Worth The Risk (8 page)

Gigi walked up to me slowly placing her hand on my shoulder. “You did good sweetpea. Your father is just a little stubborn. He’ll come around.”

“Yeah, well I’m not putting my life on hold to wait until he comes around. I love Damien, and there is no changing that.”

“I know.” The warmth in Gigi’s eyes was exactly what I n
eeded. She showered me with the motherly love that I yearned for. I hugged her, silently thanking her for everything.

“Oh
, Damien is coming to dinner tonight at six.” I informed her. Her eyes widened slightly.

“Sweatpea, is that a good idea?”

“It needs to be done. Damien wants to talk to him. Regardless, we are going to be together, but we do want to be respectful about it. And I know we should have done this in the beginning. Now we are trying to correct that wrong.”

“Okay. I’ll let the kitchen staff know we will have a
guest.”

“Thanks Gigi.” She smiled and walked away to start taking care of things.

I made my way up the stairs to my room. My phone had been vibrating in my pocket for the past twenty minutes. I knew it was Damien trying to check up on me. I needed to call him before he freaked out. I pulled out my phone and my phone displayed twenty-five missed calls. Maybe Damien was passed freaked out. I speed dialed his number and he answered on the first ring.

“Baby, are you okay?” He sounded so concerned and
panicked. I was still amazed at how much he cared for me. “I’m emotionally drained, but I’ll be okay.”

“Sweetheart, you sound like you’re hurting.” He paused
for a second. “I’m coming to get you.” I wanted him to but I needed to deal with my emotions alone before I could deal with anyone.

“Damien I want nothing more than to be in your arms right now. But I need to be alone for a little bit.” Not that I really wanted to, but I needed to.

“Catalina I hate that you’re hurting, its killing me. I want to know that you’re okay. I
need
to know that you’re okay.” My heart was breaking. This man was so concerned with
my
happiness and well being.

“I will come to you in an hour.”

He sighed in relief saying, “Okay. I’ll be waiting.”

“See you soon.” We hung up and I headed to the shower. I let the water get steaming hot and just sat in the shower letting my tears disappear in the water. I let out all my pain and anger, letting the water wash it away. I let the years of pain and silence wash down the drain. Once the tears stopped, I got dressed and headed to Damien’s house.

                                                  ****************************

The minute I parked my car Damien was a
lready at the door waiting for me. I kept my sunglasses on to conceal my puffy, red eyes. I knew I looked less than cute at that moment. So hiding was the next best think. Damien pulled me into his arms, holding me so tightly it was almost hard to breathe. He took my hand leading me to his bedroom without saying a single word. There was no need to talk. We both understood how each other felt. He laid me on the bed and pulled me to his chest, taking off my shades. His face hardened when he saw my eyes. His thumb glazed over my puffy eyes.

“I’m fine baby,” I tried to reas
sure him.

“You shouldn’t have to be going through this.
I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen. You’re hurting because of me. I should have protected you.” His tone was so bitter.

“
Stop. This is not your fault. We’re not going to play the blame game, do you understand me? I’m fine, really.”

“Tell me what happened?”

“We did some arguing. I put everything on the table and told him how I felt about everything. He said some really hurtful things. Nothing got solved. That’s it.”

“What hurtful things?” This
was really bothering him.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk a
bout it.”

“Ca
ta…” I put my finger to his lips silencing him.

“Please.” I pressed my lips to his, moving myself to straddle him. He tasted like honey. I smiled against his lips, sweeping them with my tongue.

“Damien,” I whispered seductively. “Make love to me.” He pulled my face to his, smiling at me. It was good to finally see him a little happier. He had our clothes off in seconds. We made love nice and slow, not caring about the world and not thinking about what had just happened. It felt like he was trying to pour all of his love inside me. There was no way we were ever going to let each other go.  

                                                        
 
Chapter Six

   As Damien parked his Shelby in the driveway, my stomach began to knot with the anticipation of what was to come.

“Relax baby. I’m here with you. Everything is going to be fine.” I was staring out the windshield freaking out, not really hearing his words. “Catalina, look at me.” I turned my gaze to his. He gave me this reassuring look as he brushed my cheek with his thumb. “I won’t allow any more pain to come to you. Plus, I’ll be sure to help you release all your tension later tonight.”

“That’s if I decide to let you.”
I teased.

“I have no problem kidnapping you.”

“Are you going to tie me up?” I asked suggestively.

He groaned, “Behave. I don’t want to have dinner with your fa
ther while I’m sporting a massive hard on.”

I giggled, “Yeah that would not be good.” I sobered up and sighed.

“Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Damien clutched my hand as we walked inside the house,
soothing me. Once we entered the house Gigi appeared in seconds.

“Oh, sweetpea
you’re back. And you look much better.” Damien tensed at my side at the mention of how hurt I looked earlier. I squeezed his hand to try to bring him back to his calm self.

“I’m fine Gigi. Let me introduce you. Gigi, this is my boyfriend Damien Cox. Damien this my adoptive mother, for all intensive purposes.” They shook hands as they greeted
each other. By the look on Damien’s face I knew he was happy with how I introduced him. This was the first time I addressed him that way. Being that we were never able to openly be together, we never had the opportunity to introduce each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. It made me smile that we were now able to do that.

“Its nice to finally formally meet you Mr. Cox. I’ll skip the lecture and cut to the chase. If you break Lina’s heart, I’ll break your legs.” Gigi grew really serious when Damien chuckled. “I am
very serious Mr. Cox. I take Lina’s happiness seriously.” Damien coughed on his chuckle and cleared his throat.

