Carly laughed, patting her big brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, big guy. I’ll watch out for her.”
Jayce walked out of the office, muttering something Danielle couldn’t hear. Especially since she’d slumped down in her chair, face hidden in her hands.
“Sorry about that,” Carly said, but she was laughing and didn’t sound very apologetic. “It’s just too easy to rile those guys and I owed them payback for numerous reasons.”
“Rile who?” Ryker demanded, stepping into the office. The third partner of The Solutions Group, and the only non-family member, turned a heated look in Carly’s direction. For her part, Carly took one look at Ryker and…literally fell off the edge of Danielle’s desk! Strong hands whipped out to catch her and Carly’s face heated to a deep red.
“Sorry,” she stammered and quickly backed up. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Ryker replied.
Danielle watched the pair stare at each other, Ryker’s gaze hard and intense, the normally tough as nails Carly looking suddenly soft and unsure of herself.
Fascinating, Danielle thought.
Ryker turned to Danielle. “Who is sending you packages, honey?”
While Oz was intense and driven, and Jayce was the tease of the three men, never seeming to take life too seriously unless he was on a mission – such as trying to figure out who was sending her packages, Ryker was an intense, gentle man who looked tough, hard, and hulk-like, but was actually one of the gentlest souls one could ever meet. Unless one was in his way and then he’d eliminate any obstacle to accomplish his mission. The man was scary good at his job – but mostly because he hid all of that intensity behind a gentle, quiet demeanor.
Danielle leaned forward. “You know I was an only child. I don’t know how to do this big-brother stuff.”
He laughed softly. “Not any longer,” he replied in that soft-spoken way of his. “You’re one of us now and we protect our own.”
She smiled, warmed by his words. “That’s very sweet, Ryker. But I promise I’m not dating anyone.”
He didn’t say a word. “Interesting. I didn’t say anything about dating.”
She replayed his comment in her mind and realized he was right. “Okay, so I’m not exactly sure who is sending the packages.” Which was absolutely true. The diamond necklace and the huge box of chocolate chips were not labeled. She was sure that Mika had sent her the diamond necklace, but the box of chocolates…anyone could have sent it. In theory, at least. That’s when she thought of something else. “By the way, how did you know that I’d gotten something yesterday?”
He winked. “You just told me.”
Danielle’s mouth fell open.
Ryker shifted on his feet. “Let me know if you need me, okay?”
Danielle snapped her mouth shut and nodded, stunned that she’d revealed so much.
When she inhaled again, Ryker was gone, leaving Danielle staring at Carly who…was staring at the empty doorway with…longing?
Danielle started to ask Carly about her feelings for Ryker, but Carly jerked upright and walked to the door. “Okay, I’ll get Deni and we’ll meet at your house tonight. Baking and gossip. I want to hear everything about this mysterious man who sends you chocolate, although I promise not to reveal his identity to the guys.” And then she was gone, leaving Danielle to stare at the giant box of chocolate chips.
Danielle slumped in relief now that she was alone again. But then she stared at the box and stood up, looking down into the box. There must be fifty packages of chocolate chips! What in the world was she going to do with all of those chips? There were only so many cookies she could bake!
“Good grief!” she muttered, pulling the box off her desk. Suddenly, Carly reappeared.
“Just wanted to say…growing up as a teenager with Jayce and Oz, I never had any privacy. So I completely respect yours and I won’t stick my nose into your business. But I’m here for you if you need anything.”
“Thank you,” Danielle replied, thinking about her mom and fighting back tears.
“But the guys are concerned for some reason. When I was younger, it drove me crazy. But over the past few years, I’ve learned to respect their instincts. If they are concerned, it’s for a reason. And when they are concerned, they figure things out.”
Danielle laughed. “I know. It’s what makes them so good at what they do.”
Carly nodded, obviously not sure what to say and feeling awkward. “Right. Well,” she turned and headed back out. “Until later,” and she waved, hurrying down the hallway.
Chapter 7
Mika rang the doorbell, smiling as the loud music drifted through to the chilly, night air. His Danielle must be in a good mood, he thought.
When the door swung open, the woman in question stared at him with a glass of wine in one hand and a wooden spoon covered in what looked like cookie dough batter in the other. “Hel…!”
A moment later, she pushed him backwards and slammed the front door closed behind her.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded in a furious whisper. “You have to go! You can’t be here!”
Mika noticed her glancing behind her at the now-closed door. “I can’t?” he asked softly, enjoying the flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. In the past twenty-four hours, he’d almost forgotten how beautiful she was.
Her eyes dropped to his mouth. It took her several seconds before she pulled herself back to the present and answered his question. “No! My friends are here and, because you sent me such a ginormous box of chocolate chips, we’re baking cookies.”
He laughed, delighted. “Are you going to give me some?”
“Absolutely not! You sent me that box of chocolate chips as a joke, and I’m making delicious cookies with them and you won’t get any of them.”
He laughed at her stubbornness. “No. I sent them to you as foreplay,” he told her, his voice going husky. The belligerence faded from her eyes, which again moved from his eyes to his mouth. Mika moved closer, pinning her against the front door. “Are you going to invite me inside to meet your friends?”
