
But far from it—he had been entirely gentlemanly. And sure, at the end of the night, he had asked if I wanted to go home with him, but he hadn’t asked it as though I didn’t have a choice. He hadn’t asked it as though he was taking me home either way. He had asked it as though he really wanted me to go home with him but knew that I could make my own decisions. And I appreciated that. Maybe more than I should.
He was a good guy, I was sure. But maybe he was just trying to make sure that was what I thought, so I wouldn’t find out he was exactly the same kind of guy that everyone in the media seemed to think he was.
I hated doubting him like that. But I didn’t know what else to think.
We got to his place, a little bit outside the city, and I couldn’t help but stare at it. Finally, I gave a short laugh. “Is it just you here?” I couldn’t help asking.
Daniel frowned. “Yeah, it is,” he said. “It used to be me and my dad, but after a while...”
I winced, sorry that I had brought up bad memories. “It’s a beautiful place,” I told him. “It just seems so big for just you.”
Daniel grimaced at me. “It is,” he finally said. “It really is. But this was always my family place, and now, well, it’s not like I can just walk away from it.”
I couldn’t help asking. “Doesn’t it get lonely?”
Daniel’s face twisted through a complicated set of emotions before it settled on dismay. “Yeah,” he admitted. “But what could I do, get rid of it? My parents bought this place before I was even born. They always dreamed that they would raise their grandchildren here.”
I stared at him, caught off guard by the topic of his final phrase, more so than the honesty. Grandchildren? But I supposed that if his parents were both dead now, there was no question of grandchildren. More a question for him of if he would ever dare to have children. I swallowed hard. There was nothing I could say to make anything feel better for him. I just wished there was something I could say that would sound less insubstantial or careless.
“I do have some staff,” Daniel added. “They come and go, but they’re here throughout the week. A cook, a housekeeper. A gardener. It’s not like I really live alone.”
I shook my head. Hearing him talk about all of them like that, I couldn’t help feeling that he didn’t really have anyone that he felt like he could confide in. But at the same time, I just had this feeling that he was selective about who he had there. That he wanted me there, that he might just need me there. And that was a heady feeling.
Daniel caught my wrist. “Come inside?” he asked.
I stared at him for a long moment. I knew just what he was asking. But even though I knew I should be telling him no, that I should be telling him that I should leave, that I should be reminding him of the fact that he was my boss and that I shouldn’t be there, I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do it.
I smiled up at him. “All right,” I finally said. “Show me this palace that you apparently live in.”
Daniel snorted. “It’s far from a palace,” he finally said. “But I bid you welcome, my lady.”
I snickered as he led me inside.
We paused in the front hall. I couldn’t really see much more opulence than I had been able to see outside. I frowned over at him, and he raised an eyebrow at me. I was lost in the look of him, honestly. I knew that I should probably go, that his driver would take me straight home if that’s what I wanted. This didn’t need to go any further than it already had.
I knew Leanne probably wanted me to go home to my own place that night; she would probably want me to call her and tell her all about the date, but to also assure her that I was home, that I was safe, that there was nothing she needed to worry about with me. I knew that there were plenty of outcomes she was hoping from me, but none of them were going to be what she wanted.
Because I did want to be here with him. I didn’t want to call the car back, and I didn’t want to leave. And I trusted him not to take things too far. I trusted him not to take things further than what I wanted. I didn’t know just what it was that made me feel so sure of him, but something, something told me that he wasn’t such a bad guy. A
nd that he definitely wasn’t the kind of man the paparazzi insisted he was.
No, he surely wasn’t that.
Daniel turned to face me, catching my hands in his and leading me backward toward the stairs, his eyes staring meaningfully into mine. He was brooding and serious, but beneath all of that, I could almost taste how badly he needed me.
I let him lead me upstairs.
I barely had a glance at his bedroom before he turned me toward him, reaching for the hem of my dress and lifting it slowly. He gave me plenty of time to protest, to push the material back down or else to tell him that this wasn’t what I wanted. Except the trouble was that I really did want this. Whatever he was willing to give me, I wanted it all. Even if it meant that I ended up heartbroken in the end.
And this—this was what Leanne was trying to prevent, I suddenly remembered. She didn’t want me to be hurt; she didn’t want me to feel anything like this. I was suddenly aware of just how badly Daniel could hurt me. But I already felt like I was too far in to stop it all now. What was I supposed to say to him? What was I supposed to tell him?
As he reached for my dress and tugged it up over my head, as he removed my bra, it wasn’t just that I felt incapable of stopping it. No, instead, I found myself reaching for him in turn. I found myself tugging off his shirt and undoing his belt, stripping him out of his own clothes, in turn.
I stumbled as he suddenly caught my panties, dragging me even closer by the waistband. He grinned at me as he caught me, lifting me bodily up into his arms, literally sweeping me off my feet. I loved how strong he was, how kind, how intelligent, how sexy. He was the best man I had ever met, I was sure. The only man who had ever measured up to my standards. And here I was, in his house with him. In his bedroom with him.