“Everything depends on the case, Nikki. And by the way, stop calling me Mr. Crane. It’s Daniel. I feel old enough.”
Nikki smiled. “You aren’t old,” she said. And then realized she didn’t know his age at all. “Are you?”
Daniel laughed. “I ought to put you over my knee for that alone, young lady. I ought to also ask you how old I look. That’ll really get you in trouble.” Nikki smiled. “But in answer to your question, it depends on what you call old. I’m much older than you are. I’d put your age around nineteen, twenty---”
“I’m twenty.”
“Well I’m not twenty, and haven’t been twenty for fifteen years.”
Nikki nodded. Thirty-five wasn’t exactly old to her. It wasn’t young to her, either, but it wasn’t exactly old.
“But yes, the attorney may feel that a delay is absolutely necessary,” he said, “or he may feel a delay would only hurt the situation more. It depends on the evidence, it depends on the case.”
“You were a judge,” Nikki said. “Do you think you could look at the evidence?”
“Only if I have ten more brains,” Daniel said with all honesty. Then he saw that look of disappointment in her eyes. “I’m swamped already, honey,” he added.
“No, I understand,” Nikki said, although he knew she didn’t.
“Why aren’t you a judge anymore?” she asked him.
He exhaled and leaned forward. “I resigned,” he said.
“You resigned? Why?” Nikki knew she was asking more than he probably wanted to reveal, but the reporter in her had a need to know.
Daniel hesitated. It was still a sore spot with him. “I was going through a messy divorce at the time. A very messy divorce. And my wife at the time was making allegations in her bid to destroy me. Allegations that I was unfit for office.”
Nikki stared at him. “Unfit how?” she asked.
Daniel was surprised that Nikki would ask such a personal question, but it was also refreshing that she would. “She claimed that I was a cheater and a liar who couldn’t be trusted to pass judgment on anyone when, in fact, she was the cheater and the liar who I wouldn’t trust as far as I could spit.” The venom that came out of his mouth after saying that wasn’t lost on Nikki.
“Where’s your wife now?”
“My ex-wife. Please don’t make any mistake about her or anybody else ever being any wife of mine. She lives in France now. I met her in France and she moved back there.”
“I take it you guys don’t keep in touch?”
“I’d rather eat nails,” he said, and Nikki laughed. “Does that answer your question?” he asked with a smile.
Nikki nodded. “Oh, yeah, that answers it.”
“But anyway,” Daniel said, frowning, “none of it mattered in the long run. We divorced, she moved back to France, and this job offer came along for me. I felt I needed a change, the scars of that hellish time were still there, so I decided to leave Philly altogether and start over.”
“You left Philadelphia, but you left the legal profession too?”
Daniel nodded. “Before it left me, yes.” Then he sat erect. “But anyway,” he said, “how did you meet, Miss Newsome?”
Nikki was still digesting what he said. What did he mean that he left the legal profession before it left him? It almost sounded if he was in danger of being removed from his judgeship or something. Then she smiled. She’d already Googled him earlier. They mentioned that he was divorced, but there was never a mention of any scandal associated with his name.
“We met on a street corner,” she said. When Daniel gave her an odd look, she immediately clarified. “Not on that corner,” she said, and Daniel laughed.
“She was all alone passing out flyers, just like we were doing today. Only this was a little over a month ago. Most people wouldn’t take the flyer from her, forget giving any donation or anything. Then I came along. I didn’t have any money to give her, either, but I had some time. So I took half of her flyers and got to work. And I’ve been helping her ever since.”
“So you never met her sons?”
“I met them later on, yeah.”
“Your impression?”
Nikki hunched her small shoulder. “They looked like two lost kids, I don’t know. But I’d bet Jeffrey Dahmer looked lost too. So I don’t put a whole lot of stock in that. I don’t know, is the truth of it. They say they’re innocent. The cops say they aren’t. I don’t know. I pray they are, for Miss Newsome’s sake.”
“She really believes in her sons?”
“She really does.”
“And you believe in her?” Daniel asked her.
Nikki thought about this. “I don’t know if I believe in anybody,” she said.
Daniel was surprised by that response. And he needed to know more. What was it about this young lady that interested him so? Was it just a physical thing? He’d seen beautiful girls before, he saw them every day on the job, but he wasn’t asking any of them out on dates. What was it about Nikki?
“Were you born here in Wakefield?” he asked her.
“Born and raised, yes, sir,” she said.
“Your parents still here?”
“Nope. At least I don’t think they are.” She saw that odd look on Daniel’s face. “I was raised by my grandmother,” she said. “My parents had substance abuse problems. So my Granny took me when I was a baby.”
“Thank God for Grandma,” Daniel said.
“Yes, thank God.”
“Is she the reason why you went to college here?”
Nikki shook her head. “She died when I was fourteen.”
Daniel was about to sip his drink. When he heard that number, he sat his glass back down. “Fourteen?” he asked. “Well what did you do then?”
Nikki was surprised at his concern. But he was definitely showing concern. “I went from Foster Home to Foster Home for a little while, until I was sixteen. Then I kind of did my own thing.”
“Why were you going from Foster Home to Foster Home?”
