City Vibes - Complete Series (BWWM Interracial Billionaire Romance) (8 page)

Chapter 16

The elevator doors swung open and Reese stepped into the hallway in front of Daniel's door. Her heart pounded in her chest at a rate and intensity she refused to believe was possible, let alone healthy. Her blood seeped through her veins, cold and thick with guilt over what she had just allowed to happen and anticipation of whatever was coming next. She placed the key Daniel had had made for her into its lock but then froze. What was she going to do? Daniel would almost certainly be on the other side of that door by then, and he's going to want to know what she had been doing all day. She pressed her head against his door and squeezed her eyes shut willing herself to forget the fact that she had just kissed another man... or that she liked it-

The door was ripped away from her.

Reese took two startled steps backwards, then looked up to find herself staring at a very unkempt looking Daniel. He held a cocktail glass half filled with what looked like Bourbon in with trembling fingers. His eyes were red around the rims and he wore nothing but his Armani boxers and a pair of house-slippers.

Without thinking anything of it, Reese threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. He seemed startled at first, but he then melted into her embrace. She had barely buried her face in his bare chest, when he violently drew himself away from her.

It was in watching the way that Daniel haphazardly stumbled backwards, that Reese realized he was well beyond sober. “Why are you wearing cologne.”

Reese's heart stopped. She wasn't wearing cologne. She shook her head and pushed past him into the apartment in order to buy herself some time to answer. Yet just as she reached the raised platform at the end of the front hallway, she stopped, taking in the sight of an overturned lamp, unearthed cushions and what looked like a broken wine fluke. With her jaw hanging stupidly open, she stepped down into the living area.

“What the hell happened?” Reese demanded, turning her gaze back on him.

But he was glaring at her. “I'll answer your question if you answer mine.” He sneered.

She threw her hands up in surrender, hot tears of guilt pouring from her eyes. “I'm not wearing cologne. Someone else was.” She felt the confession pressing against her lips, begging to be set free.

Daniel shook his head as his face contorted into the most painful expression Reese had ever seen him make. He then waved his hand dismissively, took a generous swig of his drink and pressed past her into the living area.
 

“You went to the Whitney with him?” He asked in a raw voice.

“W-with who?” Reese asked.

“HIM! The guy you're cheating on me with!”

Reese's eyes went wide with fear. “I'm not cheating on you...” She muttered in a shaking voice.

Daniel sat on the window seal, keeping his head hung low. “So, what were you doing?”

As she cautiously approached him, she felt an explanation forming just on the tip of her tongue. “I just went to the Whitney with a friend I swear.” It was most of the truth, but she knew she couldn't tell him all of, not like this.

He nodded. But his glass slowly slipped from his hand and crashed onto the hard, tile floor.

Reese wrapped her arms around him, rocking the two of them back and forth.

“I was right about why they called me.” He muttered darkly.

Reese nodded. “I know, Daniel, I know.”

“It was that twenty billion dollars I let slip from my fingers.” He continued as he rested his head on her shoulder.

“I'm sorry.” Reese breathed. She wasn't just talking about his job.

“I have no job. And I have no money.” His voice was heavy and raw.

Reese lifted his chin and planted a kiss on his cheek. To this, he responded by kissing her deeply on the lips. Reese pressed her body into his, willing this contact to make him feel even a little bit better. “You have me.”

Daniel squeezed her in his arms, his fingers digging into her back.

Then,

With a poisonous voice,

He muttered,

“This is all your fault.”

Chapter 17

Reese stood in the center of Daniel's living room; her feet square in front of her and her arms hanging like dead limbs on either side of her. She scanned the room. Her eyes picked up the blinds, stained with wine and crookedly hanging just above the window panes.

They grabbed the pile of broken glass sitting in a puddle of red wine from a wine flute that had evidently been thrown. They landed on a couch whose cushions had been turned out, whose upholstery was stained with some unknown substance. They found the blanket, which, having been haphazardly flung into the air, had landed on top of the shade of a ten foot standing lamp. This cast shadows on the hardwood floors, on the destroyed cushions and the pile of glass... and on Daniel.

She rested her eyes on the man, whose figure, tense and mangled, sat just across from her, perched on the window sill with the uneven blinds, his face in his hands. As she took in the frazzled waves on his head, trembling as he seethed with anger and with a kind of pain Reese couldn't hope to understand, she began to contemplate what had brought her to this point. Peculiar was it? That a researcher by day, waitress by night could find herself on the upper east side, standing in the middle of an apartment that had been destroyed by her once-billionaire boyfriend.

