“I’m not going to make it that easy for you.” I touched his cool face, eyes imploring his. He refused to budge an inch. “This is magical. We’re really not taking advantage.” I waggled my eyebrows, changing tactics. That didn’t work either.
I burrowed against him and wrapped my arm around his stomach, willing him to soften, even if only a little bit. Lightly, I brushed my lips against his, which only seemed to incense him further.
“You’ve made a good effort, but you’re not going to spoil my day,” I said against his ear. The ripple of a shiver betrayed his effort to appear completely emotionless. “Want to go check out the gondola after this?”
Well that got a response, but not quite what I expected.
“All this time we’ve spent together, you’ve been quick to point out your demands and expectations for this relationship, with which I have been compliant. Not once have you asked me what I want nor what I expect, so I think it’s time for me to lay some of it out for you.”
Finally. Now we’re getting somewhere. He’d said ‘relationship’ like it was a foul word that disgusted him, but I still took this as progress. “If you want your desires to be known, you have to voice them,” I told him, disentangling from him and straightening. This bullshit game he was trying to play wasn’t going to work. For a week he’d talked to me, and now he was hiding behind a wall. I saw it for exactly what it was, and the expression on my face told him as much.
“I’m sure the title you want is ‘girlfriend,’ and I’m willing to concede that. But I’m going to fuck other women whenever I so choose. I’m going to do it, and I’ll be honest with you about it.”
I laughed hard. In his face. He was too smart to believe I’d actually go for that.
“So you want to be like Hugh Hefner, and I’ll be Girlfriend Number One?” I asked.
“You’ll be the only girlfriend. The others, I’ll just fuck. You don’t have to watch…unless you want to.”
I unzipped my coat, this ridiculous conversation causing my temperature to rise. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing again and nodded as if to say I understood. “First of all, I neither want nor need a label—oh, excuse me. I mean title. But if I were to have one, it would be ‘everything,’ not ‘girlfriend.’ I don’t play second fiddle. You can fuck all the women you want to, but when you come to tell me about it, I won’t be around to listen.”
“Second fiddle?” It was his turn to laugh, but it was cruel. What the fuck is he up to? “How about third or fourth? Would that suit you better?”
“I’m not just the fiddle. I’m the entire band.”
“Vivian, you’re going to have to learn to compromise if you want to be in a successful relationship,” he chided.
“I am perfectly willing to do that, but not at the risk of lowering my standards.”
“Then I guess we’re at an impasse.”
He thought he’d accomplished whatever goal he was striving for.
A cute guy—well, as much as I could see past his fur-lined hood— meandered near us, and I snagged him by the wrist. “Hey, handsome,” I said, looking up at him with big come-hither eyes. He looked startled and then smiled. I rubbed the pulse point on his wrist with my thumb in a hypnotic rhythm. I felt gutsy in that moment, ready to go for broke. “My boyfriend likes to watch other men fuck me.” He
looked in Daniel’s direction. I applied pressure to his wrist to regain his attention. “He wants to see it. Right here. Right now.” I looked up at him from under heavy lids, patting the seat beside me.
He looked unsure, like he couldn’t believe his luck. “Right now?” he croaked in disbelief, but there was eagerness in his voice.
“Right. Now.” I confirmed, scooting closer to Daniel to make room.
I saw the moment he made his decision. He took a step toward the bench.
“If your ass hits that seat, you won’t live to regret it,” Daniel growled.
The boy jumped back, yanking free from my grasp, and scurried off like a rabbit who had just escaped a coyote. I turned to look at Daniel, my smile triumphant. I win.
He stood and threw a wad of money on the table. “Let’s go.”
FEELING LIKE A POPSICLE, I rubbed both of my arms as we exited back out to the street in our summer clothes. Daniel grabbed my hand in a death grip and led me to the SUV. He was sexy as hell when he was mad about being outfoxed. What in God’s name had he been thinking anyway? Fuck whoever he wants, my ass.
Instead of going back to the condo, he pulled into the parking lot of the gondola ride. He paid for our tickets, and we were on a car by ourselves in no time, the crowd nonexistent this evening. He sat across from me, the muscle in his jaw ticking as he flexed his hands. I was grinning from ear to ear, and he looked like he wanted to kill someone.
“You’ve made your point,” he grated, and I knew it took a lot for him to admit that. If I’d been in his shoes, I doubted I would have.
“I’m glad to know you’ve found your voice again. I was getting worried since you didn’t speak all day.” Now probably wasn’t the best time to be provoking him, but I couldn’t help myself. I reached in my purse for the camera. “Smile,” I instructed, snapping a picture of him. I thought he was going to lunge across the space between us and snatch the camera from me, but instead he gripped his thighs.
I faced the view of the town and the lake below as we rose above it. I crooked my finger at him and slid over a little to make room for him on my side. I was surprised when he actually moved.
The sun sank lower in the sky, making the scene picture perfect. I took his hand in mine and leaned my head against his shoulder. “What were you trying to accomplish? And don’t lie to me. You knew that wasn’t going to fly. You were already fucking whoever you wanted before you met me, so there was no reason to change anything if that’s all you wanted.”
