She, on the other hand did not know what she was missing. She had never encountered it. Daria knew of what she believed she should have had and she had heard from her father what a wonderful woman her mother was but it was not the same as what Peter had to endure. He had a genuine loss he had to face as he grew up. She had a shadow in her life. Something that was there just beyond her vision but that she could never touch.
They sat in silence and watched as the sun finished its descent and darkness overtook the sky.
"What did you think I was going to do when I brought you up here?" Peter asked looking straight into her eyes.
"Oh I don’t know. I’m just not used to strange men taking me out of he city without knowing where I am going.
"So you are in the habit of getting into the car to go on dates with strange men are you then?"
"No! I didn’t say that." She playfully smacked him on the arm. Her glass was empty and she could officially blame it on the wine.
"Well you did in a round about sort of way."
"I did not!"
"You said that you weren’t used to having strange men take you out of the city without knowing where you are going. That implies that you do go on dates with strange men"
"Well I suppose some of the men I have had to date in the past are a tiny bit strange. So that counts in a way right?" She laughed.
"You have had to go on dates with strange men?" Peter smiled. He was clearly toying with her words but she was giggling too hard to stop the conversation.
"I mean the men that my father sets me up with. Some of them are atrocious!"
"Really? Do tell!"
"Oh I don’t want to bore you with that!"
"Actually it sounds pretty funny to be honest so I would love to hear about some of them."
Daria looked at him for a moment. She was having a hard time deciphering whether or not he was being honest. She had never met a man who wanted to know what the other men on her previous dates were like. Usually they didn’t want to hear a thing she had to say at all let alone have her talk about the men she had dated.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Alright then. If you insist--"
"I do."
Daria took a deep breath before she started.
"There was this one guy. I think he was in the oil industry. Big player over in Europe. Anyway he was obsessed with feet!”
“Feet huh?”
Daria nodded.
“He would spend hours looking a pictures of feet.”
“What about your feet? Did he like those?” Peter asked.
“Oh I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I never asked him and we didn’t date that long so he never told me really. All honesty it was creepy. We would be out for dinner and he would be staring at his phone. I know right well he was looking at pictures of feet.”
“Well he was in the oil industry so maybe he was doing business instead of being engaged in whatever your date was,” Peter offered, filling up her glass.
She shook her head as she took a sip.
“No that wasn’t it at all. I know because I caught him once when I got up to use the ladies room.”
“So he was out with you but surfing for pictures of other women’s feet.”
“Yes! How weird is that?”
“It is pretty weird. I mean I have heard of people having foot fetishes and all but for crying out loud if you are out with a beautiful woman you don’t ignore her to look at other women’s feet!”
Daria looked at him, her mind coming back down to earth. He had managed to get her talking and had almost managed to get her to forget that she was supposed to be leery of him. That he wasn’t allowed to get close to her.
“I said this wasn’t a date Peter.”
He stopped smiling almost as fast as if someone had stuck a pin in his happiness and had popped it.
She immediately felt bad. She hadn’t meant for him to get upset.
“I mean. I don’t want you to get the impression that I am after something more than to enjoy this evening.”
Peter said nothing but looked back towards the city.
Daria suddenly felt even worse. It was her own fears that were preventing her from enjoying a nice evening with what appeared to be a complete gentleman.
One who had gone above and beyond the expectations of drinks.
"I’m sorry Peter," she apologized placing a hand on his shoulder. "I’m not used to being treated like more than an arm accessory by men other than my father. And even he still is set in his ways for how he thinks things should go for me."
"Well I am sorry that things like that have happened to you in the past. I can assure you that there was nothing dishonorable in my intentions this evening. I just wanted to make up for upsetting you in the first place and for my buffoonery last night. I never would want to treat you like you are less than what you are. That would be doing an injustice to you and my father would never approve of me behaving that way towards a lady."
"Your father wouldn’t approve huh?"
"No he wouldn’t. He was a big believer in treating the women in your life like royalty. He was always good to my mother. I remember he would get home from work and a song would come on the radio and the next thing you knew he had swept her away from the kitchen sink and the two of them would be dancing around the kitchen." Peter smiled at the memory.
