by Angela Blake
Danielle’s relationship with her mother was no longer as strained, but she was cautious at best.
“I hear you and Sean Callaghan have been spending a lot of time together.” Her mother asked, watching her over the coffee she was sipping.
Danielle gave her a forced smile, understanding what this was about.
“Mr. Arton wanted me to show him around a little. We’re far from best friends.”
Her mother studied her, “That’s not what I heard.”
Danielle rolled her eyes, “Oh, yes. Because your sources of gossip are so trustworthy.”
“Jenny told me you went to his house for dinner.”
Danielle cursed her friend. She had never told Jenny the true details of what had happened with Julian and her own parent’s involvement. So it was not surprising that Jenny had casually mentioned Sean to her mother.
“It was a dinner. Nothing more, nothing less.” Danielle nibbled on the salmon in front of her.
Her mother smiled, “You should invite him to dinner with us this weekend. Your father and I would like to meet him. Besides, your father is working on a project that might interest your young man. They can talk business while I catch up with what’s going on in your life.”
Danielle put down her fork and knife, feeling herself grow cold inside.
The pain that slashed at her heart did not leak into her eyes.
She gave her mother a formal smile, “Sean is not my young man. He’s not my anything. If dad wants to involve him in a business venture, then I suggest he calls him up himself.”
She checked her watch, “Now, I’m running late for a meeting, so you’ll have to excuse me.”
Her mother just watched her, not saying a word as Danielle left.
Danielle looked at her car, and then decided to walk to the office.
Her mind was breaking apart, her heart shredded.
She had thought things would be different.
But her parents thought nothing of using her for their benefit.
They had not changed.
She walked slowly, her coat flung over her shoulders, warding off the cold.
A voice calling her name.
She blinked, and looked up to see Sean in his car, staring at her, “Do you need a ride?”
She took a shuddering breath, not wanting to see him just yet.
He had sent her flowers two days ago and then had taken her out to lunch yesterday.
But right now, she didn’t want to see his face and be reminded of her mother, back at the restaurant.
She offered him a tight smile, “No, I’m good.”
She started walking again, and felt annoyed when he parked his car and fell in step with her, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She muttered. Then with an afterthought, “Work stuff. You wouldn’t get it.”
He raised a brow, “Try me.”
She stopped and whirled around to face him, “I don’t particularly want company right now, Sean.”
Her expression was dark and her eyes held hints of vulnerability, that told him she was near shattering.
She was struggling to regain some measure of composure.
And was failing.
“Danielle.”
He clasped her chin and lifted it, forcing her to look directly at him, “Breathe.”
“I am breathing.” She said, a hint of annoyance present in her voice.
But his eyes were steady as he watched her, and she regulated her breathing.
His hand on her, his presence was comforting. It was letting her look past everything.
“Are you going back to work?” He asked.
She looked in the direction of her office, and then shook her head, mutely, “I don’t think I should. Jenny can handle the meeting today. I’m going to head home.”
“I’ll come with you.”
She looked away, “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“I think it is.” He stared at her, his voice firm, making her grit her teeth.
“Fine. Do whatever you want,” she told him.
He stuck his hands in the pockets of his three-piece suit, and gave her a charming smile, “Oh, I intend to.”
She made him walk back to her apartment.
It was a half hour walk, but she was used to it.
To her annoyance, he wasn’t even slightly out of breath, or disgruntled by the fact that he had to leave his car at a random spot.
“Would you like something to drink?” Danielle asked him stiffly, as she let him in.
“A beer?”
She bared her teeth at him, “I don’t keep beer at the apartment. How about some organic apple juice?”
Sean felt the bite in her tone and was amused at her attempts to drive him out.
He moved over to study the statue that he had his eye on, and murmured, “That’s my favourite kind.”
“You know, sometimes, you can be a git.” She told him, forcing a laugh out of him.
“Yes, I know.” He grinned at her as he accepted the glass from her.
She watched him study the statue and frowned, “You really like that, don’t you?”
His lips curved slightly and he sipped his drink, watching her over the glass, “I have an interest in history, you can say.”
Danielle rolled her eyes, “Okay.”
He watched her walk around the room, her movements agitated.
“Is my presence bothering you?”
A glare his way, “What gave it away?”
Chuckling, he moved towards her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning back against the back of the couch, forcing her into him.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Danielle.” The authority in his voice made her shiver and she looked up to see his eyes dark and serious.
“It’s nothing important,” she insisted.
His hand roamed over her back, offering affection, while his eyes were fixed on hers.
“Tell me.”
She hated this.
She hated being forced to talk about her problems. Nothing good ever came out of it.
“I was engaged to a guy until last year. His name was Julian.”
