by Nikki Groom
WHEN I WAKE, I’M ALONE. The bright sunlight is beaming through the window and I get the feeling it isn’t early. I hop out of bed, throwing on Denham’s T-shirt that’s laying over the back of a chair. It smells of him and his aftershave.
I make my way out to the lounge and I don’t have to go very far before I find him in the kitchen making coffee dressed in nothing but a pair of loose fitting, ripped jeans. Holy smokes. It’s the first time I’ve seen his bare skin in the daylight and there’s a lot to look at. His back ripples even when he moves just a fraction and my fingers itch to explore the sensual ridges.
When he turns, I notice he’s on the phone but doesn’t hesitate in holding out his arm for me to come to him. I cross the room, but seat myself on the opposite side of the breakfast bar from him and he frowns at me.
“I’m taking the day off … I know … yes, Jack is going to call if there are any developments … well, do you think you can manage or not? Just because you’re family doesn’t mean I can’t fire your sorry ass … Okay, and Spike? I don’t want to be bothered unless there is a nuclear threat or the building is burning, understand?”
He hangs up, slides his cell across the countertop and rests his elbows on the bar in front of me.
“Good morning,” he says with a sexy smile and a twinkle in his eye. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I answer, trying to return his warmth in my expression.“Is everything all right?” I need to know for my own peace of mind. “Is there any news about Aaron? Or Spike and Jack?”
“Jack and Spike are fine. Aaron was taken to get checked out as you know. His injuries are nasty but not life threatening. They should be keeping him in for a while though.”
I nod, relieved. “I didn’t know I had slept in, you should have woken me.”
“There was no need to wake you. How do you feel today?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t really know. I guess there’s a lot to figure out, huh?”
“Plenty of time for that. I’ve called down for breakfast, I hope you’re hungry.”
We enjoy fresh pastries at the breakfast bar, sitting next to each other, our bodies brushing together occasionally, stoking the desire that is still smoldering from last night. But he’s right; there is a lot to talk about and the bright light of day makes things all the more real. I know I can’t run from it this time. Part of me doesn’t want to run. Denham has a way of making me feel safe and protected, and somehow, I know that I won’t have to face things alone. This makes it more bearable. The other part of me wants to run for the hills rather than talk. Detach from everything bad, in the hope it will go away, then I can focus on everything good. But I know it doesn’t work that way. The bad eats away at you until there’s nothing left. A shell of what you once were and a mountain to climb before you can even think about getting it back. I want to get it all out and open up. But I really don’t know how.
Denham’s warm hand on my knee brings me back to the here and now. “You okay there? You zoned out ...”
“Uh, yes.” I put down my mug of coffee and turn the bar stool to face him. “Can we please talk and get this over with? I’m not good at talking, I don’t want to talk, but we need to talk, so let’s do it.”
I straighten my shoulders and take a deep breath to ready myself. He raises his brows, then his features soften knowing I need this. He takes both my hands in his and strokes his thumbs along the tops of my knuckles. “Arianna, I don’t want to make you talk if you really don’t want to. That’s your choice. I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to do. But I’d like some answers and I’m sure you would too.”
I nod in agreement. He helps me off my chair and I settle on the large, black, corner sofa in the lounge, I don’t know why I’m so nervous but I can feel my heart beating hard in my chest as I sit cross-legged right in the middle, watching as Denham sits in front of me, mirroring my posture.
“Okay?” he says, far more positively than I’m feeling.
I nod and continue to nibble at the skin around my thumb nail. He continues to look at me, presumably waiting for me to start, and I continue to look anywhere but him, just wanting to fast forward to the part where this conversation is all over.
“I don’t know where to start ...” My voice is small, barely above a whisper, but the room is quiet, so Denham answers me quietly too but with confidence.
“Just start from the beginning, baby ...”
Hearing that endearment makes my skin crawl. I let it go when Aaron used to call me baby, but this is different. I don’t want to associate Denham with anything that taints my thoughts. It takes me back to a place I never want to visit again, but it’s the place where I know I need to start this conversation from.
“Please, don’t call me baby.” His eyes widen at my request and I can see he is confused. “I don’t like and I won’t answer to it. The root of most of my problems is a man that used that word as an affectionate term for me.”
“Arianna I’m sorry, I—”
“You didn’t know, I know, but you do now and if you want me to stick around that’s one of the only things I’ll ask of you.”
He nods, his expression neutral except for a few lines around his eyes that tell me he’s tense. Well, that makes two of us. I’m a little afraid of what revealing everything will do to me. I might be a victim, but I’m also a survivor. I don’t want him to think I’m some little woman who needs looking after because I’m not. I can cope perfectly well on my own. But I want him to know about my past; I want to tell him everything.
Cards on the table.
“How about you start by telling me how you know the asshole that blew up your car yesterday?”
“He’s my husband.” I let that revelation linger in the air for a little longer than I should, the silence swallowing me. It’s clear it isn’t the answer he was hoping for.
“Arianna, I’m going to need you to elaborate ...”