“No,” she told him firmly. “They don’t know anything about you and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Why?”
Danielle shrugged and his eyes were drawn to the intriguing shadow between her breasts revealed by the soft sweater.
“Maybe because you’re my embarrassing little secret,” she told him and he laughed at her delightful teasing. No woman had ever been able to surprise him like Danielle.
“Ah, but you know that secrets always come out, don’t you, love?” he asked, reaching up to slide a finger along her cheek. He felt her shiver and caught the way her lower teeth captured her lower lip. Sexy and adorable at the same time, he thought, as his body tightened.
“Okay, fine. You’re not embarrassing. But you’re definitely a secret. And I want to keep it that way. If anyone at the office finds out that you’re the one who sent me that box, I won’t ever hear the end of it.”
“Ah, so I’m your dirty secret. I’ve never been a woman’s secret before,” he murmured. “I think I like it.”
Her chin went up and, even in the dim light from her front porch light, he could see the teasing sparkle in her eyes. “Don’t be flattered. It could be that I’m ashamed to acknowledge our relationship.”
He laughed softly and he noticed her body shift slightly, leaning towards him a bit closer. “So you’re saying that we have a relationship. I like that.”
Danielle froze. “No. We don’t have a relationship.”
He grinned. “Of course we do. A secret relationship. One in which I send you presents and you…”
“Hide you from the world.”
He chuckled. “I was going to say that you show me your gratitude.”
Danielle cringed. “Nope. That makes me sound like I owe you sexual favors. If we’re going to kiss, then I want it to be because I want to kiss you.”
He liked the sound of that. “And do you?”
“What?” she whispered.
“Want to kiss me?”
After a long hesitation, she sighed. “It’s the wine talking. But yes. I want to kiss you, Mika. But not tonight.”
“Why not tonight?”
“Because I have company. And I don’t want my friends to know about you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m ashamed to be with you,” she grinned mischievously.
He laughed again. “Fine. What are you going to do to convince me to go away?”
She leaned closer. It was barely an inch, but it was all the encouragement he needed. “I’m going to politely ask you to go away,” she whispered.
He moved closer. “I don’t think I’m in a very polite mood. How about if you kiss me and promise that you’ll have dinner with me tomorrow night? Then I’ll go away.”
“Dinner? Tomorrow night?”
“Yes. You have a problem with the concept of dinner, don’t you?”
She grinned, shaking her head and he wanted to weave his fingers into her soft hair. “No. I get dinner. It’s the ‘with you’ part that confuses me.”
“What’s not to understand? You’re a beautiful woman.”
“I’m just a normal person, Mika. There’s nothing special about me.”
“I disagree. Your lips are full, soft, and very kissable,” he said, lowering his voice even more. He brushed his lips across hers before pulling back. “And your eyes sparkle, even in the dim light from the moon.” He kissed her nose. “I am intrigued by…” he looked lower and Danielle grabbed his hand before he could demonstrate his next comment.
“A kiss!”
“Excuse me?”
She was desperate now, although not sure if she was desperate for him to leave so her friends didn’t realize she was gone and come looking for her, or desperate to kiss him. Either. Both, probably. “If I kiss you, will you go away?”
“A kiss and the promise of dinner with me tomorrow night.”
She hesitated and, at that moment, he knew that he’d won. “Dinner? Just dinner?”
“Yes. I promise. Just dinner.”
She grinned and he wanted to pull her into his arms and wipe that grin away, replacing it with lust similar to what he felt. It irritated him that she was so flippant about what was happening between them, but he was also relieved that she was in his arms, her arms draped around his shoulders as if she liked being there. And he liked her being here as well.
“Fine. A kiss. Dinner. But you have to…”
He kissed her, stopping her from giving him an order. He’d ease her into the fact that he would be giving the orders in their relationship. Soon. As soon as he got her into his bed, he’d give her orders that would blow her mind!
When she opened for him, he was stunned by the need that ripped through him as her tongue mingled with his. He deepened the kiss, feeling her response like a lightning bolt. Pulling her against him, fitting her curves against his body and pressing close, feeling her sharp intake of breath. Just a kiss, he reminded himself.
With that reminder, he knew that he’d have to pull away or he wouldn’t be able to stop.
Slowly, he pulled back, feeling her own reluctance mirrored in her response.
“Wow,” she whispered, licking her lips, her trembling fingers touching her swollen lips.
“Until tomorrow night,” he warned her softly and pulled away, disappearing down the sidewalk and slipping into his limousine. As his driver backed away, he watched as Danielle lingered on the front step of her house, watching him.
He grinned when the front door opened and Carly stepped out. Obviously, her friends had realized that Danielle had been gone longer than was necessary to speak to someone at the front door.
With a chuckle, he leaned back against the leather seat, only to jerk forward as something cold hit his back. When he ripped his shirt off, he realized what had happened and laughed again.
Apparently, the lovely Danielle had unknowingly spilled her white wine down his back during that kiss. Even more evidence that they had something special when even a kiss could affect both of them so powerfully.
Chapter 8
“What’s going on?” Carly demanded. “Why are you still out here? There’s more wine to drink and cookies to bake!”