She found herself pondering her future with him. Daniel was very much made of his money and he'd sucked her into his artificial world and she'd gone along with it and played dress up because she couldn't see herself doing anything else. Even when she had to face his boss, who stared down at her chest and made fun of her job, she still knew there was no place else that she'd rather be then wherever Daniel was.

Now she looked at a man that she did not recognize. Was Daniel his money? Now that it was gone, had it taken him with it? Or was this person who, for the first time since she started dated him actually looked and felt human, the real Daniel that had just been unearthed from underneath the countless monetary funds?

As this last thought occurred to her, her heart slowed. Her eyes dried and she lifted her right hand to her face to swipe away the tears that had already fallen. She took a step towards him, gasping at the sensation of the cold hardwood against her bare feet. As she approached him, her stomach flipped. She was getting the sense that this might be kind of like some sort of new beginning for them.

She even selfishly wondered if this new Daniel, this struggling, human Daniel, might open up to her the way that deified Daniel would never allow. She took one last step that brought her to him. With a trembling hand, she ran her fingers through his hair and felt him melt into her. His hands clutched her back with a grip that was nothing more than apologetic, but she knew that he was in no position to be introspective. She knelt in front of him; an action that brought her down to his eye level.

After a short moment, he reluctantly lifted his head and drowned her in his tired, broken gaze. His emerald eyes, once brilliant, once glistening, even in the darkness, once piercing and vibrant, now looked dull and lifeless; looked hazed and dark.

Chapter 18

“Go clean yourself up.” Reese murmured.

Daniel set his jaw, because he was not one to be bossed around.

But Reese also held her ground, so they remained there gazing with a hard stare at each other. Reese dared him to argue with her; to deny what was so obvious to the both of them. “I'll clean this up.”

He opened his mouth as if to protest, but she placed a finger on his lips. “Don't.” her voice came out harsh and authoritative. But under her touch, she could feel him purse his lips, feel him remain just as tense.

He snatched her hand away from his face. Reese grimaced as he held it in his, his grip growing tighter and tighter around her thin fingers. He reach around to the back of her head with his other hand and clutched a handful of her hair. Her jaw unhinged, hanging open as ragged breaths escaped from her lips. His eyelids hung down covering half of his eyes as he leaned into her. She could feel his warm breath on her cheeks and her chin and her neck.

She gasped as he traced her collar bone with his tongue. He kissed the bit of flesh just above her chest. Reese shuddered, a flash of electricity shooting up her spine, filling her head and then firing off every neuron in her body. She struggled to remember what it was that she had meant for him to do. She reached for that idea bouncing around in her head, the correct course of action, the responsible thing to do, but she found it impossible to grasp.

Before she knew it, he had kissed her, and was caressing her generous chocolate curves. She felt him with her lips, answering his every demand with her tongue. She could feel his anger, his desperation and his desire just in the way that he smelled; the way that he tasted. Then, far too soon, he drew away from her, but as his lips moved away from hers it was like he had sucked that one, last idea out of her. Her mind was empty save for her desire for him. So, she kissed him, her hands hungrily surveying every part of his body.

She felt his thick, warm skin under her fingertips. The warmth from his bare chest pressed against hers and seeped through her sweater. She kissed his chin, sucked on his neck, rested her cheek against his chest, sucking him in, drowning in him, breathing in him. He placed his chin on the crown of her head and wrapped his arms around her. As they sat there for one short moment, she listened to his heart beat, letting it numb her body and her mind. They were in the midst of a literal catastrophe, but this, this felt more right than anything she had ever experienced before.

With a low grunt, he lifted her up and she straddled him. Her heart started racing again, pounding at her rib cage with a force that was almost painful as she became hyper-aware of the sensation of his cool head against her chest.

She lifted her gaze, staring straight above his head and out of their window, where the buildings were shadows towering up into the sky with their windows of warm light, dotting the thick dark atmosphere like stars shining through an overcast night. He dug his fingertips into her back and pressed his nose against her chest. She bent her head, kissing his forehead. They rocked back and forth like this, grinding against each other like two rocks tumbling in the midst of an avalanche. Reese lifted her arms as he slipped off her sweater in one motion.

“Mmm...” She murmured, as he pressed his chest against hers. He wrapped his right arm around her, encasing her like a cage, then lifted her and emerged off the sill, the two of them landing on the wooden floor.

Reese blinked to catch her bearings, but he was upon her before she could get a hold of herself. She bit her lip as he ripped her skirt off. “I need you.” he peeled her thick tights off and flung them across the room.

