Next to You (Life) (16 page)

Chapter 30

B
ecca’s napping after
returning from our diving trip at HP Reef, she held up pretty well even when we were under some serious current. The water strength isn’t a factor once the underwater creatures that swim around the formation of coral reefs come into view. Even the reluctant Becca Trent agreed to submerge into the waters to watch the magic of the Indian Ocean. After that and walking along the little shops, she is exhausted and since I’ll be taking her dancing tonight she decided to check out. I’m tired too, but instead of joining her I decide to download the pictures we’ve taken so far, check my email and watch her for a couple of hours.

So far we’ve been nightmare and meltdown free—Becca. Overall the relationship is different from what we tried to pull last year. This vacation is better compared to our usual trips. Before I had to pull her out of her shell and try to guess what she wanted. Now she’s sure of what she wants, where she wants to go, or if she wants to stay. It took some time to smooth some of those wrinkles. She has a strong belief that if I lead our lives, she doesn’t have freedom to make decisions or think for herself. The unraveling of those discussions and late night talks about our relationship going forward began last week, at the Ball.

The event took place inside an old castle, Becca pointed out the knight armors, shields and described the medieval façade with the eyes of a child. A fairy tale lover. After we arrived in a limo, we made our way through the cameras and pushed our way through the herd of people. Nick made sure to keep the cameras at a distance and that no one would get close to Becca, while Nate stayed behind inside the car. Becca’s eyes widen by the sight and I guessed that for the first time she realized the magnitude of the side of Daniel Brightmore I hadn’t shared with her before. Larger than life wasn’t applicable, she described it as an excessive world where everything was bigger, louder and extravagant. I used to think this was what I needed in order to prove I had succeeded. That’s why it had been easy to mix myself with all those famous people who at one time I considered more important than my friends, or the beauty next to me—my girlfriend.

At that moment I felt Becca shake and heard a chuckle.

“What’s that chuckle for?” She shook her head, and I noticed her cheeks turned a shade of pink. She looked gorgeous, the dress accentuated her curves, her hips, breasts and her beautiful round ass. “Have I mentioned you look astonishing tonight?”

“I feel like Cinderella at the ball.” I rolled my eyes and kissed the top of her head. “The Foundation Gala is business casual compared to…”

“Last time I checked you were Princess Becca, not Cinderella,” I whisper in her ear, as we had finally made our way to the check-in table. “Brightmore,” I told the woman in front of us and then turned my gaze back to the beautiful girl I had with me.

For the second time during the night—the first being when we left the flat—I chided myself for not doing this before. I wasted so many years, next to insignificant women who I couldn’t establish a conversation with; women that were only the ends to my physical needs. There was nothing I could fix about it so I focused on the now. I grabbed the envelope the woman handed me.

“You with me?” Becca nods at my question, one I made when I felt as if she was about to turn around and leave. “We leave when you say so, Bex. Nate will have the car ready. No questions asked. If you’re comfortable though, I’m thinking we’ll leave around eleven—unlike your friend, Cindy.”

Getting through the masses of people that littered the entrance took us a while. There were masses of people parked in the area eager to shake hands with whoever passed. I introduced the people I knew to Becca, and we continued our way through after having a few exchanges.

“Daniel, darling.” A tall slender woman approached me, air kissing me on each cheek. Her familiarity bothered me. Becca’s back stiffened and the impression that this would turn into a nightmare made me want to turn around and ignore this person. “Your PR department keeps ditching me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t seem to remember you.”

“Of course,” she coughed and then slid a hand around her torso, Becca’s eyes were about to spit little knives if I didn’t ditch this woman, which by now I had gathered to be one of those one nighters. “It’s been a few years, Gwen… we spent Christmas—”

“We didn’t,” my jaw clenched and this fucking woman had no idea what I almost lost because of her. Actually, Becca was who I left stranded because of my stupidity, and being in front of this woman might not be the best while I’m trying to mend my relationship with my future wife. “I always spend Christmas with my family. Excuse me, but we need to make our way to the main room.”

Without any further interaction, I grabbed Becca by the arm and headed toward the west wing of the castle.

