Wicked Flower (31 page)

How hard had it been to hold in
the good news she’d received from her OB doctor?
Incredibly
so.
Especially after last night where she’d not just broken her own rule
but smashed it to pieces by going to him in the back yard. The thrill still
sent little reminders throughout her body. She’d been letting thoughts of
Stefan turn her insides to goo the whole way over here since she didn’t have to
fight his effect on her body anymore.

And now here they were at this
castle. It was filled with elegant furniture but empty of life. Regardless, it
was the most breathtaking home Dani had ever stepped foot in.

She and Stefan might make love
here tonight. Her breath dropped out of her lungs.
 

Looking around, she couldn’t
believe this gorgeous home had gone unlived in for years. Wandering down a
hallway not too far from the grand staircase, she began trying more doors.

That’s when she heard him call up
to her. “Come back to the stairs. It’s on the other side, third door down. You
went the wrong way at the top.” His voice lacked its usual warmth but she’d
just find a way to combat that.

“Thanks,” she called down.

Clearly she’d gone the wrong way,
in many ways, but that was the danger and wonder of Stefan. How appropriate
that her favorite country song summed him up so perfectly. He was a real bad
boy but such a good man. All Dani knew was that when she was around him, she
smiled. She laughed. He challenged her like nobody’s business but that was
good. Her coming life change wasn’t so scary when she pictured him involved.
And it had nothing to do with the fact he could afford a house like this.
A spare house
, she corrected. If he’d
only just let her in.

Holy cow.
She pushed open
what should be the bathroom door only to spot a fireplace. She backed out and
tried the next door but that was a bedroom, furnished like the rest of the home
with model quality décor. The bed was easily the size of all the beds at Gina’s
put together.

She tried the next door and that
was an office. Painted dark and with sections of padded walls. What in the
world?

His deep baritone voice caught
her off guard when he was inches behind her, still more raw than warm but an
instant shot of heat through her weary bones nonetheless.

“You passed it again,” he said,
hiking one eyebrow higher than the other like a kindergartner could have found
it so why couldn’t she. Then he laid his hand on her shoulder and turned her
around. “Back here.”

“Hold on, what in the world
are
the padded walls for in that one I just opened?”

His handsome face brightened,
washing away some of that leery vibe coming off him. They took a few steps back
and peered into the room in question together. “This is where I bring my
innocent victims. What, your last boyfriend didn’t have a sex chamber at his
home?”

Dani’s eyes popped wide.
“Very funny.
I uh, I assumed I was the first person you’d
brought here.” She wasn’t letting him get away with this terrible teasing, glad
his innate charm was back but aware it still felt like his heart wasn’t exactly
in it. “And, I didn’t realize you were my boyfriend now.”

Not thinking, she pulled part of
her lip through her teeth and held it there. That was a dangerous word to
attach to him, especially after this morning. But she’d taken Will’s warning
that Stefan wouldn’t make it easy now that he was convinced he had to let her
go to figure things out with Thom. She’d do whatever she could to keep that
from happening. There were things to figure out which was why she would do the
right thing and see Thom in person. To discuss things like the role he’d play
in the baby’s life. But that was it. She had to make Stefan see that. She felt
none of the things for Thom that she felt for Stefan. Not one.

His look darkened and she wished
she hadn’t said anything. He’d been playful for a split second and now she
couldn’t judge his mood at all.

“You are.
The
first.
And this is a home studio. The padding is for the sound. When I
bought this place for Mom, I wanted one room where I could do music when I
visited.” A somber shadow fell back over him and he took on more of the dark
Superman she’d felt so a part of when she’d been hurting so badly at the truck
stop that morning. He’d brought her out of that, in a matter of minutes.

She sensed she needed to tread
lightly on the subject of this house and his mom. “That’s a really nice
thought, Stefan. I talked to her before I came over here.”

“Yep.
Well, the bathroom
is…” He passed over the subject and she didn’t want to bring him back to it,
but she couldn’t help it.

“You bought this place for your
mom. What happened?”
“She said no thank you. No big deal.”

Clearly that wasn’t true. His
eyes said he was as baffled speaking about it now as he probably had been the
day he’d offered it and had his gift rejected. “I’m sorry, Stefan. It is rather
big. Maybe she just worried about being able to take care of this beautiful
home on her own.” Dani had to admit she was confused too. Whatever the reason
for Gina’s rejection of Stefan, she’d had a change of heart and Dani couldn’t
wait to tell him his mom would consider moving.

“I guess. Hey, I thought you
needed to use the bathroom,” he said, shoving his hands down into his pockets.

When she didn’t move, he brought his
hand out and skimmed the small of her back as he guided her to the door with
the fireplace. He pushed the door open with his other hand and stretched it
out, ushering her in. Yes she had to pee like a mad woman but she was more
concerned about the hurt she saw on his handsome face and why he wasn’t
insisting on coming in with her. Bathrooms were kind of their thing. She must
have been just as easy to read.

“Dani, do your business and then
we’ll talk.” He smiled softly for her but it didn’t reach his chocolate eyes.

“I do have some good news to
share with you,” she said.

“Okay.”

Dani stepped inside, closed the
door behind her and nearly passed out. Fireplace, double sinks, a Jacuzzi tub
that took up one whole corner and spanned two walls. The shower was attached so
you could walk right into it through a crystal
clean
glass door, straight from the tub. A white fluffy rug
laid
on the floor that looked more inviting than her bed and the outward facing
walls where the tub was lined up weren’t walls at all. They were giant windows
that looked out into the wooded back yard. There wasn’t another house anywhere
in sight. The blinds were hiked all the way up. Dani set her purse on the
ultra-clean floor at her feet, pulled her dress up and flopped onto the toilet,
looking out at the amazing view, unbelieving. As she relieved her aching
bladder, she felt him kick. She wished Stefan was in there with her so she
could have let him feel it too.

