Yes, she had plenty of time. At her door she paused long enough for a breath check before swinging the door open and skipping across the hall at a nearly running pace. She banged hard three times and waited.
It took longer than she thought necessary as she waited impatiently on his threshold. Knowing Daniel’s strict schedule, she would have imagined he would have already been up and getting ready to head down to the Institute. At last she heard the lock click and a burst of excitement filled her chest.
As the door slowly opened she transfixed a smile to her face and thought to hell with short talk. If he didn’t open that door any faster, she would kick it open with her foot right before she leaped into his arms.
A head peered around the heavy wooden frame. A sleepy, tousled-hair, groggy-eyed, redhead. “Yes?”
Sonya froze. She couldn’t move a muscle. All she could do was stand there staring at this woman who obviously had spent the night in Daniel’s apartment. In Daniel’s bed.
“Can I help you?” The woman asked as she peered at her through sleepy eyes.
Her whole world felt as if it had come tumbling down. Perceptions and beliefs were shattered into a million tiny pieces. A pain so severe exploded in her chest. She had felt something akin to it once before. Many, many years ago. A memory that attached such raw and hurtful emotions she buried long ago never to allow it to resurface. Except now.
She had only been ten but she was wise beyond her years. Her parents were constantly bickering and her mother was continually in tears. It hurt terribly to watch. She loved her mother greatly, and hated her father dearly.
He was supposed to have been at work when she came home early from school that day and discovered her nude father upon her mother’s pristine bed sheets, pounding his large and sweaty form into a naked woman who was not her mother. It was a sight she would never forget. And a memory she would never forgive.
The same raw emotion filled her chest now as she stood there staring at the woman who stood so unabashedly before her. Her mouth went dry and the back of her eyes began to burn. Then an uncontrollable shake took over her body.
“Did you want something?” The redheaded woman spoke again, and all at once a fiery bolt of anger shot straight to Sonya’s heart and knocked her out of her numbness. Did she want something? Indeed.
Lifting her leg, she kicked the door open as she had earlier fantasized about doing, but instead of jumping the man’s groins, she would knee him in them instead. The woman fell back in surprise but at the last second caught her balance. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Get out of my way.” Sonya spat out, thrusting the slow cooker into the startled woman’s hands, then headed straight for the bedroom. With anger so blinding, she thought with sincerity she would love nothing more than to slay him right there in his adulterated bed with his redheaded lover watching.
She marched down the hall, swung open the bedroom door and stomped across the floor and came to an abrupt halt at the foot of the bed. “You low-life, two-timing bastard!”
The dark head on the pillow stirred, lifted and turned around to look at her. But it was not Daniel who looked back at her with groggy but confused eyes along with what may have been slight amusement. But a stranger instead. Sonya’s jaw dropped and should have hit the floor along with the rest of her body, but to her amazement she was still standing.
“That doesn’t sound too good.” The stranger grinned and said, “What drastic deed did I perform to deserve such an accusation?”
“Who are you?” It was the only logical thing to say. Her mind quickly worked and she thought for a half-crazed second that she entered the wrong apartment. A quick glance around and she recognized Daniel’s belongings.
From behind, the redhead came to stand beside Sonya, appearing slightly perturbed and yet slightly inquisitive. “I think the question is, who are you?”
She shook her head to see if she would wake up and discover she was in the most awful dream. But the woman still stood there looking at her. With a start, she realized that she had no idea who this woman was and why she was in Daniel’s apartment in the early hours of the morning.
“What are you doing in Daniel’s apartment?” Her eyes felt as if they were glued wide open. She couldn’t seem to make herself blink.
The woman looked a bit relieved. “Then you do know Daniel?”
“Of course,” she stated. She wasn’t the stranger here. “I live across the hall. Who are you?”
The woman’s face relaxed some more and she even had the nerve to look amused. “Ah, Sonya.”
Her eyes went even wider if that was possible. “How do you know my name?”
The woman smiled all of a sudden. “I’m Kate.”
Then when no sign of recognition lit Sonya’s face, the woman sighed and said, “Daniel didn’t tell you about me?”
“No,” she replied and had to clench her jaw to control her anger.
The redheaded woman surprised her all at once when she informed her, “I’m his sister.”
She felt her jaw unclench and make a rapid direction for the floor. “His what?”
“Sister.” She grinned and then gestured toward the bed. “And this low-life, two-timing bastard is my husband, Jonathon.”
“Oh my God.” A feeling of utter humiliation swept over her. How could she have been so stupid? The answer was swift. So swift that it dawned on her that she knew the answer for some time now but was too afraid to admit it. “Where’s Daniel?”
“Sleeping on the couch.” His sister smiled with encouragement.
Feeling like a complete fool, she muttered, “If you’ll excuse me.”
The woman smiled and her husband called out as she slunk out of the room, “It was nice to meet you.”
Cheeks burning of embarrassment, she made her way back down the hall and toward the living room. Just inside the entrance she stopped and stared down at him as he slept undisturbed from all the commotion in his bedroom. His large body looked uncomfortable curled up under a blanket and his dark hair was in complete disarray, but he never looked more beautiful to Sonya than at that moment.
