by Linda Verji
Her heart swelled at his beautiful words, melted when he added, "Your scar is a part of you. And I like every part of you." His hands running all over her back, he pulled her in for a deep kiss. "I like the way you smile." He nipped at her bottom lip. "I like the way you breathe." His mouth lowered to her heaving cleavage and kissed the top of each breast. "I like the way you walk." He fit his hands to her hips hiking her higher onto his lap until she could feel his desire, swollen beneath her. "I like everything."
The man knew the way to a woman's affections. His words made her feel beautiful, feel… perfect. And right there, right then, she couldn't help but adore the man who'd made her feel that way. This time she was the one who pulled him back in for a passionate kiss and lifted up from his lap so they could discard their clothes. Once they were both naked, she settled back on his lap and guided him into her.
There were no preliminaries to their lovemaking.
She was ready. He was ready.
"Aaah!" His groan matched hers as he entered her. It was ridiculous how well they fit each other. Her breath caught at the delicious feeling of him spearing into her, stretching her, filling her, melting her. Her fingers digging into his shoulders and her eyes locked on his hooded gaze, she pushed down further, taking him completely into her.
She began to move. Up, down, up, down, she rode him. In, out, in, out, he plunged into her. She worked her hips over him in a circular motion, making sure that every inch of him was captured, squeezed, milked.
"That's it, sweetheart," he encouraged. The endearment sent an electric current through her; his hands caressing her breasts racked up that current until it felt like her body would come apart if…. if… if something didn't happen. Her whole body seemed frozen, on the cusp of something great.
"Damián," she whimpered as she rocked her hips into his and ground his cock into her dripping core. "Please."
And he knew just what she needed. Lowering his hands to her buttocks and gripping hard, he stood with her in his arms. Even as he carried her to the bed, she continued to rock up and down his shaft, her cries echoing in the room. Still glued deep inside her, he set her on the bed then covered her with his body.
Then he was in control
On top of her, inside her, moving in long, slow and really hard rhythm that had her hooking her legs high up his flanks so he could drill deeper. He was heaven - and she greedily took of him. He mastered her with his strong thrust, possessed her with his unceasing strokes, drove her closer and closer and closer….
She was flying, cindering, shattering into a million pieces. Wave after wave of pleasure flooded through her, drowned her until every bit of air she breathed was filled with him. Still Damián continued to move. Placing his forehead against hers, he pulled back and then slammed back into her so hard, she shook. Then he did it again. And again. Like a jackhammer, her thrust into her, feeding off of her pleasure. Soon he too was shuttling into his release.
WHEN THEY COULD finally breathe again, he rolled to his side, taking her with him. For a while they lay in silence. He ran his hand across her cheek, pushing aside her hair before kissing her forehead. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." She nodded.
"You run a matchmaking agency, right?"
Amusement bubbling in her, she looked up at him and nodded. "Right."
"And you believe in love?" He waited for her nod before asking, "So why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" Her brow furrowed in confusion.
For a long moment, he was silent, staring into her eyes. Then he clarified, "Why are you marrying me?"
It was an odd question to ask, and it broke the easy mood that had eclipsed her. Her stomach knotted as she tried to think of a good answer for him. Finally she settled on the truth. "For the money."
"No." He shook his head. "It's about more than money. I know you, Aiko. You'd never have come to me unless you were out of choices."
She wanted to tell him that he didn't know her as well as he thought, but she was too startled by his perceptiveness.
Sweeping his palm over her arm, he encouraged, "Tell me."
And she found herself saying, "When I came back from the army I was a wreck. I'd just been discharged for being pregnant, the man I loved was dead-"
"Seraphina's father?" Damián asked.
"Yeah. He died out there." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "- And I was still having nightmares about the things I'd seen out there. The killing, the hatred, the sadness…. let's just say that I was a prime candidate for PTSD."
Aiko glossed over her suicide attempt and said, "My parents supported me through it all. They housed me, fed me, paid for my therapy, and made sure I got to all my pre-natal appointments even when I felt like the world would shatter if I got out of bed. They took care of Seraphina when I fell into post-natal depression, all without a word of complaint - even though my father was himself starting to experience health complications."
Damián held her and listened quietly as she told him of her father's plunge into memory loss, of her mother's untimely death and how it'd worsened her father's condition, but he didn't interrupt. His silent comfort encouraged her to open up to him even more.
She continued, "… so when Femi told me that it was either find the money to pay the mortgage or sell their house, I had only one choice. Find the money. Whatever it took."
For a long moment he was silent, watching her. Perhaps he was thinking that it would've been more rational for her to let the house go as Femi had suggested, and didn't know how to tell her. She gave him a rueful smile. "You must think I'm a fool."
"No, foolish is the last thing you are." He wove his fingers with hers. "I think you're brave. Not many people would've been willing to sacrifice themselves like that for their family. I don't even know if I could."
Sliding her hands up his chest, she said, "I'm sure you'd do the same thing for Archie."
His eyebrows shot up. "You overestimate me. If he was losing his house, I'd probably only go there to see what furniture I could steal."
