“I won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I had a reading when I was fifteen, and the psychic said I wouldn’t have a baby until I was twenty-eight. This woman was supposed to be the real thing.” Like Celine. Adrian pushed the thought from his mind. Nikki turned around in his arms, water dripping from her hair. “We’ll be good from now on.”
He tilted her chin up and, just before his lips contacted hers, whispered, “You were good from the beginning.”
She kissed him, smiling the whole time. If he ever dreamed he’d be kissing BlueFire, holding her naked in his arms, making love with her…he would have thought he’d really lost it.
He towel-dried her hair, then walked her into the bedroom where a shimmering green dress was laid out on the comforter.
She looked at it, then at him. “What’s this?”
“It’s for you. Put it on.”
“But I can’t go to a restaurant.”
“Who said anything about going out? I’ve seen you in old clothes, and I’ve seen you naked. Now I want to see you dressed up.”
She slipped into it while he put on dress pants and a white shirt. Her eyes glittered as she twirled around, set off by the green of the dress. She was more beautiful than any model he’d ever photographed, even with their makeup artists and hair stylists. He picked up the camera on the dresser and snapped three shots of her.
She covered her face, then dropped her hands and looked down at the dress. “It’s beautiful.”
“So are you. Dance with me.”
“There’s no music.”
She moved into his waiting arms anyway, entwining her hand with his.
“Sure, there is. Just listen with your heart, and you’ll hear it.”
Something inside her must have heard the music, moving her in perfect rhythm with his every movement. She looked up at him. “I hear it.”
CHAPTER 13
Adrian derived more pleasure from watching Nikki eat the filet mignon than he did eating his own. Two years was a long time to go without prime beef. Or human contact. Her skin glowed and her eyes shimmered with contentment. He hadn’t bought her any makeup because she didn’t need it. Besides, he was used to seeing women made up to the max; it was refreshing to see a woman dressed up without it.
She looked up at him from beneath her thick lashes, a quirky grin on her lips. “So, who was that woman who came up to us on the street that day?”
He leaned back in his chair, resting his hands over his stomach. He didn’t feel like talking about Rita just then. “A friend. She watches my cat when I’m out of town.”
Nikki didn’t look convinced. “What’s her name?”
“Rita.”
“Is she a model? She was quite beautiful.”
“She’s a model, but she has nothing on you, BlueFire.”
The name made her smile for a second, but that questioning look returned. “Are you seeing her?”
He shrugged. “We go out sometimes. That’s all there is to it.”
He stood and extended a hand to her. She took it, and they walked into the living room, sitting on the couch where he had found her sleeping. He didn’t like the thoughtful expression on her face that creased her eyebrows.
She looked at the ashtray sitting on the wicker end table. “Do you smoke?”
“I’m trying to quit.” There were two almost full cigarettes in the ashtray from a few days before.
She leaned against the back of the sofa, gazing absently at his leg. She looked lost in her thoughts, or in her heart. Was she worried about Rita? Surely not. Nikki didn’t appear to him as the insecure type, not after what she’d been through in the last three years. He touched her chin, lifting it so that she had to look at him. Still, she looked downward.
“What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
Her gaze slowly met his, full of some emotion he couldn’t identify. “Adrian, I…” Her voice caught. “Can we make love again?”
Like she had to ask. But he had a feeling it wasn’t the physical aspect of lovemaking she needed. It was the emotional part. Damn, that was foreign to him.
Back in the bedroom, he laid her down on the bed. She clung to him, holding him close for several minutes. As he held her, he realized again how small and fragile she sometimes seemed. He wanted to hold her there safely forever, to take away the pain of the last three years. He couldn’t do that, and she wouldn’t let him take her away from this place. She thought Devlin was so powerful that he could find her anywhere. Maybe he was, though that wasn’t the impression Adrian had gotten from the man. Well, he’d soon find out.
