Her Dark Dragon (2 page)

"No, bella, Aunt Maria is fine. Just remember we both love you." He looked at her with such a soulful expression her eyes filled with tears. His large hands pulled her to his chest and held her tight. His whispered words were almost lost in the night, but she heard him say, "I've no choice, bella. I've always loved you, for as long as I can remember." Nico buried his face in her hair, not allowing her to see the expression on his face.

Hoping to finally feel his lips against hers, Danni slid her hands up his chest, felt the strength and power of his body against hers. As soon as she moved, he took a quick step back, steadying her with his hands until she had her balance. She knew it was because his erection grew between them, long and thick, she could feel him through the denim covering. Wanting to question him, she opened her mouth, but his finger came to her lips. Obviously Nico wasn't going to answer her now. There would be a better time.

"Better get back to the party before you're missed," he managed to say, his voice not quite steady to her ears.

"Nobody knows me to miss me." Danni knew not to push Nico at certain times. This was one of them. He'd talk to her only when he was ready. "One woman handed me her empty glass and ordered me to refill it, with the good stuff from the cellar, not the table swill!"

Nico laughed. Danni smiled at the picture which might be appearing in his mind. Danni was not a woman to be ordered like a servant. While she'd tackle any manual labor faster than most men or a servant, she took affront to anyone calling any of the Cirillo wines swill.

"I can only imagine what you told her," he said and laughed harder as his face and posture softened.

"Actually, I told her nothing. I turned away, dropped the glass on another table, and walked straight out here. She didn't seem to be worth the time or energy." He raised one eyebrow at her in disbelief. She always defended her label. "I've grown up, Nico. I don't take every comment to heart anymore. This is a business, and I have to run it like one. One drunken woman assuming I'm staff isn't going to get to me." Danni didn't add that thoughts of him always did.

"I agree you have grown up, Danni, but…"

"But what? Tell me what's going on, or it will drive me crazy." Her best smile didn't change his mind. She watched him for a sign, anything to clue her in.

"Try to settle in, Danni. The next weeks are going to be crazy."

"But it's winter, our quiet time of the year. Granted, in a short time, we'll all be out here pruning, but I've got a few weeks to get into the business side of things."

"Enjoy them while you can." He hesitated, then asked, "How set are you on this being your future?"

There was no hesitation in her answer. "Don't be silly, all my schooling and the sommelier course…my life is this land and the vines. It's what I've always worked toward. You know that, just like Severino is in your blood, Cirillo wine runs through my veins. My goal is to make the label the best in the valley."

"Just be careful, Danni. It's been a long time since you actually lived here. Things change." They both knew she wanted to know what, but wouldn't push him now, even though he could see how hard it was to hold back her questions.

"I've more changes in mind, both with the vines and the house. I hate what Robert has done to it. It looks like something cold and heartless. It's out of place on this land. I'm going to turn it back into a home. Come back with me, Nico. We'll open a bottle of the good stuff and enjoy it instead of swilling it!" Danni knew instinctively he'd not take her second offer, but she had to try.

"Another time, Danni. I don't think I'd be welcome tonight."

"It's my home, and you're always welcome." Her stance changed, her hands fisted at her sides, ready to take on anyone who told her different.

"Don't make waves tonight. It will just be a waste of energy. Robert's probably half loaded by now, and your mother is in 'social mode.'"

She knew what he meant. Danni had coined the phrase herself a few years earlier. It meant in front of company, Felice changed. Her voice and mannerisms, her whole persona evolved, leaning toward a wilting Southern belle more than a woman who lived on the Rocky Mountain side of California wine country. He hesitated before adding, "Don't ask for the impossible, Danielle. Just live in reality."

Nico rarely called her Danielle, always Danni or bella. Something was amiss. The sooner she found out, the better for everyone concerned. He swung up onto the horse before she could ask him to expand on his cryptic comments and was gone before she could take a breath. She laughed. That was Nico, always on the move, always leaving her with a feeling of want. Now she understood the feeling and wondered again what it would feel like to be with him, to have him touch her intimately, to let her hands and mouth wander his flesh. A chill passed through her, and it wasn't from the cool evening wind. She was in a better mood but was frustrated in a different way since their encounter.

She went back to the house and slowly walked to her room. Nobody noticed her or spoke to her. Alone in the room she'd grown up in, now changed without her consent to look like some fancy hotel suite, she didn't bother to unpack. Instead, she showered, pulled on sweats, and dropped onto the bed in a strange, exhausted state. She relaxed quickly, even with the noise around her.

Living in Manhattan for six months had made her impervious to outside noise. This was the time she always let her mind wander what it would be like to unleash the side of Nico he held back. Only in her mind did he allow her to touch him intimately, to strip his jeans down his legs, to finally find her treasure. His cock had fascinated her for years. He never allowed her to touch him; he always pulled away. In this almost-sleep state, she could imagine touching him with her hands, let her fingers slide over his hard bulk, and wonder what it would be like to let her lips run along his hard silken skin. How would her breath affect him, would her touch harden him further? How her lips longed to taste him. Her mouth would make him surrender to her need, to taste him completely, to feel him tense and release to her.

Only in this daydream state, she carried no fear or anxiety of the act, only the curiosity of the process. To see his expression when he finally relented and surrendered. To taste him and satiate him, to not stop until he'd hardened again, this time wanting to experience him inside her, pushing deeper until he had no choice but to release a second time, taking away all the angst he'd created and she carried. To know how it felt to be stretched open and filled by him, ultimately taking her to a place she'd not yet attained.

