And that was when he killed her. His words, so full of venom, were like a poisoned arrow to her heart. She lifted her eyes to him, her heart pleading, but she could not say a word. She could not even move.
He stared at her for a moment longer and she thought she saw a flash of…regret? Too soon, it disappeared and his face became impassive and cool.
“Goodnight, Dani.” His voice was quiet, emotionless. To her it was even worse than his anger.
When Storm left, closing the door behind him, Dani was still on the sofa, shirtless, her arms crossed over her br**sts. She was staring straight ahead, her eyes unseeing, her heart feeling like it had died inside her.
In this very apartment she had rejected Storm and now he had rejected her. She’d been assertive, she’d been bold…and she’d been so foolish. Storm was her employer, not her fiancé. She’d begun to live the lie. But today it had seemed so real.
And so Dani sat there, the hurt holding her immobile. She wanted to cry, so badly, but she would not give in. She was Dani Swift and she never cried. She felt the sob rise but she refused to let it escape.
And so she sat there, staring at nothing, while the tears streamed down her face.
CHAPTER SEVEN
For the first time in his life Storm was watching an NBA game and could not focus. If anybody were to ask him what two teams were playing he’d probably get it wrong, he was so distracted. Asking him the score at that point was futile. He was still seething. Why had Dani come on to him, knowing she was a virgin? He knew that a woman’s first time was usually a significant milestone in her life, one she would not take lightly. She’d remember it for the rest of her life. And she’d remember him. How then could he casually have sex with her? And that was all he’d wanted, just sex. Nothing more. But she would want ‘forever after’.
And there was no way he was going to commit to ‘forever after’. Not now, anyway. Maybe when he was forty. Maybe even thirty-five. But now? Not happening.
Okay, so he was a coward. He didn’t want to commit to anyone but that was why he had hired her, wasn’t it? She was supposed to be there to keep women off his back and his parents out of his business. But she'd betrayed him. She was trying to complicate his life even more than it already was. Talk about a turn of events.
He rubbed his hands across his eyes and gave a sigh of frustration. He didn’t need this kind of stress on a Sunday afternoon.
His cell phone rang and he gave it a suspicious glance. He didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, least of all his mother or father. But it was neither one of them. It was Lola.
God, what now? Another drama? Against his better judgment Storm reached out and pressed the answer button. This had better be quick. He put the phone to his ear. “Yes?”
“Storm, I’m so glad I got you. I need your help. We need your help.”
“We?”
“My friend Charlene, she’s starting a new business and we desperately need your advice.”
“We?’
“Well, she needs your advice. Not we, she. But I was wondering, can we come see you and discuss her business plan? We just need to know if it makes sense.”
“Not now.”
“Of course not, Storm. We weren’t planning to come now. What about one day this week? What about on Wednesday?”
For a long while Storm did not speak. He was in no mood to deal with Lola or her friend. He was a busy man and on top of that he had a lot on his mind. But he knew Lola. If she didn’t get what she wanted she was like an alarm clock that never shut up - the kind that kept moving and hiding till you'd chased it all over the room. As much as he hated the idea the only way he’d be able to get rid of her would be to see her.
“Come by the office at four o’clock,” he said, his voice impassive.
“Four o’clock. That’s a little too early for us. What about six?’
“I leave the office at five. It’s four o’clock or nothing.”
“I’ll take it. I’ll see you then, Storm,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“I? I thought it was 'we'.”
“Oh, yes. We’ll see you then. Au revoir.”
When Storm hung up the phone he gave up on the game, snapped off the TV and went to bed. It was the first time since the age of three or four that he’d be heading to bed while the sun was still in the sky but he just didn’t have the energy to stay up any longer. He felt drained.
But in the bedroom sleep would not come. He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. What was happening to him? In his mind he kept reliving the previous day -the journey to Indiana, meeting Dani’s brother, the fun they’d had on the way back…and then that disastrous night when she’d almost trapped him in her virginal dream. She was looking for a Prince Charming, not him. Not the man who hated the very thought of being tied down.
Storm had no idea when he finally drifted off to sleep but obviously he had because next time he opened his eyes it was Monday morning. And he felt lousy. And all he could think was, Danielle Swift, stop screwing with my head.
Wednesday came around but at four o’clock neither Lola nor her friend showed up at Storm’s office for the meeting. He didn’t bother to call to find out why. There was one thing he knew, though. They’d never get a slot on his calendar again.
That evening Storm was reading the day's news on his iPad when he heard a car pull up outside. He went to the door just as Lola hopped out of her silver sports car. She skipped up the steps, all smiles.
“Storm, you look so gloomy. Aren’t you happy to see me?” She walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“Lola. What are you doing here?” This woman was becoming an annoyance.
“The business plan, remember? We were supposed to discuss it today.”
“At four o’clock.”
“Oh, that. We got stuck at an event downtown. Couldn’t make it.”
He didn’t bother to argue. What would be the use? “So where’s the 'we' you’ve been talking about? All I see is you.”
“Oh, Charlene couldn’t make it,” she said with a flippant wave of her hand. “It doesn’t matter. I know all about the business. I can discuss the plan with you.”
Storm seriously doubted she could, or if there was any plan at all, but he left it alone. He’d not been himself lately and he was not up to knocking heads with a woman as stubborn as Lola.