by Jillian Neal
No, I won’t. The thought pulsed in Dan’s mind with alacrity. He let the fear wash over him, and then settled into the idea as he listened to Fionna defend him to her father.
He began to feel the peace that being beside her always brought him. He was going to prove everyone wrong. He would figure out a way to be with her and to keep her safe. He wasn’t going to break her heart, not when she was the woman who had located his own after all of these years of it being dead and gone.
“Daddy, go bake the muffins, and let me talk to Mama,” Fionna demanded angrily.
She turned back to Dan and mouthed an apology. Dan shook his head and pulled her back to his chest. She could talk as long as she needed, as long as she would lay with him in the lounge chair.
“Maylea, my sweet girl,” Dan heard her mother gush as she came to the phone. Fionna’s entire face lit to the sound of her mother’s voice.
“So, you are in Sydney?” her mother sounded excited for Fionna. Her voice carried more than her father’s had, and as she was now leaning against him completely, Dan could easily hear the conversation. He tried to determine Fionna’s mother’s accent. It sounded Spanish, which would explain her beautiful, olive complexion.
“Yes, ma’am,” Fionna agreed.
“When will you be back?” her mother asked, though Dan noted that it didn’t sound like an inquisition; just a genuine curiosity.
“Well, uh, Saturday there, but it will really be Sunday here, because it’s Tuesday night here now. It’s confusing.” Fionna shook her head. Dan smiled at her adoringly.
“And this boy your daddy is yelling about and kneading bread dough that we will eventually use to re-brick the house with, is he cute, Maylea?” her mother laughed heartily. Fionna joined in.
She shot Dan a vexing glare. She knew that when she was reclined on his chest he could hear both sides of the conversation. She giggled.
“Not really,” she teased, as Dan feigned heartbreak. She laughed at him out right. “I’m just kidding, Mama. He’s a dreamboat,” Fionna sassed as Logan and Rainer immediately began harassing Dan.
“Aww, Officer Dreamboat,” Logan goaded as Dan laughed and shook his head.
“Just because we’re on vacation doesn’t mean I can’t fire you, Haydenshire,” he huffed as everyone continued to laugh.
“Remember, Maylea, love may be hiding in the unlikeliest of places. We may not know when we will stumble upon it, but we know when we’ve found it because we can’t live without it,” Fionna’s mother reminded her. Dan listened intently.
“I know, Mama,” Fionna sighed. Her face colored. “I don’t think we’re quite to all that yet, ok?”
“Really, because even though you are my Maylea, you don’t often fly across several oceans to spend a week with a dreamboat at the drop of a hat. And you sound like someone might’ve just proven that the clouds are indeed made of fairy floss, like you always used to tell your papa when you were a little kekei,” her mother insisted. Fionna’s blush grew more pronounced.
“Ok, I have to go, Mama. I’ll call you when I get home. I love you too, and tell Daddy I love him, and that I’ll be fine,” with that, Fionna hung up the phone.
Not certain what to say, Dan settled for holding her closely and allowing his mind to ponder everything Fionna’s mother had just pointed out.
While refusing to meet Dan’s gaze, Fionna turned all of her attention back to Emily.
Her mother made her uncomfortable, and she immediately turned back to Emily. Dan still felt a slight sting of rejection.
“So, Adeline, Emily and I were thinking that maybe we girls could do a spa day, since the spa here is phenomenal. Would you like to come?”
“That sounds expensive,” Adeline lamented. Emily and Logan both rolled their eyes.
“Ad, it’s our honeymoon, and Dad’s paid for everything so far. Go have a good time. It’s fine,” Logan urged insistently.
“Do you want to go tomorrow, or before we go to the Caliph’s manor Thursday, or we could go Friday?” Emily pushed.
“Let’s go tomorrow or Friday, because once we get all gorgeous, the boys have to take us out to party in Sydney,” Fionna beamed.
Dan chuckled and brushed Fionna’s chestnut tresses behind her shoulders. He began dragging his hands through the soft, thick locks.