He let out a long breath. “You’re getting too close. Making me discuss things I don’t talk about with anyone. Things I don’t want to even think about anymore.”
I lifted my head. “D, they’re on your mind whether I bring them up or not.”
“I know.” He blinked at me, a vulnerability in his eyes that made my heart melt. “I hope I didn’t spoil your day.”
“How could that possibly happen when I’m in New Zealand with you?” I smiled, and he gave me a tentative one in return, looking almost awestruck.
“I’m an idiot for even asking this, but I’m a glutton for punishment,” he prefaced. “You’re not going to hold this over my head? Rub my face in it?”
I stroked his cheek. “No. I knew you were up to something, so I had to make a point.”
“Do not ever call another man handsome in my presence,” he warned.
The possessiveness made me tingle all over. “Were you jealous?” I taunted. He made it so hard not to smile sometimes.
“You already know I don’t do jealous,” he scoffed, denying it to the end.
“I think you do.” I leaned in, my lips almost touching his ear. “Don’t worry. I know it’s only for me.”
“Don’t put me in that position again.” God, when all that intensity was focused on me, it was hard to breathe.
“I’m more than happy to oblige as long as you don’t force my hand again.” With that the air was cleared. “Guess this means we’re past our impasse.” This earned me his first real smile of the day. “Although I’m kinda coming around to seeing things your way. I get you and whoever else I want? That’s not such a bad deal.”
His eyes turned ominous as I struggled to keep an innocent look on my face. Teasing him was just too easy.
“No one else, Vivian. Only me.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “If that’s the way it’s got to be—” “It is.”
I grinned at him, and he scowled because I’d gotten my way again. “See? No one had to compromise. I know I’m the only one you have any interest in anyway,” I said confidently.
He lifted his brow. “You sound pretty sure of your
self.”
“I think you’ve given me plenty of reasons to be,” I said coyly, then hopped to my feet as the gondola arrived at the top of the mountain. “Let’s go check out the view.”
“From where I’m sitting, the view’s pretty damn spectacular.” His eyes were ravenous as he drank me in from head to toe. I had on my holey jeans—which were freshly laundered—and a gray V-neck T- shirt from Target. Nothing to write home about. I didn’t think it would have mattered to him if I was in vintage Valentino. He wasn’t hiding his desire.
I pulled him up, giving him a control yourself look before we stepped onto the platform. Hand in hand, we walked over to a viewing area that overlooked the town below. The sky was burnt orange as the sun set on another day. I snapped a few pictures, and we observed this daily ritual in silence. The lake had taken on an almost black hue as opposed to the navy it had had earlier. The mountains surrounding it still had a dusting of snow on their peaks, and I committed the scene to memory, one I could reflect on for the rest of my life.
“I think your label is far better than conventional ones,” Daniel said, and I realized he’d had his eyes on me, not the view.
I dumped the camera back into my purse and took both his hands in mine. “Everything,” I said with reverence.
“Everything,” he repeated with equal respect. “Think you can handle that, Princess?”
“Don’t worry about me. You just make sure you’re up to the challenge.”
He pulled me flush against him, causing all the air to leave my lungs.
His eyes glittered like polished stones as he looked down at me. “Promise you’ll give me all you’ve got.”
I was mesmerized, locked in his gaze. “Only if you’ll do the same.”
Something changed between us in that moment. This felt more real than anything I’d ever experienced. I wanted him. I wanted us. And it was happening.
Chapter 28
DANIEL
* * *
Present
* * *
I STARED at the blue dot on my phone screen, annoyed that this was as close to Vivian as I could get now, annoyed that I’d been reduced to this: a man not so pissed off about the traffic out of the city because it allowed him to constantly watch a poor substitute for the real thing.
Easing forward with little more than a glance, I willed the dot to move. The car in front of me stopped, and I pressed the brake. Damn my lawyer and the hoops I had to jump through. As if it weren’t aggravating enough that I had to go to him in Connecticut, this was our second attempt at this meeting, and whether his wife liked it or not, it was happening. If we’d met as originally scheduled, I could have been home by now giving Vivian’s whereabouts my full concentration instead of being stuck in this blasted car.
I cursed when the phone vibrated and Vinny’s name popped up. It seemed like I was doing that a lot lately. “What?” I answered impatiently.
“That’s no way to greet someone bearing good news,” he said.
“If you’ve got any, it would be a first.” I was in a constant state of irritation when it came to Vinny.
“Now, now. Let’s not be sharp-tongued.”
I didn’t like his attitude, and a sense of foreboding came over me. “Then say something I want to hear,” I snapped.
“I’ve got the jaune.”
Fucking hell. We were preparing to facilitate the transfer between parties, so what was Vinny doing with it?
“Congratulations. Now what are you going to do with it?” I queried, sounding bored.
“Get it to your buyer.”
“And when are you planning on doing this?” “As soon as you fucking set it up.”
