Danny (4 page)

The house was silent when I got there. Maybe Danny
had gone to bed, I reasoned. When I went upstairs, I realized just
how wrong I was. I opened the bedroom door to find Danny and Stacey
in bed together, naked, sweaty, and out of breath. Neither of them
noticed I was there.

I wanted to be angry, to rail at Danny for betraying
me with the woman I’d only hours earlier told him I had feelings
for, but what could I really say? I didn’t have a claim on either
of them. I’d been the one to end it with Danny--and Stacey had no
idea I wanted to be with her.

As I stood there trying to figure out if I should
say something or just leave, I realized my body was having a strong
reaction to the sight of her riding him. So when she noticed me a
moment later and beckoned me over, I didn’t even consider
hesitating. Saying no sure as hell wasn’t an option. I’d undressed
completely before I even reached the bed.

I woke the next morning alone. They’d left while I
slept. Danny moved out that afternoon while I was at work.

That was the night this mess had
begun, I realized. The night
therapy
stopped, and we all just
started fucking.
’Til death do us
part
had somehow turned into
’til we’re not compatible
anymore
, and it was my fault.

I DIDN’T GO STRAIGHT
to Stacey’s after work that night. Needing time
to mentally prepare myself for what I was sure was going to be a
doozy of a confrontation, I drove home instead. I bypassed the
living room when I entered, going directly upstairs to the spare
bedroom, the one I’d been sleeping in ever since Danny had left. I
couldn’t bear sleeping in our bed without him. Not that I would
ever admit that to him.

The message light was blinking, catching my eye as I
passed on my way to the closet. I grabbed the handset and dialed my
voicemail as I stripped out of my skirt and blouse. Two
telemarketers and one message from my sister later, I was
comfortably clothed in yoga pants and one of Danny’s old college
hoodies and about to hang up the phone when Stacey’s voice cooed in
my ear.

“Hi, Paige. I know you well enough by now to know
you went home after work instead of coming over here. If you’re not
here by seven, I’m coming to you.” The sound of Stacey hanging up
the phone heralded the end of the message, and I stood in shock as
the automated voice ran through the menu.

I darted a glance at the clock, and I swear my
stomach hit the floor. 6:53. Seven minutes to make a ten-minute
drive. I hit the end button and threw the phone onto my unmade bed,
slipped my feet into a pair of ballet flats, and flew down the
stairs.

Halfway down the street, I realized I wasn’t even
sure if I’d locked the front door on my way out to the car, but
there was no time to go back and check. There was no way in hell I
was going to risk Stacey showing up on my doorstep, expecting me to
let her in. What if she went upstairs? What if she realized I
wasn’t sleeping in my bedroom anymore? She would know for sure I
wasn’t over him then.

I may have run a red light or two, may have come to
rolling stops at a few stop signs, but I made it to her place by
7:01 p.m. Her car was still parked out front.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I took a moment to
steady my nerves before climbing from my car and going to her door.
I let myself in, like I always did, expecting to find her waiting
in the living room, but she wasn’t there. In fact, the whole place
looked dark, deserted. Was she home? Oh God, what if she’d had
Danny drive her over to my place? He still had a key! “Stacey?” Did
I sound as frantic as I felt? “Stace!”

“Back here.” Her voice sounded from the bedroom.
Relief rushed through me, and I crept down the hall on shaky
legs.

Stacey’s bedroom was shadowy, lit only by a handful
of varying sizes of pillar candles on the nightstands at each side
of the bed. Stacey stood silhouetted against the window across the
room. Just ten steps and I could have my arms wrapped around her,
feel her body pressed against mine. How many times had we stood
just like that, staring out at the moonlight reflecting off the
lake, drawing comfort from each other?

I didn’t cross the room, didn’t pull her into my
arms. Even the idea felt wrong for some reason. Instead, I stood in
the bedroom doorway, uncomfortable and confused by my own
emotions.