“Well, I think you’re already beautiful, but I’ll take you anywhere you want to go while we’re here.” Dan continued playing calmly with her hair, and hoped she wouldn’t note the caveat to his promise just yet.
He could feel her energy ease and relax as she lay against him. His hands in her hair seemed to calm her rhythms into placid waves, where they’d been ragged and irregular when she’d been on the phone with her parents.
Fionna smiled and finally allowed Dan to catch her eye. She’d been frightened that what her mother had informed her of on the phone would scare him off. Dan tried to think of some way to reassure her.
“Whatever day you decide to go, we could hang out and find somewhere nice to eat for dinner,” Rainer suggested.
“Why is it that women think that once you go and get all buffed, and waxed, and painted, that we want to take you out? What we want is to keep you inside and all to ourselves,” Dan flirted shamelessly.
Logan and Rainer laughed, but he didn’t care. The utter delight that lit in Fionna’s eyes and the broad grin that spread across her face was more than worth it.
“We’re going to a spa, honey. Not in for a car-detailing,” she cracked up as she harassed him. Dan joined in her laughter. He kissed the top of her head, and decided to revel in the fact that she was now using pet names for him and was comfortable enough to chastise him.
“Why don’t you all go on tomorrow? We might need to do something with your dad on Friday,” Logan urged.
“Logan, please stop calling him that. He doesn’t even know I exist,” Adeline scoffed.
With a sigh, Logan nodded. “Ok, well, whatever we find out, it might need to be dealt with later in the week, so why don’t you go to the spa here tomorrow?”
“It will be fun,” Emily urged. “Here, why don’t we go back in, and I’ll call and make the appointments?”
“Ok,” Adeline finally agreed. “We’ll come help you.” She stood and pulled her top back on. Logan and Rainer stood to help, and a few minutes later, they headed back inside. Emily promised to text Fionna with the appointment times.
52
My Solemn Vow
As soon as Emily left, Fionna’s energy spun in nervous, jagged twists once again.
“Hey,” Dan soothed as he scooted over in the lounge chair and wrapped his arms over Fionna. “You ok?”
“Yeah.” She stared out at the endless Pacific Ocean. The sun was giving off its last vestiges of light, and the number of beach dwellers dwindled as the tide began rolling in. Night crept over them and bathed them in its soothing darkness.
“You want to go in, sweetheart?” Dan tucked Fionna’s head under his chin.
“Do you mind if we stay out a little longer?”
He noted that it sounded very much like a desperate plea. Her eyes never left the rhythmic waters.
“Not at all, as long as I get to hold you right here.” He ran his hands up and down her arms as he cradled her to him. “Are you cold, baby doll?” He felt her slight shiver.
“Just a little. I’m ok.”
Dan leaned and grabbed one of the large beach towels, plenty big enough for two, which she’d thrown in her beach bag. He wrapped it around her, and then leaned back in the chair.
He pushed radiant heat out of his pores until she relaxed completely. She gave him a sweet smile, the one that made contentment flow through his veins and lit his world. It was the one he found himself hoping that he could call his own at some point in the near future.
“I love the beach.” She tucked herself into his protective embrace. “It’s probably my favorite place in the entire world.”
“I’ve never seen the Pacific before
. I’ve really only been to the Outer Banks and to Virginia Beach for work. I went with Will and Garrett a few times when we were at the Academy,” he explained, but shut down the memories quickly. He didn’t want to think about Amelia being at the Haydenshires’ beach house so many years before.
“I hope my mom didn’t freak you out,” she finally confessed what was plaguing her soul.
“I’m fine, Fionna. I wish your dad didn’t already hate me.”
She sighed audibly. “He’ll be fine. He’s just kind of got that over-protective thing going on as well.”
Dan nodded his understanding.
“Fionna, I know what kind of reputation I have. Your dad has every right to hate me, but I promise you, as difficult and complicated as this might be, I want to do this right.”