Nikki paused. The memories were still there. “Every time I settled in somewhere, I would be accused of trying to seduce somebody’s husband or boyfriend or son or uncle or somebody. When it was the other way around. But they never listened to me. I was the problem. I was the one who had to go. By the time I turned sixteen, they didn’t have to kick me out. I kicked myself out, and never returned.”
Daniel stared at Nikki.
“I worked at McDonalds and Burger King, places like that, saved my money, and then got me a room in a boarding house. Then I met Val, who was kind of bumming it too. So we moved in together, finished school together, and then went on to college together. Eventually we were able to get us a better place to live together.”
“Thank God for Val,” he said.
“Oh, I do. Without him I would have felt like I was all alone in this world. He gets on my last nerve, don’t get me wrong,” she said with a chuckle. “But only in a good way.”
And it was at that very moment, listening to Nikki talk about her life, and how she helped an old woman just because the woman needed help, and how she sucked it up and made the best of her circumstances, made him realize why she was the one who got his attention. He no longer felt that he could look at her as merely an object of his desire. There was too much to her for him to ever see her as just an object of his anything. She was a survivor. A strong, young, remarkable survivor. She was making her way in this world despite the odds. And he wasn’t about to let his dick, or any other part of him, get in the way of her progress.
That was why, after dinner, he changed his plans. Before they sat down in Skylar Bay, he had every intention of leaving that restaurant and taking her straight to an apartment in town he kept for flings like this. But instead of taking her there, he took her home, to her off-campus apartment. He could tell she was a little surprised when he didn’t ask her to go to bed with him, as if she had been expecting him to go there, but he could also see that she was relieved too.
They walk
ed slowly up the walkway that led to her apartment, the night air cool enough for her to put on her jacket, but not so cool for them to feel any chill. Daniel, once again, had his hand on the small of her back, and she found that she loved his touch. For some reason she loved it. That was why, if she was to admit it, she was a little disappointed when he didn’t suggest they go somewhere. What was remarkable was that she wasn’t sure if she would have said yes, but she was pretty certain she would not have said no.
Daniel, too, had contrary feelings. He knew it was not feasible for him to go down that road with her. But he still wanted to so badly that he could taste it. Even something as simple as touching the small of her back as they made their way to her apartment door had him aroused. She felt so soft to the touch, so fragile, that he felt kind of protective of her. And after hearing her story, after learning that other than Val she was pretty much alone in this world, made him feel all the more protective.
He was a believer in Fate, in God’s hand in making things happen. That was why, he believed, he decided to give up all and come to Indiana in the first place. He was now beginning to wonder if the board’s decision to have him meet with Nikki rather than have some lowly staffer handle the interview, also had less to do with happenstance, and more to do with Fate.
When they made it to her apartment door, they could hear the TV blaring from inside. Her roommate was probably at home. But he still had his hand on her back as they stood there. Even after she unlocked the door, he stayed there. Until she looked those wonderful, beautiful, sad, expressive eyes at him. He released her.
She didn’t want him to remove his hand from her. It felt warm and right whenever he touched her. But she knew it was for the best. This wasn’t what this date was supposed to be about. She exhaled. “About the Newsome boys,” she said.
Daniel inwardly smiled. That’s right, sweetie, he thought. Don’t let some smooth Joe like me distract you. “You tell Miss Newsome that I’ll have an attorney, an excellent attorney, get in touch with her, and her sons, tomorrow.”
Nikki’s heart began to soar. “You mean you’re going to help her?”
“Yes. Her boys will have excellent representation.”
“Oh, Daniel!” Nikki said and threw her arms around his neck. He placed his arms around her too. Up close he could smell her sweet, perfumed scent, and he could feel the contours of her small but curvaceous body. He loved the way she felt in his arms. He even became slightly annoyed, when she pulled back.
But it was only so that she could look him in his big, Bradley Cooper eyes. “Thank-you,” she said, tears staining her lids.
And this was why Daniel knew how difficult it was going to be for him to walk away from her. Every woman he’d had before her, every meaningful relationship, turned out to be false. They didn’t want him. They wanted his money, or his looks, or his prestige, whichever they needed. But never him. And then he met this young woman, this caring, compassionate, honest young lady, and for her own good he knew he had to walk away. Here she was crying because he had agreed to help a woman who should have been nothing more to her than some random white woman handing out flyers on the street.
But as she looked those sad eyes into his, he knew leaving her was not going to be as easy as just saying goodbye. But then he saw something in her eyes too, and he realized just how difficult leaving him was going to be for her. He pulled her in his arms again and embraced her, and it was this embrace, this nearness, this knowledge he now had that she didn’t want to say goodbye either, that did him in.
He lifted her chin. She still had tears in her eyes. And he kissed her tears. And then her nose. And then her mouth.
She closed her eyes when his lips pressed against her lips and began a slow kiss that lasted for minutes on end. He moved his head from side to side as he kissed her. She moved her head from side to side as she kissed him. She was no maven at this, but she knew what good felt like. And Daniel Crane kissing her felt good. And the longer he kissed her, the longer he pressed his body against hers, revealing an erection that was rod-hard, the more fantastic she felt. Her entire body reacted as he kissed her. Especially when her lips parted, and he slid his tongue inside of her. She held onto him tighter, as he made love to her with that tongue.
