Michael had certainly been thorough, and she had to give him extra points for that. It was as if he’d thrown open the door to a hot furnace she never knew burned inside her. She’d never experienced such deep, intense desire for any man. She hoped he was feeling the same way about her.
She opened her mouth to say so when Michael, whose face was still buried in her hair, whispered, “That was even better than the last time. I didn’t think that was possible.”
She felt equal measures of smugness and relief that it had been good for him, too. “Me neither. I don’t think I’ll ever think of a shower in quite the same way.” She grabbed a handful of his thick hair and tugged his head back so she could kiss him. “You’re still just as pretty as you were in high school, Michael.”
He snorted out a laugh and settled his head in the crook of her neck again as he caught his breath, too.
He nibbled on her neck and made his way up to her ear. “I’m afraid if I don’t put you down soon, I’m going to embarrass myself when I drop you.”
“Sorry.” She loosened her legs and slid down his slick body, eliciting another deep groan from him.
“If I thought we had enough time, I’d show you a few other tricks I’ve learned since high school. But Jerry and Emma will be back soon.” He dipped his head under the hot water and grabbed the shampoo.
Dani popped the shower door open. Cool air stung her cheeks as she reached for towels from the nearby heated rack. “I never even asked where they were. I took one look at you naked and completely forgot about them. Thanks for sending them wherever you did.” When she turned, water and soap slithered along all the hard dips and curves of Michael’s beautiful chest. Desire heated her belly all over again.
“They went to grab breakfast.” He turned off the tap, then accepted the towel she held out.
Ignoring her primal needs, Dani trapped her soggy hair on top of her head with a quick twist, then wrapped a second towel around her body while he told her about Emma and Jerry’s mission and how he hoped he’d ordered her what she wanted.
She crossed to the sink and wiped a circle in the foggy mirror with her hand, not caring a bit about what he’d ordered for breakfast. She was still in a lovely, dreamy haze, already plotting how they could arrange some more alone time.
When the mirror cleared, Michael’s back was framed in the reflection as he bent over to tug on his pants. Dani’s eyes grew wide. There was a squiggly scar snaking its way down his shoulder blade—same as the one from her dream.
Whipping around, she crossed to him, then grabbed his shoulders. “Where did that scar come from?”
Panic stole her breath, and her heart banged inside her chest, but not in the pleasant way it had only moments before in the shower.
He couldn’t be the man in her dream. Because if her mother was right, he’d hurt her like no other man ever had. After spending the last few days with him, the possibility of parting ways forever made her heart ache.
“From my car accident.” He glanced over his shoulder. “The roof support gave way and tore my shoulder up. I know it’s not pretty, but I guess I should have warned you, because you’re as white as a sheet.”
She slowly shook her head as she struggled to absorb the idea. “No, I’m sorry, it’s not so bad to look at, I just . . .” What? She couldn’t tell him. Pulling herself together, she said, “It just looks like it must’ve been so painful. I hate to think about that time when we were all waiting for you to wake up in Dallas.”
His brows knit in confusion before he leaned down and laid a quick kiss on her lips. “Thank you, but I’m fine now. It rarely hurts anymore.” He slipped his shirt on, then turned and wrapped her up in a tight hug. “Dani, I wanted to talk to you about that time in the hospital. To thank you—”
His cell phone rang in the other room. “Sorry, it’s probably my office.” He kissed her again, then quickly walked out of the bathroom, giving her some blessed alone time to think.
What else could go wrong? In a matter of a week her car had died for good, crazy Carlos Watts was waiting back home to kill her, Jake had signed the divorce papers and had his first date, and Emma had lost, then found, then lost her mother again. Her bosom had become famous across the land, and in becoming so had angered her mother. And just last night she’d learned who her father was and now knew she was descended from a long line of gangsters.
But Michael, being the man in her dream, took the prize.