"Mmm. I can almost see that in my minds eye. When I get married I want a marriage like that. It isn’t something I think I will ever get to have."
"And why is that?"
"Because people like me don’t get to have simple things. Everything has to be big and lavish."
"Well we are having something right now and there is nothing big nor lavish about it"
"I know Peter but this sort of thing could never last. I am a woman with money and responsibility. I could never--"
"Never what? Be with a man like me?" Peter frowned and once again Daria felt her heart sink.
"No. Not that at all." Daria quickly tried to rephrase what she meant. She wasn’t sure why but she didn’t like the idea of Peter thinking that she was some sort of snob. It bothered her.
"Well what did you mean?" She could see the hurt and anger in his eyes.
"I mean that the money and businesses I own or at least that I will inherit when my father passes it down to me are not something that I can simply up and walk away from."
"I don’t understand why you would have to."
"My father worked his entire life to see to it that I would never want for anything. It would almost kill him if I were to walk away from all of that now."
"But you don’t have to walk away from it to live a simple life. You can still have moments like this even if you have all of the things your father spent his life working for."
"I don’t see how."
"You choose what you do with the money. You make a choice about how much you put into the company. Heck you could donate it to any number of charities in Lake City that would love to have your support."
"I can’t just give it all away. It would break my father’s heart."
"I think you will find that what makes your father happy is actually the happiness of his daughter," Peter said taking her hand in his.
She felt an electric shock travel up her arm and down her back. She shivered.
"You’re cold." Peter pulled the one edge of the blanket up until it covered her bare shoulders. Truthfully it was a warm night but she didn’t want to tell him that she wasn’t actually cold. Because she really didn’t know what she was at that moment.
"Thank you," she mumbled.
"You’re most welcome." He smiled and put his arm around her.
She stiffened for a moment. She had not wanted to get that close to him but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. The musky smell of his cologne was almost too much for her to think straight. She sighed and allowed herself to sink into his shoulder.<
br />
"Don’t worry Daria. I am not going to hurt you," he whispered.
And she believed him.
Chapter 5
Sebastian had his arm wrapped around Daria. His emotions were tied in more knots than he knew what to do with. He wanted nothing more than to get up and run away, yet at the same time he wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment with her.
Over the last hour he had felt as if he had gotten closer to her than anyone else before him. She wanted nothing more than the simple life but all she was surrounded with was money and power. He knew exactly how she felt. He had spent a good chunk of his life in search of something that would ease his pain after his mother’s death.
No amount of money or trinkets could fix the gaping hole in his life. She was no different. She had never known the warm embrace of a mother’s arms. And knowing that made him feel sad. It was not fair. He didn’t know what had happened when she was younger but her mother had not died but had left instead and her father had raised her to think her mother was dead.
And here he was stuck in the middle. Something wasn’t right about the whole situation; he couldn’t figure out what it was but he sure as hell intended to find out.
She sighed again as she rested on his shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked
"Just how beautiful the city is at night," she answered softly the gentle breeze carrying her words to his ears.
"It is, isn’t it?"
They sat there another moment in complete silence. His mind was still trying to decipher the entire situation and trying hard to figure out a way to work in a question that would lead up the whole necklace issues he was supposed to be taking care of. That is if he even wanted to follow the mission anymore.
The thought stopped him so hard that he wasn’t even sure he had thought it.
Why was he even thinking that? He had never ever not completed a mission. Even when he was busy breaking the law to con older women out of their money he had not walked away.
What was making this whole thing different? She was no different really than any other.
"It is getting chilly, maybe we should go," he said softly.
She snuggled in closer to him.
"Just a few more moments. It’s so wonderful up here. For the first time in a long time I am relaxed."
Sebastian smiled. He was happy that she was feeling completely comfortable with him; it proved that he was still in control of the situation. That he was still the master at his art.
But the guilt welling up inside of him was starting to become more than he could handle. He had to force himself not to squirm. He did not want his actions to reveal the things that were going on in his head.
"I told you this was the perfect spot for drinks."
"You were right. I feel badly that I doubted you in the first place. I should have known that not everyone is not just out for the money or after me because of who I am.”
