“I’d rather not be alone just yet, if you don’t mind,” she told him quietly.
That much he’d already gathered. “I’m not going anywhere,” he told her. Gesturing toward the open boxes of tile he had on the kitchen floor, he told her, “I’ve got enough tile there to work straight through the night.” But right now, work—though he loved it—wasn’t uppermost on his mind.
Stone crossed to her, studying Danni’s face. “Something did happen today,” he guessed.
“No, not today. At least, not this year today.” She blew out a breath. It was just as she’d thought, her words were getting jumbled. The man probably thought he was working for a lunatic. Maybe it was better if she explained. “My dad died four years ago today,” she said, her voice barely audible.
“I’m so sorry,” he told her compassionately.
She sighed and a shaky breath escaped her lips. “Yeah, me, too.”
“You were close, you and your dad?” Stone guessed.
She wanted to say yes, but that really wasn’t true. At least, not for most of her childhood.
“Just at the end. He was a traveling salesman,” she said with a half smile on her lips. “The kind they always tell stories about. He was on the road for most of my childhood. I grew up missing him. One of the last things he told me just before he died was how much he regretted not being there for me, not being there to share the simple things as well as the milestones. It wasn’t until after he became ill that I found how smart he was and how funny. I felt cheated.” She looked at him. “Don’t let Ginny feel that way years from now.”
He laughed softly and shook his head. “Not a chance. She’d going to have the exact opposite to complain about—an old man who glares at her boyfriends when they come to the door. Who keeps wanting to hang out with her even though she wants to pretend he doesn’t exist because he’s embarrassing her in front of her friends.” There was more truth than he was happy about in his prophesy.
Danni smiled at him. He was instinctively a good father, she could just tell. “She might complain about it, but deep down inside, she’ll be grateful that you love her enough to care.”
“We’ll see,” he responded.
“I was serious about the invitation,” she told him. “About having Ginny and your sister over for dinner.”
“Sounds good,” he agreed. “But we can do it some other night. I think that Virginia would appreciate a little heads-up first. But I’ll stay,” he told her quickly in case she thought he was trying to leave as well.
“I’m sorry. I’m acting like a child. You’ve put in a long day, I shouldn’t be making you stay longer.”
“Well, I’m standing over here and you’re standing a couple of feet away from me and as far as I can see, there’s been no arm twisting going on so you’re not making me do anything. Now, you can’t issue an invitation to dinner and then rescind it in the next breath. Not after my salivary glands have started to drool in heated anticipation. You don’t want to be labeled a culinary tease now, do you?” He asked the question so seriously, for a moment she didn’t realize that he was kidding her.
“Heaven forbid.” She laughed, appreciating his kindness.
“Good, then go whip up dinner. Impress me with your ability to create something delicious out of nothing,” he told her.
“I’ll do my best.” It felt good to laugh. Good to feel useful as well. A surge of deep gratitude spiked through her. “You’re a good man, Stone Scarborough.”
He shrugged off the compliment, not comfortable with its weight. “I’m only as good as I have to be,” he told her.
Why that sounded like a promise of things to come to her she didn’t know, but it did. And a little thrill of anticipation raced through her.
He was being awfully nice, which made her feel both vulnerable and guilty. Vulnerable because she was responding to this display of sensitivity on his part and guilty because she’d almost forced him to stay to keep her company. The man had a life waiting for him. Not to mention a girlfriend, the one that Ginny told her she didn’t like.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to guilt you into staying. I’ll be okay, really,” she underscored. “You should go home to your daughter.”
“So then you really are reneging on dinner?” he asked.
His expression seemed so serious, she didn’t know if he was kidding or not. She told him the truth. “No, that’s my way of telling you that you don’t have to stay here and hold my hand.”
“I know I don’t have to stay,” he replied. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I was waiting for an invitation to stay?”
Danni shook her head, her eyes never leaving his. “No.”
“No?” he questioned.
“No, it never occurred to me,” she told him. She took another breath. She liked him and right now, he was keeping the shadows at bay for her, but she didn’t want to be the cause of any discord in his life, no matter how innocent it actually was. “Stone, I have no right to ask you to stay for any reason other than work. You have a girlfriend—”
“Had,” he corrected. Was that the problem? Talk about being selfless, she had to be at the head of the class. “I had a girlfriend.”
He didn’t ask Danni how she knew that he’d been seeing someone; he just assumed that any description of Elizabeth had to be something Ginny had told her. Most likely his daughter had complained about Elizabeth since she had never really warmed up to the woman—not that, looking back, he could blame her.
“You broke up?” she asked, stunned. Danni did her best to ignore the strong desire to cheer. “I’m so sorry.” Danni tried to sound sincere, but it was hard sounding sincere when she felt like grinning.
