Chapter 9
Danica returned to the hotel room at nine-thirty.
Aside from a cordial greeting, she said nothing to Alicia as she immediately stole into the bathroom to take a long shower.
Alicia did not peek in on her. Would that be weird?
She waited in the bedroom, staring at the box Julia had given her two hours ago.
How would she broach this sensitive subject?
“By the way, I met your mom. Is she batshit, or is your dad really an abusive shitheel? Also, he’s threatening me.
I think he might be an abusive shitheel. ”
She sat up with a start when someone put a hand on her shoulder. It was Danica, following up with a kiss to her cheek.
“Apologies,” she said a second later. “Didn’t know you were so lost in thought.”
“No, no… I’m sorry.” Why was Alicia apologizing? Danica snuck up on her!
“Did you amuse yourself today?” Her girlfriend wandered by the table, dressed in nothing but a big white hotel towel.
Oh. Hello. For a moment, Alicia forgot. Forgot everything…
except how much she wanted to be with this woman.
This ridiculously beautiful, devilishly sweet woman she was already in way too deep with.
Alicia traced the length of a prominent line on Danica’s arm. Hair as soft as dewy petals tickled her fingertip. “It was an interesting day, to say the least.”
“Hopefully not too interesting.” Danica sat next to her, pouring herself a cup of hot tea from a pot. Alicia gave her a small amount of cream and stirred it in for her. Danica’s smile was a good enough reward. “Don’t want you forgetting about me already.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day.” That was certainly the truth. From the moment she woke up and thought of ways to take care of her, Alicia’s brain was nothing but Danica Danica Danica.
She took her hand. “I didn’t stop thinking about you, either.”
Alicia couldn’t help but shyly smile back at her.
“Tomorrow,” Danica continued, occupying her hands with her tea more than Alicia, “we’ll have more fun together. There’s a party in the evening I want to take you to. I plan on telling the world that you are my girlfriend.”
If it were any other billionaire – yes, even the old, wrinkly ones – Alicia would be ecstatic. Your father, though. Word would quickly get back to Russell, if it hadn’t already. “Am I really, Danica?” she asked. “Your girlfriend?”
“Why would you doubt my words?”
“We’ve been moving so quickly,” Alicia said as an excuse. “We had sex about twenty minutes after meeting one another. Now you’ve got me in Chicago, training me to be your submissive lover and…” she faltered. “Wife?”
“It is fast. I don’t do anything unless it is earnest.” Danica grazed her hand again. “I understand, though. Your worries are not unfounded. I suppose I am not the most trustworthy person. Yet have I given you a reason not to trust me?”
“It’s not that. I’m muddled with many thoughts right now. This isn’t dating, Danica. This is a courtship with immediate thoughts of marriage.”
“You’re right. We’re courting, not casually dating. That’s a good word for it.” Her tea cooled without being further sipped. “Is that too much for you?”
“No. You’ve never been anything but clear and direct with me from the beginning. The only real surprise I’ve felt is how much I’ve enjoyed it.”
Danica’s smile grew. “We have good chemistry, you and I.”
“I suppose so.”
“So, what is holding you back, my love? Don’t be too shy to voice your concerns.”
“I guess I’m worried about how I would be perceived as your… girlfriend.” Best to keep it at that level for now. “How would your father take to me?”
Danica shrugged. “My father has his opinions. While it may be his business who I date with the intention to marry, it is not his business to tell me I can’t do as I wish. Those days are behind us. I am no longer his charge.”
“You are his daughter,” Alicia pointed out. “He is the patriarch of your family.”
“He may be, but he will not live forever.” Danica said this without a shred of emotion.
Alicia braved saying the one thing on her mind. “You don’t have a huge relationship with your father, do you?”
At first, she thought Danica wouldn’t say anything, or at least tell her to mind her own business.
Yet that wasn’t annoyance on her striking face.
Nor was it chagrin. “My father is my father, and I am his daughter. That’s as far as it must go.
He’s guided me through many things in life, but love is not a matter I take him too seriously on. ”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s not exactly been the best at it himself. Since divorcing my mother, he’s had a few relationships. A few times, I thought he might remarry, but the women always leave, whether by their own volition or his. I don’t think he’s fit for married life.”
Alicia knew this was her chance to open the dialogue she’d been itching to have all day. “What about your mother? Whatever happened to her?” Don’t let her know I know something… don’t let her know!
Danica stared at the space before her. By now, Alicia knew what her being deep in thought looked like. Sometimes it unnerved her, as if the whole of the cosmos began to unwind within Danica’s mind. Her eyes never glazed over. Her expression never changed.