"You're horrible." She chuckled, and he soon joined her, their mutual amusement rolling between them.
After a long moment she asked, "How come you never speak about your mum or Zoe's mum?"
He hesitated for a while before saying. "My mum's in Brazil, trying - and failing - to revive her telenovela career. She'll probably be back soon and you'll get to meet her."
"I can't wait." But she noticed that he still hadn't answered one of her questions. She pressed, "What about Zoe's mum?"
This time his pause was longer and his answer when it came was even vaguer. "She's not in the picture." When she stared at him in silence, her brow raised in question, he finally capitulated, "Jeanine was my professor in college…"
Theirs was the typical student-teacher story. He was her smartest student. She was a beautiful but lonely, married woman. He stayed behind a few times for some clarifications on the course material. One thing led to another. Only their story had a twist.
"… she found out she was pregnant a couple of days before my graduation," Damián traced Aiko's arm unconsciously as he added, "and saw no need to tell me. She was married. I was a broke student- as far as she knew. Telling me, she felt, would only complicate matters. So she broke up with me and passed Zoe off as her husband's child. I guess she didn't count on Zoe needing a transfusion."
Aiko let out an involuntary gasp. "What?"
"Yup. Neither she nor Henry were a match." His tone bitter, he continued, "She was so determined to stick to her story that she kept insisting the hospital do more tests - they couldn't be right. If her husband hadn't intervened she would've let Zoe die."
Aiko blinked in shock. Hiding the affair, she could understand, but the willingness to put Zoe in danger to keep up the charade was… inconceivable. Aiko couldn't, in her darkest nightmares, imagine putting Seraphina in that position. "Henry called you?"
Damián nodded. Playing with her fingers he said, "After Zoe was release
d from hospital, Jeanine claimed that Henry wouldn't let her or Zoe into his house. So, I took them in. But apparently, I hadn't learnt my lesson because Jeanine and I took up right where we left off." He chuckled, but there was no amusement in his laugh. "Stupid. I know."
"You were in love, not stupid." Aiko squeezed his hand. "And she was the mother of your child."
"Yeah, well. Clearly, I was the only one in love and she was just using me." At Aiko's questioning look, he explained, "I overheard a phone conversation between her and Henry. She was telling him that the only reason she was with me is so that she could have a basis to demand sole-custody of Zoe as well as more money for child support. Her plan was to claim that while she was living in my house I'd been abusive and that she was forced to leave me - that I was a danger to Zoe."
Aiko gasped, "And Henry agreed to this?"
"I have no idea. I don't even know if he really kicked them out or if it's just something she said to get into my house." Damián shrugged. "But I took that phone-call it was my cue to get out. Once she realized I wasn't playing ball, she went back to Henry, but he didn't want Zoe. And when he said that he would only take her back if she didn't have Zoe, she didn't even have to think twice."His lips twisted in distaste.
Was she listening to a soap opera or a true story? Aiko couldn't believe that there was any mother as callous as Jeanine. Leaving her husband for money. Dumping her daughter on a man she hadn't seen for more than a half a decade without a second thought. No wonder Damián wasn't interested in love. Jeanine had ruined it for him.
She arched upwards to place a gentle kiss on his lips. "I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be." He ran his fingers over her jaw. "You're not Jeanine. Or Holly."
"Holly?"
"Not worth even a caption." He shook his head. "Let's just say I was desperate for a mother for Zoe and still thought there were women out there who'd take us without being after our money. Long story short; I found out she was heavy in gambling debts and telling her bookies that as soon as she married me they'd all be paid off. The rest is history…" His words trailed off into hushed silence.
His being so damaged should've set off Aiko's alarm bells. It only made her want to hold him closer. Exposing his vulnerability to her had to have been difficult. Almost as difficult as taking on the responsibility of a child he didn't even know existed. Almost as difficult as accepting that he wasn't fathering his daughter in the right way and being willing to change. Almost as difficult as sacrificing himself to the altar of marriage even when he didn't believe in love, just for his daughter.
She'd thought him a coward. But now all she could see was the signs of strength that she'd been blind do and the hidden depths he continued to show. In that moment Aiko realized how easy it would be to fall in love with Damián.
How stupid that would be?
Despite everything, he was a stung man, wary of all women. It would take a miracle for him to believe that they were not all the same. And she was the worst possible person to make him believe - after all, she was with him because of money too. He would never fall for her.
Hedging her bets on it happening eventually was like buying a lottery ticket then taking out a loan on the ticket. Stupid. Loving someone who didn't love you was no fun - and Aiko didn't want to be that woman. No, she needed to guard her heart.
Pulling away from him, she turned to check the clock. "It's getting late. You should probably go to your room."
Damián groaned as he tried to drag her over him again. "Just a few more minutes."
"No." She untangled herself from his hold with stiff smile. "You should go. We don't want you running into anyone."
He studied her for a long moment before nodding curtly. "You're right."
Her emotions vacillated between relief and disappointment as she watched him dress. She was relieved because being in his arms was a sure way to weaken her defenses - and she didn’t want that. Or did she? Her disappointment prodded.