****

Stefan was busy setting out the
dinner he’d gone ahead and ordered in for them. It was early, but she had a
healthy appetite and without a meal, he didn’t know what he’d do. Even though
he’d decided he had to back off, she still called to him. All the women who
he’d thought had been drop dead gorgeous, none compared to her. He knew now
that the call went deeper than looks and sex. Shit, he hadn’t even been with
Dani. Not really.

“Dinner’s ready,” he said, trying
to keep himself in check when all he wanted was to stake his claim on her. Thom
was a lucky man.
And a dead man if he ever hurt her.

Dani walked in from the deck out
back and his mouth watered. She was truly an amazing woman. He hadn’t seen her
wear pants in a while, not even her yellow stretchy track suit he was so fond
of. Right now he could barely tear his gaze away from the halter dress she had
on. The white was stunning on her, making her look even more tanned. Her black
hair was only half pulled
up,
the rest fell in loose
curls, over her shoulders.

“Here.” He offered her a seat as
he dried a serving dish he’d used but she held something in her hands that
brought out the most exquisite smile he’d ever seen. “What’s that?” he couldn’t
help but ask.

“It’s a picture of my baby,” she
beamed and held it out to him. “You’re the first person I wanted to show it
to.”

He stopped what he was doing,
speechless. The plate he was holding crashed to the counter which knocked
something else in its path into the sink. Dani’s dark eyes popped wide when he
met her halfway between the kitchen and deck and took the black and white photo
into his hands. The print out was already wrinkled.
 

“I’ve probably taken it in and
out of my purse about a million times already. I’ll probably ruin it but I
can’t stop looking at it. He’s so beautiful.”

“He?
You know it’s a
boy?”

“Yep.
See there,” she
pointed to a blurry white shadow. Stefan couldn’t believe he could actually
make out fingers, toes, a nose. It was the creepiest yet the coolest thing he’d
ever seen. It was impossible not to feel her joy.

“Your son,” was all he could get
out.

Now she was speechless and shook
her head. When she did that, tears fell onto her cheeks.

Stefan held her tight in his
arms. Knowing he had to let her go. Knowing he couldn’t get in the way.

Dani’s tears continued to fall so
they just stood there in the kitchen. Finally Stefan had to say something.

“Dani, you’re
gonna
be a wonderful mom. You love your baby so much, sweetheart.” Could he say the
rest? He had to. “Trust me, you don’t want me around. Staying here, going back
to school, for real,
that’s
the right
path for you. Not me.”

“Don’t say that,” she said
through sniffles.

“Come here, sit down.” He helped
her into the stool. “Hey, my mom was right to jump to the conclusion she did
earlier. She was only going on the way I’ve acted my whole life.”

“No, she just didn’t understand.
She thought somehow you’d gotten me pregnant and thought Thom and I were still
together. She told me at the house that she loves you and will miss you when
you go. And—”

“No Dani. Stop. When I go. It’s
what I do. I leave.”

Just like his dad. No better. No
worse. No different.

****

Wow. Had Will pegged this
perfectly or what? Stefan was determined not to hear her. What hurt Dani most
was how his confidence had been shattered by a ten minute conversation in a silly
rose garden.

She didn’t even remember that she’d
just been crying and the wetness on her cheeks surprised her when she wiped a
piece of hair from her face. “But you come back. And when you do, you bring the
best laughs and joy with you. You bring yourself.”

“No, don’t do that. Don’t make me
out to be some good guy, Dani. It’ll only hurt you in the end.” He paused and
then stabbed her with a look sharper than steel. “You sucked my cock good last
night, but that doesn’t mean you own me. I don’t owe you anything.”

Her face flamed with sheer anger.
She nearly spit the word asshole right back in his face but remembered Will’s
warning. She could be just as stubborn. “Try again. I did suck your cock good
and no, you don’t owe me anything. But you will hear me out. You know who else
leaves their loved ones behind? How about soldiers?”

“That’s different and you know
it.”

“How so? They stay gone for
months. Thom gets one two-week break half-way through his year-long tour. He
comes home one time, Stefan. In an entire year. How is that different than what
you do?”

Stefan looked like she’d shot
him. He held his hands over his midsection and hunched over before he righted
himself again.

“I don’t know. It just is. I’m
not laying my life on the line for anyone.”

“But you’re putting it on hold so
you can make all those people who love your music happy.” She wouldn’t stop
now. “I bet if you were with someone, you’d find a way to see that person, no
matter how far away you were. And I bet that person would be thankful, and…”
Her eyes welled up with tears again. “So very happy for each moment, no matter
how short or how much time passed between visits. Or how big of a mean jerk you
could be sometimes.”

The amount of time he stayed with
his head bowed down killed Dani. Losing him in a couple days hadn’t hurt before
because she realized she’d held out hope that things would work out between
them. That her Superman would figure it out and fix it all. He’d invite his mom
to Nashville and Dani too. All she needed was an invitation and his ability to
wait two measly months for her to arrive.

“Stefan, look at me.”

She waited patiently.

“I’ll just hurt you, Dani. Don’t
you get it? I fucking love you and I’d hurt you.”

Her breath tunneled around her
lungs and her knees threatened to give out but she wouldn’t stop until she’d
convinced him he would not do that. Not if he … not if he loved her. The way
she loved him back.