Chapter Thirteen
As her mind reeled from her discovery about Michael, Dani quickly dressed and dried her hair while he dealt with a problem from his office via e-mail. They needed to hurry and get on the road so they both could get back to work.
After they ate, Dani called the penthouse to thank Mario for their stay, but he wasn’t in. She said goodbye to her mom, then they gathered their things and headed downstairs to the lobby.
Dani smiled as she handed over their electronic keys. The man helping her had a nametag that read “Ben,” with the title of concierge below it. “Hi, Ben. Is Mr. Giovanni around?”
His face lit with a knowing grin. “I don’t know, Ms. Botelli, but I’m sure he’ll want to see you. Can you wait here for just a moment? I’ll see if I can find him.”
“Sure.” Emma was heavy, so she plopped her on the counter while Jerry and Michael discussed the fastest route home.
Ben reappeared a few minutes later. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Botelli, but I couldn’t locate him. Shall I take a message?”
“No, thanks. I’ll just call him later. Thanks for all your help.”
“Anytime. Oh, and just so you know, we had a strange computer glitch. That special charge for your friend’s champagne was lost.” e winked at her.He sent her a knowing wink. “Have a safe trip home.”
“Thanks, Ben. You’re awesome. I’ll see you again soon.” She hitched Emma on her hip and started for the doors.
“I’ll look forward to it, Ms. Botelli. You’re a most interesting woman.”
That probably wasn’t a compliment.
As they approached the sliding doors to retrieve their cars from the valet parking, Jerry’s hand snaked out and grabbed her arm. “Wait. I want to make sure things are cool out front. Stay here in the lobby until I get back. Your whereabouts are hardly a secret after your dress was plastered all over the Internet yesterday.”
Dani and Michael stopped, letting Jerry go ahead. She hadn’t thought about that, but he was right. If he didn’t know before, Carlos Watts definitely knew where she was now. That was another stupid move on her part.
Just as their cars drove up, Mario called out her name. Michael took Emma from her arms. “I’ll strap her in. Take your time.”
Dani turned and greeted Mario. “I wanted to say thank you again for our stay and for helping with the money. In all the confusion, I forgot to tell you I made Julia promise to give it back when everything is settled.”
“I wish I had your refreshing optimism, Dani, but I won’t hold my breath.” He grinned. “However, if she shows up on my doorstep with the loot, I wouldn’t turn it down.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulder and walked her to the car. Jerry appeared at her opposite side. “Have a safe trip. I’ll see you next month.”
Just as Mario opened her car door, a sharp pop rang out.
Someone yelled, “Gun!” and her heart nearly stopped.
Had Carlos found them? She couldn’t breathe. But she needed to do something.
She started to dive into the car beside Michael, but Jerry slammed the door shut and pulled her to the ground, covering her with his body. From her sideways viewpoint, crushed under Jerry’s weight, she watched Mario lift his pant leg at the ankle and pull out a gun. The sight of his gun sent another wave of panic through her veins. She hoped that Michael and Em were safe in the car above her. That they’d all stay safe. God, she didn’t want to die. Especially now that she’d finally reconnected with the man she’d always loved.
People shouted, and more gu
nshots rang out as her heart raced triple time. Jerry’s heft made it difficult to draw a full breath, and her head felt light. Mario shouted to the security team when they arrived. “Over there, in the dark Jeep. Stop them.”
The next thing Dani heard were shouts, more gunfire, then squealing tires. After a few moments of silence, the car door above her opened. Michael handed Emma to a guard, and then he was escorted out by the security team.
Thank God they were safe. She thought they were all going to die. Because of her.
Her legs were weak and could barely hold her as Jerry and two other men helped her up and surrounded her. They ran back into the lobby and into a waiting elevator. When the doors closed, Mario slipped his card in the slot, and the large P showed up on the screen. Then he turned and wrapped her up in a hard hug. “Are you okay?”