“Okay, we got married twelve weeks ago, I left him on Friday and came here.”
Realization shows across his face and his eyes flash to my wounded cheek. I see his shoulders tense and the muscles in his neck flex as he lifts a hand to my face. “He did this to you?”
“Yes.” I lean into his touch, but I don’t need the physical distraction if I’m going to get through this story. I straighten my back and his hand falls away as he sighs.
“We argued, he hit me, I left.”
“He called you Natalie.”
I nod. “He doesn't know any different.”
“You want to tell me about that?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“That may be, but I need you to tell me all the same.”
I look down at my hands folded in my lap and continue to pick at the skin around my nails. I suck in a deep breath before I begin. “I left Boulder City a little over a year ago. I was engaged to a very violent man. He hit me, often, and the last time he beat me so badly I needed to be hospitalized for nearly two weeks. I knew then that I had to get out and the only way to do that was to disappear and start again, so I went to LA, changed my name, and started over. I met Aaron and fell into a comfortable relationship. I never loved Aaron, but up until we got married, he was good to me.”
I shrug. Admitting this makes me feel guilty. “It was easy and I hadn’t had ‘easy’ for a long time before that. Then, something changed, he changed. I couldn’t go through that again.”
When I look up, Denham’s face is set in hard lines, his lips tight and a deep line creased his forehead. “I told you, you wouldn’t want to hear it …”
“Arianna ...” He sighs. “I’m sorry, I never thought—”
“You never thought that would be my story? No, there was a time when I didn’t think so either.”
“What about your ex fiancé? He never tried to find you?”
“Oh, I’m sure he tried, but I didn’t leave a trace, I just vanished. Even my mom didn’t know where I was. I haven’t seen her since I le
ft. The first time she had heard from me was last week.”
“Do you know where he is now? If you give me a name, I could find out. I have contacts.”
“His name is Jonny Ellison. I think it’s been long enough now that he just stopped looking. But—”
“I’ll have my guys ask around discreetly,” he reassures me.
“Is that how you found out so much about me?” I look at him quizzically.
“I didn’t find out as much as I wanted,” he says with a sly grin. “I could only find out that you previously went by another name. Lottie was tight lipped about how she knew you, and I knew there was something she wasn’t telling me. When you slammed into me at the elevator, I knew I needed to know more about you. I still do.” He shrugs his shoulders and looks a little bashful.
“All you have to do is ask. I’d rather tell you what you want to know, than have you dig things up that might not be true.” I pause. “So … can I ask you something?” I say, looking up at him.
“Sure, anything you like,” Denham replies honestly.
“Why was Aaron running from you last night?”
He sighs and takes a steady breath. I can see him thinking carefully about his answer before he finally speaks. “He ripped me off, Arianna. You want to know the whole story?”
I don’t really want to know anything else that could fill my head with more fog than is already there, but I need to know in order to try and piece together this puzzle, so I nod and he continues.
“He came here about fourteen weeks ago, first of all with a group of friends.”
“His bachelor party.” I say more to myself than Denham. I’m nervous about where this is going.
“Yes, they were loud, rowdy, but nothing we haven’t seen before. Do you know how long the bachelor party went on for?”
“A week,” I answer. “He was gone for a week.”
“He might have been gone for a week, Ari, but the large group was only here for two days. After that, he was on his own ...”
“But ...” my mind races to catch up with the bigger picture but I can’t make sense of it all.
“He found a chink in our armor and a partner in crime with one of our croupiers. They exchanged $175,000 of counterfeit money for chips, played, won and walked away with over half a mil in genuine cash. I’ve been trying to find him and piece it all together, but he’s proven to be very elusive. Then he turned up last week, and you know the rest.”
“I don’t understand ...” I murmur.
“What’s not to understand? He’s a con man.”
“No, I don’t understand why he did it. He’s very wealthy. He has hundreds of thousands in the bank …”
“I don’t have an answer for that, Arianna. I’m sorry.”
I nod and let the thoughts running through my mind try and find some sort of order, but without knowing all the facts, it’s impossible.
“When we were … in my office last night, Jack spotted him on the CCTV and came to get me straight away. That’s why I had to leave so urgently.”
“Oh, I had no idea about any of that …”
“Why would you? We tried to talk to him, give him a chance to put things right, but he caused a scene in the casino and made a break for it. After that … well, you know the rest.”
“I just can’t get my head around any of this. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t—”
“Look, I know it’s hard for you, you’ve had so much upheaval, but trying to make sense of it when you don’t know all the facts isn’t going to help at this time. I have my men on it. I have feelers going out in all directions and I’m pulling out all of the stops to get this sorted. Will you trust me to do that and try not to worry?” He searches my eyes with such compassion and honesty that it’s impossible to argue. “I’ll tell you the minute I know something.”
“Okay,” I agree. “But I want to know everything you can find out, even if it’s something I can do nothing about, okay? I need to know to be able to put it all together.”
“I give you my word.” He leans forward and places a chaste kiss on my lips.