When Nikki finally loosened her grip on him, he leaned over her and trailed a finger down the side of her cheek. It was damp. Tears glistened on her lashes. Her hand trembled as she reached up to touch the side of his face. He took it, the scarred one, and pressed it to his mouth. Her eyes searched his, and he wished he knew what they were looking for so he could give it to her.
“Adrian, I love you,” she whispered.
He gave her what she wanted, without hesitation. “I love you, too, Nikki.” The words had come so naturally to a man who hadn’t used them since adolescent hormone overload. This was more than love. She had been in his heart for a long time. He ran his fingers down her damp cheek. “But why are you crying?”
She shook her head, then pulled him tight against her and kissed him. He returned her fervor with his own, fearing he might crush her under the power of his feelings. Her fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt, then his pants. He helped her out of that shimmering dress, chills climbing down his heated skin as her fingers stroked through his hair.
Adrian let her set the pace, following like a willing slave. It was a change he didn’t mind. She took control, rolling him onto his back and sliding down on top of him. He kneaded her hips as she moved in a hard rhythm. When she had taken what she needed, and they were both satisfied, she snuggled into the crook of his arm and fell asleep. He was far too charged up to fall asleep, so he watched her and wondered what it would be like to wake up with her every morning.
All the reasons he had for not opening up to a woman, for not having one in his life, seemed to vanish as he held her in his arms. Opening his heart to a woman had never been an option before, but Nikki had his heart. Tragedy connected their souls these past three years, and fate destiny had put her in the background of his shot, brought him here. Yet, she wouldn’t let him help, and she wouldn’t leave for two years. He couldn’t move his business down here, and even if he could, she still wouldn’t be safe. And he couldn’t live on the streets for two years. So where did that leave him? Them?
It was more than an hour before her eyes fluttered awake in the dim light from the dresser. He had been absently stroking her arm and staring at the ceiling when he felt her stir.
The first thing Nikki felt was Adrian’s fingers against her skin, a rhythmic stroke that pulled her to consciousness. What had gotten into her, anyway? She already knew what it was, though. She’d needed him. She wanted to crawl inside him and live safely there, not just for the next two years but forever. If she had fit in nowhere else in her life before, she fit here. This was where she belonged.
He loved her. She smiled at the memory of his words, and blushed at the memory of hers. Why had she told him that? The words had wanted to come out, had been pushing to get out since the first time they’d made love. As he’d looked at her and said them back, she knew in her heart he meant them. But what good would it do?
When she’d looked at him sitting next to her on the couch, magnificent and sexy and strong, she realized how inaccessible he really was to her. He had a life back in New York. And Rita, the woman he didn’t seem to want to talk about. Nikki had two more years of hell here. Then what?
She certainly couldn’t ask him to wait for her. It all seemed so hopeless, and yet, she couldn’t tell him goodbye. That meant waiting until he told her goodbye. The thought had ripped her heart apart, just as it did now
. She wanted to obliterate those feelings by getting lost in their lovemaking, and she had, for a little while.
It was late, though she had no idea how long she’d been asleep. She opened her eyes and found him looking at her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
No. “I’m fine.”
He tilted his head. “Sure?”
She tried to smile but only managed a half smile and a nod.
He touched the tip of her nose, looking thoughtful himself. “What do you want to do with your life? After this two year sentence of yours is up?”
She looked at him, surprised by his question. “I want to start over someplace else. Do something with my photography. I hardly had a chance to succeed or fail, and I can hardly call what I do now a career. I’ll keep aside a little of my inheritance for that. Maybe Mother didn’t like my photography, but I believe she wanted me to be happy.”
“Of course she did. She probably never realized what her disappointment was doing to you.”
Nikki rolled over and looked at him.
“What? What are you thinking?” he asked, intent on her every move.
“You’d probably think it was silly. I don’t know, maybe it is.”
“Try me.”