“She’s pretty,” Becca said, and though I heard her, I tried to ignore the comment. But only a couple of steps later she came to a halt. “You’re squeezing my arm a little too hard, Daniel. What did I do, better yet, control yourself.”

“Sorry.” I pressed a kiss on her arm and closed my eyes, because this wasn’t supposed to happen. “This night was meant to be… perfect and yet there’s a few—”

“Look, Dan,” she crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow, “you had this playboy phase—or life—I was there, remember?” Your past always comes back to slap you on the face. I remembered, after she said that and gave her a sharp nod. “Now if my presence upsets you this much because I’m not this beautiful breathtakingly tall woman…well, next time ask my brother to hire you one of those.” She pointed to a bunch of women that needed to eat more than a piece of celery a week.

“Becca, don’t you dare say that.” I placed my arms around her waist and my forehead on top of hers. “You’re pretty, gorgeous, the most beautiful woman in this room, baby. This night, is a little taste of what sometimes I have to do. Be… the billionaire, from now on, I want you next to me. The last thing I want is my skeletons to suddenly appear.”

“You should’ve thought about it while going through the entire catalogue of models,” and her tone didn’t clue me in to if she was upset or what. “With all those women from your past, you’ll need a cemetery the size of Texas to bury them.”

And she’s right, for years I fucked whatever famous name popped out from Tyler’s list that would make me look good. Once I stopped, the media continued speculating and making up relationships from left to right. My name sold their junk and they didn’t care if they affected my personal life by making up those stories.

“So what’s this charity about?” she asked and reached for my cheek. “Don’t let that ruin the night, please. You’ll make me think this wasn’t a good idea.”

“You’ve improved a lot, missy.” I released her waist and took her hand off my cheek; kissing the palm and then the back. “I think I might like you more than yesterday. Who knows, at this pace I might fall in love with a beauty like you.”

“You’re a flirt, Brightmore,” she responded and her pleading brown eyes magically calmed my soul. “If you play your cards right, I might go out on a date with you, handsome.”

I winked at her. She was right, I shouldn’t let those seeds I sowed long ago bother me anymore. The past didn’t matter, the here and now did. I shed the rage I gathered after our encounter with that woman and offered to go to the silent auction section, however, Becca didn’t seem enthusiastic about any of the items on the tables. She only wondered how she could entice all the donors to give to our Foundation.

“You want to dance,” I murmured and she shivered, “or continue this absurd biding which isn’t entertaining you at all.”

I didn’t let her think about it, and I drew her into the ball room where they set up the dance floor. A waltz played, one we hadn’t danced in years; two, perhaps three. It didn’t matter how long ago, as usual, our bodies molded into each other and we swayed to the music.

“I love when we do this.” She relaxed in my arms, letting me lead without a fuss. We were making something beautiful happen with the harmony and the fusion that transpired with every note the orchestra played. “With you I always feel like a real princess.”

“You are a real princess.” Her cheeks turned a full blown red color. “You know, you’re the only person I ever dance with.” After the encounter with that model—whose name already escaped me—I needed to assure her that there was nobody else. Not even back then. Also, I could see her mind started to work those mind tricks that she was in the wrong place or…anything to escape. “Not once have I ever done this at this kind of venue, only when we’re traveling, and you know.”

“Why wouldn’t you, you’re a great dancer,” she said, then she surprised me. Instead of continuing with something along the lines of they are better than me, she brought up our first time. “You taught me how to dance, at Ty’s wedding. Remember? That’s the thing with you, Dan, you always make every moment special—magical.”

“Together we create the moment; make it magical.” I kiss her nose. “You responded better than we thought.” Her brow arched and her lips puckered. I knew she wasn’t asking for a kiss, she did it in annoyance. “Ty thought this was a bad idea, but I think you’re enjoying it.”

“Is this whole weekend a test, Daniel?” Full name thrown at my face, not exactly a rainbows and flowers kind of attitude. “Somehow I feel like you’re pushing my buttons for a reason.”

