by Elodie Colt
“It’s not the first time I found one around here. They like to hide in the trucks transporting fruits. Maybe she hid in a banana carton in the storage room.”
“Can I draw her?” Leonara looks up at me with her huge, turquoise eyes twinkling with excitement.
“Uhm, sure.” A heartbreaking smile lights up her face, and she jumps out of her seat, dashing upstairs to get her utensils while I set the spider on the table and put a bulgy glass over it.
A minute later, she comes back down and starts to draw, not sparing me another glance as she loses herself in her art. For a moment, I wish she’d look at me with the same admiration while she scrapes her teeth over her lip ring in concentration.
She growls all of a sudden, furiously rubbing at a black line with her fingertip. “This pencil is crap.”
Chuckling, I take another sip from my Corona. No date has ever been more entertaining. “Is it?”
“It’s too hard. Feels like drawing with a scalpel.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I want my phone,” she demands, changing the subject with lightning speed.
I sigh, shaking my head. “That’s out of the question, sorry.”
“I just want to send one message. If you don’t trust me, then send it for me.”
The funny thing is, I do trust her, I realize, but I can’t take any chances. I live a dangerous life, and I have an identity to safeguard. “Who do you want to contact?”
“My friend. I just want to tell her that I’m okay because knowing her, she’s going crazy with worry.”
“Tell me about her.”
“Kendra?” She looks at me briefly from under her lashes before resuming to move her pencil. “She’s the complete opposite of me. Self-confident, optimistic, communicative, pretty…” The sentence trails off. I’m close to correcting her about the last part but don’t want to interrupt now that she’s finally opening up to me. “She saved me.”
“How so?”
“She was there for me when no one else was,” is all she reveals.
I ponder over her words for a second. “I’ll make you a deal. You answer all my questions, and I’ll let your friend know that you are in safe hands.”
“Am I?” she counters, eyes glued to the paper.
“Have I given you any reason to doubt me?”
Her eyes dart up to mine. “What about our last deal? I still have no fucking clue why I’m here.”
“I’m going to keep my promise, don’t worry.” She takes a moment to search for the truth in my eyes before giving in with a nod. “Tell me how it happened.”
For a second, I fear she might throw a tantrum, but she keeps her composure. “How what happened?” she asks, feigning to be in the dark about what I want to know.
“You know what I mean.”
“Why should I tell you of all people?”
“Because unlike all people, I don’t try to fix what’s not broken.”
Victoria managed to give me insight into the files of her therapist. In short, it says Leonara has a shattered personality that is beyond repair. I don’t believe her. Leonara just needs someone to help her shoulder the burden.
My words affect her because she sets down her pencil and gives me a steel-hard look. She makes this jerk with her shoulder again, but it’s only a slight movement.
“Marcus was my father’s best friend. When I found out my father smuggled drugs, we had a fight. That night, he left me alone with Marcus.” It takes every ounce of strength to keep my composure. Gathering from the flat tone of her voice, Leonara handles her past way better than me.
“He came into my room and took me from behind. And with behind I mean…” She trails off, searching for words, and it’s all I can do not to shatter the bottle in my hands. “Let’s just say, I’m still a virgin.” My face freezes in shock. Twenty years and still innocent? I shouldn’t be surprised considering the asshole ruined her, body and soul. “My father didn’t believe me, so I left.”
“Where did you go?”
“There was nowhere to go. I lived on the streets for a few months, and then I met Kendra.”
My thoughts are already elsewhere. “How did he die?”
“Funny story,” she says with a chuckle. “A year later, he got drunk at a party, hit his head and fell into the ocean. The blood attracted a shark that bit him in two. A pity I didn’t keep the newspaper article,” she adds as an afterthought. “Now it’s time to keep your end of the bargain. Why am I here?”
I don’t answer immediately, needing time to bring my thoughts in order. How can someone be so vulnerable yet so strong at the same time?