“Ms. Gigi I can assure you that Catalina’s happiness means a lot to me as well. Breaking her heart would only result in breaking my own.” I smiled at his response.

“Good. I’m happy to hear that.” Gigi turned her attention back to me with a sad look on her face. “Lina, he’s been so distraught all day. I think you should talk to him.”

“I did talk to him, that didn’t do much.”

“You know he’s stubborn, sweetpea.” Well she was definitely right about that. Memories of my earlier argument with my father invaded mind. I didn’t want to rehash all that pain.

Damien released my hand to wrap it around my hip, having me face him. He stroked my cheek and looked into my eyes searching them. “I think its a good idea to talk to him. The anger he had
earlier may be gone now. Now he’s just worried about his daughter.” The wisdom in his words reminded me of his age, as his personality often made me forget. “Don’t worry I’m here baby.” He kissed me gently and encouragingly pushed me to go find my father.

  As I walked to
my father’s office my hands began to sweat. The courage I mysteriously inquired earlier had seemed to magically disappear in that moment. I was still filled with anger and fear. My father’s hurtful words still burned me to the core. He had never blatantly hurt me like that before. And the fear of losing Damien, was like a chain wrapped around my neck slowly tightening. I had finally found the missing piece to make me complete in Damien, giving that up was out of the question.

I paused at the door of my father’s office with my hand on the knob. I took a deep breath trying to call back that courage I had before, and exhaled to release the tension
and fear. I knocked twice then opened the door to find my father distantly staring out the window. I gently closed the door behind me and took a seat in the chair in front of the desk.

“Father can we talk?” He turned to look at me and the sadness and guilt in his eyes was evident.

“I didn’t think you were coming back. I thought I had lost you too. I don’t want to lose you Catalina,” he said softly.

“Oh Dad, I don’t want to lose you either. But you need to accept that Damien is in my life, that’s not going to change. But I do want our relationship to change. I want you to be happy.” He moved to my side, knelt beside me, and took hold of my hand. I could feel the regret pouring out of him. I knew he was really trying to make amends.

“I want you to be happy as well Catalina. I’m sorry for pushing you away all these years and I’m sorry for all the hurtful things I said to you earlier. I’ve been taking my pain of the lost of your mother out on you. You look and act so much like her. I miss her so much.” I could see the pain in his face and hear the sadness in his voice, which caused me to start shedding tears

“I know. I miss her too. I tried my best to not look like her,” I sobbed.

“Yeah I remember the red hair fiasco,” he chuckled.

“I thought it would help at least a little,” I giggled.

He wiped the tears from my cheek, “Your mother will always be a part of you and that’s the way it ought to be.” He pulled me into his arms abruptly and hugged me so tightly it almost hurt. “I love you Catalina” My heart skipped a beat hearing those words. It had been so long since I’d heard him express any type of affection or emotion towards me.

“I love you too dad.” He gently pulled away from me, looking at me with so much love in his eyes. The man that stood before me was the man that was my hero as
a child; the man my father was slowly returning to.

“Its nice to hear you call me Dad again.
Father is so formal. You’re going to make this old man cry,” he laughed.

“Well you’re going to have to pull yourself together because Damien is here for dinner.” His
face grew dark for a second. “Dad please be nice.”

“I will be, but I’m still going to grill him and find out
his intentions. Now, give this old man fifteen minutes to freshen up and pull himself together. I might have to go get my shotgun too.”

“Dad!”

“I’m just kidding.” He laughed.

“You better be.” I smiled and headed for the door. I left the room feeling so successful and relieved. The future was looking bright for my father and I.

I walked back into the sitting room to find Damien staring out the window. The sun was finally setting, and the color of it reflected on his skin giving him this glowing look. I couldn’t help but admire him. I could see the perfect form of his muscle in his black dress shirt; they flexed as he crossed his arms.

“You know its kind of creepy for you to stare at me like that,” he teased.

“I’m sorry I can’t help it. You’re irresistible.”

“Really
?” He turned around and looked at me from head to toe with hungry eyes. “I can say the same for you.” He reached out and wrapped his arms around me. “You know, I would love to get a tour of your room.”

The suggestion in his words let me know what he was truly after. Without needing to say anything, I grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to
my room. As we walked down the long hallway to my room, the anticipation of us being alone again, made me quicken my pace. I opened my bedroom door and Damien came in behind me closing and locking it. He pushed me up against the wall, molding his body against mine. The fire in his eyes told me this wasn’t going to be a slow loving making session. We needed each other like we needed to breathe. But I knew we wouldn’t have enough time to really explore each other.

“Damien, I can’t handle a quickie. I want you too much right now, “I whispered. His hand softly brushed my cheek. I could feel my face getting warmer and tingling everywhere he touched.

“Baby, as hard as you got me right now, it would be painful to not have you.” Before I could even respond, Damien was already dropping down to his knees. He put my right leg on his shoulder, lifting up my dress. “You’re not wearing any panties. Oh, Catalina you’re going to be the death of me,” he moaned. I mischievously grinned at him. I knew exactly how to drive him crazy, and I enjoyed pushing every button to achieve that. Though sometimes it didn’t work to my advantage, it was worth the risk just to see his reaction. The way he looked at me when I got him all hot and bothered, turned me on enough to make me come.