She hesitated, meeting his gaze. “When I think about living in real society again, I get scared sometimes. It’s weird, because you’d think it would be just the opposite. But I’ve been out of it for so long now, it seems foreign to me. Just the simple day-to-day events of a normal person’s life have me fretting. A small part of me wants to stay hidden.”
Adrian leaned forward and grabbed her arm, a fierce intensity in his brown eyes. “Don’t be afraid, Nikki. You can’t waste your life hiding. I won’t let you, do you understand?”
She just stared at him, and he loosened his grip. He seemed like the prince and the dragon all at once. Yet she wasn’t afraid of him. No, because if she were to hide, it would be in his arms. If she let herself, she could well imagine burrowing into his life and never coming out. Then he’d get bored of her.
Nikki threw off the thought. Thinking of a future with Adrian was dreaming again. In two years, who knew where he’d be? She didn’t even know where he was now, not really. He cared about her, she knew that. He was her protector, her savior. But he had a life vastly different than hers, a life she knew nothing about back in New York City. For all she knew, Rita was his girlfriend, waiting for her prince to return from his mission.
They both had gotten caught up in the visions, life on the street, and the explosion they had shared, even miles apart. Even if he did love her, how serious was he? He wasn’t hers, even though strangely enough, she felt as though she belonged to him. His BlueFire. Of its own volition, her hand reached out to entwine with his.
“What about you? Where do you see yourself in two years?” she asked.
That intensity flared again as he reached out and touched her chin. “When I was younger, I thought of the future only in terms of my career. People came and went, and that was fine. Right now, you know what I see? Loneliness. I’ve been alone most of my life, but I’ve never been lonely. I never thought I was, anyway. I’ve seen lonely now. In your life, in Seamus’s, Charlie’s. I don’t worry about being homeless anymore, but their loneliness struck a fear even stronger. I want more.”
His words didn’t comfort her, though. If he realized his life was lonely, she couldn’t be there to fulfill it for another two years. Nikki, you knew when you met him that he wouldn’t stay. You knew when he kissed you that falling in love would be futile. Yet you kept seeing him.
I know, I know, her thoughts answered back. How can you argue with a heart on a collision course with love?
LandCorp’s offices were housed in a three-story building in downtown Palm Beach. It wasn’t as impressive as Adrian thought it would be, but he figured they wanted to keep a low profile. He had spoken with Devlin on the phone about possibly investing in some new venture that LandCorp needed money for. Adrian now kicked himself for going to see Devlin before, hoping that his completely different appearance, sans beard and bum’s clothes, would throw Devlin off. And the accent, of course.
He couldn’t tell Nikki about this visit. He’d promised not to talk to Devlin again. All he knew was that he loved her, and he’d be damned if he was going to wait two years while she hid among the homeless. What he would find at this meeting, he wasn’t sure, but he had to start somewhere. Finding out how desperate Devlin was to get that money was a start.
Adrian checked himself in the reflection of the glass before opening the door. With the dark suit he’d worn last night and his hair brushed straight and tied back, he looked the part he was going to play.
The offices were richly furnished, with an oak desk and dark blue chairs for visitors. The receptionist was a young, prim-looking lady in her mid-thirties. Her eyes widened with interest when she took him in. “May I help you?”
“Sure. Name’s Adrian Santucci, here to see Devlin Madsen,” he said in a Brooklyn/Italian accent. “He’s expecting me.”
She smiled at him. “Yes, they are. Please follow me.”
They? His guard went up as he walked into a paneled conference room. Two men stood as he entered, business-like smiles on their faces. Adrian shook hands with the tall blond man who was about his age. His handshake was firm.
“Hello. My name is Jack Barton. I’m the CEO of LandCorp. This is Devlin Madsen, the president.”
Adrian tried not to show surprise at the name. Jack? Nikki hadn’t said his last name, but it had to be him. So, Devlin had made the deal with the man, then. Yet, they were still looking for investors, evidenced by how quickly Devlin had agreed to the meeting.
