by Jillian Neal
“I’ll love it.” It didn’t matter what it was. It was from her, and that was all that mattered. He slid his fingers under the tape on the paper. As he removed the wrapping, he could feel her nerves move through the space between them. Furrowing his brow, he opened the box, and his mouth fell open.
“Fionna, how much did this cost you?” He couldn’t stop the words from leaving his mouth, which hung open for several seconds before he formulated the question.
“You don’t get to ask that. Now try it on.”
Dan swallowed hard as he lifted the black leather, custom Vanson Continental Daytona motorcycle jacket from the box. The custom size needed to fit over his biceps and chest tacked on another heap of cash. He had lusted after that jacket since he’d gotten the Agusta but, considering the exorbitant price of his bike, he’d denied himself the jacket.
“Fi, baby, this is way too much.”
“Stop it. Put it on. I want to see.”
Dan shrugged into the butter-smooth, leather jacket, finding it to be a perfect fit. He watched her grin excitedly.
“Totally hot. I may have to borrow that. You know, when I’m not wearing anything else.”
Dan growled from the thought as he removed the jacket. His brain held a debate between his love of the coat and his worry over how much she’d spent. If he insisted she return it, he was going to hurt her feelings.
Shaking his head, and fervently hoping that his other gifts cost next to nothing, he urged her to open another one.
“Do you like it?”
“Baby, I love it. I’ve wanted that very jacket for years, but that was a lot of money.” He felt badly that his reaction hadn’t been what she was looking for.
She grinned sweetly, her eyes still alight. “But you look really hot in it, and I’m the girl who gets to look at you in it, so it’s kind of a gift for me as well.” She giggled at his thorough embarrassment.
He shook his head at her reasoning, and gestured to the pile of presents at her feet.
“Which one?”
“You choose, but those two kind of go together,” he pointed to two similarly-sized rectangular boxes.
She reached for another gift instead. Realizing it was a book before she pulled the paper off, she grinned. “This is not a beginner’s sewing book, is it?”
“Nah,” he assured her, “it’s the basics of Summation.” They both cracked up as she pulled the paper off of the rather large, heavy book.
Her mouth fell open and then pulled into a delighted grin. “Oh, my gosh! I love it!” She hugged the book to her chest and squealed.
“I kind of thought you might.” Dan was extremely pleased with her reaction.
She opened the book and slowly began turning pages of The Complete History of Lingerie. Dan tried not to chuckle over how adorable she was as he watched her.
“Look, it even has patterns!” She flipped to the back, revealing numerous sewing patterns. As soon as he’d seen the book online, he’d ordered it. How he’d seen it online had brought on guilt that he planned to alleviate now.
“I have a confession to make,” he grimaced.
“What did you do?” She giggled at the look on his face.
“Well, I tried to figure out a book that you might like, because I know how much you like to read. When I was helping you unpack them all, I tried to figure out an author or something you’d love, but I wasn’t sure. You know Ramier?” He paused.
“He’s the Elite Technology Specialist guy at Iodex, right? He has that geeky sexy thing going on.”
Dan cracked up. “I have no idea, but yeah, he’s the computer guru of our ensemble cast. I got him to help me. I would never have let him look at anything at all. I swear. He wouldn’t do that, and I watched him to make certain. But I had him hack your Amazon account. I’m really sorry. I just wanted to find something you’d like. I wanted to see the suggested lists. That’s all I looked at.”
The book contained six hundred full-color pages of everything from bras to panties of every description, bustles, corsets, pasties, stays and anything else related to the world of lingerie. It went over in great detail how all of them had come to be, and who’d worn them best. It was made to be displayed on a coffee table, and Dan secretly hoped that Fionna would leave it out the next time his mother was over, though he’d never admit that out loud.
She giggled at him again and shook her head. “Because I love the book so much and you so much, I will forgive you, but you and your detective skills are going to get you in trouble, Officer Vindico. I’m pretty sure there’s a section in here on paddles.”
