Persona (The 'Professional' series) (13 page)

Daniel kept
his eye on Ella all night from across the room.  The way her dress clung
to her curves made it hard to tear his eyes away.  A slight irritation
rippled through him when he noticed quite a few other males having the same
struggle. 

He caught
Ella looking at him occasionally.  Sometimes she smiled back, other times
discreetly looking away, hoping that he didn’t see.   When he
happened to move near the group that she was in, he could see the pulse in her
neck flutter, he hoped that was because he was near.  He liked to think he
was affecting her as much as she affected him.  A question from his left
pulled him back into the conversation. 

Ella
discretely looked for Daniel, Scarlett was stuck to his side, as usual. 
Crumbs, that woman was like a clam!   Ella silently screamed to
herself as she saw Scarlett run her hand up and down his arm, her hand then
giving him a squeeze on his rear.  He didn’t even flinch, for goodness
sake!  Perhaps he was so used to her touch…Ella shook her head to get the
image out of her mind. 

As the night
wore on and he became tired, he struggled with some of the conversations; he
was more interested in Ella than making small talk with virtual strangers. 
She seemed to be enjoying herself though.

 A
surge of jealousy pumped through him when he noticed one of the males in her
group kept touching her.  Where was Eric?  He felt safer when his
friend was by her side.  He looked around and noticed Eric talking to a
blonde headed lady by the refreshments.  He looked at the man again. 
Daniel started getting agitated.  Perhaps he would have to intervene
himself.  The sudden urge to be with her, hit him with the force of a
punch.  That was enough.  He made polite excuses to his group,
disentangled himself from Scarlett, and made his way over to Ella. 

Ella knew he
was making his way over as she had been aware of him watching her all evening
and liked the feeling.  She noticed a lot of other females watching his
movement too, he seemed to be a magnet to most of them. 

When she
looked towards him to make eye contact, Ella noticed that he had left Scarlett,
who was scowling at his retreating back.   She observed Scarlett
briefly, watching her body language.  It was obvious that she had a thing
for Daniel.  The reoccurring thought ran through her mind that Daniel was
going to be spending a lot of time with Scarlett while filming. Ella’s stomach
clenched, she was jealous.  She knew that he had something going with Scarlett
in the past, Scarlett had all but spelt it out for her the first time they
met.  But was he going to rekindle that link?  Did he want to? 
Ella shook her head, even if he wanted to, she did not even factor in the
equation.  She could never compete with someone as gorgeous as Scarlett.

Ella was
brought back into the conversation by a touch on her arm, by the man on her
side.   Was his name Bob?  She couldn’t remember.  His
conversation had bored her and she wasn’t too keen that he had been invading her
personal space all night. She hadn’t wanted to make a scene, so she had done
her best to ignore his persistence touching.   

When Daniel
entered the group, Ella fought to hide her smile.  He effectively made the
irritating man move further away from her.  He had placed himself between
them.  Daniel put a hand on her back, successfully backing off any further
thoughts the man might have towards her.  Instead of feeling upset at,
what was effectively, a branding hand, Ella felt protected.  It was also
surprising how the conversation of the group lightened up, with Daniel adding
his wit.

The rest of
the night went smoothly.  Ella was enjoying herself and Daniel never left
her side.  She felt the warmth of his hand on her back and hoped he didn’t
notice the shivers that were coursing through her body. 

“Well, well
Daniel, trust you to be next to one of the most beautiful women in the
room.”  Ella noticed that Harry was still patting the sweat off his brow.
“And unattached at that!  Not for long, eh Daniel?”  He nudged his
elbow towards him, nearly knocking the drink out of Daniel’s hand.

Daniel
raised his eyebrow at Ella, a questioning smile raising the corners of his
mouth slightly. 

Ella felt
warm all of a sudden.  “I’m just going to freshen up.  Please excuse
me.”  Ella started to back out of the group.  She needed fresh air.