He knew who Julian was. His grandfather had told him a little bit about that.
However, he said nothing.
“My parents wanted to meet him before he proposed. And he and my dad started a new venture together.” Her jaw was tense.
“Julian started cheating on me. Everyone knew. My dad knew. My mother knew. They didn’t tell me because if I broke my engagement, it might have affected my dad’s project which was in the works. So they kept silent.”
Sean scowled.
But she was far from done.
“My parents even took him and his girlfriend to dinner to celebrate the signing of the final contracts. While I was still engaged to him.”
Her face was white and although her tone was calm, the confused pain in her voice was like that of a child who had been punished for something she didn’t understand.
Sean’s blood heated at such an act of betrayal.
“I-“ She took a shuddering breath, “I walked in on him and his girlfriend when I came back from work one day to pick up some documents I had forgotten. And well, the rest is history. We broke up. I found out my parents knew.”
Sean was silent, his hand rubbing her back in a way that made her feel not so alone.
“They’re my parents. I had to move past it. And today, I was told that they wanted to meet you.”
A laugh that lacked humour, “Let’s repeat history, shall we?”
He wasn’t supposed to feel for her. He wasn’t supposed to want to beat Julian up for causing these scars on Danielle’s heart. He especially shouldn’t want to protect her from the world.
Sean’s mind was a mass of raging emotions, as he glared at a spot over head,
his blood demanding violence. It had been years since he had wanted to bloody someone up. He had stepped out of that role of being a mean Dublin rat. Quick fingers and a stronger fist.
He had made something of himself and now, standing in front of her, watching this woman try to bury her hurt inside of her in a place that no one could see, he wanted to hurt Julian. He wanted to hurt her parents for treating her like they had.
“I’m not going to cheat on you, Danielle.”
She gave him a forced smile, “I’m not saying you will. I didn’t mean to imply that.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he, instead, gripped her arms, and slanted his mouth over hers in a way that had her eyes widening in shock.
Her heart stuttered at the way he was kissing her.
It was rough, almost wild, with a tinge of desperation, and she fell into it.
Her eyes closed as she let him dominate the kiss, dominate her.
His tongue forced entrance into her mouth and explored it. Each crevice, each angle, he hit and devastated. Each time he sucked on her tongue, Danielle’s knees went weak as her arousal grew.
She felt one hand go down and lift her skirt, slipping his hand over her panties and rubbing over her sweet spot.
Moaning into the kiss, as he slowly rubbed her in just the right way, she found herself unable to process any thought as he inserted a finger in, her panties still in the way. The rough material inside her dripping pussy had her making small sounds as he thoroughly devastated her body.
His mouth moved lower, kissing her jaw, her neck, and then trailing its way back to her mouth.
He didn’t let her come, however.
As she started moving in his finger, he pulled it out, instead, gripping her waist in a firm hold and slowing down the kiss, making it more gentle, more loving.
The onslaught of sensations was too much for her, and when she felt the wetness trail down her cheeks, it startled her.
It startled her even more when he kissed away her tears, almost worshipping her, and when he pulled away, she had to find her balance.
She rested her head on his face, her breathing harsh, her legs still rubbing against each other in an effort to find some sort of fulfilment.
“You can be a bastard sometimes.” She panted out, and heard his chest rumble in suppressed laughter.
He cupped her face and made her look at him, “You’re like an addiction, Danielle. Trust me, you’re all I want.”
She watched him with dark mistrustful eyes, but there was a softening there, that told him he might have been a little successful.
“And I’m not a huge fan of your parents to begin with, so I’ll meet them only at your insistence.”
Danielle sighed and moved away from him, “I have to call Jenny. Tell her that I’m working from home today. You should go do what you have to do. I don’t need a babysitter.”
Those intense green eyes followed her around the room, “I was coming by to see you. So, I’ll stay.”
Danielle frowned, “But I’ll be working.”
Sean shrugged, settling in front of the television, “Then I’ll just hang about.”
She studied the back of his head, and then shook her head.
It was his choice.
But as she worked on the couch on her laptop, her eyes kept flying to him. He was keeping an eye on her, providing her with company so that she wouldn’t break.
When was the last time someone, aside from Jenny, had worried about her like this?
It was a nice feeling to be cared about like this.
She hadn’t intended to fall for this man.
He was a force of nature, taking over a room when he walked in. He had a commanding presence, and his voice when he took over in the bedroom was hard, demanded discipline, obedience, and she liked it.
When he had told her she was sexually submissive, it had worried her. Was she losing her own identity? But outside of the bedroom, he treated her like he always had, with amusement, patience, and respect.
But inside the bedroom, he expected her to be completely submissive to him.
It was a fair trade, she thought.