Relieved, Dan laughed. “I would totally deserve that.”
“You swear Ramier didn’t see anything?” Concern replaced her humor.
“I would never have let that happen. I swear to you.”
“Good, because one of my favorite vibes came from there.” The flush of her cheeks gave away her embarrassment, but her smile returned.
“Well, then let’s use that instead of a paddle.”
With that luscious, mischievous grin that he loved, she waggled her eyebrows. “Only if you can behave, Officer Vindico.”
Dan held up his right hand. “I solemnly swear.”
Still beaming, she lost herself in the book for a moment, but then placed it to the side and leapt into his lap. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Thank you!”
He could feel her elated energy, and he was overjoyed. “You’re welcome, honey. I’m sorry I had to resort to reconnaissance to come up with it.”
She moved off of him, crisscrossed her legs up on the couch, and pulled the book back into her lap.
“Will you make me more coffee?” She never took her eyes off of the book as she began slowly turning page after page, completely enraptured.
“Of course,” Dan chuckled as he headed to the kitchen.
“Best, best, best boyfriend ever,” she gushed as he handed her the piping hot mug.
Gazing down at her, Dan knew that he could never love anything more than the phenomenal woman seated beside him on the couch, wearing no makeup and old sweats, caught up in a book. He could’ve stayed there staring at her all day long.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Fionna took the million-mile journey back from her lingerie voyage in a matter of moments. “Open your other presents.”
“I like watching you read,” he informed her before he lifted another gift off of the floor.
“Why?”
“Because it makes you happy. And I can sit and watch every single emotion going on in the book by watching your face. I like the way your energy feels when you read. It makes you happy. Your eyes sparkle and you bite your bottom lip just a little when you read a love scene from one of those romance novels you like.”
She laughed. “Dan, that’s so sweet.” She hugged him again, still holding the book. “Thank you for loving me like that.”
He’d never considered his fascination with every single thing about her to necessarily be love, but he supposed it was.
“Can I take it with me to Vegas?”
“Of course.” An odd question, he supposed, but he was thrilled she liked the book so much. When her face fell, Dan set the present aside.
She gnawed the side of her mouth and her energy, which had been swimming with bliss a moment before, dampened dramatically.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s stupid; you’ll make fun of me.”
“I would never make fun of you, Fionna. I might tease you, but that’s it.” Her words stung.
“I know, sorry.”
“What’s wrong?” he urged again.
With a dejected huff, she shrugged and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like Vegas.”
Dan nodded. “Neither do I.”
“Really?” She sounded shocked.
“Really.”
“You don’t have to go,” her offer only seemed to further her angst.
“Fi, baby, I want to go. I want to go anywhere you are, but why would you thin
k I would make fun of you for that?”
She shrugged. “Everyone else loves it. All the other Angels look forward to this every year. They throw this huge banquet, and you get to meet players we don’t usually challenge against. We party for several days.” Her head drooped and her voice was strained. “Sometimes, I just go hide up in my room because it’s so exhausting. There’s a lot of yucky stuff going on, and I can feel it all.”
“The guy or the girl who’s considering cheating, I can feel the deceptive energy. When people are drunk, they’re very erratic. It’s hard to read them. There’s sadness and desperation everywhere , and I can feel it all. And it makes me depressed.”
“And you wanted to take the book and stay up in our room.” He had no idea what being Fionna Styler really meant until that moment. He had no idea how incredibly strong she was. The strength of her soul, her heart, and her mind was more powerful than any amount of muscle or energy he possessed.
“And that’s so lame. Chloe always makes fun of me about it, every year,” she sighed dejectedly. “It’s this huge, great party, and I don’t like it. So, obviously, there’s something wrong with me.”
“Fi, baby, there is nothing wrong with you, and you’re not the only person who feels that way. You’re just one of the only ones brave enough to admit it and go up to the suite,” Dan said. “If Chloe says anything to you, why don’t you just blame me?”