Oh no, what
a way for Daniel to find out about her single status.  She was going to
tell him after they got back, or perhaps not at all, she wasn’t sure.  She
placed her wine glass down on the marble side table and made her way to the
bathroom.

~~~~

Ella nearly
jumped out of her skin.  She was busy shutting her clutch bag when she
left the bathroom.  The figure had surprised her as she was not expecting
anyone to be standing outside the bathroom.

Daniel was
leaning against the opposite wall, with a lazy smile on his lips. “Boo” he said
quietly.

“Very funny,
you scared me!”   The butterflies started playing havoc in her
stomach.

He looked at
her, his blue eyes narrowed slightly.  “Come with me, I need to have a
little talk with you.”  He grabbed her firmly by the arm and made his way
towards one of the many doors.  He opened one, closed it, then proceeded
to the next, all along dragging Ella with him.

Once inside
a room, he turned, locked the door and then revolved around to find Ella
looking slightly pale with her bag clutched tightly in front of her.

“So?” 
The question hung in the air.

“So
what?”  Ella countered, trying to sound calm, even though her insides were
in knots.  She knew what he was asking, she was just delaying, so she
could work out what she was going to say to him.

He slowly
moved towards her, she moved back, effectively backing herself into the bed
post.  Ella was very aware that she was hemmed in, Daniel one side and a bed
the other.  Her blood hummed through her veins.

“So…when
exactly were you going to tell me that you are no longer with Jeff?” There was
no longer any anger threaded in his voice.  He noticed Ella gulp, he was
close enough to twirl some of her hair, that had come loose from her coil,
between his fingers.  He looked down onto her, not moving, incapable of
moving away from her. 

He bent his
head slowly towards her. He wanted to kiss her.  He couldn’t resist her
lips any longer.  There were now no barriers to stop him.

Even though
the touch on her lips was light, it was as though a lightning bolt had shot to
her toes. 
Oh Daniel
she wanted to sigh his name, but the thought
was caught with more exploring kisses.  She felt as though her skin was
scorched when he cupped her neck to deepen the kiss.  The feeling in the
pit of her stomach was delicious.  She moved into him, pulling his head
down, she needed him closer. 

Daniel
silently cursed, he coursed out of control quickly.  He fought to control
himself, before he ripped her excuse of a dress of there and then.  She
had his emotions in so much turmoil, he knew he was in trouble.  His blood
was roaring in his ears, desire taking over much of his thoughts.  She
tasted wonderful, sweet with a hint of wine, he wanted to taste all of
her.  He would enjoy doing that later, when they were alone, the party
long forgotten. 

He removed
his mouth from hers, trying to gain some thoughts back into his foggy
mind.  He wanted to know why she hadn’t told him about Jeff.  That
piece of information she had kept quiet made a whole world of difference to
him.  He groaned when he saw her looking up at him through heavy eyelids,
her lips swollen from his kisses.  He couldn’t resist, he kissed her
again.  The time for questions was later.

Ella felt
one of his hands run up and down her spine.  The tingles were
intense.  While Daniel kissed her, long and lingeringly, which made her
blood sing, his caresses found the fullness of her breast.  She swallowed
her muted cry of ecstasy.  He moved his hand gently past her waist, making
her skin shiver, then moved his large hand over her bottom.  He grabbed
one of her cheeks and started kneading it. Ella froze.  
Oh no, not my
bum!  It’s huge compared to Scarletts!

He
whispered, while trailing kisses down her neck.  “You don’t know how long
I have wanted to touch you and do this.  Your wonderful curves torment my
dreams.”  He felt Ella stiffen so he raised his head to look into her
eyes.  “What’s wrong, my darling?”

“Um…nothing!”
Ella all but whispered, trying to lower her eyes from his probing ones. 
Why did she feel so insecure about her body?  She could tell that Daniel
was obviously affected by her, why should her own insecurities ruin this
moment?

He placed
his finger under her chin to lift it up.  He kissed her on her nose. 