“I don’t know where it may be heading, and I can’t even promise that I won’t freak out at some point, but I’d like to prove myself to you. I really want to be in a relationship with you, and that’s not something I ever thought I would say again. I just have to figure out if that’s possible. I have to keep you safe,” Dan pricked the surface of the conversation he’d wanted to wait until the end of the week to have with her.
Fionna nodded, and Dan saw tears begin to trickle down her cheeks. They reflected the moonlight on the water.
“Baby,” he panicked and turned her so she could bury her face in his chest. He began wiping away her tears with his hands as her breath stuttered. “Please don’t cry.” Her tears broke his newly- resuscitated heart.
She lifted her head, and stared him straight in the eye. Her jaw clenched in determination.
“Please don’t break my heart, just please,” she pled with those huge sienna eyes that seemed to reach down into his soul with every tender gaze. Dan felt like he’d been sucker-punched. He clung to her. “I’m trusting you, Dan.”
“I have no intention of doing anything of the sort. Please just give me a chance to show you.”
She nodded and kept her head buried in his chest as he surrounded her with his body. They sat there, quietly taking in the serenity of the calm, evening air and the relentless crash of the waves as they broke on the shoreline.
As she calmed and he kissed away the last of her tears, he decided to see if he could learn more about her.
“Can I ask you something?” he quizzed in a soothing whisper. She nodded, and he continued to push calming energy through his chest and into hers. “Why do your parents call you Maylea?” She grinned just from hearing the name. “It sounds Hawaiian.” He hoped to give her a place to begin her explanation.
“Yeah, it is,” she sounded impressed that he’d known that. With a slightly abashed sigh, she hemmed, “My dad’s been calling me that since I was a toddler. In Hawaiian, it means wildflower. He thinks I’m wild,” she scoffed.
“When I was little, he said that he would tell me not to do something and then I would immediately do it, and they would send me to my room. I would go happily and play.”
“So, then they tried putting me in a chair at the kitchen table, and I would sit and sing. So, then they sat me in the corner, and I pretended to draw pictures on the walls with my finger.”
“He started calling me wildflower, because he says that I’ll bloom wherever you plant me.” She sounded thoroughly embarrassed about the reasoning behind her name.
Dan chuckled and brushed a kiss into her hair.
“Sounds like you were just a sweet, happy little girl.”
“Yeah, he says they just kind of gave up on punishing me until I was older.” She wrinkled her nose. Dan laughed again. She was adorable.
“It’s under the surfboard tattoo on your ankle, right?” Dan seemed to shock Fionna.
“You saw that?”
“Uh, yeah, honey, I kind of saw it all, remember?”
She giggled, and he felt his heart time its beats to hers. The sweet sound of her laughter undid him.
“I remember; believe me. I’m hoping to be reminded again here in a little while,” she flirted suggestively, and Dan growled in her ear. “I just didn’t know you were paying attention to my ankles.”
“Oh, baby doll, I was paying attention to every inch of your gorgeous body,” His promise made her energy spike rapidly.
As he let everything he’d felt from her the night before replay slowly in his mind, he longed to have her again. He ached to make her feel him and to satiate the desire he felt swirling in her energy.
He kept both of their bodies covered in the towel and gave in to his longings. He slipped his hand up her side and spun his index finger over her nipple. It was already puckered from the breeze coming off the water.
“When you took your top off, baby…” he whispered in her ear and kept his hand massaging her right breast. He felt her pant against him, “you made me ache. I wanted to pull you under me, suck you until you screamed for me, and then fill up that sweet, wet hole; make you take it until I explode inside of you. I couldn’t think about anything else but how good you feel when I’m inside of you.”
A low fervent moan echoed from her. After quickly making certain no one was near enough to have heard her, or to see either of them, he let his right hand slip off of her breast and glide down her stomach. He began massaging her left breast with his other hand as he dipped his fingers into the bottom of her bikini.