Devlin leaned forward, his grip soggy. His brow furrowed as he studied Adrian. Did he recognize him? It was too late now. Adrian had to keep the charade up.
Jack gestured to a chair across the table. “Please, sit down.” Jack, the CEO. He smiled, and Adrian could well imagine that smile charming someone like Nikki. “I appreciate you coming down from New York to talk with us. I understand you heard we needed some help.” Jack glanced at Devlin. “May I ask where?”
“You’ve heard of my uncle, Carlo D’Aprile, right?” Adrian’s confident smile gave way to amazement. “You never heard of Carlo?” He laughed. “I thought everyone had heard about him. Anyway, he’s got a large family operation up in New York, but he likes to keep his fingers all over the country. He has a particular fondness for real estate and South Florida. Uncle Carlo looked at that building but saw the flaws immediately.” Devlin’s face flushed, and he avoided Jack’s burning gaze at Adrian’s words. “Of course, when it sold for a price far beyond its value, he was more than curious about the transaction. Being that he’s in Sicily right now taking care of some old…debts, he asked me to check it out.”
Devlin stood, face still red. “The man was a scam artist. He could have fooled anyone. Even the consultant I hired agreed the building was sound, that the deal was good. He’s gone, too. The whole thing was a set up.”
“Devlin,” Jack murmured, giving him a pointed look. Devlin sat down, kneading his fingers in his lap. Jack turned to Adrian, that smile intact. “I wasn’t involved or consulted in this deal, but it’s my job to make the best of it. We have investigators seeking the man or men involved. Why are you here, Mr. Santucci? Certainly not out of curiosity.”
Adrian sputtered a laugh. “Nah, not at all. Uncle Carlo, he figured you got bamboozled. Being a fine, upright kind of guy, he gets real generous when someone gets bamboozled, so he sent me down here to see what he could do to help you out.”
Jack’s eyebrows raised. “And how does he propose to do that?”
“By loaning you the money you need, how else? No bank’s going to touch that building, but Uncle Carlo, like I said, is feeling pretty generous. He’ll loan you the money for a share of the rebuilt project.”
“What kind of share?” Devlin asked before Jack could open his m
outh.
“We gotta look at all the numbers before we can tell you that. As I said, Uncle Carlo is feeling—”
“I know, ‘generous’,” Jack finished. “So what exactly do you need?”
“I’ll need numbers, lots of them. Background information on your company, what you need to blow that building to pieces and make it pretty again. So, gentlemen, let’s get to the bottom line here, which is always money. How much do you need?”
“Money isn’t only the bottom line, but every line in between heaven and hell,” Jack said, smiling to temper his words. “LandCorp made a bad decision, but we can turn this into a money-making venture for all of us. We owe the bank fourteen million dollars. So far I’ve been able to allay their fears once word got to them about the building being useless. If we can assure them of plans to make the venture successful, we can quell their fears. Our goal would be to rebuild and sell the building and surrounding property, which might get us forty to fifty million. I think that would be a nice, tidy number for all concerned. I’ll get you the necessary numbers.” His blue eyes hardened. “So, tell me about this uncle of yours. Carlo D’Aprile? What kind of projects does he get involved with?”
Adrian met Jack’s skeptical look square on, keeping his profile to Devlin as much as possible. “Let’s just say Uncle Carlo likes to dabble in a little of everything: real estate, exporting and importing, even art.”
Adrian was all but telling them outright that good old Uncle Carlo was Mafia. If Devlin and Jack weren’t desperate, they’d send Adrian out the door.
Jack glanced at Devlin. “My partner and I will begin working on it right away. It might take a couple of days.” Jack stood. “I’ll be interested to see just how generous your uncle can be.”
Adrian didn’t stand, and Jack sank down into his chair again. Adrian relaxed, signaling an end to the business part of the meeting but not the meeting itself. “My uncle likes to know about the men behind the investment. Where are you from, Jack? What does your family do?”
Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) Page 17