“So,” Denham says, breaking the heavy feeling in the air. “Do you know what you’re going to do long term? Will you stay in Vegas?”
I feel myself relax after letting the heavy stuff out into the open and the change of direction in our conversation is welcome. “I’m not sure. I just wanted to see my mom and Lottie, they’re all I have, and I don’t relish the thought of having to start over somewhere that I don’t know anybody again.”
“Then stay here.”
“Yeah, I think that’s where my thoughts are heading. Vegas is pretty cool, but I’m going to need to start looking for a job and someplace permanent to live.”
“That’s what I said. Stay here.”
“Here?”
“Yes.” He nods with a serious expression and a little sparkle in his eye.
“I can’t stay here.” I laugh nervously, not wanting him to say anything impulsive. “We’ve only just met, and I can’t afford to stay in the penthouse suite you’ve put me in. Hell, I can’t even afford the most basic room you have for more than a few days.”
“Before you start waffling, I have an idea ...” He looks at me with raised brows.
“Go on ...”
“What if I rent you the penthouse for a very reasonable rate, same rent as an apartment downtown. BUT not until you’ve found a job that pays enough. It’s not used for guests. It’s mine for my personal use so I wouldn’t be losing any money and you’d have somewhere to stay. It’ll be nice to have you up here. This floor gets lonely, you know.”
I look at him for what feels like long minutes, but in reality it’s probably seconds. It seems like the perfect solution, logical even, so why am I trying to find something wrong with this idea?
Do I want to live in a penthouse suite? Hell, yeah!
Would it make me feel so much safer living here? For sure.
Can I keep the barricade around my heart intact if I’m living across the hall from Denham King? Probably not.
Denham’s excited expression has worn off with the length of time it has taken me to answer him, replaced with a concerned look. “It’s only an offer. You’re not obliged and I won’t take offense if you say no. I like the thought of knowing you’re across the hall and that you can call me if you need me. I want to know you better, Arianna, and whether it’s under this roof or another, I’d still like to spend some time with you.”
I smile at his soft kind words. Once again he has managed to slow down my panicking heart rate with just a few gentle words. He’s too good to be true and that’s what worries me. But I can’t deny him. I know he’s not like the others. I’d even bet on it. I don’t fear him physically, and for now that’s enough for me to put my trust in him.
He takes his hand away and places it on my knee.“Look, why don’t you go shower. Think about it. Take all weekend if you need to. If you then want to find somewhere else to stay, I’ll help you.”
“I don’t need to think about it.” I smile. “I’d love to rent the penthouse from you, but I want a proper contract and you need to ask a reasonable rent. I’m not accepting charity.”
“Okay. So that’s it? That’s all of your conditions to stay?” He smirks.
“Yes. What can I say? I’m easily pleased ...”
“Thank you for being so understanding. You must think I’m crazy.”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, and funny and beautiful … and sexy.”
I let out a nervous laugh and look into my lap, but his fingers come to rest under my chin and tilt my head up to meet his eyes. I watch his whole face change as the smile creeps across his cheeks and turns into a full-out grin. He leans into me ever so slowly, his eyes not leaving mine other than to glance at my lips, and I watch as his lips part slightly before pressing them to mine. He pushes his hands up into my hair, pulling me closer into him as his tongue moves slowly, tangling with mine. A gr
oan escapes me as he explores every inch of my mouth.
My hands find their way to his chest and I take full advantage, running them over his hard muscles contained behind smooth, flawless skin, then I pull away, wanting to go further but knowing I need to prove to him my head is on straight. I know that I have a few things to work through and my mind is working in a lust filled haze right now.
“Arianna ...” he says breathlessly between kisses.
“Yes …”
“I was going to tell you not to stop, but we need to stop.”
“I know.” I force myself to leave his lips and rest my forehead on his.
“Can I take you out today?”
“Out where?”
“A date.”
“You want to take me on a date?”
“Yeah, I think we’ve had enough of the serious stuff for today. I told you I want to get to know you and the perfect place to start would be with a date.”
“Okay,” I answer, trying to contain my smile and play it cool.
“Great!” He jumps up off the couch and holds out a hand to pull me up too. “Go and get that sexy ass of yours showered and dressed, and I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
“You wanted me to stay, now you’re practically pushing me out of the door.”
“That’s because the sooner you go, the sooner I can come and pick you up.”
“An hour and a half …”
“An hour. And I’ll let myself in whether you’re ready or not.”
“You’re bossy.”
“I know.” He returns my smile with a wink.
AN HOUR.
One freaking little hour to get ready for a date that has me more excited than Christmas did when I was a kid.
Sadness and guilt over what happened last night keeps tapping at my mind, and it’s a job to balance everything out logically. I know I should probably be demanding answers from Aaron and finding out what the hell went on, but a big part of me wants to enjoy my date with a handsome man and just pretend that everything is normal for an afternoon. I’m not stupid enough to think that it will all magically go away but I don’t know how to deal with it all and ignorance is bliss as they say.