“Okay, I’ll be keeping score. Either way—”
“I’ll be on time.”
“Good. Oh, and thanks for last night.”
“None needed. I’ll be there soon.”
“Stone?” I said before he could hang up.
“Yeah?”
“If you hurt her, I will be worse than a father with a shotgun. You got me?”
“I would never hurt her. Ever.”
“Good.”
After I sent Stone and Muriella off, I wandered to Muriella’s office and sank down in the chair behind her desk. My stomach knotted. How Daniel had handled the situation became a little more palatable for me, but I was glad I hadn’t told M about prison. I hoped she could find happiness with Stone today, and I didn’t want to ruin that. Didn’t want her to feel the way I did. Scared. Hurt. Desperate. Now I understood why he’d kept it from us.
The timeline of photos marching across the back of the glass surface caught my eye. M added a picture after we returned from wherever we’d celebrated Christmas each year. They’d all been taken in front of a tree, some sillier than others, but the one common denominator was how happy we all looked.
One from New Zealand sat cockeyed on two envelopes. I lifted the frame and picked them up, and my heart stopped when I saw the handwriting. It was Daniel’s, and one of them had my name on it. I held them for a moment, wondering what these were and why M hadn’t mentioned them. The one with her name on it was sealed, just as mine was. I contemplated calling M for about two seconds and then put hers back where I found it and ripped mine open. Inside was a ring. I tipped it into my hand. In the center was a large black diamond surrounded by smaller aquamarine stones. It perfectly matched the necklace he’d given me all those years ago.
I fiddled it between my thumb and index finger, staring. Over the course of our relationship, he’d given me many pieces of jewelry, but never a ring. My instinct was to put it on immediately, but I refrained. I unfolded the papers. My hands trembled as I began to read. He loved me. I knew that, yet seeing it in his writing emphasized what he had so much trouble saying. Through his words, I felt his conviction. That he believed pushing me away was best. Because he loved me.
I covered my mouth with my hand. The crazy man had legally given everything he had to me and Muriella. To take care of us in the only way he knew how.
I held the pages away from me so the tears didn’t smudge the ink. My chest tightened as I read the final words. I’d never been so happy in my life to have been lied to. He’d never wanted to be without me. Now I had the proof of what I’d known deep down all along.
I bolted upstairs, hoping Daniel was back home, and ran straight into him as he came out of his study.
“Where were you? I was just coming to look for you. What’s wrong?” He swiped at the tears leaking down my cheeks.
“This.” I held out the ring.
“Why aren’t you wearing it?” he asked softly, a vulnerability in his eyes that made me love him all the more.
“Because you didn’t ask.”
He nodded in understanding. “You want it done properly.” He bent down to one knee and took both my hands in his, the ring pressing into our skin. His eyes glittered as he looked up at me, and I swallowed the thickness that had formed in my throat. “Vivian, I have desired nothing more than to spend every single day with you from the second I first saw you. It took me time to come to terms with that, but it didn’t make it any less true. You’ve never asked for more than I could give, yet you demand everything. All I’ve ever wanted to do was be that for you. I love you more than I ever thought possible. You’ve taught me to trust when I couldn’t. I need you to be mine forever, V. And I need to be yours.” He held up his hand, to keep me from interjecting. “I know you’re about to say that we already are—”
“Yes,” I interrupted, sliding down in front of him.
“I wasn’t finished,” he huffed playfully. He cleared his throat. “I will love you until the end of time, Vivian. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
I held out my left hand, and he slipped the diamond on my finger. “Yes,” I repeated, pressing my lips to his. “And you’re a damn liar.”
His dark brows lowered. “How so?”
“You are romantic.”
Daniel visibly relaxed, pulling me against him. “So I’ve been told.” We grinned at each other, and I tackled him to the floor, pelting him with kisses. “There’s my Vivian,” he said triumphantly.
I held my hand up and looked at the ring. After all this time, we were engaged. I’d never thought I needed marriage, but this settled something in my soul. We could finally just be us again.
I propped my chin on his chest. “Did you just get home? How did it go?”
He exhaled and wrapped his arms around me. “Long night. And it went.”
“No answers?”
“Yes and no.”
I shifted so I was nestled against his side. “Why is this all surfacing again? Your father died so long ago.”
His jaw worked, and his fingers squeezed mine. “Vinny, the man who deceived you, turned in Donato for the murder.”
I sat up. “But you all work together.”
“They’re brothers.”
Oh. Right. “Who does that to their own brother?” And then I realized that Daniel’s father had been no different. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
He shushed me with a light kiss. “In this case, you’re right to be appalled. Donato’s done right by him.”
“So why wasn’t Donato arrested?”
“A few weeks ago, the authorities called to inform me that they were reopening the case as a murder instead of a suicide. They had reason to believe Donato had done it. The tip gave us a chance to buy him a little time and try to get him out of it, but then Donato’s inside man got word to us that he was about to be arrested.” His eyes implored me. “I couldn’t let that happen. Not after everything he’s done for me.”
I nodded, my heart twisting. “You turned yourself in,” I surmised.
