by Amari, Nina
Her gaze fixed onto the gently rolling waves with a contented sigh. But then, her eyes darted to the yacht and then back to him before she said, "I feel so stupid."
Before her morose could stir any further, he pulled her into his arms.
"These guys were smart," Roman interrupted, as she settled deeper into the stifling heat of his chest. She could feel his stubble bristle against her ear. "You can't blame yourself," he said.
Amazed at the fallout, she confirmed, "You're right. I don't know what I was thinking." She shifted a bit as she eased out of him saying, "They're definitely a bunch of asses alright."
She couldn't believe how relieved it made her feel to just belt the hostility right out. Without the help of any malleable ball of foam rubber... no pressure points to absolve any pent up tension-- of course. Not this time. She'd hadn't wanted any of it every since Roman's sentiment still echoed... BREATHE.
She started, "Hey, but what about--"
"Remember Finch Young's multi-million dollar client Strayhan," he told her. "Here's the thing. Well, a portion of those millions weren't without a little creative number crunching on Oliver Trumball's-- your former boss'-- part of the operation.”
"Yeah. I found--" Danielle cupped the back pockets of her jeans where she had stuffed the folded papers neatly into its tight crevice earlier.
Barely a second later she said, "It must have slipped my mind in all the raucous." She whipped the papers from her pockets and unfolded them, bonding with the sweat of her fingertips. The edges were slightly crumpled when she gestured to Roman, "See, right here is the evidence we need to pin them to the wall for good."
Roman was skilled in deciphering the unfamiliar. And when it came to finance, technology might well have been his secondary profession in another life. He glanced at the papers in awe of what she'd discovered. He knew she was most astutely the woman who knew her job inside and out. And it didn't surprise him that she'd proved to be even more of the feisty expert than she led on.
"You managed all that?" he said.
"It was a dizzying journey aboard that huge thing. But yeah," she said. "I came across the papers when I happened to stumble across a private office-- that same office housing Macgregor's reports. It was all right there. As if someone had left in a hurry. But now we know who... and why they were in such a hurry to run."
Roman looked up from the papers, as Danielle folded the facts supporting the cover-up and tucked them back into her pockets.
"We haven't mentioned Strayhan's involvement in all this. The man with his multi-millions, and what he'd do for a quick buck," she said.
"I was just getting to him." Roman cleared his throat just before he said, "Strayhan was just a patsy picking up the slack for their headman, the mastermind-- Peterson who'd spent much of his time sailing around the world. Peterson was rarely seen, but always heard."
“They all did Peterson's dirty work using his yacht for transport. It seems Peterson had flown a massive fortune over here in Europe, but he had connections to the states to feed his feasting frenzy. It seems he pushed his luck," Roman grinned, but then his small smile quickly broadened.
Shaking his head in disgust at the entire situation, Roman said, "Billions in cash was a dollar for dollar discount to mark his greatest achievement... and that was cheapening Finch Young to the scum of the earth. And he'd almost hit the jackpot until the day he screwed my dad over.”
”And then there's Finch. He was too busy on the golf course to care. After Finchley senior left him in charge, the whole firm's reputation went downhill from there on. Nothing was what it appeared. He left all these guys-- his senior management guys and lest we forget, gals like you, pretty much in charge and turned his back on all of what his father had built forty-years ago."
Roman swallowed, trying not to fume his emotion. "Not to mention my father. Those jerks bamboozled my dad out of millions. This was my way of payback. We had to catch these guys so they couldn't hurt anybody else again."
"I had no idea... your father. I feel like such a fool." She lifted a hand to his shoulder.
"We couldn't trust anyone. I've had to take a pretty cautious and vigilant approach with whomever I came in contact with. There were only a handful of people who knew the real nuts and bolts of things."
"Top secret stuff. Yeah, I know." She had to admit she had never believed, nor had the willing composure to realize exactly why she'd posed such embarrassing behavior only to realize he'd felt the same way about her. He'd do anything for her.
Danielle's heart barely slowed from all the excitement, when it hit her--
"Oh my god Roman, I just remembered--" Danielle exhausted a heavy breath that forced her hair clear away from her face as she cupped her forehead. He heard her sigh before she said, "My--"
She could hardly edge the words feeling inauspicious when he said, "I know. Don't worry... I assure you." His lips pursed a smile. Only for some reason, she wasn't worried when she saw his eyes were steady on her, so full of desire. "Your purse and valise are safe back at the hotel." Danielle barely held back a sigh of relief as she pushed a hand through her long dark curls.
"You know, when I found your pink suede, I was worried out of my mind. But then in my gut, I knew you were--" He hedged, "Let's just say I knew Barton had brought you aboard. And before you say anything, I already know what you're thinking. Believe me, I have my ways."
Danielle's grin told him that she'd been more than satisfied with his response. Roman was pleased that she'd warmed up to the not so obvious. No question about it.
"I was there to protect you. But it looks like you did a pretty good job of that on your own." Roman's words were kind. So kind in fact that she'd started to tingle across the same place he'd strewn a row of kisses up her collarbone during their passionate spa rendezvous.
Roman nodded at her, and his expression changed from reposed relief to regret.
