Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
“Daniel?”
Julia reached up and tapped on the door of his trailer. She called his name softly again. No response.
His car was here, but the trailer’s lights were off, and the curtains were closed. She had a sudden, terrible feeling that he was here, but he wasn’t alone.
The thought of that felt like a hot poker being jammed into her gut. And then twisted. The pain brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.
Coming here in the middle of the night wasn’t just stupid, it was potentially heartbreaking. As if her heart needed any more of that.
But she’d had to. After she’d escaped from the DEA woman in the bathroom, she’d come straight here, not even taking the time to get changed. She’d just hugged her sister goodbye and fled the party before anyone could stop her.
She just knew she needed to see him. To tell him he was in serious trouble.
Except now, it seemed like it had been a wasted trip.
She descended the steps to the grass. The full moon illuminated the area better than streetlights. Tequila whined and wagged her tail from her bed on the grass nearby. Julia went over and gave her a pat. On cue, the dog started drooling on custom Valentino.
“You have good taste, girl,” Julia whispered.
Behind her, the trailer door opened, and a wedge of light fell out onto the grass.
“Julia?” Daniel’s voice was soft. “What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.”
She whirled around. Opened her mouth to speak, but all she could do was stare at him. He was standing in the doorway, one arm propped against the jamb. Barefoot and shirtless, just wearing low-slung loose jeans over white briefs, the glint of silver from the chain at his neck.
“Daniel, I…” She trailed off, just letting her eyes drink their fill of him. It had only been three days since she’d last seen him, but God, that had been too long. One second felt like too long. Blinking felt like too long.
His eyes tracked over her too, taking in her dress, her shoes dangling from one hand. His gaze shifted from the street, then back to her. “Where’s your car?”
“I didn’t drive.”
“Why not?”
“I… I had two glasses of champagne.”
He looked away quickly, like he was trying to hide a smile. “How’d you get here then?”
“A taxi. Two, actually. The Lake Forest guy wouldn’t take me west of Chinatown. Not at this time of night.”
He straightened from the doorjamb. “Baby. You should have called me. I’d have come pick you up.”
Maybe it was hearing him call her ‘baby’ again or maybe it was the low concern in his voice, but she felt like crying all over again. “You would have?” she said in a small voice.
A tremor of emotion moved across his face. “You know I would have.”
She practically ran up the steps. He moved back, letting her in. Kicked the door shut with his heel behind her.
They stood and stared at each other under the yellow light of the single overhead bulb. They were both breathing heavily, even though neither of them had said anything yet.
Julia tried to remember what she’d come here to tell him, but when she opened her mouth, those words weren’t the ones that came tumbling out.
“Daniel, I’m sorry. About everything I said. If you thought I was judging you, because I wasn’t. I mean, maybe I was, but…” She shook her head, frustrated that none of the words were coming out right. She couldn’t afford to mess this up again by saying the wrong thing.
She exhaled. ‘I know I’ll never know what it’s like to be you. I know my life is impossibly privileged and that I have about as much right to judge you as…as… Well, I have no right to judge anyone.”
He said nothing for a long moment, and she thought she might have offended him even more with her little speech. Then he said bluntly, “Are you done?”
She opened her mouth, closed it, then said, “Yes.”
“Good.”
He crossed the space between them, gripped the back of her head with one hand, and kissed her. Hard. She could feel his stubble grazing her cheek, the edge of his teeth against her lips.
He broke it off but continued to grip the back of her head, his hand wrist deep in her hair. He said in a low, urgent tone, right against her mouth, “Fuck, I missed you.”
Both his hands cradled the sides of her head as he turned her face up to his and kissed her again. Softer this time, but no less intense, his tongue caressing hers until she moaned against his mouth.
His hands slid down her hair to run down her shoulders and across her back. His fingers found the zip at the back of her gown and gripped it. He pulled away from the kiss to look at her, a question in his eyes.
She nodded.
He unzipped her dress. Pushed it down, and it slid off her in a sigh of silk and tulle.
There was a long pause as his eyes took her in. He looked adorably dismayed. Like a kid on Christmas morning who’d just unwrapped his present, only to find it wasn’t what he wanted. He looked back up at her and gave his head a little shake as if to say, what the fuck?
