Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

“Shh, you’re all right.”

I snapped awake with a loud gasp. The room was dark, but I didn’t panic at the sight of a figure sliding into my bed; I knew it was Dane; knew that voice and scent.

I was breathing hard, my pulse was racing, and I felt a lingering echo of anxiety. “I was dreaming,” I remembered. Dreaming about screeching tires and bright headlights. There’d been a jumble of images—some from when I was nine; some from tonight. More, it was Dane who’d been knocked over … and Travis had been the driver. It didn’t take a psychologist to work out what had prompted that part of the dream.

“I know, I heard you,” he said.

I winced. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn’t. I was getting undressed when I thought I heard you call out something. I came to check on you and quickly realized you were having a nightmare.”

Keeping my arms folded, I shuffled closer to him, feeling cold. It was only then I realized his chest was bare, but I still didn’t move, needing the warmth that radiated from him.

Dane snatched the covers, which I’d apparently kicked off in my sleep, and dragged them over us both. He slid his hand under my tee to splay on my back. “Now settle.”

Settle? How could I do that when he was lying so close, smelling so damn good, with his palm pressed against my bare skin? The memories of the last time we’d been so close, of him pounding into me like a man possessed, flipped to the forefront of my mind. Hell.

It was a good thing I’d folded my arms before I’d shifted nearer to him. It not only meant my hands couldn’t wander, it meant he wouldn’t know my nipples had tightened.

I really did despise how effortlessly he affected me. It had been bad enough before we slept together. But now that I knew what it felt like to have him moving inside me, it was so much harder to ignore his pull.

A low growl sawed at the back of Dane’s throat. “Stop thinking and sleep.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”

Sighing, I closed my eyes and tried blanking my thoughts, figuring it would be useless. But I must have managed to doze off at some point, because the next time my eyelids fluttered open, sunlight was creeping around the edges of the electronic shades.

I licked my lips. And froze. Oh, shit, I was half-sprawled on top of Dane.

My head was pillowed on his chest, my arm was slung around his waist, and one of my legs was curled over his. Moreover, one of his hands was loosely curved around the calf of the leg I’d hooked over his; the other hand had dipped into my panties and shorts to palm my ass.

I tensed. Well this wasn’t good. Not wanting to wake him, I carefully tugged my leg free of his hold and straightened it. Just as slowly, I pulled back my arm and tucked it between us. I shuffled backwards, hoping the arm he’d curved around me would slip away and that his hand would then slide out of my panties. But that arm stayed where it was … as did his hand.

Giving up on moving him, I stared at his frowning face. He was such a remote, troubled, relatively remorseless man who struggled with empathy and seemed largely indifferent to the feelings and sensitivities of others. But he’d punched Jeff for calling me a gold-digger. He’d dragged me away from the skidding car. He’d treated my graze with utter gentleness. He’d come to me when I had a nightmare. And he’d stayed with me the rest of the night, even though he allegedly didn’t like sleeping in the same room as others.

Fuck, how was I supposed to keep an emotional distance from him when he was chiseling at my defenses?

Desperate to remain on solid ground, I reminded myself that none of it actually meant anything. I mean, he’d had to punch Jeff—it would have looked weird if he hadn’t defended me. People all over the world had pulled perfect strangers out of the way of cars; put in that light, his behavior wasn’t such a huge deal. He wouldn’t have treated my graze if my hands hadn’t been trembling too much for me to do it myself. And of course he’d wake me when I was having a nightmare—who wanted to listen to someone make all kinds of noise in their sleep? It also had made sense for him to stay with me, since it would have made it easy for him to snap me out of any further nightmares.

Yep, everything he’d done had been motivated by pure common sense, nothing more.

I flexed my sore hand. Damn, my palm stung. At least I’d have the weekend to help it heal before going back to work.

Maybe it made me a little shameless, but I was truly considering flipping back the covers so I could get a better look at his bare chest. What I could see of it was certainly impressive—he looked deliciously toned. Downright lick-able, in fact.

My nose tingled and twitched as a sneeze built up out of nowhere. I covered my nose and mouth as the sneeze burst out of me. His eyes flipped open. I seriously had no idea how anyone could snap awake so easily. It concerned me, really. It made me wonder if there’d once been a time when he’d needed to be on his guard during the night; if he’d needed to wake at the slightest sound in order to protect himself. The very thought made my chest tighten.

His head turned toward me, and those lazy, slumberous eyes met mine. Just like that, my stomach clenched.

“Morning,” I said.

His eyes flitted over my face, searching. “You okay?”

I nodded. “I slept pretty well, all things considered. You?”

