Chapter 39 Hero
HERO
Thanksgiving was better than I ever could have hoped.
My grandparent’s estate, before they’d left it to me and taken up condo hopping all over the world, was extremely well defended with three perimeter fences and guard houses every thirty feet.
Dogs and tech finished out the defense, but none of that was visible from the main house with its French roof and formal gardens, or the smaller cottage tucked away from the house and surrounded by a wild garden filled with roses and ornamental cabbages when it wasn’t covered in snow.
The pool house was close enough, but not too close, at least that was the idea, but Toni didn’t seem to want to leave the tiny two-bedroom house that was mostly living room and kitchen, with walls lined with books and fern plants hanging over the window seat.
Daniela let me hold her, but she was waiting for the moment when I broke her. She didn’t understand what it was like to be safe and protected, but I would show her, for as long as it took.
She started looking at me differently when I carried her into her room so she could get dressed and saw Straw, her father’s cello next to my banjo. Her eyes glowed as she stared at me through a veil of tears.
“You rescued my cello.”
“And the doorman’s dog.” I handed her a tablet.
“I have put all the data and specs here so you don’t have to actually rummage around in my garage if you want to steal something.
My tech is not worth dealing with Marcus Licinius Crassus.
The next time he bites you, I’m turning him into a rug.
It’s all right here, organized and compiled in order of most valuable to least. Also, if you’re feeling better, we’re going into the city on Monday to rehearse for the Christmas concert.
Maestro sent the music with congratulations on your Dani Divine musical debut. He loved it.”
She grabbed my wrist, her grasp so strong that my bones creaked. “You saved Maestro, and the dog, and my cello, and you’re giving me all your valuable tech? Why?”
I gazed at her for a long time, smiling until my bones creaked.
“You’re going to break my wrist if you aren’t careful.
” Having her touch me with that much intensity felt so good.
So right. If she shattered every one of my bones, I’d probably die happy.
Except that I needed to stay alive to protect her.
Less from danger and more from loneliness.
“Sorry.” She pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself, so confused, so lost, so vulnerable, that I couldn’t help but pick her up again and carry her to the double bed and climb in it with her, both of us wearing too many clothes.
I nosed her hair. She smelled so good. So much like herself.
“Daniela, I liked you the first time we met, on top of that tower, when you kissed me in public. I liked you enough to think about you quite often even before I knew your family or your horrible cousin. When you came to Las Vegas to destroy me, I had no objection to it, as long as your cousin fell as well. But when you asked me to protect you, to give you my name, to hide you from those who hurt you, I took that seriously. I love you, Daniela Delavigne Dagger. I’ve loved you from the moment you broke my nose.
It was only compounded when I woke up in the desert with a scorpion on my face.
You’re everything I want to keep.” I kissed her forehead and then nudged her with my chin as I looked at the wall across from the bed. “Do you like them?”
When she saw the collection of glass knives, she gasped and gripped my hand, again too tight, but at the same time, not tight enough.
“Whose are they?” she asked in a breathless voice.
“Yours,” I murmured, running my nose down the side of her neck. Would she mind terribly if I used my tongue? I’d been so good about not tasting her for far too long. “I’ve been collecting them since that time on the tower when you didn’t stab me.”
Her breath caught, and my aching for her grew exponentially.
“I left my knives at the hotel.” She gripped me without taking her eyes off the wall.
I kissed her neck. “Pity. They’re from all over the world. Each one has a story that I’d like to tell you sometime, but first, I want to be intimate with you.”
She bit her lip, looking from the knives to me and then to her cello, sitting there looking priceless. Maybe she needed to play her cello, to make sure it was all right after Philippe had it in his hands.
“Intimate in what way?”
“I think we’ll start with kissing.” I kissed her shoulder. “Then move to caresses,” I said, running my fingers over the inside of her wrist. “Then tasting.” I licked her neck, barely a taste, but she sighed and shifted against me, softening as we sank into the down mattress.
“You mean sex?” She said it so softly and hopefully. Was anything more ridiculous than Daniela asking me to have my way with her?
“No. I mean lovemaking,” I said, gazing into her eyes and kissing her until she wrapped her arms and legs around me like she’d never let me go. Too tight would never be tight enough.