“Please don’t stop,” she begged as her body writhed against his, and she spread her legs further. “I can’t take it if you stop again. I need it,” she pled for the relief he could give her.
He throbbed intensely against her back as another moan spilled from her lips.
“You need it, baby doll?” he growled as she shuddered against him. “I’ve got everything you need, and I’m not going to stop until you just can’t take it anymore.”
Her entire body quaked and pitched over his.
He pushed his hand into her bathing suit, and cupped her mound and her lips. He edged them apart with his fingers, but didn’t enter her as she began to beg in heated whispers of desperation.
“I feel it, baby. I feel how wet and hot you are. Such a good girl. You want it, don’t you? You need me to make it feel better.”
She convulsed against him.
“Please, please,” she begged in acute need. Her lips throbbed around his fingers. He teased them until she began to beg.
“All right, honey, I want you to lay right here and let me touch you until you come in my hand. Then I’m going to take you back to the room and lay you out, and I’m going to make love to you, Fionna. This isn’t just sex anymore, baby. You’re mine.”
She gasped for breath, and her body begged him for more.
“Relax for me. Let me make it all better.” He slipped two fingers inside of her, and let the physical form of her energy wash over him in a heated tidal-wave of ecstasy.
“It feels good when I touch you right here, doesn’t it?” He wanted to hear her tell him as he curved his fingers and moved over her most sensitive places.
“It feels amazing. Please don’t stop,” she gasped in a heated pant. Her breath hitched as she tried to quiet her moans.
“When I get you back in the room, honey, I’m gonna pull you apart. I want to see you pulse and drip for me, and then I’m gonna lick you right here.” He added to the intensity of his strokes inside of her, and slid his thumb through the liquid heat before he teased her clit tenderly.
His name fell heavily from her lips. The sound drove him wild as desire and need coursed heavily through his blood.
She trembled and swelled, and her energy began to spike in hard, jagged arcs. She was almost there. Being outside held her back, but he was going to give her what he’d promised her.
“I’m gonna suck those sweet lips and drink you. I want to taste that nectar you make for me. You taste like heaven, baby. Like candy made all for me,” he vowed, and he had her.
He felt her body release her energy. It flooded around his hand and permeated his body. He reveled in the ecstasy of her u
ncoiling and opening all around him.
She turned and clung to him. She hid her face in him as he wrapped his arms around her. Dan kept her covered as she convulsed and shook. Her body tensed and writhed from the powerful orgasm he’d just given her.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart. I’m right here.” He caressed her face with his left hand, and allowed her to hide from the world inside of his embrace. “I would never have let anyone else see that, Fionna. That’s only for me.” He wouldn’t let her down; not now, not ever.
Dan closed his eyes and tried to steady his breath. His entire body was hot-wired and thrumming for her. Insatiable desire pulsed in his shield. He’d always prided himself on his longevity, able to provide multiple releases for his partners, but she was just too much, too perfect.
As soon as he plunged her depths, he was set to detonate. He panted as he let her body relax after her release.
Get it together, Vindico. She deserves the best of you.
She stilled and clung tightly to him. She seemed fearful of what they’d just done and where they’d done it.
“I’m gonna take you inside, baby. Are you ready?”
She gave a heavy nod. Her eyes were dark. Her lips were swollen. Her body wanted more. She wasn’t satisfied, and neither was he.
With one quick move, he pulled the t-shirt he’d worn out to the beach over her head, and threw the top of her bikini in her beach bag.
She stood to allow him to get up, but her legs trembled slightly. With a wry smile, Dan leaned and scooped her into his arms with ease.
“I’m going to take care of you, baby doll, give you everything that beautiful body needs, and I’m gonna hold you all night. I’m never going to let you go. I plan to make your legs tremble every night for as long as you’ll let me.”
He glided towards their suite. He kept her cradled to him as he slipped the key card through the lock on the outside door. He dropped her bag on the floor as she leaned up.
“Don’t you want to use the pool?” her voice was still raspy from her pent-up need and her release.