“Not so bad,” he replied, smoothly and casually sliding his hand from my ass to my hip. “Don’t know what it is about this bed, but I always sleep longer when I’m in it.”

A faint smile tugged at my mouth. “It’s an awesome bed.” And it was a lot more pleasant to lie in when I had Dane bare-chested beside me, but I kept that little nugget to myself. “Thank you for staying with me. Again.”

He shrugged, releasing my hip and letting his arm flop to the mattress. “You don’t snore, wriggle around, hog the covers, or take up too much space.”

I almost barked a short laugh. If he’d woken a little earlier, he wouldn’t have said the latter.

Since I desperately needed to pee, I edged out of bed. “Nature calls.” I padded to the bathroom, hearing him rise behind me. It took all of my self-control not to glance over my shoulder and get a better look at that chest. In the bathroom, I gave myself a mental pat on the back in reward and then went about my business.

Dane leaned against the counter while I poured coffee into two mugs. “I want to know who else at o-Verve thinks like Jeff.”

I sighed. I should have known he’d circle back to that eventually. “Dane, can’t you just let it go?”

“You know me better than that.” He picked up his cup. “Was it confined to last night, or have things also been going on at the company?”

I set down the coffee canter. “Nothing’s been going on … per se.”

“Elaborate on ‘per se.’”

I explained how people had changed toward me, though I downplayed it slightly. “It was nothing, really.”

“It wasn’t ‘nothing.’ And don’t think I’m not aware you’re downplaying it.”

See, total warlock. “I knew there’d be people who’d accuse me of marrying the boss to get my hands on his money. No one actually said anything to my face until last night. And that was mostly just Jeff.”

“Mostly,” Dane echoed. “Who else?”

Knowing the graze on my palm would burn like a bitch if I grabbed my cup, I carefully lifted it by the handle and then sipped my coffee. “It’s not worth the bother.”

“If I let this go, if I don’t come down hard on it now, it will not only continue, it will get worse. So tell me who they are. I won’t drop this until I have their names. You’re already well-aware of that. Save yourself any further aggravation and just tell me what I want to know. Consider it an order from your boss.”

I reluctantly gave him the names. “I think two of them are actually on our reception guest list.”

“They won’t be after I tell Chris and Miley to cross them off it.” Sipping at his coffee, he stared at my rings—something he’d begun to do often. I wondered if he’d decided to keep the engagement ring after the divorce.

“Jeff, the two-faced fucker, shook my hand and congratulated me after hearing you and I got married,” Dane went on. “He said we made a great couple and that he’d always thought there was a ‘spark’ there. He’d been ‘rooting’ for us, apparently.”

“You believed him?”

“Not for even a millisecond. He’s not half as good an actor as he believes he is, and I’ve caught him mooning over you often enough to know he’d be far from happy for us. But I didn’t think he’d pull the kind of shit he did last night.”

I set down my cup. “I think he felt emboldened by you hinting at promoting him. I don’t know if the alcohol had muddied his thoughts, but he seemed to believe it meant he was too valuable to o-Verve for you to fire.”

Dane frowned. “There’s only one person in my company who’s an irreplaceable employee. That’s you. Which is why you’re not leaving.”

Explicit memories crawled all over me. “I’m not even touching that subject again.”

His eyes shimmered with something that made my stomach flip, and I wondered if he too was drowning in some very delicious memories.

I didn’t realize I’d fisted my hand until my nails pricked the pad-covered graze on my palm. I uncurled my fingers and gently stroked over the pad.

“Does it hurt much?”

“It itches and stings sometimes, but it’s not so bad.” I leaned against the island. “I called Officer Griffin before I came down here. None of the enquiries into the burglary amounted to anything.”

“That’s not all that surprising, since—”

The buzzer sounded.

I frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No.” His thumbs tapped on the screen of his phone, and then his brow furrowed. “It’s Kent and Jen.”

Oh, wonderful. Hey, I had nothing against Kent, but his wife was a moron. “You let them in. I’m going to make some cereal. Want anything?”

He shook his head and left the room.

I poured some fruit loops into a bowl, added some milk, and then settled on the stool at the island. I expected Dane to escort his visitors into the den or something, but he brought them to the kitchen. Chewing cereal, I gave them a little wave.

Kent’s smile faded. “What happened to your hand?”

“I was performing a random gravity test but ended up almost giving the sidewalk a hug,” I replied.

Dane came to stand at my side. “A jeep crashed into a car as we were crossing the road,” he told our visitors as they slid onto the stools opposite mine. “The car skidded toward us, so we had to hurry to reach the sidewalk.” He looked down at me. “Thankfully, you reached it before you tripped.”

