by Lara Earlman
“We’re going upstairs, now,” he informed her. “Mrs. Jensen sent dinner up, and we have some air to clear between us.”
“Is that what they call it where you come from?” she asked coyly. He squeezed her tighter and his rumbling chuckle caused happy, contented bubbles to dance in her heart. Weakness.
Dane had been a busy boy. While Lexi was in conference, his old room had undergone an overhaul. She could feel his eyes watching her reaction as she took in the change. The twin bed was pushed against the wall and piled with large pillows to look like a sofa, or lounge, while the dresser was positioned beneath a bookshelf to appear inconspicuous. Other than that, the room took on the feel of an office, complete with a desk, tables, chairs and file cabinets. His laptop was open on the desk, with a sheaf of papers scattered to the side of it. And a landline telephone? She stepped around to the back of the desk, trying to remember where she’d seen it before.
“The attic,” Dane filled in for her. “Harold and I scavenged the attic for the furniture. I like the leather chair.” He motioned to the brown office chair with the outdated metal rollers. His boyish enthusiasm rubbed off on her. Lexi sat down on it and crossed her feet up on the desk.
“Quite comfortable,” she agreed.
“It will do,” he said, modestly. “Let’s eat before the food gets cold.” Opening a patio door, Dane escorted her onto the tiny balcony set up with a small table and two chairs. “Dinner for two, madam?”
The small alcove could barely hold two adults, as well as the dining set, but with much squeezing, they made it work. Dane must have fallen upon some Christmas decorations in the attic, as well. Tiny white lights were strung along the railings, their dim glow cordoning romantic intimacy. The ambience was continued in the formal adorned table set with two covered plates, wine glasses, and a bud vase containing a single, perfect, red and white rose.
“You did all of this?” Lexi asked, flattered by his romantic gesture.
“I have ulterior motives,” Dane admitted. He poured them each a glass of wine and then seated himself in the tight confines.
“Do tell,” she encouraged, placing the domed lids out of their way into the small corner behind her chair.
Dane separated a flake of grilled salmon with his fork and brought it up to his mouth. Chewing contemplatively, he seemed to gear himself up before answering. He took a sip of his wine and swallowed.
“Well, I know that you’re not exactly pleased about the revelations thrust into your face today,” he began. “Revelations you resent my keeping from you. I had my reasons, and planned to tell you myself when the time was right. My main motive…” his arm swept to encompass the balcony, coming close to knocking the wine bottle over, “was to keep my feelings for you first and foremost in your mind. I love you, Pips…”
“Don’t call me that,” she interrupted feebly, more out of habit. He loves me…
“I can’t stop wanting to do everything possible to make your life easier, and if it means helping you save your house and company, so be it. I won’t apologize.” He took another slow taste of his wine and scooped in a mouthful of wild rice, giving what he’d said time to sink in.
Lexi couldn’t bring up a retort. She knew she’d been angry with his deceptive methods, but all she could think of was – he loves me.
“I know your fiery temper, Pips. I grew up around it, and many times on the wrong end of it.” Dane smiled. “I am both in awe and leery of it, but it’s one of the things I love about you. It’s spunky and sometimes unpredictable in its form. That brings me to another ulterior motive, here tonight. I had to find a way to keep you from running out on me, didn’t I? This way you’re conveniently trapped and at my mercy.” He dramatically raised his eyebrows up and down, insinuating lecherous motives.
Lexi had never seen the adult Dane so animated and seeing it now, turned back time. She laughed so hard, her eyes misted and her nose began to run.
“You think so, do you?” she challenged. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone descended from this terrace.” She was remembering the time Dane broke his arm climbing down the trellis. The adults were so mad that they immediately had it removed. Lexi was pretty sure that it hadn’t stopped the boys from finding other escape options. Dane was laughing, now.
“We would have never been caught if Stef had kept his mouth shut,” Dane insisted.
“Oh, really? So, you would have born the pain of a broken arm in silence?”
“Well, probably not, but I could have made up a story which would have fared better than the truth. I can’t believe he was such a wuss back then.”
“It’s good to have them back in our lives, isn’t it?” she said soberly.
“Yes, it really is,” he agreed. “That’s why I couldn’t bear to imagine anyone else living in this house. It’s so full of my fondest memories.” He reached over and took her hand in his. “I want to make more memories here, Pips – with the Carstens and with you.” Lexi looked into his eyes and sunk into their amber depths.
“Daney,” she whispered, completely taken in. “You’re not playing fair.”
“I never do,” he said, his voice husky. “I play to win.”
Weakness, Lexi thought as she played her fingers through the light coating of curls across Dane’s chest. Round one goes to Wellesley. They were wrapped in each other’s arms after a very satisfying interlude atop the surprisingly sturdy little bed in Dane’s room. Oh, excuse me, corrected the interplay in her head, sofa in Dane’s new office. Despite his excellent distractive maneuvers, she still had some questions.
“So, the contessa is your mother?”
“Really, Pips, now? − Oof!” He jerked at Lexi’s sharp slap to his bare skin.
“I told you not to call me that!”