After several long moments, Stacey turned away from
the scenery outside. Looking at me without really looking at me,
she motioned toward the bed. “Have a seat,” she directed. I obeyed
without hesitation, resting lightly at the edge of the
mattress.

Stacey began a slow pacing from the window to the
door and back again. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to
handle the silence anymore, she spoke. “When you and Danny first
came to see me, I was sure I could stay objective, maintain my
professionalism. I didn’t know I was going to start to care about
you.” She sucked in a breath. “Both of you.”

Shit, was she leaving me for Danny? I’d given him up
for her, and now that I was realizing I’d made a mistake, was I
going to lose them both? Stacey watched me, as if trying to gauge
my reaction, but I was too stunned to react. Deep down, I’d known
all along she cared for Danny, too, but I couldn’t shake the
feeling that she was trying to let me down gently so she could be
with him.

“I shouldn’t have let my emotions get involved,” she
continued, and then she said something so unexpected it took
several moments to register. “You and Danny belong together, Paige.
You’ve always belonged together.”

Stacey wasn’t leaving me for Danny; she wanted me to
be with him. Motionless in that spot on the bed, I was unsure of
what to say or do. Was she done--should I go? I was about to stand
when the bed shifted behind me, like someone had just climbed onto
it.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting to see when I
turned, but I certainly hadn’t thought Danny would be there,
kneeling on the bed just behind me. How had I not noticed he was
there? He must have been in the room the entire time, must have
been sitting in the chair in the corner--the one completely
shrouded in darkness, I realized, peering over his shoulder.

He smiled a warm, inviting smile and shuffled a few
inches closer. I suddenly felt like a timid animal he was trying to
capture without spooking.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered the words as
he inched ever closer. What kind of game were they playing?

“I asked him to be here. I wanted to speak to both
of you together,” she answered for him. “I was worried that if you
knew he was here, you would leave.” Yeah, she’d probably been right
about that. “Like I said, I care about you both.” She’d stopped
pacing and was now taking slow, deliberate steps toward the door as
she spoke. “But you two care about each other more. What we had has
been fun, but I don’t want to get in the way of what you guys have
together.”

She reached the doorway. “I’ve seen the way you’ve
been looking at each other lately. Like you used to. I think you’re
ready to be together now.” And without so much as saying good-bye,
she ducked out, shutting the door with a soft click.

Danny settled gentle hands on my shoulders, urging
me to face him. When I turned, climbing on the bed to do so, he was
so close I could feel his breath on my forehead. Almost in slow
motion, he reached down, grabbing my hands between his own and
holding them to his chest. Then he speared me with an expression so
intense, I had to look away. Keeping my eyes averted, I visually
traced the stitch lines in the quilt beneath us.

“Six months ago, I thought I’d lost you forever.
I’ll admit, I called Stacey the night you left me because I was
angry. Angry and vulnerable and determined to prove to myself that
I could be what you wanted.” His words were quiet, but I felt them
to my core.

Pulling my hands away, still without looking at him,
I asked the question weighing on my mind. “Why did you wait ’til
after I asked for a divorce?”

“I guess I hadn’t really thought it would come to
that.” He sounded as broken as I felt just then.

Finally meeting his gaze, I was surprised to see
tears glistening in his soulful brown eyes. I suddenly had the urge
to comfort him, and almost before I realized what I was doing, I’d
reached up to wipe a stray tear from his cheek.

He sighed and swiped at his other eye. “I can be
what you need Paige. I can. What I can’t do is get over you; it’s
why I’ve stuck around all these months.

Anger sparked inside me. “I thought you stayed
because you were into Stacey. Isn’t that why you’ve been sleeping
with her all this time?”

“Sleeping with her? No, I haven’t!” He seemed
genuinely astonished.

Had I been wrong? Was he not involved with Stacey?
“But you live with her...”

He gave a quiet sardonic laugh. “I use her shower,
sleep on her couch sometimes, but mostly I’ve just been staying at
my office.”

Office? “What happened to the hospital?”