Dani blinked back her tears and nodded. After a few moments, she released him, then reached out for Emma, who was wailing with fear. She drew Emma against her chest, then looked up at Michael as her own fear got the best of her. She couldn’t stop shaking as hot tears slipped down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you guys had been hurt. This was all my fault.”
Michael leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead. “We’re fine, Dani.”
When the doors parted to the penthouse, Mario stepped out first, reaching for his cell phone. “We’ll take you out through the underground with your mother. We do it all the time when she visits. You’ll be safe. You can all fly home with her.”
He turned to Michael and Jerry. “I’ll have my people drive your cars home for you. Maybe Carlos’s men will make another move, and this time they’ll get more than they bargained for.”
Dani didn’t even want to know what that meant, but she had a good idea it wouldn’t be pretty.
While Dani stared out at the white puffy clouds floating in the deep-blue sky, Jerry sat up front in the cabin of her mother’s jet, snoring. On the couch, Emma sat on Annalisa’s lap, listening intently as Annalisa read a script to her.
A smile tugged at Dani’s lips as she recalled doing the same thing with her mom. Her mother could read a dictionary and make it sound exciting.
Dani closed her eyes and sighed. That had been entirely too close, and they all could have been killed. She wasn’t letting Emma off her mother’s estate until Julia got back to claim her. There was no way she’d risk Emma’s or Michael’s lives again.
She should break things off with Michael, for his own safety, but didn’t want to. Especially after just learning he was the man from her vision. Her stomach ached at the thought of him leaving her. Maybe her mother was wrong about that.
Dani turned and stared into Michael’s pretty green eyes, surprised he’d been watching her. “You must be so angry with me. If I hadn’t been so stupid—”
“Beating yourself up isn’t going to solve anything.” He gave her a quick kiss, then leaned back. “I need your undivided attention, because we have to go over the rules.”
“What rules?”
He unlatched her seat belt, then scooped her into his arms, placing her on his lap. “Rule number one. No more kissing Jake. Or anyone else.”
She blinked in confusion. He was talking about rules for them? Part of her feared—and hoped for his own good—that he’d run the other way as soon as they landed. But he needed to come back for her after Carlos Watts was in jail. “I told you. Those weren’t real kisses, Michael. They were just—”
“Real or not, no more kissing him, Dani.”
“Fine. And the only man I plan to do anything else with is you.”
“Good.” He nodded sharply. “Rule number two—”
“Wait a minute. I thought we were having a casual fling. Isn’t the point of that type of relationship that there are no rules?”
“After this morning”—he leaned close and whispered so her mom couldn’t hear—“I want more.”
Her heavy heart soared. “Okay, if you insist. But you’ve gotten awful bossy all of a sudden.”
His expression remained deadly serious. “Rule number two. No more hooker dresses.”
“That’s a given,” she said with a sigh. “What’s rule number three?”
“My girls have to come first. Heather plays games and calls me at the last minute, interrupting my plans, claiming I’ve forgotten some event or scheduled visit.” He tapped the phone in his pocket. “Everything goes in here, but she likes to make my life difficult. Therefore, she’s bound to make ours difficult as well. But, I’ll drop whatever I’m doing for my kids.”
“No problem. You’re a great dad.”
“I try. Rule number four.” He lowered his voice again. “I’m in charge in the bedroom.”
She leaned away from him and crossed her arms. “What? No way am I agreeing to that. As a matter of fact, I want to be in charge. You have to do whatever my little heart desires or the whole deal is off.” She nipped his bottom lip to send her point home.
“Done.” His mouth tilted in a mischievous grin.
“You were just pulling my chain, you sneaky lawyer.”
He pulled her close, hugging her tight. “I was just making sure you were paying attention.”
“Okay. Then we need to discuss rule number five. That’s the one where, when you overhear me talking with Zoe about intimate details of our relationship, you can’t complain.”
His forehead crumpled. “How intimate?”
“Every detail.”
“That was to pay me back for rule number four?”
“Yep.”