“No,” I said, and on queue the melody ended, I took her hand and we headed toward the exit. Perhaps I had broken a rule or two, like calling her babe one too many times during our date yesterday. A couple of times she became agitated, at the end she brushed them off and asked me not to do it again. Soon enough Nick was behind us and I spotted Nate outside with the car ready to go. “There’s no test, you’ve been dealing with your shit.” As we arrived at the car and Nick opened her door, I walked to the other side of the car and continued the conversation once we settled inside, “I’m dealing with mine. Maybe the test is for me, a way to make sure I can read you. Like right now, your senses are over saturated. Instead of complaining and asking to go home; your mind makes this funny recount to get upset at yourself.”

“Do I?” I nodded. ”Why the control?”

“Its’ like dancing.” I took her hands, kissing them both. “When you let me lead our life together is effortless. Think about it, Becca, once you’re ready to let me conduct we’ll take the next step, but only if you’re willing to do it. That doesn’t mean giving up being yourself, or not having an opinion. You’ll always chose the music, baby.”

She tilted her head, and kissed my jawline before our lips connected. As she finished that deep, fervent kiss, she said, “I love you with all my heart.”

We took off from London right after the Ball and arrived in Maldives twelve hours later, instead of going to the beach, we headed to our suite. As we reached the bedroom, I kissed her, beginning from her head and tracing a line down her cheek, jaw, throat and collar bone; stopping right where her blouse covered those beautifully formed breasts I wanted to taste.

“Stop me, baby.” I lifted my gaze and thankfully, she brushed aside the hollow words with a smile. “You sure, I’ll wait an eternity.”

“I won’t.” She pulled the hem of my shirt and peeled it from my body. “Make love to me, Danny, I need you to love me.”

The memory of our first day on the island and the fact that it has been three hours since Miss Trent began to nap makes me walk toward the bed. I should convince her to create a decree where we set a minimum requirement of daily sex—five times? As I kneel on the bed and unbuttoned my shorts, Becca’s eyes lazily start to open.

“I want to cuddle,” she says with that throaty, freshly awake voice and pats my side of the bed. “We can do whatever you want after, right now snuggle next to me and give me another hour.”

I still shed my clothes before following her instructions, sixty minutes divided by ten would be enough time to cuddle, snuggle and convince her to let me make love to her—carte blanch, according to what she just said. Minus of course five minutes, because I can only keep myself from touching her for so long. I wrap my arm around her and snake my hand inside the t-shirt she’s wearing.

“Mmm, no panties, living dangerous, Becca?”

“One hour.”

“Foreplay will take me an hour, I give you my word.” She snarls and I rotate her in a way that she’s facing me. She opens her eyes and shakes her head. “But you still love me.”

I claim her mouth, and she parts for me, the welcome almost undoing me. Our tongues wrestle, dance and wrestle again. Her arms finally join the action, stroking my back, and then moving toward my chest. We separate and I take the opportunity to take the only piece of clothing that’s blocking my view… and my hands. Pulling her shirt with a couple of expert moves, her glistening, throbbing breasts are free.

“Hello, girls,” I say playfully before I capture one with my mouth and caress the other with one hand. A throaty moan follows as her back arches. “God Becca, you’re a goddess, baby,” I say before switching breasts. I like to think I’m fair with both of them. The small whimpers and the fact that her hands are getting desperate tell me she’s about to come, and I stop because I promised there would only be foreplay.

“Don’t stop,” she cries as she tries to catch her breath. “What would you do if I did the same, Brightmore?”

She won’t, it’s Becca, she can’t
, I tell myself. However, she surprises me by kissing me hard, as if this is her show. Then, as she stops, she drags her lips over my cheek, to my jaw, my neck, sucking my flesh around the collar bone. That drives me to the edge, but I control myself. As she begins to lick, suck and touch my torso; my shaft is about to explode. Not only that, the vixen is now on top of me and suddenly she stops, staring at me with a hunger I’ve never seen. Becca was fine with sex before we broke up, at least, she was comfortable with me and enjoyed it, but last night, she let herself go, becoming part of the game and not only the receiving end.