by Donna Hill
“Who was that other guy with you and Bernard?”
Claudia grinned. “Oh, just a good friend of the family.”
Chapter 24
Later that night, Nick and Danielle were in the tub with bubbles up to their necks, drinking wine and listening to a jazz CD.
Nick stroked Danielle beneath the water, and she squirmed in delight. “We’re supposed to be relaxing, getting rid of stress,” she teased.
“I am getting rid of stress. Can’t you tell?” He caressed her breasts. “Are you ever going to tell me everything, about this organization?” he asked.
“If I could, I would. I’ve already messed up big-time by getting you involved. What I can tell you is that there may be times in my life and parts of it that I can’t share with you. And it’s not because I don’t trust you or that I don’t…love you.”
“You what?”
She felt his heart pound against her back. She turned in the tub, coming up on her knees so that she faced him. “Love you,” she repeated. “I love you.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“From the bottom of my heart.” And for the first time in her life, that enormous weight was lifted from her spirit. She had a man who loved her through thick and thin, not based on what she looked like or felt about herself but because of who she was, the woman she’d become.
“If we love each other, Dani, we can get through anything…even this spy stuff.”
She leaned forward, linked her fingers behind his head. “I knew I loved you for a reason,” she murmured before slowly lowering herself onto his erection. “There are some people I want you to meet,” she said, moving slowly against him.
“Who?”
“My parents. I think you’ll really like them, and I know they’ll love you as much as I do.”
The following morning Danielle received a call from Jean requesting that she come to the brownstone as soon as possible.
“If tomorrow afternoon works, I’ll be there,” Danielle said. “I have some business to take care of and it can’t wait.”
“I know,” Jean said. “I’ll be waiting.” She disconnected the call and Danielle shook her head in wonder. What didn’t that woman know?
The last time Danielle had been to this house was nearly ten years earlier. She’d walked away and never looked back, building her life of make-believe and blaming her parents for everything that was wrong in her life and with her.
She was a big girl now, a full-grown woman who had to finally face her own demons and own up to the hurt that she’d caused over the years.
Sure, she’d kept in touch at all the appropriate times over the years, with cards or phone calls, but this was different.
Nick clasped her hands and forced her to look at him. “It’s going to be all right. I promise. Parents don’t stop loving their children. And I have a gut feeling they’re going to be so happy to see you that all the years apart are going to melt away.” He gave her a lopsided grin and her heart thumped.
She swallowed over the dry knot in her throat and nodded her head.
“Come on, let’s do this,” Nick said, opening the car door, then coming around to open hers. He helped her out of the car and pulled her close. “Tell me again,” he whispered against her mouth.
“I love you, Nick Mateo, with all my heart.”
“Damn, I love the sound of that.” He pecked her softly on the lips, and they walked toward the blue-and-white framed house.
Before they reached the front door, it opened and her parents stood in the archway.
For an instant no one moved. And then all at once her parents swept her up in their joined embrace, kissing and hugging their prodigal daughter.
Nick stepped aside and let them have their private moment. Finally Danielle turned, her expression luminous. Her eyes sparkled with tears.
“Mom, Dad, this is Nick Mateo.”
Nick stepped forward with a big grin on his face.
Danielle’s father stuck out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“You as well, Mr. Holloway.”
“Call me Joe.”
“Well, are we going to continue this reunion on the steps, or are you young people going to come inside?” her mother, Carmen, asked, beaming at them both.
Several happy hours later, Danielle and Nick were on their way back to Manhattan.
“So this is where you grew up?” Nick asked as they rode through stately St. Albans, Queens.
“Yep, and I used to play right in that park on Saturday afternoons,” Danielle said, pointing to Addisleigh Park. “There was always something going on, concerts, tournaments.” She smiled at the memories.
“Your folks are great.” He glanced at her face for a moment. “You have your dad’s eyes,” he said softly, “and his strong-willed personality,” he added.
Danielle laughed. “That much is true.” And for the first time that she could remember in years she loved the sound of that.
“You don’t know how lucky you are to still have a dad that loves you as much as yours does,” he said wistfully.
“You did, too.” She squeezed his hand. “And just because he’s not here physically doesn’t mean that the love he had for you wasn’t real. You’ll always carry that in your heart. And,” she added, “now you have mine to love you, too.”
He turned to her and smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
As they continued the drive home in a comforting silence, Danielle thought about her father’s parting words as he hugged her.
“I told you a long time ago, sweetheart, that one day you would find someone who would love you for who you were, not who you appeared to be. You found him,” he’d said, smiling softly. “Be sure to take care of him. Real love often only comes once in a lifetime.”
“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered, hugging him tight.
He kissed the top of her silky hair. “I know, sweetheart. I’ve always known.”
Danielle sighed deeply, leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Her father had been right all along. And if it took the rest of her life, she would ensure that her mom and dad never doubted her love for them ever again.
Chapter 25
Danielle sat straight as an arrow in the chair facing Jean. The look on Jean’s face was so hard that Danielle would have bet money it would have cracked had she opened her mouth.
Jean turned her hard gaze on Danielle. “You did an incredible job on your first assignment. You used your instincts. I like that.”
Danielle was so stunned she couldn’t speak.