Sebastian felt as though he had been punched in the gut. The words rang true to him. She was worried about the very thing he was doing to her - he was only using her for her information.
And that hurt.
He was suddenly very uncomfortable and he reflectively shifted his weight.
"I’m sorry." She looked up at him with her big brown eyes.
"Nothing to be sorry about."
"I guess we should start heading back now. Before it gets too late and my father starts to worry about where I am."
"He’s not used to having you out until all hours of the night with all the dates that he sets you up on?" Sebastian chuckled trying to lighten the heavy feeling in his heart.
"No. I usually can’t stand the men he sets me up with. They are usually pompous and self-centered so I don’t tend to stay out too late."
"Well then we best be getting you home. I wouldn’t want your father to start sending out the armed guards after me." He smiled at her and she returned the smile
"Oh don’t worry. They are generally nice. They only maim their intended targets. There hasn’t been a death because of them in a good long time." She laughed as she stood up brushing the dust off her skirt. Her legs seemed to go on forever.
"Well then I am in the clear if they only maim." He quickly stood up too, trying to pull his mind back onto the conversation.
"I didn’t say how they maim though. That might be a bit of a problem for you." She leaned over and picked up the wine glasses. He found himself stealing a peek down her shirt to the perfect vee where her breasts came together.
He felt his heart pick up pace and start to pound.
"Really now?" He shook the blanket off and picked up the empty wine bottle. She was distracting. He had to focus.
"Yep. The last man who brought me back late had to sit down to pee for the rest of his life," she giggled.
"You’re making that up," he laughed nervously. She had him completely off balance. It was unnerving.
He wanted nothing more than to take her home and put some distance between them. He needed air and needed to think.
"Are you okay?" There was worry in her eyes. He clearly was betraying what was going on in his head.
"Yeah I’m okay." He smiled at her again trying his best to look like he had everything under control.
"You don’t think I was being serious did you?"
"Oh God no! I don’t think there is anything of the sort lurking about in your world. I just said that because, well you never know right?"
She nodded.
"I mean you could be one of those black widow things that goes around killing off her mates," he said trying to look serious.
"Are you kidding me?" she squealed putting both hands on her hips in mock anger.
"Well you never know. You could have the kiss of death or something that I should watch out for," he teased, holding his hands up in fear, all the while a grin spreading across his face.
"Some men are impossible to please! So maybe that is why I get rid of them so quickly. They are irritating and stupid." She turned around and pretended to storm off to the car.
Without stopping to think Sebastian chased after her, dropping the bottle and blanket as he went. The next thing he knew she too took off running around the other side of the car. It took him a couple extra steps before he caught up to her and pinned her against the car door. She still had the glasses in her hands and could not push him away.
Their faces were inches apart. He could smell her shampoo mixed with her perfume; his world tilted.
Their eyes met for a split second as they both tried to catch their breath. He didn’t think as he leaned in to kiss her.
Their lips met and his mind raced around trying to gather thoughts that kept slipping out of reach. The kiss deepened as she dropped the glasses and wrapped her arms around his neck. His heart pounded.
He wanted her so badly.
When they came up for air a moment later they were both breathing more heavily than they had been before. Their eyes met and Sebastian could see the longing in her eyes.
He had her. Or did she have him?
Either way for that one moment in time it didn’t matter to him. He knew he had to bring her back home to her father before her he got worried but he didn’t want the moment they were sharing to end. He didn’t want to have to let her go to drive her home.
He needed air.
"We better get you home before those goons start hunting us down, " he breathed pulling away from her, his heart still pounding like a jack hammer in his chest.
“Yes,” she agreed, pulling herself off the car and straightening her clothes before bending down to pick up the glasses she had dropped.
He watched her for a moment before peeling his eyes away and turning around to go and retrieve the blanket and bottle from where he had dropped them.
He opened the door for Daria taking the glasses from her as she got in. He tossed the things into the trunk and took a deep breath as he opened his door and got in.
He p
ut the car in reverse and turned around to head back to the city.
She watched out the window as the darkness along the side of the highway passed by.
Her heart had finally settled back down into its normal rhythm and she was finally able to start thinking clearly again.
Diamonds (Den of Thieves Book 1) Page 5