by Sarah Gerdes
The next morning, Danielle awoke to find the bed empty.
Lars was sitting in a chair beside the window, his mobile phone in his hand. It was an image she wanted to remember forever: he in his boxers, legs up and crossed on the coffee table, bare-chested, the sun coming up in the background, the light off the water bouncing on his face. She propped herself on her elbow, her head in the palm of her hand.
“You are excruciatingly handsome, you know that?” she said to him. He set down his phone and came over to her. She was naked under the sheets, and his hand slipped under the comforter, traveling up her leg to her waist.
“I’m glad you think so. I know you don’t like Aphrodite, but I must say that last night, you were definitely the goddess of love.”
Only Lars could get away with making a corny statement sound sexy, but perhaps it had to do with his fingers tracing a path along her stomach and up toward her breasts. She was vulnerable with him and happily so, watching his response to touching her body in the light of day. There was nothing to hide with him, and she doubted there ever would be.
“I was hoping you didn’t have any plans for today,” he said, the wording making her smile with delight.
“I left it open.”
He touched her nipple, causing her eyes to flutter. She gently rolled back the covers, and he crawled in beside her.
They spent every minute together, first in the bedroom, then the sitting room as she flicked through the German channels while he played with her hair.
“I’m so fascinated with this thick, auburn Medusa-like hair you have,” he remarked.
“I’m glad I have a unique trait that inspires you,” she replied.
“You have no idea.”
She looked out across the dark water. “Lars,” she said thoughtfully. “What do you think it will be like tomorrow, in the office?”
He didn’t stop moving his fingers in her hair as he answered. “Like it was last Friday, or Thursday, or any of the other days.”
She touched his chest, cozying up her legs to his waist. “You don’t think we will have any difference in how we treat each other, not even a little?”
His laugh sent a vibrational wave down her back. “You certainly won’t be different. You lasted an entire month before moving seats,” he said, the remark making her smile. “I think it will be just fine. We will be just fine.”
Danielle sighed, a happy, content sound. She thought so too.
As Lars predicted, the following week was a non-event. He dropped by her office once a day, the same as he did with the other traders. But on Friday it was evident that being with Lars did have one unexpected downside. Her percentages were down six points, and Ulrich noticed.
“You decided to take an hour off?” he asked her, his version of a joke.
“Several hours is probably more like it,” she responded, feeling unnerved. She’d actually been at home every night researching, working as hard and diligently as usual.
She reached for a handful of peanut M & Ms. Halloween had long since passed but she kept a few extra bags around. When Lars came by that afternoon, she couldn’t help herself.
“See, we’re already costing me, and you, money,” she said.
Lars nodded. “You’re not getting enough sleep?” Danielle stared, pursing her lips shut tight at his jibe. Lars kept his face placid. “I’m confident that your returns will be consistent enough to override any anomalies in your schedule.”
Danielle hoped so, because she was skipping Friday night trading to spend the entire weekend with Lars at his home in the country. He picked up her at six pm, and the first thing she did was present a to-go tray of food to Dominic.
“Fajita tacos,” she announced, happy to surprise both men. Dominic politely but firmly refused to eat the food, impervious to her complaints that the home-made flour tortillas were best fresh.
“Fine,” she muttered. “But we’re eating this, in the car, while it’s still hot.” Lars went along with her plan, eating the beef strips she’d mixed with onions and garlic, doused in her homemade salsa with jalapeños.
They ate as Dominic drove, the passage of time made fast because Lars kept her talking about the intricacies of roasting chilies for home-made Mexican salsa and strategizing about importing certain food products that weren’t presently allowed.
“You need some restaurant connections,” she told him. “And a good bribe.” Lars smiled. She knew something they could trade that wouldn’t cost a thing.
It wasn’t until her ears popped that she realized they’d been climbing up in altitude. She took a look outside and exclaimed.
“What is that?” Danielle exclaimed. An enormous, jutting piece of rock rose out of the Earth
“The Matterhorn,” Lars said matter-of-factly.
Danielle looked at him with shock. “The Matterhorn. The one-and-only?” He nodded, his expression alight with the knowledge he’d kept a secret from her. The jutting piece of mountain was sloped to the right, the top with a sheared edge, rising to the right, as if it was a block of cheese that had been cut on the diagonal.
“My home is over there, on that side.”
“But I thought you said country home,” she protested.
He was smug. “I told you I thought you should revise your perception of a person with a country home.”
Lars’ country home turned out to be a three-story stone and big-beam home in the Petite Village within a small town outside the city of Zermatt. Dominic drove the car to the front entrance that faced the Matterhorn.
“Does this chalet have a name? It looks like it should.”
“Les Anges,” he told her.
Inside, Lars obliged her curiosity, showing her the seven bedrooms, six of which offered floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Matterhorn with unobstructed views. The bottom floor was a spa, and she ran her fingers along the horizontal willow branches that served as the wallpaper in the massage room. The sauna room had been designed to give guests a feeling of being outside, with the heating rocks strategically located above and below, almost hidden in crevices. The chalet even had a serenity pool with an indoor waterfall that spanned all floors and ended in a whirlpool on the edge of the bottom floor.