“I might not have made it if you hadn’t hauled me out of the way.” I put a hand to my chest and sighed up at him. “My hero.” I snickered at the droll look he sent me.

“Thank God neither of you were hit,” said Kent. “What about the passengers? Did they survive?”

“None died or appeared badly injured,” replied Dane.

Jen braced her elbows on the island. “They were lucky, then. As were the two of you.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t luck for us. It was Dane’s super-human speed and reaction time. Seriously, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d done an Edward Cullen and stopped the moving car with his hand.” I looked up at him. “You’re not a vamp, are you? Because it would explain your predatory nature, aversion to garlic, why you never seem to get sick, how you seem to be able to read my mind, and why you keep biting me during sex. Not that I’m complaining about the latter. It’s hot.”

Dane sighed, but his eyes lit with a faint glimmer of amusement. He gently flicked the diamond on my engagement ring. “You have a drop of milk on your chin.”

I frowned. “You usually don’t complain when I don’t swallow properly. I don’t know where I am with you.”

He fisted my hair and tugged my head back. “Behave.” He pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “You’re going to pay for that later.” He released my hair. “Eat your cereal.”

“Fine. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you avoided my question.”

Dane shot me a look of impatience and then turned back to our visitors. Kent had sucked in his lips to hide a smile. Jen was gazing out of the kitchen window, pointedly ignoring our back and forth.

“What brings you both here?” Dane asked them.

Kent hesitated. “I didn’t want to do this, it feels too much like tattling, but …” He exchanged a distressed look with his wife. “I wanted to warn you that I think Travis might try to cause trouble for you and Vienna, Dane. He came to our home drunk last night. He’s really not happy that you married Vienna. He kept bouncing from insisting the marriage was fake to snickering about how she’s tricked you into a whirlwind wedding, like he didn’t know what to believe.”

“Hmm.” Dane twisted his mouth. “I appreciate the warning, but it’s redundant. He’s already tried to cause trouble. He told Vienna twice that he thinks she should leave me. He and Hope even tried to convince her that I only married her to access my trust fund.”

Kent softly swore under his breath.

“According to them, Jen was in on it.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “What? That’s a load of crap.”

“Is it?” Dane asked airily.

She gaped at him. “You really think I’d do that?”

“You made it clear to me once before that you thought it was all about my trust fund, didn’t you?”

Wincing, the woman dropped her gaze to the hands she’d rested on the island.

Kent’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Jen, what is he talking about?”

She slouched and looked up at Dane, her expression pained. “I owe you an apology, I know. You just went so fast from being against marriage to being determinedto bind her to you. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. But it wasn’t my right to question it or you. And although you might be utterly ruthless, I don’t think you’d manipulate a woman into believing you wanted to marry her unless it was true. Especially a woman you respect enough to have hired as your PA.” She looked at me, then. “I’m sorry for the things I said, Vienna.”

I wasn’t so sure I believed her. Or maybe I just wasn’t feeling particularly charitable toward her after she’d spoken of DID like it was a virus.

Kent twisted in his seat to face her. “Wait, you accused him of using Vienna that way? You said the same things Travis has been saying? When?”

She closed her eyes and ducked her head. “I came to see Dane the day he got back from Vegas. And yes, I said those things. I was just … there’s no excuse.”

Kent’s face twisted in anguish. “Jen.”

She raked a hand through her hair. “I know, I feel terrible about it now.” She looked from me to Dane. “I’m determined to put it right by supporting you both from here on out. So if there’s any help you need with the reception preparations or anything else, please let me know.”

Um, yeah, I’d pass on that until I was satisfied that she’d meant what she said here today. I didn’t trust her not to try and fuck the plans up.

Kent stared at her, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you went behind my back like that. You didn’t think I at least deserved to know about it after the fact?”

“I didn’t tell you because I was ashamed of myself,” she began, “and I knew how disappointed you’d be that I’d let you down this way. It won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t,” said Dane—it was a warning, pure and simple.

She blanched and nodded.

Kent stiffly stood. “Dane, Vienna—I’m sorry to you both for what Jen did. As you can imagine, she and I need to talk, so we’ll be on our way.”

Jen slowly stood to leave and, avoiding anyone’s eyes, followed her husband to the front door.

Before leaving, Kent turned to Dane. “Hugh would be thrilled for you.”

I inwardly winced. If the comment made Dane feel in any way bad, there was no sign of it on his face.

Once the couple was gone, I blew out a breath. “Hopefully we won’t have any more surprise visitors.” I wasn’t feeling in a particularly social mood.

“Yes, hopefully.” Dane drained his coffee mug. “Let me know when you’re ready to have lunch. I’ve got calls to make.”

“And I’ve got books to read so, yeah, see you in a few hours.”