“Not gonna happen,” he solidly informed her, then expertly caught her hand in his before she could repeat her actions. He chuckled victoriously, covering the offending hand with kisses before sliding its forefinger into his mouth and embracing it with his tongue.
Oh, my… who would have thought that such a simple action could produce so many intricate effects throughout her entire body?
“Dane,” she murmured, her body stirring against his. No, she must be strong. His other hand grazed her breast, his fingers teasing its nipple taut. Maybe she could concede this next round… weakness.
“Dane,” she repeated with slightly more force. Lexi pushed herself up and pulled her finger from his mouth. He opened his eyes and met hers, they were heavy with lust.
“You know what I was thinking while I sucked on your finger?” His voice came out gravelly and his eyes sparked. He jiggled his hips suggestively.
“Yes, your thoughts are quite concrete,” she answered, feeling his thoughts solidly against her thigh. “But, you did say that you wanted to clear the air, and the aroma of that woman still lingers.”
Dane wrinkled his nose. “Yes, her perfume is quite… pungent, isn’t it? I’ve always hated it.” He pulled Lexi back down to his chest. “I love the smell of you,” he murmured into her hair.
“Dane!” She brought her head back up. “I’m trying to hold a conversation, here. One you arranged this evening around. Now, could you please get a grip?”
His hand slid up her thigh to cup the cheek of her buttocks, “You mean like this?” he asked, giving it a gentle squeeze.
Okay, that’s it! Lexi shoved off the bed and turned to collect her clothes. “I’m glad you’re so comfortable there, because that’s where you’ll be spending the rest of the night.” Her voice held no anger, just chastisement. He wants to act like a child, then… She had her top on and was pulling her jeans up when he grabbed her from behind.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, liebling.” Hugging his chest against her back, he tucked his chin in her neck. “It’s just that I can never seem to get my fill of you.”
“Dane,” Lexi sighed, resolutely.
“No, Pips, it’s the truth. I swear it’s not just a tactic to chang
e the subject. Although, I will admit that I prefer not to think about Cara.”
With a sigh, he acquiesced by slipping into his jeans and carefully confining his effervescent member. Entranced, Lexi watched each beautifully sculpted muscle work in accord to perform the task.
“Pips… liebling, I won’t be responsible for my actions if you keep looking at me like that.”
“What?” Lexi pulled her eyes up to Dane’s face. His shirt came down over his head, diverting her eyes once again, this time to his chest before it also became obscured. Unwittingly, her hand reached out as if to caress and now it paused in place. Sliding her gaze back up, her eyes landed on a cocky grin. Embarrassment colored her face. Lexi quickly turned away and set her attention to gathering up the remnants of their meal.
“Okay, so tell me about the contessa.”
Lexi and Dane sat at the kitchen table – neutral territory. The Jensens were tucked away for the evening in their own little bungalow, just a hop and a skip from the outside kitchen door. The faint blue glow of a television was the only light escaping from the darkened quarters; even so, their close proximity promised a good chance that the two lovers would keep their minds on the task at hand. Clearing the air.
They had raided the pantry and found a fresh baked apple pie, which now sat between them with two slices missing. The co-conspirators enjoyed the spoils of their mission with steaming mugs of coffee and companionable silence – neither bothered to erase the satisfied smiles off their faces. Lexi decided that she could happily get used to this. She reached over and sliced off another small piece of pie and placed it on her plate, before inducing the conversation.
“Why do you think she came here out of the blue, pretending that she would be moving in? She’s not moving in – is she?” The last sentence trailed in a slight panic.
“Absolutely not,” Dane answered firmly.
»ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«
Dane’s gut clinched as it always did when he thought of the woman that had given him birth. As a child he’d felt cheated while watching Lexi and the Carstens interact with their mothers. Oma was wonderful, of course. More than a mother to him, really. She’d seemed to want to make up for her daughter’s lack of maternal… well, anything. He couldn’t help but wonder, though. What was it like to have parents? A mother and father willing to put his life before theirs. He knew now that he’d had the best possible parents in Henry and Marta Brighton, and thanked God that his childhood longing for his parents hadn’t come to fruition. Well, not entirely.
For some reason, Cara had snaked her way into his life when he was studying at Oxford, and for some reason, he had let her. Well, he wasn’t about to let it happen again. It took him several years to accept the fact that she was one hundred percent self-centered, and many more to realize how fortunate he was to have had her out of his life. His mother had no perception of another’s needs or feelings. Making herself the center of importance was the only goal she understood. She cared nothing for family, most especially him. Actually, she seemed to harbor hatred toward her parents, for reasons beyond his comprehension.
“Cara effectively ignored my existence until I was at University. When she showed up at my dorm it was the first time I’d laid eyes on her, other than a photograph. She was beautiful, and when she smiled I thought it was actually aimed at me – her son – and I basked in it. I naïvely fell all over myself trying to claim her approval, as (I later discovered) did every other male I knew. ” He gave a harsh, self-debasing laugh. “I was an ass. By the time I successfully completed Cara 101 and 102, I knew exactly what she was, because I had become the male version – cold, heartless, and calculated. Under her tutelage I learned the important uses of power and the opposite sex; she is an expert at using the later to gain the former.”