“My mother disappeared after the divorce. All I know is that she was in an unfortunate accident a while later, and that my father had full custody of me. She never tried to see me. I think she gave up custody, for whatever reason.” Danica shrugged, her lean shoulders moving languidly.
“Since I barely remember her, I don’t feel too bad about it. ”
If only you knew the truth! What if Danica knew that her mother was in Chicago, only a few blocks away? What if she knew that Julia desperately wanted to see her, to get to know the woman who was once her precious little girl she fought so hard to protect?
“By the way, you never told me that you had a brother.”
“What is this?” Danica snorted. “Throwing everything you can think of at me?”
Alicia looked away. “I’m sorry. I… read it online.” That sort of information was online, right? It had to be. Eddie Moreau’s death would’ve been public record. Would Russell have tried to cover it up? No way. No man was that powerful. Right?
“I was a baby when he was born and died. That’s all I know about it. I suppose it depressed my mother.”
“I’m sorry I dragged that all up.” Alicia stood, clearing away the dirty tea dishes. “It wasn’t my place.” Sort of like how it wasn’t her place here.
Danica’s arms wrapped around Alicia’s midsection and brought her down into a waiting lap. “I’ve got some time, my love,” Danica muttered in her ear. “Why don’t we have a chat? You’re the one who likes to get to know people so well.”
Alicia wiggled against her hips. “All right. What are we talking about?”
While she sat in Danica’s lap and listened to her soft words, Alicia was taken on a meandering journey that began with Danica’s isolated childhood and ended with their meeting several weeks ago.
Of course, she didn’t talk about everything.
They only sat there for about an hour, sharing sweet kisses in between admissions about their lives.
Alicia frankly talked about her past relationships.
The ones she never went far with. Matt. Fucking Matt.
When she mentioned how he strung her along with Wait Until Marriage bullshit and cheated on her anyway, Danica’s arms stiffened around her.
“How callous,” she said. “That ignoramus asked you to abstain from one of life’s greatest pleasures and still couldn’t be true to you. It’s not right to always ask and never give in return. I’m sorry you wasted so much of your youth on him.”
Alicia gently combed away the bangs that had fallen into Danica’s face while they talked. “I’m not wasting anything on you, right?”
“I don’t allow waste in my life. I certainly wouldn’t expect it in yours.
” Her hand dropped to Alicia’s ass and toyed with the hem of her sheath dress.
“One day, when you and I have been together for as long as anyone can expect, I’ll ask you if you had wasted any part of your life with me.
And you will say no. And tell the truth. ”
Alicia curled against her. She’s talking about our future.
Every time this woman spoke, Alicia was enthralled.
She said all the right things. Did the right things.
Promised her the world and beyond. How was this possible?
How had a woman stolen one glance at her and decided she was her fated person?
“I love you,” Alicia said, anxiety gripping her heart and extremities. Would she regret saying that? “I’ve been trying to deny it, since I couldn’t believe it could happen so quickly, but I’m pretty sure I love you, Danica.”
She was silent for more than half a minute, eyelashes slowly moving against her cheek.
Her big hand gripped Alicia’s hip with tender affection.
A far cry from the way she usually made love to her.
“I love you too, Alicia. You’ve become one of the most precious aspects of my life in so little time.
I already hurt to think of a life without you in it. ”
Alicia had barely registered those words when she continued to speak.
“I ask so much of you. I want you to be the type of woman I am searching for. Are you, truly? Are you the woman I’ve been waiting to cross my path for so long?”
“I want to be, Danica. I have little to ask from you in return.”
“Such as?”
She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, head resting against hers. “Protect me, for one. No matter what happens, I want to know that you’re always on my side and willing to do anything to protect me.”
“Precious,” she replied, stroking the small of Alicia’s back. “I already do that. You will have nothing to fear as long as you are by my side. That I can promise you.”
Alicia sighed. “Call me precious again.”
“Precious.”
Alicia took a bubble bath with the bathroom door open, her heart twittering in happiness as she thought about how much Danica loved her.
She occasionally passed by the open door, glancing at Alicia, conversing with her as she shaved her legs, and already wished Danica would propose to her.
As ridiculous as it sounded, she wanted to say yes.
When they went to bed, with arms around each other and lips making love to the nape of her neck, Alicia thought of all the ways this could go wrong… and all the ways it could go right.
“If I said it made me happy to think about having a family with you, what would you say?”
Danica kissed the edge of her mouth. “I would say that it makes me happy to hear that. You and I, Alicia… we would have some wonderful kids, if I do say so myself.”
She laughed as she rolled Alicia over and properly kissed her. They made slow, gentle, happy love that ended with many sighs and more than a few, “I love yous.” Yet Alicia knew that this was only the calm before the storm. Wherever these Moreaus went, hurricanes followed.