He nodded. “I should probably expect that kind of behavior from a sneaky Realtor.”
She grinned as she snuggled against him and closed her eyes. But very soon, she was going to have to tell him about rule number six—that he needed to keep his distance from her until the Carlos Watts problem was solved. She wouldn’t risk his life again.
When they arrived home, Michael carried a sleepy Emma to the guesthouse for her. In front of it, a deep-blue Lexus hybrid SUV with a big red bow stood gleaming in the afternoon sun.
Dani dialed her mother. “Mom, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m not accepting gifts like this anymore.”
“It’s not from me. It’s from your father. Read the card, Dani.”
She tugged the envelope from under the windshield wiper and opened it.
Daniella,
I’ve been deprived the privilege of acknowledging thirty Christmases and birthdays for my only child. Please accept this from me. It would give me great pleasure to know you’re driving a safe and environmentally friendly car.
And the windows are bulletproof.
Love,
Mario
She shook her head and tucked the card back inside the envelope. She said to Michael, “Mario is appealing to my sense of environmental consciousness, and not doing a bad job in the guilt department, either. Do you think I should keep it?”
Michael passed the sleeping Emma to her and popped the hood. He smiled as he studied the engine. “Sweet. I wonder if you can tell when it’s running on batteries or gas? And yes, you should keep it. He wants to be your dad, so let him.” He slammed the hood closed. “Can I borrow it? I haven’t seen my kids in over a week, and I don’t have a car.”
“Sure.” She grabbed his shirt, pulled him against her, and kissed him. When she’d had her fill, she reluctantly released him. “So, I guess I’ll see you when I see you?”
“You’ll see me later tonight. I don’t have my girls again until the weekend.”
Good. Then she’d have a little time to come up with the right way to tell Michael he wasn’t welcome in her life—for now.
Later that night, Michael tossed the bag that contained his suit for the next day on a chair before slipping out of his jeans and T-shirt, relieved that Emma was in Dani’s other bedroom.
He slid beside Dani, and when she turned and sent him a sleepy grin, everything aligned in his world. “Heather had a meltdow
n I had to deal with. Sorry I’m so late.”
“’Kay . . .” Her voice slowly trailed off as she fell back asleep.
That wasn’t the reception he’d hoped for, but he couldn’t blame her. It was late. Resigned to no sex, he banked his need for her and snuggled closer. “Night, Dani.”
It was probably for the best. After fighting with Heather and putting up with her irrational demands, it showed him how different Dani was from his ex-wife. While Dani was complicated in her own way, she never whined or carried on, like Heather did with regularity.
He wanted to tell Dani what a refreshing change she was and how he looked forward to seeing her whenever they were apart, but that probably wouldn’t have been wise at this point. He loved her, but they still needed to take things slowly, let their past relationship mistakes fade and give their hearts time to heal. And he needed to be sure she wouldn’t hurt him again.
He’d always loved Dani, but he wouldn’t have his heart stomped on twice, so he’d just keep his thoughts about wanting to marry her and be with her the rest of his life to himself for now.
Suddenly, Dani bolted straight up. “You’re here. Sorry.” Her hand reached out, and soft lamplight spilled over them. She was wearing something silky that just barely covered her, and his belly clenched with desire.
“I must’ve fallen back asleep after the guard told me you were on the way.” She rubbed her eyes. “I need to give you this.”
He accepted the slip of paper she held out. “What is it?”
“I’m invoking rule number four. It’s a list of what I’d like you to do to me tonight.”
He grinned as he read it, and by the time he’d reached the end of the list, he was unbearably hard. “In exactly this order?”
Her eyes lit with mischief. “Uh-huh.”
“No problem. But what’s the ‘rule number six discussion’ mean?”
“Let’s see if you survive all the other items first, then we’ll talk about that.” She turned off the lamp, tugged the paper from his hand, and straddled him. “Oh, I see you’ve started without me.”
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