For a fraction of a second, he looked surprised before his features smoothed. “I did. Donato got me out until the arraignment.” He sucked in a deep breath and released it. “I’ll plead guilty, Vivian. Most of the evidence has disappeared. My confession will stand.”
“But you didn’t do it,” I protested. “I have to find a way to prove you aren’t guilty,” I said with renewed determination.
Daniel shook his head. “You can’t do that.”
“Why not? I won’t let you go to prison for a murder you didn’t commit.”
“If I get off, Donato will go down.”
I slumped against him. “And you won’t let that happen.”
“I can’t, Princess. I owe him my life.”
“You shouldn’t take the fall for this. I don’t care who he is. He shouldn’t let you.”
“If he’d known what I was doing, he wouldn’t have.” He cupped my cheek, eyes pleading with me to understand. “V, this is already hard enough. It’s what I have to do.”
“No. I get Donato means a lot to you, but at what cost? Your freedom? Us? Muriella?”
He dropped his gaze between us. “I’m doing this. And I’m sorry you have to pay for my past, but I can’t figure out another way. I’ve already asked too much of you, but please try to understand. Trust me.”
I flung my arms around his neck. “I’m with you, whatever you have to do.”
He held me tight for a minute, then untangled my arms until we were looking at one another. “You know, I owe you my life too.” I could see how torn he was between the people he loved, and it broke my heart.
“I understand why you did what you did.” His forehead creased in disbelief. “Not the leaving me part,” I amended, giving him a stern look.
“I’m so sorry it came to this.” And then his voice dropped to a whisper. “You know, I almost did kill him that day.”
“What happened?” I had no idea the relationship
with his father had gotten to that point.
“He said awful things about my mother just to provoke me.” His chin dropped to his chest. “She’d had heart problems. I went to the doctor’s appointments with her.” Confusion laced his words as if he still hadn’t come to grips with what he knew. He lifted his eyes, which were glassy. “He killed her.”
“Oh, Daniel.” I pressed his head against my chest and held him to me. “I’m so sorry.”
“She’d probably be dead now anyway because of her condition, but…” he trailed off. So much had been taken from him, and now he was losing his freedom too. “I had my hands around his neck, but I stopped because of her. She wouldn’t have wanted me to be a killer.”
“He deserved it, but you’re right,” I said hoarsely as I fought tears. My God, what else could happen to him?
“After I ran out of there, I called Donato from the subway station and told him what had happened. I didn’t know what else to do,” he mumbled into my chest. “If I hadn’t, he’d have never gone there.”
“Why did you think it was a suicide?” I couldn’t let him blame himself for things that weren’t his fault.
“That’s what the police told me when I got home from Europe. I never looked any further into it. I didn’t care.” His face was red when he sat up, and though his eyes were haunted, they were clear.
“Back up. Europe?”
“Yeah. It was my first overseas trip with Donato. I left believing my father was still alive. I know now that on the day of that last confrontation, while I was waiting for Donato to meet me at the passport office, Donato was making sure my dad would never hurt me again.”
“I know I should be sorry, but I’m not. I’m glad Donato was there for you.”
“Me too.”
We couldn’t seem to stop touching. His hand on my thigh. Mine on his chest. I shifted until I had my legs wrapped around his waist. It was an awkward position, but we made it work. Too much time had passed since we’d been like this. Both of us were aware that there might not be much more.
“Vivian, I didn’t plan this for three months.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said, but when you drew the conclusion, I used it to push you away. The apartment was meant to be an investment. It was a convenient excuse.” He had the decency to look ashamed.
“I didn’t tell M about prison.”
“We’ll do it together when she gets back from the date.”
“How do you know where she is?” I pressed my lips together.
He kissed my forehead. “I know everything.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Daniel
Present
“On the bed. Hands on your thighs.”
She shivered when I spoke to her back. The look she tossed at me over her shoulder had my dick pressing against my zipper. I kicked the bedroom door closed, and her steps faltered before she moved toward our mattress. She was here. The outside world had no place, so I shut it out.
Vivian vaulted onto the mattress. Before she could do as I asked, I flipped her over and tugged her hips until her ass was on the edge of the bed and her feet dangled toward the floor. Wide-eyed, she watched as I dropped to my knees.
“Are you asking me to marry you again?”
I smirked. “I’ll ask as many times as I damn well please.”
“And I’ll say yes every time.”
I knew this was true. She amazed me. I’d fucked us all to hell, and yet she was still with me. I palmed her jean-clad calf and ran my hand up to her thigh. Touching her was like a new experience every single time. She had on too many clothes, but I’d been deprived; I refused to rush this.
I pressed my hands into the tops of her legs to steady the slight tremble I couldn’t seem to control. My whole world was right here. Knowing what it felt like to lose her made me appreciate the gift she was all the more.
“I can’t put my hands on my thighs if yours are there,” she whispered, completely affected along with me.
“You don’t really want to do what I say anyway.” A husky tease laced my voice.
She threaded her fingers through my hair. My lids shuttered, a tremor running through me at the feel of her hands on me.