“Because of you, a major operation has been dismantled. My clients are happy and Bernard now has the information he needs to take out the next level. You should be proud.”
“Thank you.”
“But you broke every rule of the Cartel. You allowed your personal life to get involved. People could have gotten hurt. Fortunately, it worked out. It seems that you and Savannah have a way of breaking the rules and making this work for you.” She handed Danielle a folder. “See if you can handle this one. And, Danielle…”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Try to keep the Cartel out of your bedroom next time.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Danielle emerged from the brownstone walking on air. She’d accomplished much more than this assignment. Not only had she exposed those who worked to steal the lives and livelihoods of others, but also she’d found herself in the process. All these years she’d been searching for her own identity, hiding behind the lens of a camera, and she now finally knew without a doubt who she was—Joe and Carmen Holloway’s daughter. That was what really made her proudest.
Mia and Savannah were waiting for her on the sidewalk in front of the brownstone. She greeted them with a broad grin.
“Well?” they asked in unison.
Danielle wrapped her arms around her two dearest friends in the world.
“I have so much to tell you both.”
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br /> “Good stuff, I hope,” Savannah said as they walked hand in hand toward Danielle’s vehicle.
They all climbed in.
“I took Nick to meet my parents,” she began as she started the engine.
Mia gave her a knowing look, which Savannah caught.
“What am I missing?” Savannah asked.
Danielle drew in a breath and eased out into traffic. “A long time ago, there was this guy named Michael….”
By the time they’d reached The Shop, Danielle had concluded her sad and sordid tale of her relationship gone terribly wrong.
“Dani, my God, you’ve been carrying that around all these years,” Savannah said as they were shown their seats at their favorite booth. “I knew you and your folks weren’t close, but I had no idea.”
“Yeah, and I let it make a mess of my life, cut off my parents and harden my heart. I’ve been so scared of falling in love again, of being ashamed of who I was, that I nearly lost everything in the process.”
“But you didn’t,” Mia said.
“And now you have Nick,” Savannah said.
Danielle grinned. “Yes, I do. He still doesn’t know everything about the Cartel, but he said that as long as we love each other, we can work anything out. And none of that changed after he met my folks.”
“So it’s finally official?” Mia asked with a gleam in her eye. “You’re in love and not afraid to admit it!”
Danielle smiled. “And it feels damned good. If I learned one thing through all this, it’s that you have to be who you are. Accept yourself for who you are. And sticking labels and tags on people only separates you from them because underneath it all we’re just people. And living a lie, a life of pretense, can only hurt you and everyone who cares about you.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Savannah said, raising her glass of water.
The trio toasted to love and friendship.
“Ladies, lunch is on me!” Danielle announced.
“And I’ll drink to that,” Mia said.
When Danielle returned to her apartment later that evening, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so good about herself and the possibilities of the future.
She had a dream job, parents who loved her and the photo assignment of a lifetime, and when things got dull, she always had the Cartel. But most important, she had Nick.
She dropped her purse on the hall table and headed toward the bedroom, where she heard the sound of the television. Her heart skipped a beat just thinking about seeing Nick.
She opened the bedroom door; Nick was propped up on pillows watching the news.
“Hey, babe,” Nick greeted her. He pointed to the screen. “They were just talking about a major identity theft ring that had been broken up. Thousands of people’s personal information was recovered, but it’s still going to take months to unravel everything.”
Danielle came and sat next to him.
“Just think, you helped to pull that off.” He hugged her tightly.
She snuggled next to him. “With your help.”
He grinned. “Yeah, how ’bout that. So how was lunch with the girls?”
“Great. We were talking about planning Claudia and Bernard’s wedding. She wants a fall wedding, which doesn’t give us much time, but I think we can put together something really spectacular.”
“Now that we’ve got our own hurdles out of the way,” he began slowly, “there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
Danielle frowned. “Shouldn’t what?”
Nick disentangled himself and got up from the bed. He paced in front of her for a moment.
“Nick…what is it?”
He knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking…especially since we went to meet your parents.”
Her heart thumped. Here it comes, she thought and didn’t want to hear the rest, not after she’d finally opened her heart and soul. Not now. She couldn’t breathe.
“Will you marry me, Danielle?”
For a hot minute she didn’t process what he’d said.
“What?”
“Will you marry me? Will you be my wife and have our beautiful babies, be my best friend through thick and thin, make a life with me? Say yes, Dani.”
Her spirit was so filled with awe and joy that the words wouldn’t come. She cupped his face in her hands and looked deeply into his eyes.
“There’s nothing in this world that I want more,” she finally said, her voice thick and shaky with emotion.
Nick dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He opened the top and a sparkling diamond winked back at her. It was a simple setting, nothing fancy, but nothing was more beautiful.
He took her hand and slipped the ring on her finger.
Tears of joy spilled from her eyes.
“I hope those are happy tears,” he said.
“Yes, yes, yes!” She pulled him to her, and they tumbled onto the bed, giddy with joyous laughter.
“I guess you girls will be planning two weddings,” Nick said as he slowly undressed her.
“Absolutely.” And she sealed her promise with a kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2536-1
SEDUCTION AND LIES
Copyright © 2008 by Donna Hill
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