“I-I need you too.” Reese breathed in response.

With piercing aggression, he entered her. She gasped at this, her eyes flashing wide open. “Oh.” She slammed her fist against the ground, the pain of this impact only adding to this wondrous moment. Her muscles trembled, pulling away from her bones as that point in between her legs grew larger and larger until it ripped her in half, until it was all she had left.

“I need this.” He grunted, each word accompanying a thrust.

“Daniel.” Reese sighed, her toes curling as she felt herself climbing laboriously towards a climax.

Daniel drew his frame away from her and when she looked at him, that fire was once again in his eyes. She remembered what she had seen in him that very first night at Per Se. For it wasn't his thousand dollar suit. It wasn't his nearly reflective tie or his cufflinks which were so bright, they could flag down a plane. It was those eyes and the beautiful fiery confidence behind them. And she knew, that the real Daniel; the Daniel she had fallen for, had not gone anywhere. This was him right here. His thrusts grew more desperate, the intensity reverberating through her entire body until she felt his seed inside of her.

The two of them layed there in the center of their living room feeling cleansed and calm.

Chapter 19

Reese searched for the broom over the sound of the shower running. After their impromptu bout of intimacy, she was finally able to convince him to take a shower. She checked the pantry and the coat closet, and yet, still couldn't find it. A smile played at the corner of her lips as she heard the sound of Daniel's out of tune singing. With a sigh, she pulled the door to the laundry room open.

Luckily for her she spotted the broom leaning against the wall right next to the washing machine. As her fingers clasped it, the image of Daniel, his eyes intent and full of life, came to mind. Her heart swelled at this and at the fact that he was letting her see him like this; that he was letting her in. “Well, he doesn't even really have a choice,” she muttered to herself as she made her way back to the living room and the pile of glass sitting next to their overturned couch.

She frowned at the way that the rancid wine began to stain the bottom of the broom. Once she had gathered it all up into a pile, she swept the gook into the dust pan, then went and threw it in the trash can. After this, she sifted through his drawers, grabbed the first rag she laid eyes on and used it to soak up the wine. It was as she was doing this; half naked, with her knees in a puddle of wine and her fingers clutching a small towel that just was not doing the job, that Daniel walked in on her.

She saw his house-shoe clad feet first, then, her eyes followed his bare legs all the way up to the hem of the satin bath robe that draped his perfect form. “What are you doing down there?” He asked.

Reese sifted her brain for the right answer , but eventually just settled with, “I-I'm taking care of this.”

Daniel scoffed. “I'll call someone tomorrow.”

“No, it's fine. I'm already down here.” Reese contested, but when she looked up again, she found that Daniel had extended a hand to her, a determined look on his face.

Reese sighed to herself, much too tired to engage in this game of will with him, and took his hand. “It's just hard for me to go to sleep knowing this is out here.”

Daniel raised her hand to his lips and planted a gentle kiss on it. “I'm sorry I did this to you.” He murmured, lifting her chin with his hand.

Reese held her breath and her stomach flipped as the words, “
this is all your fault
,” came to mind. Their sex had all but erased those insidious words from her mind, but, as her afterglow faded, the hurt in her heart was rapidly setting in. She shook her head, wrestling her chin out of his grip.

“No. I mean it.” He pressed.

She felt her eyes stinging again, promising tears within seconds. “I believe you.” She mumbled.

But Daniel wouldn't let her go. “Forgive me?” His eyes were wide and earnest.

Only, the problem was that he did not ask forgiveness out of regret, but out of guilt. “There's nothing to forgive.” She replied with a heavy voice as she was finally able to break his grip. She stalked into their bedroom, ignoring the fact that he was following her. She entered their room, stripped off what little clothes she was still wearing, then went to the bathroom, and stepped inside of his massive shower. Once she turned on the faucet, she turned back around and shut the door in Daniel's face.

But, he wasn't getting the message.

Reese's eyes flickered shut as she walked under the shower. “Daniel, we just had the best sex I have ever had with anyone in my life. Please, please don't ruin it.” she said as he yanked the door open and entered the shower behind her. She glanced over her shoulder at his figure in the corner of their shower, the steam only making him look more desirable. “Take your robe off or get out. I don't want you ruining it.”

With a smirk, he shrugged out of it and threw it over the top of the glass door.

Reese couldn't help but to drink in his perfect, naked body before turning back around.

“Can we have this conversation now?” He asked as he approached her.

Reese grabbed her Sweet Pea body wash and poured a generous amount onto her sponge. “I don't want to have this conversation now or ever.” She turned to face him. “I don't want to ask questions because I'm afraid of the answers. I don't want to make statements, because I'm afraid of how you'll react.”