“Daniel.”
I blinked open and looked up at her. She was seduction and strength. The reason for every breath I took.
“We’re home, Princess.” Her eyes glassed over, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Vivian.”
“We’re here now. That’s all that matters.” She massaged my scalp with her fingernails, and I rested my head in her lap. I clung to her like a child instead of a full-grown man.
I couldn’t inhale enough of her scent. Her smell was sweet, so familiar. She eased all the parts of me that were in knots. “I know you touched yourself on my pillow.” Her fingers stilled. “I hid it from Muriella so I could sleep on it.”
She resumed, and I tightened my hold on her.
“I couldn’t let you forget me.”
I smiled at the steel in her tone and looked up at her. “Not a chance.” I can’t erase my soul.”
I cradled her foot and traced around the edge of her slipper. Those slippers transported me back to the beginning, but Vivian captivated me even more now, which seemed impossible.
I slipped them off of her feet, reverently placing them near the foot of the bed.
Her lips curved up. “Will those be going back on?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
She leaned back on her palms as if in no hurry to find out. Her puckered nipples stabbing at her shirt and throbbing pulse at the base of her neck betrayed that she was as eager as I was.
“I like this look. You on your knees before me,” she said saucily.
“That’s nothing new.” I trailed my fingers up her slender legs until they reached the button of her jeans. She lifted off the mattress as I unfastened them. I easily took her jeans and panties to her ankles in one swift movement.
The sight of her bare and the scent of her arousal made me lose control. My motions were jerky as I stripped her pants and flung them behind me. I shoved her knees apart and buried my face between her thighs.
“There is no substitute for this.”
“I should think not.” Her voice was breathy as she fisted the comforter.
I cupped her ass and dragged her to the edge of the mattress. Unable to wait a moment longer, I pressed kisses along her lower lips. Her stomach contracted. She fought to stay still, failing miserably when I licked up the swollen seam of her cunt.
“So pretty,” I praised, and her skin flushed.
I slipped my tongue inside of her as my fingers dug into her ass. She thrust her hips toward my face with every stroke. Her hands found my head once again and held me exactly where she wanted me.
“I’m not letting you come like this,” I warned her. She moaned, her fingers screwing more tightly into my hair. Our eyes met. “You’ll wait until I’m inside of you.” I nipped her clit, and her hips bucked. “Your pussy needs my cock to squeeze.” The thought had me close to exploding in my pants.
I licked once more before I stood, taking her with me. I had to keep my hands on her. She tangled her limbs around me, but I loosened her arms and tore her shirt over her head. I fumbled with her bra clasp. She ripped my shirt open. Her nails tracked down my chest. I hissed. Vivian set every nerve in my body on fire.
Giving up on the clasp, I tore the delicate lace between the cups and snapped the straps so that she wouldn’t have to stop touching me. The garment fell to the floor. I sucked in a breath at the sight of her.
Dusky nipples begged me to put my mouth on them. I latched on, kneading her ass as I sucked on the already stiff peaks. She writhed against my straining cock, those sharp nails now digging into the back of my neck.
“I need you.” The desperation in her voice gave me pause. I looked up at her beneath heavy lids as I grazed her taught nipple. Her need po
ured from every part of her body. Mine matched hers pound for pound.
My lips found hers. “I need you more.”
Her breath hitched. I wasn’t just talking about physically. This woman understood me better than I did myself. Because she was me.
“Daniel. Too many clothes.” She shoved my shirt off of my shoulders, but it hung at my elbows.
“Wall or bed?”
A flicker of surprise flashed across her face that I’d given her an option. “Both.”
“That’s my girl.”
I laid her down on the bed, marveling at her naked body spread out before me. All mine. I shed my shirt, toed off my shoes and socks, but when my hands went for my belt buckle, she shot to her knees and batted me away.
“I want the honors.” She licked her lips as her eyes swept across my chest and down my abdomen. How could just a look make me feel like a man? That’s what she did to me.
I threaded my fingers through her silky dark locks, mesmerized as she unfastened my slacks and shoved them to the floor. I stepped out of them. Her hands rested on my chest as mine tangled in her hair. We stared at one another, so much spoken without a word.
Vivian jumped into my arms, wrapped her legs around my body once more. “Wall. God, I want the wall.” I stalked until her back was against the bedroom door. “I love how powerful you are when you fuck me standing up,” she rasped.
I pressed against her, fueled by her words. “Feel what you do to me.”
She touched my chest. “We’re one heart, D. I can’t not feel what you do.”
With one swift thrust, I impaled her against the door.
Her walls were like velvet, snug around my shaft. I stayed buried to the hilt and relished the feeling of being home. She shattered every barrier I’d ever put up. I felt so much, alive and lighter…things I couldn’t put into words. Vivian gave me that.
I withdrew and pushed inside once more. She clung to me, her head back in ecstasy. I pumped at a frantic pace as she stripped the last of my control. I put that look on her face. I brought her pleasure. She wanted me . Only me.
It's Not Over (Paths To Love Book 1) Page 29
