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“For pity’s sake, Daniel, don’t be ridiculous.” Reaching him, she looked up into his face. “Last night had nothing to do with love.”
“If you say so.”
“Of course I say so.” She demanded and crossed her arms over her chest. “People sleep with each other all the time, it doesn’t necessarily mean love. It can sometime mean purely unadulterated lust.”
“That’s true.” He agreed and pressed the button to the elevator.
She eyed him with curiosity. “So you understand?”
“Of course.” Daniel’s face remained motionless as he watched her. “This has to do with Tristan. You still want to sleep with him.”
To be honest with herself, Sonya hadn’t given the man a single thought since the long weekend. But, if it helped steer Daniel away from any silly notions regarding her feelings toward him, then so be it. “I have always led a carefree and promiscuous lifestyle. You know that. It isn’t going to change.”
He slowly nodded and seemed to be concentrating hard. “So last night left no attachments? No emotional strings, and no commitments? You’re free to see whomever you please.”
“Exactly.” She smiled with relief.
“I suppose that goes for me as well?” He surprised her by asking.
Sonya was struck silent for a moment before finding her voice. “Well, um, yes, I suppose. I mean if you wanted.” A sudden vision of the unknown redhead in the corridor that one morning came into mind. He had looked so pleased to see her. Were they sharing an illicit affair, after all? “Why? Do you want to?”
Daniel studied her face for so long that she began to feel a bit uncomfortable and wondered what on earth was taking him so long to think about.
At last he sighed and said, “Well, I’m glad we cleared that up.”
“You are?” Of all things she hadn’t suspected that. As a matter-of-fact he looked down right relieved. She couldn’t shake the idea that he should be looking devastated right at this point. In no uncertain terms she had told him that she did not love him and the sex they shared meant nothing.
It was this understanding that hit her like a bolt. Caught up in all the emotion she temporarily forgot who he was and who she was. It was very likely that he had been worried that she had formed an attachment when all it had meant to him was a night of wild sex. His real interests lay with the redheaded woman.
He had never showed any interest in Sonya before, why would she think that one night of the most amazing sex she ever experienced would change his opinion of her. Daniel didn’t see her as the keeper type. She was the one-night-stand kind and he fully knew it and understood. In the end, she wondered who had taken advantage of whom.
This, however, was not the Daniel she had come to know in the past year. Why was her perception of him suddenly changing? Truth was there was so much about him she continued to discover which she had known nothing about. Not long ago she would have thought him too moral to participate in illicit sex. However, last night changed that image forever. This made her wonder what more there was about Daniel she still did not know.
“Good.” Sonya attempted a smile. “But then again, what we shared last night was wonderful and if we left love out of it, I’d consider doing it again.”
His brow arched in surprise.
“Well, you know, in today’s day and age it’s a good idea to stick to a partner that you know and have a history with. It’s safer that way, and you can never be too safe.”
He produced a slight smile but was distracted with the arrival of the elevator. After boarding and turning to look back at her, he said, “That sounds like marriage if you ask me.”
Her shoulders drooped in despair as the elevator doors closed and he was gone. She pivoted on a heavy foot and marched back to her apartment. With an angry thrust she slammed her apartment door. Marriage? Her? He obviously didn’t know her as well as he thought. Just the very idea made her either want to laugh with hysteria or hurl with disgust.
* * *
Daniel stilled his incensed emotions to a level that made him look more composed than he felt. The woman was impossible. Even after last night, she dared to deny what they shared.
Oh, she admitted that their lovemaking had been a wonderful experience but implied that it wasn’t anything out of the extraordinary. As if she could duplicate the same effects easily and openly admitted she fully intended to. No less with Tristan Manning.
When would she give up this foolish belief that Tristan was the man for her? It was very clear to Daniel that he himself was the man for her, and he was hell bent on proving that he was.
He was no fool. Her emotions were laid out on her sleeves for him to read. They shone from the depths of her eyes and in every loving touch and stroke she bestowed. He received from her the exact same emotions that mirrored his own. The problem would be convincing her stubborn and obtuse mind that she loved him.
However, right now he was so mad that the very last thing he wanted was to speak to her, let alone share another conversation with her. She had destroyed a moment that had been incredibly special and phenomenal beyond his imagination, without the slightest twinkling of consideration.
Her ridiculous fears and beliefs were holding the both of them back. He wasn’t a romantic guy but he didn’t doubt that their relationship was destiny. From the moment he laid eyes on her, her beauty had taken his breath away. Then later, her enduring and radiant personality had captured his heart.
Even with the pain and knowledge of her rejection of their lovemaking, he knew without a moment’s hesitation, he was meant to love Sonya Elliott.