She sighed and walked over to him. Just in front of the sofa, she kneeled down and stared into his face. He was gorgeous and she chuckled at her own ridiculous belief at one time that it would take a lot of work to make him a heartthrob. Her chest pounded at the realization he had always made her heart throb but she had been too frightened to acknowledge it. His kind of beauty was not only skin deep, but rooted much deeper within him.
Now, she looked on with her eyes glowing and her heart full. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. She didn’t withdraw right away, instead she lingered and enjoyed the taste of his lips beneath her own. When she felt him stir, she withdrew and looked down at him.
His eyes blinked once, then twice, then he stared up into her face with confusion. “Sonya? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
This only made her smile. Typical of Daniel to be concerned about her even after the way she last treated him. “I brought your slow cooker back.”
“Oh.” He blinked and began to push himself into a sitting position. “Thanks.”
She nodded. “Then I thought we might have small talk and I’d tell you all about Robert Alto’s visit yesterday.”
His face went blank and he simply sat there studying her.
“Then I thought to hell with small talk, I just want to make love.” She watched his face closely.
A grey cloud darkened his features and two thick brows puckered. “Sonya—”
“Daniel.” She interrupted him and held his gaze. “I love you.”
He froze and his eyes held hers for so long, she began to worry the smallest amount about his response. At last he let out a low sigh, leaned back against the sofa, looked at her from beneath sleepy lids, and then offered her an unexpected grin.
“I already knew that.”
She returned his grin and got up to join him on the sofa. Their eyes
locked and they stared at each other with unmasked emotions for the first time. His eyes spoke with such sincerity, Sonya thought her heart would stop then and there. She’d never seen him look at her that way before.
He reached up and cupped the side of her face and drew her gently toward him where he placed his lips over hers in the most heart-warming kiss she ever experienced. His voice heavy with huskiness, he whispered against her lips, “I love you, Sonya. Always have.”
Her entire chest heaved with elation and a joyous thunder. He loved her. How was that possible? “Are you sure? I mean, Daniel you are a genius and you deserve—”
“You.” He stopped her by pressing a kiss to her lips. “I am so sick of being told what a genius I am. You are the only person that ever made me feel human. You saw beyond my brain IQ.”
“But I’ve treated you so bad.” Even remembering now, she felt a shudder of disgust at herself. “I was such a jackass.”
He grinned and nodded his head. “You weren’t the most flattering, but—”
She frowned. “But?”
His smile spread wider as he traced a finger along her lips. Lips that had uttered some of the cruelest things to him. “You were kind of amusing to watch. I don’t get much entertainment in my line of profession.”
“Hey!” She made as if insulted and slapped his hand away in jest. Then turning serious said, “Are you sure, Daniel? I mean really sure? We’re so different.”
“How are we different?” He too looked all at once serious as he stared down into her face. “We are both sensible, gifted, and intelligent people. While we can also be stubborn, a bit too curt, and often jump too hastily to the wrong conclusions, we also share the same bizarre taste in music and clever sense of humor.”
She smiled.
He returned her smile. “Not to mention we love each other very much. I say we have a lot in common.”
Sonya’s heart glowed of love as she reached up and stroked his cheek. “I don’t deserve you.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” He made a face as if insulted. “I suppose you’re still pining over that Tristan fellow?”
She groaned and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what I was thinking. His love for Audrey is so obvious, and I refused to believe it. Any more than I could have believed you capable of loving me.”
He fondled a long strand of hair. “You’re not jealous of Audrey, are you?”
“I was.” She admitted. “But only because I wanted the man I cared for to love me in return the way Tristan felt for Audrey. I didn’t believe that people like us could find true love.”
“Us?” He arched a brow in puzzlement.
“Audrey. Tristan. Me.” She grew solemn. “We’re not your kind of caliber, Daniel. We’re waitresses and bar owners. You’re an educated classy and decent guy.”
“Hey.” He shot her a grave look. “Just because I have a degree and a fancy office job doesn’t necessarily place me in some kind of superior league. If there is such a ludicrous place, you get there on character alone. Everyone deserves love. Whether it is of the genuine kind or the earned kind.”
She smiled and crooked her head to the side. “No wonder they call you a genius.”
He shook his head. “I don’t care what they call me, just as long as you understand that love isn’t selective. It just is. You don’t question it. You just accept it. Thank the man upstairs and embrace it. Even at the cost of being hurt.”
“I was afraid,” she admitted. “Of being hurt. And I couldn’t bear it if I hurt you.”
“There is still a lot ahead for us.” He told her. “But I would rather risk the hurt of being with you than without.”
Her heart filled with joy as she listened to his words. He was truly more than she deserved, but as he said, she wasn’t going to question it. She was simply going to accept it.
Starting right now. She slid her arms under him and drew her body up against his and pressed him close. “Daniel?”
“Mmm?” He leaned forward and began nibbling her ear.
“I’ve been wondering for a very long time now what it would feel like to make love on your sofa.”
He chuckled and gave her ear a playful nibble. “Well, since my sister and her husband are just in the other room, I suggest we wait until her visit is over before we christen it with our love juice.”