“Blame you for what?” Fionna queried.
“Honey, you know we have to be even more careful in Vegas than we are here. The Sirens are playing in the exhibition so, obviously, Marlisa will be there. Hell, Nic may show up. I doubt it, since we had eyes on him in Berlin an hour ago, but still.”
“I thought you were checking your email.” She tried not to chastise, but missed her mark.
“I’m trying, Fi,” he offered apologetically. He tried not to check in often, but the desperation to have her only added to his desire to end the monster that was the Interfeci.
“I’m going as a team owner, and Governor Haydenshire floated it that I was going to keep an eye on Emily. I really just want to be able to dance with you once or twice at the banquet, and I want to watch you win that cup but, otherwise, we can’t be anywhere together. I can’t act like your boyfriend anywhere in public, and it’s not just Marlisa. The Interfeci have several large rings in Vegas. They run drugs, take gambling hits, launder money, we even busted a human trafficking ring linked to them out there a few years ago.” Dan shuddered from the memory. Fionna looked petrified. He shook himself and went on. “I was just gonna hang out with Garrett and Rainer, and pretend to get some work done. If you and Emily were there, I wouldn’t mind that, but I can’t act like we have anything more than a professional friendship. I’m so sorry, honey.”
A blistering pain moved through him as his warning and his rules brush-stroked the disappointment on her features. After a moment, she was able to gaze up at him sweetly. “Will you hold me for a minute?”
“Nothing would make me happier.” He lifted her onto his lap and cast his shield over her as soon as she was settled. “Sweetheart, please believe me when I tell you that, if I could, I would skywrite the fact that I somehow managed to be lucky enough to get to call you my girlfriend. Nothing means more to me than you. That’s why I have to do it this way.”
“I know.” She shrank further into his embrace.
“I know I’m disappointing you, and I feel terrible. I’ll stay here if you want me to.”
“No.” The very idea seemed to terrify her. “I wish everyone could know that we’re together, and how much I love you, and how much I love being your girlfriend, but that isn’t important right now. We don’t have to stay at the banquet for long after dinner. It will be fun to sneak away, just me and you.”
“You are the most incredible woman in the world.” Dan was unable to believe that, after he’d told her that he would essentially have to ignore her completely at an event designed to recognize her talents, she was willing to leave it all just to be with him.
“So, I don’t guess you’ll be wearing the ‘My Girl’s An Angel and I keep her tank full,’ t-shirt with my number on it to the challenges.” She giggled again, righting every wrong that had taken up residence in his mind.
Dan chuckled. “Maybe next season, honey, but I will tell you this; after I make myself sick watching pricks hit on you all night long, with me not able to let them know whose you are, I sure as hell will keep your tank full.”
“Dan,” she scoffed, “no one is going to hit on me. I’ll make Garrett dance with me a couple of times, then I’ll accept a dance from the hottest new Angels owner, and then I’ll be really tired and turn in early for the challenge the next day. I just told you I don’t like hanging out in the casinos and watching people get drunk and poor. I’d rather be up in our suite, curled up in your arms.”
“Well, that makes me the luckiest guy on the planet, baby, but I still feel like I’ll be ruining your trip. If you want me to stay here, I will.”
“I’ve been partying in Vegas every year for the past eight years, and I tried to like it; I really did. But I don’t like it. It’s not me, and until now, until I met you, I wouldn’t admit that.” Somehow, she thought he’d given her the strength. Dan started to protest but she went on. “I’ve even done the….” She halted abruptly and grimaced. “Well, you know.” Dan fought with every fiber of his being not to scowl. “But I still hated it. I just want to be with you whether we’re out with everyone or all by ourselves.”
“And will I have the privilege of meeting this asshole who I now want to murder?”
She cringed. “He captains the San Antonio Synthesizers.”
Dan felt his stomach churn as he clenched his jaw tightly.