“Don’t be,” Stone told her. “She gave me a choice, so I chose.” It had been more of an ultimatum, and he didn’t like ultimatums. He and Elizabeth weren’t in a place in their relationship where that sort of thing mattered. “She didn’t like the fact that I had canceled on her twice and she informed me that I had to choose between her and a job I was currently doing, so I chose the job. I don’t like having my back against a wall,” he told her simply. And then he shrugged again. “We weren’t right for each other, anyway.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Danni said. But she really wasn’t.
They talked all the way through dinner and Danni found herself laughing over his recollections of his first job in construction—when he had been less than able, just very willing.
For his part, Stone found her incredibly easy to talk to, which in his eyes was a big deal since he didn’t readily share bits and pieces of himself with anyone.
That was how he found himself talking to her about Eva. About the four perfect years they had spent together and about how grief-stricken he was when the police came to his door late one afternoon to tell him that she’d been struck by a hit and run driver while she was out on her afternoon run. Eva was a physical fitness advocate who was always trying to get him to join her. He’d tried going out and running a few times before Ginny was born, but found he had no patience for it. He preferred lifting weights, so Eva ran alone.
Had he been with her that afternoon, he might have been able to push her out of the way, or gotten struck in her place.
For a very long time, he carried a great deal of guilt around with him. Guilt for being alive while Eva was dead.
“You can’t do that to yourself,” Danni told him, picking up his plate as well as her own and bringing them to the bathroom where the sink was still operational.
He followed behind her with the glasses and utensils. “Easier said than done,” he pointed out.
Setting down the two plates in the bathroom sink, she turned in the doorway, about to get the rest of the dirty dishes.
She wound up brushing up against Stone. Startled, as lightning coursed through her at all the points of contact, she lost her train of thought for a second, then murmured, “Sorry.”
He contradicted her by saying, “My fault.”
&nb
sp; Both apologies blended together and faded off into the netherworld. She offered him a small smile. “I’ve talked your ears off, I didn’t mean to.”
To which he went through the motions of touching his ears as if to see that they were still attached.
“Nope,” he assured her, “they’re still there. You didn’t talk them off.” And then he looked at her and smiled into her eyes. “Cut yourself some slack, Danni,” he told her. “You’ve had a really rough time of it from what I’ve gathered.”
She could feel the heat building up within her. Heat that the weather outside had nothing to do with.
“I could say the same thing to you,” she told him, acutely aware of their close proximity, and how very easy it would be just to lean a little forward. Lean into him and from there, lean into a whole world of possibilities. Danni could feel her heart beginning to pound even harder than before.
“Would you mind if I kissed you?” he asked her, his voice lower than a whisper.
“No,” she responded in the same sort of low voice that Stone had just used. Danni could feel herself trembling inside.
Get a grip, Danni. Nothing’s going to happen. Just stay firm and you’ll be all right.
“I wouldn’t mind,” she told him.
He was asking for trouble and he knew it.
But her vulnerability spoke to him and the sadness in her eyes reached out to him, silently asking him for the only sort of comfort he could give her, comfort that transcended mere words.
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt him framing her face with his hands, felt his breath drifting along her face. Felt the almost fierce longing that had suddenly sprang up, fully formed, within her. Longing that reached out to him.
His lips came down on hers and this time, they both knew, there was no turning back.
Chapter Fourteen
Volleys of excitement shot through Danni.
It was too late to run for cover, too late to pretend that she didn’t want this. She wanted it as much as she wanted to wake up tomorrow morning.
More.
Since her father had died, Danni had devoted herself exclusively to forging a future for herself, to making her cooking her own small cottage industry.
Other people with an aptitude for cooking or homemaking had done it, putting their own spin on it, their own particular brand, and she felt that if she focused only on that, only on applying herself 24/7 to turning this goal into a reality, she stood a good chance of making it happen. That, in turn, would allow her to pay off the mountain of bills that all but haunted her.
She’d never thought she would take off the way she had—which necessitated more energy, more focus and so much less “me” time for her.
Danni had almost forgotten that there was a “me” inside of her that required something other than working twenty-four hours a day. That knew how to do more than communicate with her audience, much as she cared about not disappointing them.
What she was feeling now, with Stone, opened a door for her to a place she’d ignored for so long, a place she hadn’t even ever fully explored before.
A burst of sunshine went off inside of her as Stone’s lips skimmed along the side of her neck, along the hollow of her throat. She could feel her insides quivering as anticipation began to swiftly build.
Without being aware of it, she dug her fingertips into the hard surface of his arms as she tried to anchor herself to him, to this wondrous sensation echoing through every fiber of her being. Glorying in it and wanting more, yet at the same time, being afraid of where this was taking her.
She felt disarmed, naked, vulnerable—and more alive than she’d been in far too long a time.
And then suddenly, as abruptly as it had begun, it stopped.
Stone stopped kissing her.
She felt him drawing away. Was something wrong? Had she done something to make him stop? Crossed some line she shouldn’t have?