He must have realized I was softening toward him
because he started closing the distance between us until he was
hovering over me, so close I had to lean back to look up into his
eyes. Candlelight reflected in them. “I quit the hospital, joined a
practice.”

Awesome. Yet another thing I’d wanted him to do
while we were together. He seemed to be watching me, gauging my
reaction. But I didn’t react.

Several slow minutes passed. Then he pressed toward
me, pushing my body with his own until I was lying flat. I wasn’t
sure why I let him; it just never occurred to me to stop him.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about things,” he
whispered against my ear. “To work on things.”

I felt something against my wrist a split second
before I heard what sounded like Velcro sealing. Danny held my gaze
as he pushed my sleeve up, sliding sensual fingers toward my elbow,
away from the wrist he’d just cuffed to the bed.

His eyes were challenging me to struggle, to fight
against him as he reached for my other hand. I didn’t move, not
when he wrapped the nylon cuff around my arm, and not when he slid
the strap into place.

Danny was handling me like he expected me to try to
flee, but I was so wet, so turned on imagining what he might do
next, I wouldn’t have dreamed of running.

When he’d finished restraining my arms, he moved to
kneel over me, one leg on either side of my hips. “I love how you
look in my sweatshirts.” His voice was scratchy and raw as he
leaned over me, reaching for something at the bedside table. After
rustling around in the drawer there, he sat back up, brandishing a
shiny pair of scissors. “But more than that, I love how you look
naked.” Danny clipped at the hem, then abandoned the scissors,
tossing them onto the floor. He grabbed the thick material in both
hands and ripped, tearing it straight up to the neckline.

With one last tug, the hoodie fell away, baring my
chest and stomach. He sucked in a surprised breath--because I
wasn’t wearing a bra?

Danny wasted no time reaching for the waistband on
my pants and tugging them--and my panties--down and off my legs.
While he was still at the end of the bed, he slipped cuffs around
each of my ankles. Until this point, I’d almost been in shock, just
taking it all in. It wasn’t until he closed that last Velcro strap
around my left ankle that I realized this was really happening.

How many nights had I lain awake in bed, alone while
Danny worked a double or even a triple shift at the hospital,
wishing he was there? Too many nights had I slid an exploring hand
into my panties as I pictured him tying me down and having his way
with me--knowing it would never happen in real life. Now, here I
was, cuffed to the bed, naked except for the ruined sweatshirt
hanging from my arms.

And Danny now crawled up my body, the epitome of
seduction. He stopped with his face just inches from the apex of my
thighs, lifted his face to look me in the eyes. It wasn’t the
earnest, puppy-dog, am-I-doing-this-right face I’d grown so used to
seeing from him. No, his look was one of pure masculine confidence,
dominance. He was in charge, and we both knew it. God, I could have
cum right then if he’d just lowered himself a few inches and
licked.

He straightened and reached an arm behind his head,
tugging his shirt off in one, fluid motion. Candlelight flickered
over the contours of his chest and stomach, highlighting the
definition. His muscles rippled as he began working at his belt
buckle.

He slid his zipper down and pulled the flaps of his
jeans back to reveal bare skin and a faint trail of dark hair
disappearing under the denim. Now I strained against my bonds,
trying to get my hands on him, feel him under my fingertips.

He stilled me with a hand across my stomach,
pressing me back onto the bed, reminding me that he was in control.
He leaned down and nuzzled my neck like a wildcat sniffing for
signs of weakness. He lifted his head just long enough to pierce me
with a look of hunger so strong it was clear he intended to devour
me. Then he was back against my neck, nibbling in the most
delicious way.

When he nipped and licked his way down my chest,
goose bumps tingled across my skin. He was everywhere, seemed to be
touching my entire body at once--everywhere except the important
parts. He was driving me wild with kisses over my chest, my
stomach, my thighs, his fingertips tracing the trails his lips left
on my body.

I was writhing, my body shaking with the intensity
of my arousal. It was a damn good thing those bondage straps were
canvas or they’d have worn my wrists and ankles raw by then.