This girl is definitely one of a kind. She’s authentic. She’s pure. There’s nothing she hides, nothing she tries to disguise except the scars of her past buried underneath a masterpiece of body art.
“I want to find your father.”
“I don’t know where he is,” she prompts. “I didn’t know where he was most of the time when I was a child. He was rarely home. What do you want from him?”
“He dealt on my territory.” And he’s responsible for your mother’s death, I add mentally, but I’m not ready to break it to her yet.
“Your territory…” she repeats with a mocking grin. “And what will you do with him should you find him?”
Taking another sip of my beer, I smack my lips. “Haven’t decided yet.” It’s obvious she doesn’t care if I let him be or bury him alive. In her eyes, Piero died a long time ago.
“As I said, I don’t know where he is.”
“This is why you’re here. He’ll come for you.”
My words cause her to throw her head back and bark out a loud laugh. “You want to use me as leverage? You don’t know Piero Alvarez. He doesn’t give a shit about me. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but your plan is nuts.”
Sadly, she’s right. People like Piero are the scum I’m dealing with every day. “Let that be my concern.”
She gives me a skeptical look, one I return with my well-trained poker face. “Okay, so what then? You’ll let me go? Just like that?”
“Yes. My men will see to it that you return home safely.”
Strangely, I don’t like the idea of her leaving. I shouldn’t think of her as anything other than a means to an end, yet she became so much more ever since she stepped over my threshold.
She brings life into my heart, even if hers is as black as mine, which reminds me that she’s still in the dark about what happened to her mother. From what Victoria found out, Leonara was close to Sofia before she left, and I have no idea how Leonara will react.
Then again, prolonging the inevitable won’t do me any good. Leonara is unpredictable, and I know next to nothing about her, but one thing I do know—she values honesty. Besides, at the latest on her birthday when she holds the painting in her hands, if not sooner, she’ll find out the truth anyway.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She squints her eyes in suspicion.
“There’s something you need to know, but I… dammit, I should be the last one to tell you this…” I mumble in frustration, raking a hand through my hair.
“What?”
“Your mother, she… she’s dead.”
The words leave his mouth at the same time the air leaves my lungs. I blink, repeating them in my head as Daniel’s concerned gaze rests on me. He looks as if he sits just short of bolting out of his seat to catch me, should I fall from my chair.
“How would you know?” I require in a low but steady voice.
“My men found her.”
“Where?”
“On my territory,” he concedes, dropping his head as if guilty.
“How?” His eyes dart up to mine, but he keeps silent. “Tell me.”
“It was an accident.”
I don’t miss him sidestepping my question, and I shoot out of my seat in a fury. “How?”
“She had an argument with your father and threatened him with a knife. It got out of control and�
�”
“He killed her,” I conclude, horrified.
“No.”
I scrutinize him, not trusting his words. My father never forgave my mother for leaving him. It drove him mad. I experienced his rage attacks firsthand. “Do you have proof?”
“Yes. We have an eyewitness, and there were no fingerprints of his on the knife.” My heart lodges in my throat as I picture my mother getting stabbed. “Leonara…” Daniel starts in a gentle voice, slowly rising from his chair so as not to scare me.
“I need air.” Pivoting on my heels, I storm out on autopilot. When I reach the entrance doors, Emilio steps in front of me, blocking my way.
I’m short of shouting at him to get out of my sight, but Daniel beats me to it. “It’s okay, let her go.” Then he adds in a lower voice, “But keep an eye on her.”
The night is warm and humid as I amble along the pool. I feel the guards watching me from a distance, but I don’t pay them any attention. I halt on the bridge connecting the pool with a round seating area that looks as if floating on top. A waterfall on the other side lets the surface ripple, reflecting the green and blue lights from below.
I’ve always been a loner, content with my solitude, but now that my mother is gone, I’ve never felt lonelier. I always wished I’d see her again, dreaming of impossible things like opening a gallery together with her or introducing her to my future husband. Deep inside, I knew it was just wishful thinking, yet the finality of it all shatters my heart.
