~JESSICA~“She says she owes it all to me,” I reported, grinning.“Huh? Who owes what??” Daniel was distracted, I could tell.He had been eager to wrap his arms as soon as he had found me on the beach. And he had spirited me away from Leonie without a backward glance. Something was on his mind.“I said, Leonie and Richard are talking to each other,” I repeated patiently while we walked up to our bure. “He's actually listening to her. They're communicating! They might have a baby! And she says she owes it all to me.”I was sure Daniel would appreciate the irony of it. But he just shook his head.“That woman is nuts.”Well, he had had a hard day. While I had only attended the morning meetings, he had been tied up all afternoon hammering out the last of the details so that the new resort consortium was now a done deal.So he could be forgiven not caring one way or another about Leonie's family issues.“You must be relieved it's over,” I said as we climbed up the s
~JESSICA~“I talked to Leonie last night” I was lying on my side in bed, tracing a line down the center of Daniel's bare chest, then following it with my lips.“Mmm.” It was an acknowledgement that he heard me, but his attention was clearly elsewhere.He shifted as my mouth moved lower, then held still, sucking in his breath.“You're very tense,” I murmured, teasing his navel with my tongue, then moving lower still.“Not tense,” he murmured. “Wrung out.”“But obviously not unwilling to continue.” I grinned and kept on touching, tracing, teasing.“You're right,” I said, looking up between kisses. “She did intend to seduce you.”He jerked halfway up, weight resting on his elbows.“She told you that??” he looked appalled. I moved my shoulders.“She did, actually. She thinks you are gorgeous.” I added with a grin. “But it was really more about Richard. She was trying to make him jealous. He apparently didn't notice.” “And thank God for that” Daniel said dryly. “Or
~JESSICA~The doors to our room finally opened after hours of waiting and Daniel came in.And then I threw the question at him.“What happened between you and Leonie at Barcelona??”He blinked twice, shocked at the fact that I was asking.“What? You thought I wouldn't find out??” I asked, still very angry.It all made sense now why she's trying to seduce him a day ago.She wanted what they had again.“How did you know about Barcelona??” He asked calmly.“She told me!”“Damn that bitch” he groaned.“Explain yourself” I retorted.“That happened even before we got married. I was still single then” he replied. “And besides, nothing even happened.”I blinked.Before we got married??But it still didn't calm my anger down. The fact that he didn't tell me before now still made me angry.“Continue talking” I demanded.“Leonie Carstairs is a desperate, pushy little tart! A guy is single, she hits on him!” He started.“She hit…on you?” I asked.“She did.” His answer was fla
~JESSICA~I spent the two hours before lunch and two hours after lunch attending the meetings, taking copious notes–and watching Daniel. And if it was possible to find more reasons to love the man I had married some years ago, I did it that afternoon.It had been a long time since I had seen Daniel at work after I left Middlesbrough. But today, I saw him working with people, listening to ideas, visualizing, synthesizing, concretizing.He took a group of men with diverse agendas and individual concerns and brought them to a group agreement.It wasn't all settled of course. The deal wasn't done. But he had connected with Mr. Isogawa. The respect between them was clear.And his rapport with others was also there. When Richard seemed about to go off on a tangent, Daniel tactfully and speedily redirected his focus.When John got bogged down in the details, Daniel took him back to the big picture. He had a way with words and a way with people that gave them confidence
~JESSICA~We hadn't spoken much last night.When the barriers had finally come down, it had been too startling, too new, too overwhelming.There had been words, but not many. There would be time later for them.I had said, “I love you,” though.I had dared that much, and had held my breath after I said it, fearing he would laugh.He hadn't.He had groaned and kissed me with a desperation that told me he loved me too. And I had been willing to settle for that.I believed he loved me even if he couldn't say it yet.But he had surprised me by pulling back and looking deeply into my eyes and saying, “I love you too.”I had blinked, amazed, then exultant.I was confident now that he was the soul mate I had always thought he would be.Daniel Sutherland had always been a guarded man, who charmed others easily, who had few friends, and loved very few of them.He loved me. He had said so. And I had no doubt that he would demonstrate that fact again as soon as we had some p
~JESSICA~“I want to push you over the edge, here and right now” I told Daniel.“Tease” his lips moved from my lips over my cheeks.They touched, they pressed, they stroked, they nibbled. They teased and made me burn too. There was a fine tremor in his fingers as they skimmed up my legs and caught hold of the night gown, then tugged it up and over my head and tossed it away.“Daniel!” I exclaimed.He raised his head.“What? You wanted to wear it?” He asked.“Yes. No. I don't care. Daniel. I….”He kissed me, interrupting me.“Shh. Lie back and think of things I'm going to do to you” he said.“No,” I replied. I was absolutely not going to do that. I was going to participate. Completely.“I get to….to do things, too.”“Oh, really??” His mouth was so close I felt his breath on my cheek.“Yes, really” I replied.“I thought I was the boss” he teased.“Former boss, and only in the office. We're not in the office now” I teased back.“Now, wait a minute” he instructed