* * * *

Her dreams were random, but each time she woke, it was with the same ache that she felt in the yard when Nico arrived, an inner heat calling to be released. By early morning, she was up and dressed, had a horse saddled and carrying her over Cirillo land in the sunlight. A peaceful feeling enveloped her as she surveyed the unused acres on the steep slope and knew it was the perfect place to plant her olive trees. While she'd have to wait several years to actually harvest fruit, it would come in time, along with the Cirillo name, on California olive oil. The equipment would be expensive, but she had faith in herself, the land, the process, and the future. With a smug smile, she headed back to the house, with breakfast the only thing on her mind.

She never got to eat. Robert was barking at Carmen for the state of the house. It was his party, Danni thought, he should help clean it up. Of course, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying such a statement aloud, but in twelve weeks… She turned on her heel and walked out, back to the barn and to a fresh horse. It wasn't until Nico rode up beside her in a huff that she realized she'd wasted the whole day on the mountain.

"I don't like being stood up, Danni." His tone was terse, as if she were a child he was reprimanding. It was an odd scene, him, the dark dragon as some called him on
horseback, ready to breathe fire at her, and her wandering the rocky land, planting each tree in the grid she imagined.

"I forgot. I admit it. I'm sorry, Nico."

He wanted to be angry with her. He waited three hours for her to show up, each one an exercise in agony of many kinds. He called the Cirillo house, and when Carmen told him Danni disappeared early on during one of Robert's tirades, he knew where he'd find her. What he wasn't prepared for her look, windblown, and judging by the appearance of dark circles under her eyes, exhausted.

Danni was a thin, gangly girl who grew up to be a tall, slim woman with curves in all the right places. He knew years ago she'd be trouble if he let her, so he rarely acknowledged her feelings, rather joking them away. Now that she was home for good, he'd have to marshal his thoughts and his body into remembering that she was a friend, neighbor, and competitor. Nico fisted his hands at his sides to keep from reaching out to touch her. Instinct and impulse wanted her close by his side. In a few days, she was going to hate him, too. Her determination scared him; knowing how deeply she felt was going to make the situation worse. There was a longing in her eyes and on her face that made his stomach clench. He knew he'd wound her.

He bet she'd been crying, and he didn't want to know why, only because he knew the next tears she shed would be because of him. The plan had seemed simple so long ago. Now with her just feet away, he knew it wouldn't be simple in any form. She'd grown into her body and mind. She'd become the woman he always imagined her becoming. And his hormones were overriding his common sense. If he didn't take an upper hand with her now, he'd be whipped forever. He forced a frown to his face.

"Tomorrow at two, Danni. Don't forget or I'll come and find you."

"Wait, you're here, talk to me now." She gave him a questioning look. "Something's wrong, isn't it, Nico? Tell me, what's going on?"

He only shook his head no. Knowing he annoyed her, he wanted to let her vent, to let her mouth off, to tell him he didn't rule her time or life and he'd better accept that fact. She was really angry with Robert.

"Danni, you're going to be surprised," was all he could manage to say.

"What does that mean? For God's sake, just tell me what you want or stay out of my business."

"If only it were that easy, bella. But remember this. The land and your future are my business. Tomorrow at my office." He hated his tone, hated what he had to tell her. "Tia Maria is looking forward to seeing you," he added before turning his horse and nudging him onward as fast as the animal could navigate the terrain. He was almost back to Severino land before he let himself take a deep breath. She would hate him forever. That was a fact he'd have to accept.

* * * *

Danni was more confused than ever. Returning home a second time, she was relieved to find Robert and Felice out for the evening. Carmen had left her a plate in the warming oven, but she only pushed it into the fridge while grabbing a beer. She moved to the office—once a relaxing place to do the necessary farm paperwork, now a hideous glass and chrome dome that screamed of coldness and always gave her a dull headache. She wanted to check her e-mail, but couldn't get on the computer. With a huff, she realized Robert must have changed passwords, which annoyed her further. Taking her beer, she headed back to her room and her laptop. It nagged at her that she couldn't access the office computer. She'd always used it when she was home.

Sleep was random a second night, her fantasies about Nico mixed with her dreams. She woke with a start in the middle of the night, breathless and sweating from the way Nico was moving with her, on her, inside her. "Get a grip, girl!" she told herself several times after throwing cold water on her face. She wound up nestled in the reading chair beside the window, waiting for daylight to come. With sleep elusive, her mind found it was too easy to envision him in her reality.

* * * *

Danni slowed the old farm pickup as she rounded the front of Casa Maria. It was the homestead for the Severino label. An old sprawling farmhouse that looked warm and inviting. It had been built as a large
U
. The center portions were the general rooms. The main door opened into a large hallway, the living and dining rooms fronted one side, and a second parlor and Nico's office on the other. Behind it was a large country kitchen that led to the open patio, which wrapped around the swimming pool with several sitting and eating areas.

On either side was another wing, the personal rooms of Maria and Angelina Severino. Their father had built the home this way on purpose, with hope that each of his daughters would stay on the land and run the vineyard if they had their own space to raise their families. He named the homestead Casa Maria for his firstborn. Angelina was still on the way. His plan had worked. Both of his daughters stayed on the land, Maria running the business with her father and teaching Nico as he grew. Angelina and her husband, Leonardo, also worked the business, although Leo didn't have an inherent way with fruit or wine. When Papa Severino passed, both women stayed on, looking after the land and the vines for Niccolo, the only heir. Maria never married, and Angelina had only one child. Yet they had managed to peacefully coexist all these years, retiring to their private rooms in times of tension.

Each private wing had several bedrooms, each with its own bath, living, and dining area with a wet bar. Access to the main house or the patio was from both sides of the wings. It managed to afford privacy when called for and had become the heart of the house when its occupants were in the mood to share. Danni had always liked the arrangement, understanding from little on how two families could blend their lives and retain some solitude.