Danielle nervously peered down the street, relieved to see the brake lights of Mika’s limousine fading away as he turned off her street.
“Right. Cookies. How many more batches do we have to make?”
Deni giggled, leaning a shoulder against the door. “Are you kidding? We haven’t even gotten through the top layer of that box of chocolate chips.”
The three ladies stepped back into her small house and the warmth and camaraderie enveloped her once again. “That’s a lot of chips!” she groaned. “Maybe we should make something that uses more chips than just cookies.”
“What about fudge?” Deni offered, licking some batter off her finger. “But we don’t have any marshmallow cream. And none of us are sober enough to drive to the grocery store.”
“Bummer,” Danielle groaned, peeking into the box of chips. It didn’t look like they’d made a dent in the supply.
Carly filled Danielle’s empty wine glass. “You downed that pretty quickly,” she commented, and topped off her own glass.
Danielle looked down at her glass. “I did?”
“Yeah,” Deni said, taking a long sip from her own glass of wine. “You went out there with a full glass.” Her eyes narrowed. “Do you not remember drinking the wine?”
“Not a good sign!” Carly teased.
“So, who is the guy who sent you all of these chocolate chips?” Deni asked, taking the latest batch of cookies out of the oven as the timer went off.
Danielle sipped her wine, watching her friends. “Why do you think a man sent me these chips? Maybe I ordered them online and just…ordered too many.”
Carly snorted.
Deni turned around, looking at the other two suspiciously. “Okay, spill it,” she ordered, sliding the spatula under the cookies and carefully placing each warm cookie onto the cooling racks. “You two have an advantage over me because you work together. Not fair! If you don’t want me to get a complex, then tell me what’s going on.”
Danielle shrugged. “Carly is in love with a guy at work.”
There was a powerful silence. Then Carly spun around to glare at Danielle. “I am not!” she gasped.
Deni smiled, taking a bite of a cookie before asking, “Do you mean Ryker?”
Carly sputtered and spun around to glare at Deni now. “Ryker?” she choked. “I’m not in love with Ryker!”
“Okay, so you’re not in love with him,” Danielle replied, grabbing one of the warm cookies as well and taking a big bite out of it. “But you do have a crush on him, don’t you?”
Carly grabbed a cookie, feigning anger at the other two women. “Ryker is a colleague. Nothing more.”
Danielle chuckled and turned to Deni. “You should have seen her when he walked into my office earlier today. She literally fell off my desk.”
“No way!” Deni gasped, then looked at Carly. Since the other woman didn’t deny it, Deni slapped her hand over her mouth. “What did Ryker do?”
Danielle looked over at Carly. “Caught her, of course.”
“Oh, how sweet! Ryker really is a nice guy!”
Danielle laughed. “He really is.” And since Carly was looking so uncomfortable, she changed the subject. “Okay, so who is going to take some of these cookies to the firehouse down the street?”
Chapter 9
“Another delivery for you!” Mike, the receptionist in the front lobby called out as Danielle pushed through the front doors the following morning.
Danielle stopped and stared, her head still pounding from too much wine last night. And after an evening of baking, her kitchen was filled with cookies! They must have made about twenty dozen chocolate chip cookies and she still had too many chocolate chips left!
/> Tucking the box filled with bags of chocolate chip cookies that she’d brought into the office to share under one arm, she walked over to Mike. “What is it?” she asked, afraid to know, but accepting that she’d have to get whatever it was out of the lobby before Oz, Jayce, or Ryker heard about it.
He ducked down behind the counter and held up a box. “No name on this one either. Strange,” he commented.
Danielle sighed, rubbing her forehead and wishing she hadn’t eaten so many cookies last night. “Would you mind holding on to it for me for a moment? I need to bring this stuff to my office and I don’t have an extra hand.”
“I’ll carry it,” Carly volunteered as she walked into the lobby. “What’s all this?”
Danielle hefted the box filled with cookies. “I packed up all of the chocolate chip cookies from last night. I can’t keep them in my house or I’ll just eat them for dinner.”
Carly laughed. “You have a hangover, don’t you?”
Danielle cringed. “Does it show?”
“Yes. But only because I recognize the symptoms myself. Why did we open that second bottle?” She took the box and carried it through the security doors. They each smacked their identification badges against the square on the wall that unlocked the doors. Because of the security required in the building, they both needed to badge through. No one was allowed to piggy back another person.
“I know.” Actually, that second bottle had tipped all of them over the edge. But some of that wine spilled down Mika’s back. And she knew the exact moment it had happened. Ugh!
“So you packaged up all of the cookies?” she teased, dumping the boxes on Danielle’s desk.
“Cookies?” Oz queried, appearing out of nowhere to stick his head through the doorway. “Did someone say something about cookies?”
Danielle laughed and picked up a bag. “Here you go. All yours,” she told him, tossing one of the bags of cookies at him.
Oz immediately, opened the bag and bit into one of the soft, chewy cookies. “Oh, these are good!” he sighed. “I think you should marry me and make these cookies for me every day.”
The Sheik's Gentle Triumph (The Diamond Club Book 4) Page 4