“Is this why you wanted me to bring a bathing suit?”
“Not that you will actually wear it, but just in case...” He slid open a wall to a stunning sight.
“Wow,” was all she could say. The hot tub was built in to the corner of the deck, blending seamlessly with the rock behind it, the lights of the town stretching below and the famous rock edifice towering in the distance. Heavy, oversized lounge chairs dotted the massive deck, the thick pads inviting and comfortable.
It was, she concluded, a proper home for the managing director of a firm in Zurich.
“I think that I might have finally found something to impress you.”
Danielle leaned over to him, her lips on his neck. “That happened the first day we met.”
Inside the home, Lars led her in to sitting room of the main floor, the windows looking out over the valley and the Matterhorn. The room itself was rectangular, with modern, taupe and grey couches along the wall to the right, and sitting chairs against the wall. The centerpiece of the room was a square, cement fireplace that separated the space into two halves.
Then she saw it. A black, concert grand piano with a white ribbon around the piano bench.
“You bought me a bench?” Lars didn’t respond. “Come on. You are kidding me. You already had this piano, right?”
“Yes I did. Go take a closer look,” he encouraged. She glanced at him again, not knowing what to expect. She looked at the ends, the front, she lifted the keyboard…
“You did not,” she exclaimed in a reverent whisper. On the right of the piano, just above the highest C key, her initials had been inscribed.
“Now that you are in my life, well, I wanted to appropriately mark it.”
Danielle was speechless. “You do realize that by engraving this
piece, you have defiled it to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.”
“As I have no intention of ever getting rid of it, or you, the devaluation is in the eye of the beholder.” Danielle’s throat constricted. “Does that bother you?” he asked.
Danielle felt a wash of emotion come over her. “That you want and expect the piano to be in your life a really long time…like me?” The golden glow of his face became the slightest bit darker as she threaded her fingers through his. “Bother is not the word I would use Lars. I love it.”
“I’m glad,” he murmured, brushing his lips against her cheek. “Because I love you Danielle.”
CHAPTER 45
They made love throughout the night.
The next morning they awoke in each other’s arms. “I love your passion,” he said admiringly, his gaze staying on her eyes. “And I truly do love you.” The rush she felt the night before when he said the words came again. Lars pushed his arm under her pillow, drawing her closer. “Your remarks on the boat was the lead up to St. Moritz, you know.” Danielle smiled faintly. She recalled how he looked and smelled at that moment in time. She also remembered what else had been on her mind. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
Danielle waited a moment, considering her words. She touched his chin. “Sometimes it’s not very helpful you can read me so well.” She didn’t need to mention Andre by name; they both knew her thoughts had included him.
“Lars, I can honestly say I was drawn to you literally the first minute I sat down in front of you. You are magnetic to me, a pull that I feel when I’m not around you.” His eyebrow raised with pleasured curiosity.
“You mean you’re not attracted to how I look?”
Danielle emitted a hearty laugh. “What I mean is that I am completely in love with the person, and in a state of unadulterated lust with the body.”
Danielle then showed him exactly what she meant. By the time they’d showered, Lars said the sun had been up long enough to make the rock warm.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m taking you rock climbing.”
“What?” she squeaked.
“But today, I’m packing extra food,” he said. “You eat non-stop.” It was true. She probably ate more than girls over here normally did.
Thirty-six hours later, Lars patiently waited for her to unlock the front door to her flat. “Do this again with me next weekend?”
She pretended to fall into his chest. “I’m so tired, I think I want to spend the entire time in a hot tub.”
He kissed her neck sensually. “That too.”
“My numbers are going to be down again,” she murmured, closing her eyes.
“I consider that acceptable.”
“I don’t.”
He left her then, and after a long bath, she crawled into bed and called Lani. Danielle told her she wasn’t going to be able make it to the restaurant this week. Too much work.
“I have the staff, Danielle. Don’t worry about it.” Danielle’s next call was to her father. He coughed as he answered, his jagged spurts loud enough to cause her to pull the phone away from her ear.
“Tell me about your weekend,” he said when he could finally speak. Her chest tightened with anxiety.
“You think this is it, don’t you?” she asked quietly.
“Maybe so.”
Danielle barely made it through the call without crying.
Monday morning, she arrived at four-thirty am and immediately opened her screens. Her sleep had been fitful and at three am, she gave it up. She figured she might as well be productive.
She jotted down figures as she mapped out the numbers and organizations for the week’s trades. She was so consumed with the papers she didn’t notice a figure at the door watching her.
The knock startled her. “You’re here early,” Lars remarked. He had a lovely smile on his face, the expression of a man in love and well loved.