Sonya’s libido kicked into gear merely from hearing him speak that way. However, she had altogether forgotten about his sister and the strange man in his bed. “I got the shock of my life when I saw your sister open the door. I thought she was your lover.”
He drew back looking startled. “Where would you have gotten an impression like that?”
Ashamed, she nevertheless admitted, “I eavesdropped on your conversation with her in the hall a while back. It sounded like you two were concealing an affair.”
“What?” He looked both shocked and horrified.
“Well, the conversation was about her sneaking over and not letting Jonathon know about her visit.” She looked sheepish as she admitted, “I saw her kiss you.”
“You saw?” His face didn’t lose any of the disbelief.
Sonya bit her lip. “Through the peephole.”
“You were spying on me?” And when she nodded, he actually had the audacity to look pleased. “I think I’m flattered.”
“Well, you can see how I came to the wrong conclusion.” She forced him to see her point of view. “I didn’t even know you had a sister.”
His brow quirked. “I believe I mentioned her to you before. I suppose that was before you took a sudden interest in me and my life?”
Her face became contrite once more. “Really? I suppose then.”
He laughed and fell back on the sofa drawing her with him. “Don’t look so belittled. I’ll forgive you this time and probably every other time when you’re less than attentive mind fails you. Kate and Jonathon have being trying to have a baby now for the past year. They have been unsuccessful until recently. To make matters worse, she has already miscarried two previous attempts within the first trimester. Doctor instructions were that she was to remain bed ridden for the first three months. She was quite upset that she missed my big night at the convention when I received my award, so she snuck out of the house to come and present me with a gift. If Jonathon would have found out he would have had her backside, as I too would have had I known her intentions.”
She felt a pang of disappointment when she recalled that was the special event when he asked her out and she in no uncertain terms told him no. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I should have been there for you that night.”
“I would have liked you there,” he admitted. “But not to see me accept the award. I simply wanted to be with you.”
Sonya sighed with contentment and snuggled up to him. “I promise.” She told him as she crawled up his chest and cupped her pelvis to his. “I’ll pay more attention from now on.”
His eyes lit up at the intimate feel of her womanhood brushing up and down on the front closure of his pajama bottoms. Cupping her cheek bottoms in his hands, he stopped her rhythmic movement and pressed her firmly against his organ. His breathing much thicker. “Just don’t stop being you.”
His mouth found hers and the kiss was deep and erotic and engulfed Sonya in a warm and moist cocoon of desire. “Daniel?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you think your sister would mind if we went back to my apartment for, say, half an hour?”
He drew back and gave her a sharp look. “Half an hour?”
Pleasure lit up her face and her female urge felt on fire. “How long?”
He sat up quickly and drew her up against him, pressing his mouth hard against hers, before he grabbed her hand and led her across the apartment corridor. “Hell, I think she’s a big girl. When I’m not back before breakfast, she’ll figure it out.”
“She will?”
“I think anyone I spoke to within the past year knows how I feel about you. Being my sister and onl
y sibling, she guessed pretty much right away.”
She stared at him dumbfounded. “You’ve loved me that long?”
He looked so embarrassed all at once, that Sonya thought he looked so sweet. She could eat him up. Patient Sonya, she chided herself with a seductive grin to the corner of her mouth, you’ll get your chance in a few short minutes.
“Pretty much.” He nodded and watched her with a bit of concern on his face. She eased his worries by displaying her broadest smile and allowed the love she felt in return to glow from her eyes. He groaned and pulled her toward him. “From the moment I first laid eyes on you. My heart was yours.”
“Oh Daniel.” She crooned like any other woman being sweet-talked and was only too happy when he continued toward her apartment.
A voice from the back room stopped them in their tracks. “Going out, Daniel?”
He shot his eyes heavenward at his sister’s obvious sarcastic timing. “You and Jonathon help yourself to breakfast.” He grinned at Sonya. “I’m eating out.”
Her eyes widened in mock horror and giggled with delight as they hurried across the hall and into her apartment. As the door clicked behind them, he quickly snatched her up in his arms and carried her down the hall where he wasted no time in getting down to business.
A long while later, Sonya lay beneath her satin sheets and watched as Daniel brought in a tray of breakfast food. She really wasn’t hungry but it was such a romantic act, that she would have gladly cleaned the whole tray up if it pleased him.
He placed the tray on the end of the waterbed, then scurried under the blankets with her. The bed swayed beneath them as he reached for a slice of toast, causing him to smear jelly on his fingertips.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered, offering her the unaffected slice.
She gave him a seductive grin, then tilted back her head and opened her mouth to be fed. His eyes twinkled of amusement and desire as he did as she bid.
Not only did she take the food into her mouth, she devoured his long fingers as well, not letting go until she had sucked the last trace of the sweet tasting gelatin from their tips. When she was done, he moaned with desire and replaced his fingers with his mouth, ravishing her lips with his own. With renewed desire, she slipped her arms about his neck and returned his kiss with ardor.
Misunderstood: In Love with the Nerd (The Miss Series Book 2) Page 20