“But, why would she bother, Dane? What did she have to gain from you?”
“That’s a very good question, mein liebes.” Dane picked up Lexi’s hand and kissed the inside of her wrist, sending chills up her arm. “Somehow she’d gotten wind of the fact that Opa had been rushed to the hospital with a heart attack…”
“And of course you would be the one to step in to run Brighton Industries, should he become unable to return. Wow, she is a witch, isn’t she?” Lexi came over to sit in his lap. “I’m so sorry.” She pulled his head to her chest. “It must have felt horrible when you realized.”
“That her motives were monetary instead of motherly? Yeah, it did,” he confessed. “I still didn’t entirely believe it until grandfather returned to work and she so graciously accepted a monthly settlement from me, to stay the hell out of my life.”
“You paid her to stay away from you?” Lexi shook her head in disbelief. “But, then today…”
“I guess being a contessa allows her to forfeit a month’s payment. Either that, or she wants something from me that’s worth more.” Dane tilted Lexi’s head up to look in her face. “What was she doing in your mother’s work lab?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but there’s nothing of value in there. Mother just liked to go in and pretend. It was like a child’s play kitchen. She would pick up the laser tool and tap it against an old transistor – it wouldn’t even be hot, we couldn’t let her hurt herself. Sometimes she’d fuss with the computer, talk to herself – her words made little sense, but it made her happy.” Lexi’s eyes turned wistful. “Mother turned anything significant she’d been working on over to Fenwick when she realized there was a possibility that her deteriorating mind could end up ruining an important project.
“No, the contessa seemed to be more interested in the signatures on my remaining paintings, than anything else. I could see my uncle believing that she might spot something valuable that he may have missed. In my opinion, if she was here at my uncle’s bidding, that would most likely be what she was looking for.”
“Where is Fenwick, now?” Something didn’t settle right in Dane’s gut.
“We convinced him to come back to Al-Tech, along with two other members of his team.” Lexi answered. “It cost us a pretty penny, but he’s crucial to our success. He had a hand in all of our patents. Mother must have trusted him, Dane,” she seemed to sense his misgivings, “else why would she hand everything over to him?”
Dane didn’t have an answer, but he sure as hell had a plan. As soon as he got the chance, he would be speaking with Ferguson about Al-Tech’s resident scientist.
»ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«
Chapter Twenty
“Oma’s coming here?”
A few days after Cara’s sudden intrusion, Dane announced his grandmother’s intent to visit. She was coming at the request of Ed Bravanger who had apparently received the envelopes Lexi had given his son Gareth to distribute. Yeah, okay, she’d chickened out of dealing with her father’s wishes to bring the ABC’s together on her own. She just knew that they would have felt obligated to help her get Al-Tech back on its feet. Determined as she was to prove herself, she didn’t want to be forced into throwing their kindness back in their faces. Although, now it seemed the elderly lawyer had taken it upon himself to bring the senior friends back together, on Alex Alberton’s bequest. The news of Oma’s arrival reminded Lexi of how much she had missed the older woman’s loving counsel.
She couldn’t keep the excitement of seeing her again out of her voice. Even so, her eyebrows creased with concern. “You’re sure that the trip won’t be too strenuous for her? She’ll be staying with us, right? Oh, does she know about us? Maybe you shouldn’t have remodeled your room… I guess we could have another made up for you. I don’t want her thinking…” Her sentence was cut off when Dane leaned over and kissed her.
“What was that for?” she asked, momentarily dazed by the way her insides melted.
“It was the only way I could think of to stop you from rambling into dangerous territory,” he explained. “Oma knows about us, liebling. She knew about us before we knew about us. I’m certain that the only thing she will be thinking is – what took us so long?”
>
“But, I don’t want people believing…” Lexi blushed. “I was brought up to be chaste, Daney, and you have a reputation… I mean, you know. And, what about the others – Uncle Ed and Uncle Lee? Especially after Saleh’s harem and stuff…” She was legitimately pouting now. Dane pulled her into his lap, bringing her head to his shoulder.
“Why do I get the distinct feeling that there’s more bothering you about the ABC’s reunion than our sleeping arrangements?”
“You’re a guy,” Lexi insisted, “it’s different for you.” She could hear his chuckle down deep in his chest.
“I’m glad you noticed,” he teased, “but, I’m still not buying it.”
He was right, there was more worrying her about the upcoming meeting. Her mother and father’s friends had always been another set of parents to her. It was true that she didn’t want to be a disappointment to them, and the fact that she and Dane were intimate without the pledge of marriage would probably fall into that category. Although, her father’s disapproval meant even more. When they discovered that she had ignored his last request because of pride… well, she will have disappointed them all. She’d done her best to avoid them, but now with Oma’s visit, a confrontation was inevitable. Her chest lifted as a deep sigh escaped her mouth. She knew she was going to have to be honest with Dane. Obviously their childhood connection was back in full force and there was no hiding her emotions from him. She hid her face in his chest and mumbled.
“I m…nn’t …odder I… d…dees ass… e-kess.”
“I’m sorry, liebling, but I don’t speak wookie.” He lifted her face from his chest. “Could you try that again in English?”