“I couldn’t sleep, and I needed to get my numbers back up anyway,” she said, her voice sounding flat even to herself. The lines of his mouth dropped but then he took in her appearance and manner.
“How long have you been here?” he questioned.
Danielle scrunched her mouth to one side, looking at the clock. “An hour and a half.”
Lars walked into the room and sat down in front of her. “Tell me,” he said, low and intense, his managing director tone. Not the one to ignore.
“My father. I don’t think he has much time left.”
“What can you do?”
“Work and wait.” The first trader of the morning walked by the office.
“What are you not telling me?”
Danielle watched another trader walk by her open door. “Not in the office,” she said quietly.
“Yes. Now.”
They stared at one another, each waiting for the other to break first. She pressed her lips together, frustrated in the knowledge that here he was the boss and he was going to stay as long as he bloody well pleased.
“I’m afraid.”
“Naturally,” Lars said. “You think you will be alone. But you won’t be. I’ll be with you.” Then he altered his tone and manner completely. “Tonight. 6:30.”
“Talk to you then,” she said.
“No. I’ll pick you up then. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.” His eyes held hers for one penetrating moment, and then he left.
Danielle wasn’t mentally ready when Lars arrived at her flat, but he didn’t give her the chance to dither. He saw she only had her purse, and he told her to go back in and get overnight toiletries. She didn’t argue, gathering her things and letting him carry the bag downstairs.
“You know, I shouldn’t stay over. I’ll end up coming in late.”
“One time in seven months is not going to be noticed by anyone.”
“Ulrich will notice,” she replied.
Lars rubbed her neck. “Ulrich is paid to notice. But that doesn’t mean he’ll mind if you come in at ten. When we get home, send him an email and tell him you aren’t well. It will be a non-issue.”
She savored the way he said the word home.
“No more talk of work now. Tell me the details of your father’s health. Please.”
“He sounded awful last night. This evening, I called the doctor while I was waiting for you. He gives my father a month. Two at most.”
They said nothing as Dominic parked the car and they rode the elevator. Inside his flat, he encouraged her to make herself comfortable, and she chose the chaise lounge, drawing the thick fur covering over her. A chill was present in the air, and what she really wanted was to take a hot bath.
Lars brought her a cup of hot tea and sat beside her.
“Lars, why didn’t you ever have children when you were married?”
“That came out of nowhere.”
She sighed. “I was thinking of my Dad. He always wanted grandchildren, and because I couldn’t, or can’t, I just feel bad for him.”
He nodded. “To answer your question, initially I wasn’t all that interested. Too busy with work. Later on, it became apparent she and I were incompatible on several levels and having a child wasn’t going to help the situation. After that, I just figured that kids were probably not going to be for me. My career. Low chances of finding the right person or a person who I could satisfy or could satisfy me. I put the subject out of my mind.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her lower lip trembling.
“For what? Not being able to have my child?” he asked. “Danielle, I see my future with you in it as wonderful and fulfilling. Actually, I could see myself adopting with you.”
“Really?”
His fingers touched her chin again. “I’m sorry your dad may not be able to see what comes of us, because I think it’s going to be good.”
Danielle’s chin trembled and he removed her tea cup and set it on the table. His hands framed her face as he kissed away her fears while enveloping her with his affection.
As the m
oments went by, the deep ache she felt was replaced by a sense of optimism for her life here. She had Lars, as well as Max and the guys, Giles, Glenda and her husband, Stephen and Lani, even Benny and Johanne. They were all quality people. Maybe one day Andre might become a friend again, at least one she could see socially, at the marina or in the restaurant.
A shiver went through Danielle and he pulled back to look at her with concern. “Are you feeling sick?”
“No. But a hot bath sounds great. Would you mind?”
Lars was already removing the fur. “Not at all. I’ll make dinner while you enjoy my tub.”
He ran the water, gave her one of his dark blue bathrobes and left her alone. He did have bath salts and she used a shower gel to create suds. Her eyes were closed, the warm water lapping over her shoulders when she heard the door open. She looked over and saw Lars peering around the corner.
“May I come in?”
“Of course. Come sit on the edge.” Danielle lifted a foam-covered hand from under the water. “Thank you for taking care of me.” Lars stroked his finger along the top of her palm, the suds separating.
“I’ve waited a very long time to find someone worth taking care of.”
Danielle’s lips wavered. “I love you Lars.” He touched her cheek with the back of his forefinger.
“For a long time, I hope.”
CHAPTER 46
Danielle ate at the bar in the kitchen, wrapped in the thick bathrobe. She’d never had boar before and savored the taste.
“I have a strange question for you. Why is Dominic still so formal with me? I met him a while ago and he still acts like the first night.”
Lars cut his meat with precision. “I want him to be formal.”
“Oh,” she said. “You never do anything without a reason. So what’s the reason?” Lars stopped cutting and eyed her carefully.
“Remember when I told you about the client’s wife in New York? My driver at the time was the only person who knew we were seeing one another. He took it upon himself to share the information with my wife.”