Confusion overtook her and she struggled to focus not just her eyes but her mind as well.
“Danni, are you sure?”
She saw his lips move, heard his voice echo in her head. The haze around her made it difficult for her to understand him at first.
It took her several moments to process the words. Several more to process the intent.
Dear God, was he being gallant? she wondered. She didn’t know men like Stone existed outside of wishful thinking and maybe a few romantic comedies.
“And if I said no?” she asked, needing to hear what he would say.
Could he walk away from her, from this moment, just like that? Danni was fairly certain that she really couldn’t walk at all right now. Her knees were weak and she’d all but turned into a swirling cauldron of pulsating needs. That made taking the smallest of steps all but impossible.
“If I asked you to, would you just back off?” she asked.
“Yes,” he told her, his eyes caressing her even though his hands were still.
“Oh.”
That meant he wasn’t moved, didn’t feel what she did. That he could take this or leave this at will. She could feel her heart sinking all the way down to her toes.
“It would kill me,” Stone told her, “but I would.” He framed her face again, his eyes intent on hers. “I won’t lie. I really want you, Danni, but if you have the slightest bit of doubt, I’ll stop. I don’t want to force myself on you.”
A laugh bubbled up in her throat. The rays of sunshine were back, stronger and brighter than they’d been before.
“What would you say to my forcing myself on you?” Danni whispered in his ear as the cauldron inside of her overflowed.
His mouth curved just a little, but she could feel the effects of his smile go all the way deep down into her soul.
“I’d say ‘bring it,’” he told her.
And then there were no more words.
Words were next to impossible when he kissed her. Maybe she should have played harder to get, but the key word in that was played and she didn’t want to play at this, didn’t want to play any games at all. Games were for people who didn’t feel what she was feeling. This sensation was far too serious for her to pretend otherwise, even if it meant saving face in the end.
She had no doubts that there would be regrets and possibly even soon. But Danni was certain that she’d regret not seizing this moment and making the most of it even more.
Heat soared through her as, wrapped in ardor, Stone and she moved from the barren kitchen with its patchwork of tile along one wall into the overly crowded family room with its makeshift, temporary obstacle course.
Danni was suddenly aware of the refrigerator directly at her back as Stone worked nothing short of magic with his lips along her torso, his fingers deftly removing more and more of her clothing as his clever mouth heated her skin.
Danni did her best to mimic his movements, letting him take the lead only so that she could follow behind him almost immediately. Do what Stone did, create havoc within him the way he created it within her.
Her cool fingertips swept along his ribcage, pulling away the material that clung to his body by design as well as by his sweat.
Small, lethal tongues of fire licked at him as he felt her hands make short work of his T-shirt and his jeans, removing them almost as quickly as he was divesting her of hers.
And then, a short eternity later, there was nothing but skin between them. Stone trailed his hands along her body, memorizing curves and swells, committing every fraction of delicate inch to memory, lingering over every nuance he discovered.
Glorying in every involuntary sound conveying pleasure that she made.
Each time he heard one, he felt a corresponding surge of desire shoot through him, raising his need for the final moment. And yet, he wanted to keep it at bay for as long as he possibly could, wanting to revel in her, in holding her, in having her, for as long as he was able. Because, all things considered, there might not be another time and he needed to store up everything he was feeling against t
hat eventuality.
The sofa, miraculously, didn’t have a mountain of things piled onto its cushions. Somehow, it had escaped becoming a repository while everything else had been requisitioned to serve double duty when the kitchen appliances had moved in.
Consequently, that was where they ended up in their blind dance of passion. On the sofa. Their bodies firmly molded against one another without an inch of space, or of sofa, to spare.
She found herself beneath him, with his weight just barely pressed against hers as he gathered her to him, covering every free inch of space on her body with his lips, his teeth, his tongue, effectively branding her from this day forward.
Danni tried to remain still, she really did, but she couldn’t help herself. Twisting and turning, first into his kiss, then away as she savored what it was doing to her, was done almost involuntarily.
Done automatically.
Her body throbbing both in response to his actions and from a yet unfulfilled desire, Danni arched her back, pressing herself against him urgently. At the same time, she stroked any part of Stone she came in contact with, succeeding better than she’d possibly hoped when she heard him suddenly suck in his breath and he caught her hand.
She saw the look in his eyes and her heart all but stopped, then sped up again to the point that it felt as if it was challenging the speed of light.
Before she could say a word, she felt Stone parting her legs with his knee.
The next moment, they were joined together and another, far more intense, wave of heat flashed through her.
And then the race to the top, to the climax of their experience, began.
He set the tempo and she matched it, moving faster each time he did until finally, with his hands joined to hers just above her head, she felt the lightning explode and light the very sky in her world.
Felt the power seize and hold her before, all too soon, it began to recede.
Wish Upon a Matchmaker Page 14