“Now, let’s get this straight now, before it becomes an issue.  I
love
your
body, I
love your
curves.  You are beautiful.  You do
something to my mind and body that
no other
woman does, or has ever
done.  I
never
want you to think that I would prefer a bag of bones
to your wonderful, soft body.”

He wiped the
tear that fell from her eye.  “Now, I hope those are for joy.”

Her heart
picked up a giddy beat as she gave him a shaky smile.  “Yes, they
are.”  The way he was looking at her lips was turning her legs into
jelly.  “Now kiss me Daniel.”

“You don’t
know how good those words sound to my ears.”  He whispered into her lips
before claiming them once again.

Ella pressed
herself up to his hard body, while his hand rose to release her hair from the
confining pins.  “Ella, I’ve never wanted
anyone
the way I want
you.  Do you believe me?”  He nibbled her soft neck as she sighed,
moving her head, giving him better access.

“I…I…think.” 
She could feel the tension of his need, but did that mean he wanted her or that
he loved her?  He mind was swimming so much, she realised that it didn’t
really matter.

He stopped
briefly and looked into her heavy lidded eyes.  “Ella, believe me.  I
don’t want to hurt you.”  His last thread of control snapped as an
invisible thread brought him closer towards her.

Her muscles
melted closer to his solid body.  Her breath was coming in uneven spurts,
reeling under the assault of his lips and hands. 

Her taste
filled him, drove him wild.  He felt fresh waves of desire ripple through
him.  Never before had a woman made him feel like this.  She had got
over his defences into his inner core.  It wasn’t going to be easy
anymore, but he didn’t want it to be.  He loved her, loved her more than
he had loved any other.

He gently
pressed her back towards the bed, moving the coats from their path, never
releasing her lips.  Daniel half lay over her, trailing sweet kisses over
her face and neck.  He looked at her next to him, all pliant and smiling,
desire humming through her body and he knew.  He knew he loved her, he
wanted to show her how much.

He rolled on
top of her, taking his weight on his elbows, fusing his mouth back onto her
sweet, swollen ones.  He made his way down towards the mound of her
breast, moving the strap of her dress that hindered his progress.  Ella’s
spine arched upwards in response, as her hands grabbed his hair.  His name
tumbled from her lips.

A sharp
knock on the door broke them apart.  Ella grabbed a coat to put over her
nakedness.  A blush tainted her cheeks. 

“Hey, could
you unlock the door?  My coats are in there.”

Daniel
looked down on Ella, she had that cute
o
on her lips again. He really
didn’t want to respond to the person knocking the door, but he knew Ella
wouldn’t feel relaxed anymore.  “Sure thing, give me a minute
please.”  He shouted over his shoulder towards the unwanted
trespasser. 

He exhaled
and sat up, carefully helping Ella up too, who was busy trying to put her
clothes back on.  He kept his arms firmly locked around her waist and
kissed her lips softly.  “Let them wait a minute.  Go and sort
yourself out in the en suite while I get rid of them.” 

He knew that
Ella would not want anyone to know that she was in a locked bedroom with
him.  He also had an urge to protect her too, so he helped her zip her
dress back up.  He couldn’t resist sneaking in a kiss on her naked
shoulder before covering it up. 

“Quick, get
into that bathroom, before I forget that there is someone standing on the other
side of that door.”  Daniel joked, giving her a little tap on her bottom
as she turned. 

The little
giggle she gave in response made his stomach clench.  Christ, he loved
this woman.  He opened the door to a young male and saw his eyes widen in
awe.

“Oh, I’m
sorry to disturb you Mr Spittle.  I didn’t know it was you.”

Daniel
smiled at the man who looked flustered, he rocked back on his heels as he
gestured for him to go and retrieve his coat. 

“No problem.
I just wanted some time away from the noise.” 

The man rummaged
through the coats strewn over the bed. “Yes, I know what you mean.  It’s a
good party, albeit a little on the loud side, and I like loud.  However,
my wife doesn’t, so that means it’s time to go.”   He shook his head
and picked up two coats.  As he made his way back out, he hesitated for
Daniel to leave, but Daniel shook his head.