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“ThatIknow what I’m doing. ThatIknow what’s best for you. And you just can’t trust me on that.”
“Well, that’s just fucking swell that you know what you’re doing, because nobody else does. So why don’t you just fill me in? That way I don’t make anything elsedifficult.” It looked like he was trying not to laugh, which only infuriated me. This was not funny. He’d upended our lives, for God’s sake.
“Did you just say swell?” His lips twitched, and I pressed mine together in a thin line. How dare he use his mouth against me now? He knew how much I loved it when I got even the slightest smile.
“If you were listening to me, then you’d know,” I huffed. It was hard not to smile when that damn corner of his mouth did a definitive upward turn. “What’s so funny?”
“Goddamn it. You always do that. Every time I’m irritated, you make me fucking laugh.” And then he went and gave me a full-blown smile.
My heart nearly exploded. I let go of his hands and threw my arms around his neck. Being pressed against him made me feel whole again, and when he didn’t push me away but embraced me back, I was inspired all over again not to give up on this. I couldn’t. This was exactly where we belonged.
“Go ahead and admit you miss me,” I whispered into his ear. Daniel looked down at me with an arched brow, the smile gone. “I’ll go first. I’ve missed you.”
He closed his eyes, pained. I couldn’t stand it. I touched his cheek, and he leaned into it. He was savoring it like it was going to be the last time.
When he opened his eyes, he was gone again, and for a fleeting moment, I wasn’t so certain I could get him back.
“I need to make a phone call.” His voice was hoarse as he disentangled himself from me.
“Unzip me first?”
I presented my back to him.
He sucked in a breath. Though I couldn’t see him, I felt him almost reach for me and then drop his hands. “I can’t.”
Before I could turn around, I heard the sound of his dress shoes on the hardwood floor as he walked away. And then there was silence. It made me want to scream, until it occurred to me Daniel had not ordered me or my things out. There was hope.
Muriella had mixed my things in with Daniel’s in the closet, and my suitcase was nowhere to be found. I loved that woman more than life itself, and I sincerely hoped I was around when he discovered what she’d done. He was used to our antics by now, but he wasn’t immune to them.
I wiggled out of my dress and put on my favorite jeans, one of Daniel’s white oxford shirts, and my ballet slippers. This was where I belonged. Where I could breathe.
I drifted to the bathroom and hopped on the counter, my legs dangling. He hadn’t said he wanted me home, but he hadn’t said he didn’t either. I could work with this. “You’re frowning.”
I hadn’t heard Daniel enter the bathroom, but when I looked at him, he took my breath away. His bow tie still hung untied around his neck, and he’d loosened the top few buttons of his shirt. There wasn’t an ounce of malice in his voice, but there was a definite sadness that made my heart hurt.
Before I could say anything, his phone rang, and he answered it right away. I heard a female cackle coming from the other end of the line, but it wasn’t clear enough for me to understand.
“That’s fine.” Those were the only words he spoke before he ended the call. “Giselle is home. You have to go.”
I didn’t move, lifting my chin in defiance, though it felt like he’d shot me in the chest.
“Did you ever make a promise to me you wouldn’t keep?”
“You know I haven’t.”
“And have I made any promises to you I haven’t kept?”
He sighed. “No.”
“I will not stop until I have my family back.” There was a flicker of something on his face. “If she ishere, then she is nothome. Do you want to tell her that, or do you want me to?”
“Vivian, you need to accept I’ve moved on,” he said, voice flat.
Liar.
His cell phone rang again. This time, he didn’t answer it. I slid off the counter to my feet and got right up in his face. “Don’t you get it, Daniel? When you find your everything, that’s impossible. You can fuck every woman on this planet one by one, but it will never be this.”
I grabbed his face and slammed my lips against his. He resisted, but I was hungry. It had been too long since I’d tasted him. This wasn’t a reunion kiss; it was a reminder he was mine. We’d given up any say in that eight years ago by the Christmas tree in New Zealand. My tongue coaxed his lips apart, slipping inside—caressing, claiming, possessing. Finally his control shattered, and he kissed me back, completely taking over. He pinned me against the wall, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Our hands explored, our tongues dueled. I’d stuck dynamite in the vault and blown it to smithereens.