By the time she had finished talking, he was three inches away from her. He pried the body wash out of her hands and gently lifted the sponge from her. “I don't want you to be afraid of me.” He whispered as he turned her around and began to lather her with the sponge.

She sighed to herself. “Daniel, I am afraid of you.” She snatched the sponge from him. “
I'm terrified of you
.” She could still hear his voice in her head reciting everything he had ever said that hurt her. She couldn't help but to drown in the weight of all of her suppressed emotion.

“It hurts me to hear you say that.” Daniel replied with a heavy voice.

Reese nodded, as her eyes began to leak hot tears. She turned around. “I have never felt so drawn to someone who makes me feel the way you do.”

“I don't understand what you're saying.” Daniel breathed as he placed two gentle hands on either one of her shoulders. He rubbed her upper arms.

“I'm saying I'm in love with you.”

Daniel's mouth hung slightly ajar as his eyes went wide at this.

Reese just kept talking. “I am so hopelessly bound to you. I just want to see you happy.” Her words came out as gasps of air as she was now fighting with her tears to get coherent sounds out. “And I want to know you inside out. I want to be a part of your life.”

“Reese-”

But she shook her head and kept going. “I mean
really
a part of your life. Not just living in your house-”

She would have kept going. There were a hundred things going through her mind that she could have let out, but Daniel cupped his hand over her mouth. “Reese. Just listen. You have always been a part of my life.”

Reese tried to shake herself free so that she could argue with him, but he placed his free hand against the back of her head, trapping her in his grip. She glowered at him, but stopped struggling.

“But this business is not my life. It's my life's work. The fruit of years and years of hard work, maybe, but not my life.” he slowly released his grip.

“I don't believe you.” Reese snapped.

“Well that's too bad, because I love you and I can't see a future without you and this is the only way I know how to love someone.” he replied.

A million butterflies launched into flight in the pit of Reese's stomach. His words swelled and filled her mind. “A future?” She repeated with a trembling voice.

“Yes.” He nodded, stepping under the warm shower of water with her. He held her face in both of his hands and pressed his lips against hers. She was overwhelmed by the strong torrents of water raining down on her, by the buckets of tears streaming down her face, and by Daniel, who was becoming a part of her very essence.

“This feels so right.” She whispered.

“I know I feel it too.” Daniel replied.

Reese giggled. “You're wet again.” She took the sponge out of his hands and lathered herself again. “You've already showered.” She added.

“Well, I like seeing you like this.” He replied as he took the sponge from her yet again.

“What? Wet and naked?” Her voice was dry.

Daniel shrugged as he grabbed the bottle of body wash and poured more of it into the sponge. “This smells good.” he murmured as he ran it over her back and shoulders.

Reese sucked in a deep breath. “I know, but you're using so much of it.” She turned, placing her palms on his chest. 

“Relax. I'll buy you another one.” He knelt in front of her, rubbing the sponge on her inner thigh.

Reese bit her lip. “Daniel.” She breathed.

Daniel looked up at her. “Hey.”

She met his gaze. “What?” but immediately regretted it, for when she stared down at him, she felt as if he was staring right past her eyes and into her soul.

“I hate seeing you cry.”

She plastered a fake smile on her face. “They're tears of joy, Daniel. You just professed your love to me.”

He shook his head, standing up. “No, they're not.”

Reese bent her head, realizing that she couldn't put it off any longer. “I believed what you said earlier.”

Daniel scoffed. “You know I didn't mean it.”

Reese stared straight into his eyes. “Yes, you did.” She pressed.

He stepped away from her, shaking his head, his eyes turning red, and started pacing the length of the shower, but she kept going anyway. “I believed it when you said it and I still believe it now.”

“Why?” He demanded.

“Because you're right.” Reese replied, raising her voice. “It
is
my fault. You lost all that money because you came after me. If I had never happened, you'd still have a company. You wouldn't be broke.”

Daniel pounced on her, crossing the length of his shower in one stride, and grasped her shoulders. “I am not completely broke. I have some money that can hold us over until we figure this out.”

“Us?” Reese breathed. “We?”

“Yes,
we
.” He continued. “And it's not your fault. You didn't do anything. I made that decision of my own accord... and, I would do it again.”

“You would?” She asked, her chest tightening at what he just said.

He nodded. “A hundred times over.”

Reese pulled him under the shower with her, and wrapped her arms around him. “I love you.” She murmured.

“Me too.”