Why did her heart ache when he fastened the last button on his shirt? Why did her lungs tighten when he bent down to give her a goodnight kiss? And why did her heart drop to her stomach when he closed the door behind him?
It certainly wasn't because she was already in love with him.
CHAPTER 22
Despite Aiko's pleas, Damián had no intention of letting his father get away with hitting on her. No way. His father had done a lot of shitty things in his lifetime but this… this one took the cake. He needed to be stopped.
The following morning, immediately after Aiko left for church, Damián headed to his father's house. Archie's home sat in comfortable and serene solidity on several acres of land on the outskirts of the city. Damián cruised over the asphalt driveway, bypassing limestone-fenced pastures filled with horses, stables, and neatly manicured gardens before coming to a stop in front of the country-style house.
Most people felt nostalgic and warm when they came to the house where they'd grown up. Damián didn't. He still remembered the loneliness of being an only child of a man who spent most of his time in Washington DC. His mother had tried her best, but she was a social butterfly who was consumed by the need to fit into society. He'd always been her second priority. Maybe if he'd had a sibling, it would've been different… better. Either way, he had no desire to go back to that life.
Before he even got to the door, Jonas, their longtime butler threw it open.
"Jonas." Damián inclined his head in greeting as he surveyed the tall, slender man. "Where's my father?"
"In the pool house." Jonas stepped aside to let him in. "With Miss Nicole."
The last part was meant as a warning that his father might be 'busy', but Damián was too pissed off to heed it. He strode through the house, past the sliding doors that led to the terrace and to the pool house. Hardly a minute later, he knocked on the door and without even waiting for an 'enter' barged in.
The scene in the house was cozy, to say the least. Archie was lying face down on a massage table set up right in the middle of the room, naked except for a ridiculously small towel draped over his butt. Massaging him was Nicole; she was in a white tank top and white leggings that hid little of her 'enhanced' body especially because she'd managed to pour just as much oil on herself as on Archie.
The two occupants both turned startled gazes towards the door on Damián's abrupt entrance.
Archie started, "Damián what th-"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Damián exploded. "Is it that hard to keep your pants zipped up?"
Archie stared at him for a shocked moment ordered Nicole. "Give us a moment."
While Nicole grabbed a towel, wrapped it round her body then skated past Damián to exit the house, Archie lifted on the massage table. Damián quickly averted his gaze, uninterested in seeing his father's junk.
"So? What did I do now?" Archie drew Damián's attention back to him. He was now seated on the edge of the massage table, with the tiny towel draped over his lower half. It was better than nothing.
"You came on to Aiko," Damián bit out. "I thought I told you to keep away from her."
"She told you?" Archie arched his brow. "Hmm."
"That's what you have to say for yourself. Hmm?"
"What else is there to say?" His expression inscrutable, Archie confessed, "Yes, you told me to keep away from her. But we both know I wasn't going to do that. So yes, I tried to pick her up. She refused. I don't see the problem."
Seriously? Feeling heated from the anger coursing through him, Damián narrowed his eyes. "You don't see the problem with hitting on one of my staff?"
"No. And usually you wouldn't care eith-" Archie's eyes widened as awareness seeped into them then he grinned. "Oh! I see. I see. A real chip off the block, aren't you?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Damián gritted the words between his teeth.
Archie's grin widened, and he winked. "Don't pretend you don't know, you sly dog. You're sleeping with her, aren't you?"
"No," Dami
án lied.
But his father knew him too well. Archie burst into laughter. "Good for you," the older man said between laughs. "She's a hot piece of ass." A crafty gleam entered the older man's eyes as he offered, "Don't worry, I can wait until you're done with her."
Damián saw red and his hands curled into fists. To hear anyone speaking of Aiko like that; it was enough to make his blood boil. Were Archie not his father he would've punched the vile words back into his mouth. His jaw and muscles taut with restrained anger, he snapped, "Keep the fuck away from her. This is your last warning, old man."
With those words he turned and reached for the doorknob but before he could turn it, his father called out, "Damián."
Damián paused but didn't turn.
"I know she's the matchmaker Josiah sent you to," his father said quietly.
Damián jerked his head back as if he'd been struck and turned to face his father. "So what?"
"I was waiting for you to tell me the truth, and you didn't."
"Because it is none of your business. She's not your business," Damián retorted. Maybe he should've felt guilty, but he was way too furious, and as he'd said, Aiko was his business - not Archie's.
"No, You didn't tell me because you were hiding her," Archie countered, his eyes intent as they studied his son. "What exactly is she doing in your house? Is she really there to nanny Zoe or do you have another agenda?"
"None. Of. Your. Business."
"You can't even answer that simple question." Archie shook his head as a knowing look gleamed in his eyes. "Do you have feelings for this Aiko woman?"
He waited for an answer but Damián just glared at him, so he continued, "… because we both know that would be beyond stupid." His eyes narrowed. "Then again, you've never been really smart when it came to women."
Damián stared at his father for a long drawn moment before he shook his head. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
"I know." Archie shrugged. "But I'm also your father and I'm trying to protect you."