It became so enticing, and so exhilarating, that her body began begging for him to do more. Suck her breasts, kiss her neck, do more!
But he didn’t. He stopped kissing her and looked her in her eyes. She was shocked to see how serious he looked.
He began rubbing her arms. Even though she had on a jacket, she could still feel the heat of that rub.
“I take it your roommate is at home,” he said to her.
She nodded, barely able to speak. “Probably, yes.”
“Think we’ll be too loud in your bedroom?” He said this and looked hard at Nikki, to ensure she understood.
She nodded her head again. “Probably, yes,” she said, and swallowed hard.
Daniel continued rubbing her arms. He knew it was probably Fate that was telling him to leave this girl alone, that was why her apartment wasn’t available. Quit why the quitting was possible! But he couldn’t quit.
“Thing is,” he said, still staring at her, still wanting her with every fiber of his being, “I want you.”
Nikki could see his lust, but she could see his apprehension too. And she needed him to understand. “I want you too,” she managed to say.
And Daniel’s control broke. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbed her by the hand, and walked her, swiftly, back to his Jaguar. When he loaded her back in, he drove at record pace, holding her hand the entire time. It would have been easier to drive her to his apartment in town. That would have been closer. But he didn’t want her there. That was where he took his occasional rolls in the hay. His piece on the side. He could never think of Nikki that way.
He took her to his home.
He lived in Walden Woods, the most exclusive neighborhood in Wakefield. Nikki sat in his car, his hand holding hers, and looked at the tree-lined streets, at a world she never could have imagined visiting. The homes were big, some were even mansions, and all had perfectly manicured lawns that were, in a few cases, as big as a football field.
Daniel’s home, though less opulent, was nevertheless grand. He drove into the circular driveway of his sprawling, two-story colonial. He got out, walked around the car, and helped her out on the passenger side. He placed his hand on the small of her back again as they walked up the steps to his front door.
But as he moved to swipe the card, where he knew, once they crossed the threshold, that there would be no turning back, he stopped and looked at her. She looked back at him with such trust in those big, brown eyes that it broke his heart. How many men, he wondered, had used her this way? How many had taken her for a ride too, gotten theirs, and then dumped her?
And he had to let her know. “I won’t hurt you,” he said, and even he was amazed he had said it. Why would he tell her a thing like that?
But she smiled that smile he was beginning to adore. “I know you won’t,” she replied.
Daniel’s heart squeezed against his chest. Why would she have such faith in a man like him? He didn’t deserve it!
He placed his hand on the side of her smooth face, and then pulled her into an embrace. He kissed her on her lips, and then held her.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said to her again, but this time he said it with conviction.
CHAPTER FOUR
He carried her upstairs, kissing her with every step he made. She was holding on, her face facing his, as she returned his every kiss. She hadn’t had a chance to even peruse the house. Daniel had her in his arms, his mouth on hers, as soon as they dawned the door. And as he lifted her up, and carried her, she realized how she used to dream of a night like this. When a man, a real man, showed her what all the fuss was about.
They entered a bedroom of double doors and marbled floors. But what she loved about Daniel’s treatment was that he didn’t tos
s her on the bed and snatch her clothes off, despite the fact that they both were highly charged that way. But he continued to hold her up in his arms as he pulled back the bedding, removed her shoes, and then laid her gently in his bed.
As he slowly removed his suit coat, shirt, and tie, she laid back and relaxed to the smell of his masculine cologne scent that permeated even inch of the silk sheets, and the bedspread, and she felt devoured by that wonderfully intoxicating smell.
Daniel then placed a knee on his bed and began undressing her. First he removed her jean jacket. But before he began unzipping her dress, he looked into her eyes.
“It’s still okay?” he asked her.
She loved that he asked. “It’s still okay,” she said. It’s fantastic, she wanted to add.
He then unzipped her red dress and lifted it off of her body. When he removed her bra and slid down her panties, and he saw those beautiful brown breasts, and her flat stomach, and that wonderful womanhood that looked so fresh and inviting, his penis began to tent. And he stood up quickly, and began to unbuckle his pants.
Nikki was feeling the heat too as she relaxed to the feel of her naked body against sheets that he had occupied, and she couldn’t imagine any greater feeling. But when she saw Daniel unzip and then pull down his pants and briefs, and his penis flopped out and then sprung to attention, her relaxation turned into a kind of horror. She knew he was large. She remembered the press of his penis when he was aroused at Mocasey’s. But it was so big, eight inches or more big, that she began to wonder if she could take in it all. And suddenly the idea of all of that entering inside of her little passage didn’t seem like such a great idea anymore. How could she have agreed to something like this, she began to wonder.
Daniel saw the concern in those expressive eyes of hers and sat on the edge of the bed. He wanted to undress her right away, but he knew he had to take it slow. She was undoubtedly experienced, but given her age she couldn’t possibly be that experienced. He therefore placed his hand on the side of her face, and comforted her.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked her.
DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN Page 4