“Dan, you know I love you, and even though I’ve been with other guys, I’ve never been in love before you. Plus, he was a ginormous douche.”
He nodded and bit back all of the imbecilic, possessive lines that pulsed in his mind.
“And I like that I’m yours,” she answered his unspoken remarks with a sweet grin.
“I really am sorry, Fi. I wish I could tell the world.”
“Maybe we will someday. But, right now, it’s Christmas and I really want to know what else you got me.”
His childish fit of possessiveness abated. “Open them, baby.”
“No, it’s your turn.”
Dan lifted a tall, rectangular box. He knew by the weight what it was. He pulled the paper off, praying that she hadn’t spent any more than what a bottle of Talisker Scotch cost. His eyes goggled. “Fionna Kalani Halia Styler,” he huffed, “I’m going to have to marry you now, so I have another name to use because I cannot believe you did this.”
She giggled hysterically. “Well, I hope if you decide to pop the question that’s not the only reason.”
“Honey, how did you get this? They haven’t produced any for the public in years.” He lifted the Lagavulin 21 single-malt Scotch from its box, and tried desperately not to think about how much she’d spent on it.
“Daddy has lots of friends in the restaurant industry, so I made a few calls, and I got a good deal.”
“Fi, when I said not to buy me Talisker because it’s too expensive, I did not mean buy me Scotch that’s five times the price.”
“Stop; you’re hurting my feelings.”
Chastising himself, Dan drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry, baby. This is incredible. You are incredible, and I will never ever deserve you.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss across her lips. “But you still have a nap to take, so get to opening.”
“But I want to read my book.”
“If you read it all today, what will you do when I keep you holed up in our suite all weekend?” He flirted suggestively.
She gave him the naughty grin that always made him weak. “Other, far more dirty and delicious things.”
With a shuddering groan, Dan set the Scotch gently on the coffee table and pulled Fionna into him. He wrapped his hands
around her waist as she straddled her legs over him. He slid his hands up to her face, guided her lips to his own, then he let his hands trail down over her breasts and back to her waist. They kissed heatedly, with her gasping and moaning as he sucked her tongue and nipped her lips.
“Let’s go upstairs.”
“No,” he forced the word from his mouth. “I really want you to open your presents, and you need to rest.” He knew she wasn’t up for another session when she didn’t argue.
“Okay, but tomorrow, on the plane.”
“I’m all yours, honey.”
She crawled out of his lap begrudgingly.
“These require some explanation.” He forced his concentration to her last two gifts. Standing, he lifted them onto the couch beside her, as they were rather heavy. “Open them both, and then I’ll explain.”
She pulled the paper off of the plain cardboard box first, and then moved on to the box containing a brand-new, deluxe sewing machine.
“Dan! Oh, my gosh, look at all it does! How much did this cost?”
He laughed outright. “Right, because you get to ask that.” He gestured to the $700 bottle of Scotch on their coffee table.
She continued to gaze at the sewing machine, reading all that it would do. “I don’t even know how all of this works. It does heirloom stitches!”
Chuckling, Dan leaned and kissed her forehead. He was simply unable to keep his lips off of her. “Wait, what’s in here?” She pulled open the first cardboard box.
“I had Sam fix your mom’s.” He hesitated, but then watched as tears began flowing from those huge sienna eyes. “I talked to Mrs. Haydenshire, and she said this one was the best, and that you would love it.” He pointed to the new sewing machine. “But I wanted you to have hers as well.” She began to sob again. Dan grinned as he recalled Logan Haydenshire’s remark that Receivers cry all the time. Though he hadn’t believed him at the time, Fionna was extremely emotional. Dan grinned at her and wiped away the tears.
“Sam knew an old Singer supplier who had some retro parts it needed. He said it should be as good as new now.” He tenderly held her as she cried into his shoulder.
“Thank you,” she wept in his arms. “You are the most amazing man ever.” Before he could adamantly object, she lifted her head. “You are!”