That was the one time she could let go of everything and worry about nothing but to listen to him.
Feeling him drag her feet onto his lap, she smiled at him, relaxing in his presence.
She had a feeling she was way in over her head where Sean was concerned.
Chapter Eight
Sean looked into the fireplace, a brooding expression on his face.
Things were not going the way he had planned.
Sure, he had altered the plan a little bit.
But he had never intended to start developing feelings for a mark.
Danielle had first presented herself as a challenge, and he had enjoyed her resistance. But contrary to the other women in their social circle, she had class, believed in hard work, and didn’t take shit from anybody.
A tough exterior with a damaged interior, which she did her best to hide under her cold looks and sassy remarks. Her willingness to submit to him in the bedroom was something that he had thought would make him enjoy this challenge even more.
But then she had somehow wormed her way into his heart.
He sipped at his wine, annoyed.
He shouldn’t be feeling protective of her.
He didn’t want to be enamoured by her.
And yet he was.
The way she looked at him in the throes of passion, the trust in those eyes, it humbled him. He had had other submissives before her, but there was always something missing, some element that detached him from them on an emotional level.
But with Danielle, he had clicked almost immediately. That day at the auction, she had grabbed his attention well before he had recognized her.
And his attraction to her had grown wildly out of control with each meeting till the point that he had decided on having her in his bed.
And now that he had her, he never wanted to let her go.
But he found himself studying her small reactions, the way she scowled, the way she sulked at certain things, and then the calm patience with which she carried herself through her hurdles, never once breaking.
Her strength drove him wild.
He wanted it. He wanted her.
He wanted to possess this fierce hearted little warrior; add her to his collection, permanently. But she was a person, not a thing.
He wanted all of her smiles, all of her attention. Her anger, her tears, they should be his.
His to protect.
He pursed his lips, decision made.
The treasure he was now after, had much more value than the statue.
He started walking towards his hidden treasure room.
***
Meanwhile, back at her apartment, Danielle closed her laptop and put it aside. Walking to the window, she leaned against it, and frowned.
Were things moving too fast between her and Sean?
He had been on her mind for the past few days. Ever since he had comforted her in her apartment, had cared for her, looked after her, the very thought of him, made her heart beat just a little faster.
She studied her reflection in the window.
She didn’t want this to be another mistake. She didn’t want to be hurt again.
Once was enough.
Her eyes moved to the balcony and her brow knitted together.
Had that scrape always been there?
She pushed the window open and studied the scrape on the edge of the rail.
Her blood ran cold when she realized it wasn’t a scrape but a partial shoe print.
Somebody had stepped on the edge of her rail.
Looking uneasy, she studied the height to the ground.
If someone had done something so reckless, they would have slipped and fallen to their death. Her building was very tall and the gusts of winds these days were especially strong.
&nb
sp; How could anyone manage to do that?
Her window was always barred so she didn’t think anybody could have come in.
But now that she knew what she was looking for, her eyes saw the brown smudge on the white curtain, inside the room.
Instead of fear, rage filled her.
Wasn’t it enough that her life was a goddamn mess? Now somebody was trying to break into her apartment.
She scanned the room.
Was she missing anything?
Nothing was out of place.
Moving slowly, she studied each and every item, till her eyes fell on the small statue.
Doubt flickered in her mind, but she picked it up.
Her eyes went blank, as cold permeated through her entire body. Her chuckle was bitter.
Of all the things –
Of course. It made perfect sense now.
She was such a fool!
She ran her hands over her grandmother’s last gift to her, and the emptiness of her smile was a devastating sight. It was the look of one who had been shattered but didn’t know how to react, how to pick herself up.
The phone rang.
She ignored it for a few seconds before lifting her head up.
Placing the statue back in its place, she picked up her cell phone, “Yes, Mom?”
“Hello, darling. Your father and I wanted to know whether next Friday would be a good time for both you and Sean to come over for dinner?”
Danielle picked up a pencil that lay on the coffee table and twirled it between her fingers, “Why?”
“Why?” Her mother echoes, sounding confused. “Because we want to get to know your young man.”
“Like you wanted to get to know Julian?” She asked, her tone still apathetic.
The disapproval in her mother’s tone was heavy, “How long are you going to hold onto that, Danielle? It was a business thing. Your father would have lost a few million dollars.”
Danielle’s eyes followed the pencil in her fingers, “A few million dollars? That sounds rather nasty. He would have been devastated. People would have talked about him behind his back for months, pointed fingers at him. Like they did with me. I’m so glad I could spare him all that trauma.”
Her mother was silent, “You can throw a tantrum all you want-“
“Did you know somebody broke into my apartment?” Danielle commented, casually. “No, wait. You don’t. Well, surprise.”