"I'm so sorry I had to mislead you." Roman heard himself say out of nowhere. "I wasn't trying to give the wrong impression about myself."
Danielle empathized, fighting back a smile. Looking back at the yacht posed too many memories than she could count. Both good and bad. But especially the fact that she'd almost lost the one true thing that mattered most to her. All because of... well, more than a little misunderstanding. And what she thought she saw. What she believed. Here she was ridiculing him about trust, but she had done the same thing.
She knew what she had to do.
Danielle placed his hand in hers, sliding her other hand on top of his warmth. With honest eyes she looked up at him. "Roman, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. You were just doing your job."
He found himself almost smiling back at her, seeing how she had understood his grounds and rationale for the way he had acted.
"I totally get it... One slip up and the whole thing could've been blown," she added.
"Right. Did I mention that--" Roman paused. Now, he was holding her hand as he revisited the matter in clarification. "They needed someone to hack the system, so that's what I did. I was handling the tech side of things. I won't bore you with the details of all that technical jargon you don't care to hear about. But, our men were working four corners of the globe on this. Honey, we got it covered."
"You called me honey." Roman listened as her words rang soft in his ear the moment she'd echoed his sentiment.
Even though she was slicked in sweat and she stored the vision of him dripping buckets, the heat between them wasn't surprising. Her heart was pulsing out of her chest, beyond overdrive. His hand was smooth as he caressed her cheek, "You have nothing to worry about. Especially since I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere, that is-- if you want me to stay."
Roman winked his dimple at her just before he'd said, "Of course you're my honey. Sweet, sultry, and luscious." Danielle couldn't get enough of his sweet talk the second he added, "And tasting so good."
His fingers threaded into her hair, while his hand never left hers. "Danielle, I hope you know an
d always remember that..." His hand tightened around hers the moment he'd said, "You mean the world to me." He'd uttered the words before she'd seen it coming. Her heart had just about burst from the sentiment.
Moving their steps along the water's edge his hand moved behind her back and she blushed in a heartbeat. Gentle breezes swept their skin in a soft caress cooling the heat that had already built up a mountain of steam between them.
His hand felt warm smoothing against her leather, now that the modest breeze was starting to send a light chill up her spine and sleeves.
Shifting winds had become more evident so close to the water, as they both walked up the length of the dock towards land and lush valley.
But then he'd stopped midpoint of the pier as she turned to face him. Danielle looked up into Roman's eyes as he said softly, "Danielle, I know I told you earlier, but I just want to make sure you're okay about everything. I want to apologize properly."
Holding her waist with his strong hands he told her, "Honestly, I'm so sorry. About everything. I truly am." His little dimple perked up his smile, "Forgive me?" It was no surprise that she'd felt a tremor journey up her insides, coursing with his love.
She swallowed just before she said, "Roman, I'm sorry too. I mean for not telling you about the engagement."
Her eyes welled tears all at once. "The way my heart feels being with you," she said softly, "My heart never felt this way with Jack."
With tear-streaked cheeks, she asked, "You know that don't you?"
"He never really meant anything to me," she said in absolute honesty. "At least not what you mean to me." Her lilt softened and her guileless green eyes sparkled emerald the moment she added, "That probably came out the wrong way."
He moved closer to her, his hand tilted her chin just enough that her eyes linked with his as she looked up at him intensely.
"I totally understand." He said with equal softness. "I gotcha sweetheart." Roman was on a roll with all his catchy heartfelt euphemisms. The words purred off his tongue in a sensual arousal that had her hunger for his huskiness to permeate her soul. Danielle swooped her hands through her hair as a shiver of attraction rippled through her.
Roman could see it in the whisper of light that marbled her eyes like crystallized jade. He could feel it in his bones -- arousing every cell in his body -- Her love for him that was tantalizing his flesh out there in the middle of the pier.
He would have done anything for her. Given up everything for her. Roman had never met a woman that made him feel that love could be more than a casual affair. He'd never known love to be all-encompassing, the most pleasurable feeling that would cause a man to tie everyday to paradise, and wake with a smile on his face.
His hazel was glowing back at her when she said, "You mean everything--" She gently stroked his hair back that was feathering the tips of his lashes. Even if her touch was so smooth, angelic and gentle, he had to feel her love poured deeper than words.
"You mean the world to me Roman."
For a woman who'd shied away from her past... a woman who'd valued independence... and zoned in on one thing, and one thing only-- a career, he was touched. The loneliness she'd felt for a lifetime was eased, by the sense of finally having a love to share her life with. And, finally, she wouldn't have to dream it anymore.
Combing his hair with her fingers, she said, "I never thought that way about him, the way I feel about you. I mean the way my heart gets like some over-sentimental maudlin poet." She watched him try to grin. "Seriously Roman, I couldn't look at another man and feel the way that I feel about you."
She feathered his brow as he leaned toward her. Roman painted a lovely smile on his face, as he slipped his arm around her waist.
Looking back at the yacht, and where her adventure had all started. It was kind of surreal that a woman faced with the task of pushing the envelope on finagling crooks and crunching numbers like an incessant fanatic, could find herself face-to-face with more than a borderline and totally threatening world apart from the monotony behind a desk.