“I just don’t see that happening, Vinny.” I needed to find out how much more he knew. Donato and I never discussed specifics over the phone. I didn’t know how Vinny had gotten that diamond, wasn’t totally convinced he had it, and was even less sure he knew who wanted it.
“Daniel, you have to get this to them.” His tone turned from cocky to borderline panicked.
“Why would anyone ever give that to you without payment first?” We used to do these exchanges with bags of cash, but now we mostly did electronic transfers into untraceable bank accounts. The second we had the item in our hands was the second the seller got their money.
“I lifted it.”
“You what?” I growled, gripping the steering wheel with one hand until my knuckles turned white.
“It’s all profit. For us.”
I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. I prayed he was lying. Jesus Christ. A throbbing started in my temples. I’d made contact with the owner. I was facilitating the transaction. Now I was a marked man, because the owner of that diamond would not take this lightly. She had lots of contacts with my business associates. This could bury me both figuratively and literally.
“What have you done?” I kept my voice low when what I really wanted to do was shout.
“Made us a ton of money.”
He wasn’t this stupid. He couldn’t be. There was more to his agenda. Vinny had done this to set me up. “Take it back.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?” he asked incredulously. “Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Not both of us.” An honest thief.
“Do not do anything with that piece. Do you understand me?” “Just get me to the buyer.”
“No.”
I hung up, and the blue dot returned to the screen, but this time it didn’t comfort me. Vinny had put a target on my back. These people would use any means necessary to get to me, including putting those I loved in harm’s way.
“Fuuuck.” I slammed a fist against the steering wheel, causing the horn to let out a sharp blast, the driver in front of me shaking his middle finger at me. The traffic loosened, and I wheeled around the vehicles as they picked up speed, dialing Donato as I drove.
“Daniel.”
“Get your brother under control,” I said tightly before hanging up.
He needed to hurry the fuck up before Vinny Salvatore got me killed.
“MURIELLA,” I called as I stepped into her apartment. I’d spent the last three days holed up at the Connecticut farmhouse of my lawyer, stewing over the conversation with Vinny just before I left and the inconvenience of being out of the city. To say my mood was sour was an understatement, but Zegas had finally finished what I’d put off, the result in my hands.
She didn’t answer, so I ventured into the kitchen, where she was most likely to be. She was unloading clean dishes from the dishwasher.
“Are you ignoring me?” I asked. The silent treatment was an extreme for Muriella.
Again, no reply. She wouldn’t even look at me, just kept running a dishtowel around and around a plate. She was angry with me about Vivian. I sighed, wishing I could make her understand, knowing it was a lost cause. “I need you to do something for me.” Something in my voice must have gotten through to her, because she jerked her eyes to mine. I held out two envelopes, one with her name written on it, and one with Vivian’s.
She set the plate and dishtowel on the counter. She took the envelopes from my hand, examining them. “What?”
“If something happens to me, I need you to see to it that Vivian gets this. You’ll know when the time is right to open them. Until then, you need to keep them safe.” The contents of the envelopes were only meant for Vivian and Muriella. I reminded myself this was just another step toward preparing for the inevitable, as a lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t remember a time I’d cried as an adult, but I was close now.
“Is that why you’re behaving this way? Is something wrong?”
I brushed off her concern. “I should have taken care of these matters a long time ago.”
“You want her to have this, you give it to her yourself,” Muriella said with more bite than she’d ever used toward me. She tossed the envelopes on the counter as if they were nothing.
“This is important.” I spoke firmly.
I�
��d seen her angry before, but not like this. She came around the island, her mocha eyes blazing, and was in my face in a nanosecond. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch a man you admire—love—more than anyone on this Earth destroy his life? And you’re doing it on purpose.” She stuck a finger in my chest. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but I’m tired of tiptoeing around this for your bene‐ fit. You can’t destroy Vivian, but you’ve come about as close as it gets, and if you don’t fix it, I will never forgive you. We are a family, Daniel. You promised you would always protect us.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.
“Being a fucking idiot.” My mouth dropped open in surprise when she swore. “Vivian taught me there’s a time and place for that word and believe me, this is it.” Her gaze was frosty as she looked up at me, putting a hand on her hip. “You can lie to yourself. You can keep lying to me. But you love her. She is your heart and soul. Your whole life. She’s had you since the first time you saw her—”
“Stop. Just stop,” I commanded, holding up a hand.
“No. That’s the problem. We’re letting you behave this way, and I won’t any longer. You’re splitting up the troops, and you know it’s a tactical error.” She was speaking in a language I understood, and I admired her fight, but the most sacred rule was simple: know your enemy, know yourself.
She didn’t know the enemy. I had to fight this battle alone. “This is how it has to be.”
Disappointment filled her eyes, and she laughed bitterly. “This is how you choose for it to be. If you can look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love her, I’ll let it go.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. “You can’t do it.”
I gave the slightest shake of my head. “I don’t have the right to ask anything of you, but I need you to do this for me.”
“I will always be grateful to you for saving my life. But you’ve broken my heart.” She touched her throat. “This is the first time I feel like I don’t belong here. You gave me a home, and now you’ve taken it away.”
Forbidden Desires Page 125