I wonder what the fight with my father was about. Considering Sofia felt the need to defend herself with a knife, he must have cornered her until she had no other way out.
I see Daniel walk up to me in my peripheral vision. He halts beside me, hands in his pockets. For a few minutes, neither of us speaks as we listen to the waterfall’s soft swoosh and the nocturnal animals chirping.
“I’m sorry…” he whispers.
I don’t understand the guilt lacing his voice. “Why? It wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m sorry you had to learn it from me. And I’m sorry that you hurt.”
“Did she get a funeral?”
“Yes, I saw to it personally. When all of this is over, I’ll take you to her grave.”
Leaning on the balustrade, my eyes swerve to the water lilies floating on the water. The funny thing is, I’m glad that Daniel was the one to tell me. Just imagine Kendra trying to break it to me with tears streaking her face. She would have fallen to her knees in front of me, looking at me with nothing but pity.
Don’t misunderstand me, I love her more than anything, but for some reason, Daniel feels like the safe rock keeping me from drowning in sorrow.
“Do you know what ‘Leonara’ means?” Daniel asks out of nowhere.
“No.” I can tell he’s trying to distract me, and I’m grateful.
“It’s the alternate spelling of the Greek name ‘Helen’ which means ‘helios’ which in return means… sun,” he reveals at last.
“Sun…” I ponder. “I’m not the sun.”
“I agree,” Daniel says to my surprise. He waits until I look at him before he adds, “You’re the total eclipse.”
This causes me to laugh. “What are you saying? That I’m plunging everything into utter darkness?” I layer my voice with a hint of mysteriousness, trying to make light of the situation, but Daniel’s gaze stays stern.
“Do you know what the ‘diamond ring effect’ is?”
“No.”
He leans his arms on the balustrade, eyes darting up to the night sky. “When the moon obscures the sun in a total eclipse, beads of sunlight shine through in some places. It’s an effect that occurs because of the uneven lunar topography.”
“So, you’re saying I’m a diamond ring effect?”
“You’re my diamond ring effect.”
His words cause me to do something I’ve never done in my life—I bite my lip both in awe and in shame. I’ve seen Ruby doing it when Jesse gives her a compliment and Sam when she watches Matthew working in the garden.
Feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden, I make my way back again with Daniel falling into line next to me. No guards are in sight. He must have told them to leave, and it feels good to have some privacy for once.
We don’t touch, but his proximity lets my heart jump erratically. While we continue our way along the mansion, my eyes are drawn to the rings on Daniel’s fingers. My thoughts wander to how his hand rested on my cleavage earlier, and I’m so caught up in the memory, I miss the garden hose lying on the ground. I stumble over it and flail with my arms, but it’s already too late. With an outcry of shock, I plunge into the pool.
“Leonara! Are you okay?” comes Daniel’s concerned voice as I break through the surface, gasping.
“All fine. I can swim, you know?” I chuckle, taking the hand Daniel’s offering me, but before he can pull me out, I yank, causing him to plunge into the water beside me.
I’ll never forget the sight as he comes up for air, shakes off the droplets running into his eyes, and pushes his hair back with both hands. Too bad I can’t click repeat and watch it in slow motion.
“Did you just throw me into the pool?” he asks nonchalantly, but his poise is predatory.
Smiling, I mumble an uncertain, “No…?”
The smile dies on my face as he stops a foot in front of me. The lights from the pool reflect in his blue eyes, making them sparkle in a mesmerizing way.
All of a sudden, a tidal wave of emotions crashes into me, and for the first time in years, a tear escapes my eye running down my cheek and mixing with the chlorine water. Daniel’s gaze follows its path before his hand comes up, brushing it away with a fingertip. No touch has ever felt so good, and my eyes zoom in on his lips.