“It’s called shapewear,” she said, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.
He stepped back and stared at it in horror. “How do I get it off you?”
She laughed at the urgency in his tone. “Daniel, it’s not a bomb vest.”
“Fucking looks like one,” he grumbled.
“It’s not that difficult. Look, you just unhook it here…and then tug this bit here off…and then yank this part down…”
He shook his head, looked very grumpy. “Fuck this. I’m gonna go get some scissors.”
She got it off without him having to resort to any drastic action. He watched her, arms crossed. “How do you go to the bathroom in all this?”
“Not easily.”
“Baby, what do you need shapewear for, anyway? Your shape is perfect.”
She kicked the last of it away. “Not according to my mother.”
She was now naked, and his expression was one of pure male lust. He was reaching for her even before he’d closed the gap between them.
In a sudden movement, he cupped her butt with both hands and lifted her, then carried her backwards until she was pressed against his wardrobe door.
He kept her pinned there with just his hips, his forearms bracing against the wood on either side of her head.
The only other thing pinning her in place was his mouth.
He groaned, and she felt it in the back of her throat.
She clung to him, arms and legs, like a koala to a tree.
No way was she coming down. He straightened, dropping one arm to rather expertly unbutton his jeans with one hand.
Just as she felt him pressing against her, he broke off the kiss.
Maintaining eye contact with her, he guided himself inside her.
Her body resisted him at first, then relented with a sharp thrill.
They both drew in quick breaths, exhaling into each other’s mouths. He held her gaze the whole time, and it was so intimate. She couldn’t imagine being closer to another human being.
“Please don’t ever leave me again,” he whispered.
She pressed her lips to his. “Please don’t ever let me.”
* * *
She trailed her fingers over the words that ran around his collarbone. THE WILL TO LIVE IS THE WILL TO DIE.
“What does it mean?”
Daniel had his arm flung over his eyes. He made a sound halfway between a groan and a sigh, lifted his arm and eyed her.
‘It means the things that people want to stay alive for are the same things that they’d be prepared to die for.
Money. Power. Family. It’s, uh, what do you call it? Una paradoja.”
“A paradox?”
He nodded.
She looked down at the black hand print on his chest. Stop, it seemed to say.
Do not approach. She pressed her hand over it.
Dug her fingers in, her nails indenting his skin.
Then she ran her nails over his chest, over the dark dusting of hair that grew thicker below his navel and ran down beneath the waistband of his jeans.
She said, “You should get a tattoo of my name.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Just tell me where you want it.”
She regarded his upper body, which was pretty well covered.
“My ass cheek is free,” he said helpfully.
She laughed. “Alright. Then everyone will know that your ass belongs to me.”
He’d gotten hard again between her thighs. “Apparently, my dick already does. You might as well have the set.”
She smiled, then lowered herself down onto him, resting her chin on his chest. “Do you want me to get a tattoo of your name?”
“No.” He ran his hands up the backs of her thighs. “Because I already know that every single part of you belongs to me.”
* * *
Moonlight slipped through a crack in the curtains, tracing silver strands in Julia’s hair, making them glow. Her head rested on Daniel’s shoulder, the rest of her curled against his side, their legs tangled together.
For a while, they just lay there, the quiet wrapping around them. Only their breathing and the distant hum of the city filled the space between them.
Something shifted in her expression, her eyes turning distant, as if suddenly lost in thought. A tiny crease formed between her brows.
A prickle of unease tightened in his stomach. “Baby, what is it?”
She looked up at him. “Daniel,” she whispered. “There’s something I still haven’t told you.”
* * *
Daniel’s eyes were tracking over her face like he’d never seen it before. “And this Belinda woman said she works for the DEA?”
Julia hugged the sheet to her chest. “She cornered me in the bathroom at the wedding. She knew all about you. And me. And us being together.” She chewed the inside of her cheek and added, “She said that if I refused to talk to them, I could get in big trouble. That they could make me talk to them.”
Daniel was still watching her intently. She sat forward again and placed her hand on his back. “I got out of there straight away and called a taxi and came here. I didn’t tell her anything. I didn’t even know most of the stuff she was asking me, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have told her.”