Finally she had felt safe in the arms of a man that she knew loved every part of her-- just the way she was. As she looked around over his shoulder, the pier might as well have been their own. In the comfort of his arms tightening its grip around her, nothing had ever felt so good.
Her lips ascended against his, arousing his desires and every little thing he wanted to do to her.
Recalling his earlier sentiment, "Of course," she said softly in between his forehead kisses. "I mean ... Yes! ... To the part about wanting you to stay." And then she swept her arms tightly around him.
A few seconds later, she leapt from his chest, "So, who were you talking to that night-- and what about on the yacht?" Her smile was totally animated coaxing a playful charm as she fluttered her lashes at him. "Oh, and what about the letterhead I found, I just assumed that--"
"It was all part of the job. Everything had to look and feel official. Same crest... Same officially discreet top-secret handling. We had to make everything just right. No room for mistakes." He tried to convince himself and her that some things are best assured not to worry and lose sleep over.
"We all have to have some secrets, don't we?" he laughed. He could sense her spry wonder when he snapped back, "Just kidding," in the next second. His cheeky grin still swathed his tan in a radiant amber glow. "It was all top secret mission kind of stuff, nothing to concern your pretty head about." He pressed one of his soft kisses against her lips.
"And here I thought you were--" Danielle said, in between kisses.
"Working with them?" he countered.
"I guess I just--"
"Didn't trust me."
"I didn't want to confront the tough questions... making the same mistakes again... going through another heartbreak." She drew a slow breath. "My heart felt like it was in the pit of my stomach, and I avoided ever feeling like that again."
"Well, who could've blamed you... the way I'd acted was just enough to cause any woman to question my motives... my devotion..."
"Roman, it's not your fault. It was just so much easier to dwell in my comfort zone, rather than to face the god's honest truth. Your love for me was real, but I'd just assumed it to be the way I envisioned it... the way I'd wanted it to be. But your protection epitomized love and I was too dumb to realize it."
"You're being way too hard on yourself. Cut yourself some slack. I mean you found me now didn't you. Well, actually I found you... we found each other, and that's all that matters. Danielle, that's really, truly all that really matters."
"It's crazy you know, that I could just dismiss it-- dismiss you-- move on, when it wasn't really that simple. Honestly, my heart never really moved on. Although I'd somehow managed to tell myself I didn't miss you and those crazy kisses... like hell I didn't. Like I didn't imagine that crazy stubble grinding against my skin kindling all sorts of sizzle in me."
Roman blinked his gleaming hazel eyes and smiled with a crease of dimples as he remembered those moments.
"It's still amazing though. You actually thought I was in cahoots with them." He laughed. "This, coming from the woman I'm gonna marry."
The words had slipped off his tongue. But, she'd already heard him. She was beaming when her eyes widened and lit with a sparkle, "Huh?"
Suddenly the chill stirring the tides didn't matter anymore. She didn't feel anything but all-consuming warmth. His love was the ultimate that any woman fortunate could ever feel and have to call her own.
"It's all over," he slowly whispered as he pulled her gently towards him. "That was all the past, and now we have a future to live. Together." She could feel his smile against her ear. And then he whispered, "I love you," into the curve of her neck and kissed her forehead. "I'm here to love you." The tenderness had her muscles turning to mush again.
It took a while for trust to root itself, but finally it did.
For years, she'd caution the agony of a broken heart. She'd plagued nearly every guy -- Loser. No. Not E
ver. No Way. Only now, once Roman found her, the only thing she could say when it came to love are the words-- Lovely. Absolutely. Amazing.
She craved his mind-blowing kisses. The way his flesh kissed everything forbidden. She liked it. She absolutely loved every second of it.
Not surprisingly, his dimpled smile would quicken her reaction. It was the reality she could no longer hide behind, as misunderstanding him was quite possibly the understatement of her life.
She suddenly found herself thinking about his love again. Obviously, he'd loved every second of it. It never grew trite or mundane. It only made him want her even more.
She told him, "I've dreamed of you all my life... but I didn't know if I'd ever find you... If you'd ever find me." She caught a breath. "Being with you is pure ecstasy... you're my life Roman."
His eyes met hers buoyantly. "Being with you is like being in a blissful paradise." Her words reminded him that he'd shut his heart down for so long, the engine hadn't sparked the fuel for commitment until he'd met the right woman. The woman he'd someday call his one and only.
She smiled at him, fluttering her lashes and sparkling emerald eyes, as a subtle dimple swooned her cheek. "And your kisses... Oh, god, your kisses. No one's ever kissed me like--"
Roman slowly moved his hand from her waist and glided it up her back, as her hair suddenly draped a long luscious waterfall when he dipped her. "You mean like this." And then he kissed her.
Danielle bounced back to her tippy-toes licking her lips, as a smile of pure pleasure radiated-- absolute passion.
But, at least now she could honestly say, the heart of life is now good.
Roman threaded his fingers into hers and slowly whispered, "Come on. Let's go home."
Chapter Twenty-Two
Friday afternoon
Note to self: I have a feeling, I'm gonna have a lot to write about tonight.