Not hesitating, I rise on my tiptoes, and put my mouth over his. The tension in his body tells me he’s too shocked to move. For a moment, we stand stock-still, and I pull back to gauge his reaction.
“Why…” he starts but swallows. “Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know. It was suddenly all I could think of,” I confess in a whisper and add as an afterthought, “I’ve never kissed a man.”
“Never?” Daniel repeats in astonishment, but something else fascinates me all of a sudden—his shirt sticking to his skin, hugging his rippled muscles. Not asking for permission, I trail a finger over them.
Daniel’s hand gently pushes up my chin, so I have to look at him. “You’ve never been kissed by a man?” he repeats in disbelief, all the while letting me explore his torso with my hand.
“I never let them close enough,” is my unsteady answer.
He takes a step into me, causing me to take one back. “But you let me close to you? Me of all people?”
Another step, and my back comes up against the wall. My heart pounds so loudly in my chest, I’m sure he can feel the shockwaves in the water. “As you said… Other than all people, you don’t try to fix what’s not broken.”
The sentence is barely out of my mouth before his lips come down on mine.
Jesus… Is it always like this? No, surely not. It’s this man who makes my heart pump as if it just got revived for the first time, this man who sees me like he said he does—as the diamond ring in a total eclipse.
I gasp as he lightly sucks the water from my lower lip, again playing with my lip ring as if he can’t get enough of it. I have no idea what I’m doing, but he lets me nibble, suck, and play while I explore this new sensation. His breathing is harsh and his tongue relentless, so I might not be as incapable as I’ve thought.
At some point, his hands vanish underwater before reaching for my legs. Hoisting me up, he places me on the pool’s edge as he continues to devour my mouth, and I quiver as he slides the excess chiffon of my dress to the side, pulling me into him.
Out of the blue, something vibrates against my inner thigh, and it takes me a second to realize it’s Daniel’s phone. He pulls away slowly as if he’d rather continue to assault me, penetrating me with
his intense gaze as his phone keeps ringing in his pocket.
With a frustrated sigh, he fishes out a waterproof iPhone, and the name Natalia blinks up at me before Daniel declines the call, a worried expression on his face. Instantly, my mind reels over the question which box I should put her in. Business? Family? Friend? Lover?
“How was your first kiss?” Daniel croons, a seductive smile curling his lips, which I return with one of mine.
“Fucking hot.”
My answer turns his gaze from playful and flirty to hungry and tormented within the blink of an eye. He leans closer, brushing a finger over my parted mouth still swollen from his abuse. Just as his lips descend again, he shuts his eyes, resting his forehead against mine. The way his jaw clenches tells me he’s fighting with himself, and I wait until the battle is over.
“We should go inside,” he finally says, his voice strained and husky.
“Okay.”
We leave the pool and enter the mansion, soaking wet from head to toe. When we arrive at my door, I turn around to face him.
Daniel looks lost, and I wonder why. I mean, if there’s one person who has no idea how to process everything that happened tonight, it should be me!
“And, how was I? For someone who received her first kiss?”
My question seems to throw him off guard because he looks off to the side and mutters an incomprehensible curse word under his breath.
“Keep toying with me like that, and my guards will have to protect you from me at night.”
And with that, he vanishes around the corner leaving me utterly confused.
~~~
My first kiss…
I replay it countless times in my head trying to brand it into my mind to keep it there for eternity—every touch, every breath, every stroke. I rerun the memory over and over until my body tingles, and my panties are damp.
That night, I pleasure myself with his face in my mind, recalling how his deep voice spoke to my soul. I come hard, fast, and long, and it’s nearly impossible to hold back a loud moan.
Shit, what’s wrong with me? This guy kidnapped me and holds me here against my will. Then again, I’m not so sure about the last part. Now, instead of fear, I feel peace. Instead of feeling empty, I feel whole. Instead of floating in the dark realms of my soul, I feel strong.
