Daniel (5 page)

She wondered how he’d found out. She’d
been nearly to the point of relaxing for the first time since the frantic call
from the Florida police when she got the phone call from the stranger. Stranger,
she laughed to herself. She had pretty much figured out who he was a couple of
years ago. Humberto Carver had been her sister’s on-again, off-again lover for
years. And if that wasn’t telling, it was the diary she’d found in her things.

It had been stitched up in a coat. She
didn’t know how anyone had missed it, but then the police had said her things
were boxed up when they got there. They’d only found her phone number to call
because the boxes had her address and phone number on them. She wondered if her
sister had known she was going to get killed that night. She’d never asked
Benny. He didn’t even talk about the night she’d died.

She knew he had nightmares. She could
hear him scream out a few times a month. When he’d first come to her, she’d gone
to him nightly to comfort him or whatever he needed. But he’d ask her to leave
him alone. He didn’t want her to coddle him. She didn’t tell him it was more
for her than him, but respected his wishes. What did she know about things back
then?

She got out of her car. She knew plenty
now. As she headed out to have lunch with her friend, she thought about her
life now and how different it was back then.

She’d been taking defense classes. And
she didn’t take those “woo, I’m going to spray you with something, then run
like hell” classes, either. She was trained by an ex-Navy Seal. He had beaten
her up pretty good those first couple of months. She could also shoot a gun and
had her permit to carry. One thing she was not going to be was a victim.

“Do you ever spend any of your money on
clothes?” She looked down at her jeans and tee shirt before smiling at Rachel.
“You look like a hobo. He probably dresses better.”

Rachel Fletcher looked like she always
did—a fashion plate. Reilly thought Mr. Hunter and Rachel would have fun on a
shopping spree together. The man did, however, look very good in a suit, she
thought with a grin.

“I have lots of clothes. Most of them
have holes in them. Sometimes I get a piece of pottery too close to me when
it’s still hot. I did wear my best out today for you.” She danced around for
her benefit. “See, no holes.”

“You are by far the most annoying client
I have,” Rachel said with a great deal of sarcasm. “I ordered you that nasty
crap you drink. How on earth anyone drinks tea without sugar is beyond me. I’m,
of course, having a Bloody Mary. We’re celebrating.”

The waiter came over and sat their
drinks in front of them. Reilly waited until he was gone before she looked at
Rachel to ask her about the celebrating. She had a strange look on her face.

“What?” Reilly turned around and saw Mr.
Hunter coming toward her. “Fuck. He just doesn’t give up, does he?”

“You know him? Well, that makes this easier.”
Reilly had a strange feeling she wasn’t going to be celebrating like her agent thought
she might. “Reilly Harlequin, I’d like you to meet the man who’s just
commissioned you to make a premier piece for his new lobby, Daniel Hunter.”

Chapter
5

Daniel could see that she was furious,
and smiled to himself. He had a feeling that getting one over on this woman
wasn’t easy. He’d meant to tell her this morning when she’d left him, but she’d
been so pale when he mentioned her son that he’d forgotten. Kissing her hand instead
of shaking it, he laughed when she jerked it away from him.

“I don’t want to work with you,” she
whispered furiously. “What is this, a joke? I don’t think it’s funny if it is.”

He smiled at her and pulled out her
chair. When she stood glaring at him for several seconds, he thought she was
going to simply leave. It wasn’t until Ms. Fletcher spoke that she finally sat
down.

“Reilly, people are beginning to stare. Please
sit and we’ll work this out. I’m not sure what it is to work out, but staring
each other down in a public restaurant isn’t going to help. Sit down.”

Daniel held her chair until O’Reilly
sat. He just knew that he was going to pay for this later and was looking
forward to it. He moved to the other chair and sat down after unbuttoning his
jacket, which he’d meant to leave in the car but had forgotten when he had
realized how late it was. He didn’t want to give her any more ammo.

“Mr. Hunter wants you to do a piece for
his lobby of his new building. He said that…”

“No.” Rachel flushed when Reilly cut her
off. “I don’t like him, and I certainly don’t want to make anything for him.”

“You might want to listen to the details,
O’Reilly, before you decide,” he said. “If you help me out on this project,
I’ll donate the amount you charge me to the Foundation of Art that my family is
trying to get up and running.” He leaned back in his chair and thought he had
her.

“I’ll simply donate the money, not work
for you, and I’ll be a happy person.” She glared again before looking at
Rachel. “You said you have some papers for me to sign concerning the last
order. I have it done, by the way.”

“You could donate your monies and mine. What
if something like this could benefit Benny? Would you do it then?” He looked
over at Rachel when she started laughing. “What is it?”

“What kind of foundation is your family
running that a dog could come and learn at? Or is that stupid mutt simply
walking through paint, then over a paper? I saw that somewhere on television
once, where an elephant or something did that to raise money.”

Daniel looked over at O’Reilly with a
question on the tip of his tongue when he saw her face. Panic, terror, and
pleading were there. He looked over at Rachel again before looking at O’Reilly.
She didn’t know…no idea that O’Reilly had a child and that he was living with
her.

He leaned back again and picked up his
menu. He didn’t have a clue what it said, his mind whirling around the fact
that he had information he could hold against her. And when he glanced at her
again, he could see that she knew it. This might be fun enough to get from her
what he wanted and maybe a few hours of her time.

The waiter took their order, and still
his mind wasn’t grasping why she’d be keeping her son a secret. He kept coming
back to the idea that she was hiding him from someone, and the only name he
could think of was Carver. When their menus were gone, he looked over at her
again.

“I need your help. I think you want to
help me out, so I’m going to assume that you’ve changed your mind. Yes?” She
hissed her agreement. He liked this. “And the fact that I need to get on my
sister-in-law’s good side is only going to take a few hours of your time for a
few weeks. Is that, too, agreeable to you?”

She leaned over, and he saw that her
napkin had fallen. Before she touched it, she reached out to his leg, and he
felt his cock leap. A scant second later it was all he could do not to stand
and scream like a little girl. She’d pinched him, hard, in the thigh. He knew
as surely as he was sitting there he’d have a bruise tomorrow.

“I’ll help you. I don’t like you any
more than…hell, I think I hate you more than before, but you’ll have what you
want.” He could almost hear the “but you’ll pay dearly for it later.” “What
kind of piece do you want in your building, Mr. Hunter?”

“It’s Daniel. If we’re going to be
working together, we should at least use our first names, don’t you think?” He
smiled because he knew she was going to call him “Mr. Hunter” even when he was making
love to her. He shifted on his seat and continued. “The lobby is…why don’t we
ride over there and I can show you?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t go with you.” Daniel
turned to Ms. Fletcher, completely forgetting she was there still. “Reilly,
just sign off on this order and I’ll make arrangements to have it picked up. Also,
I got the shipment for the next show. I’ve not opened them yet, but I’m sure
they’re beautiful.”

Lunch was cleared away, and O’Reilly
signed off on several of what looked to Daniel like contracts. He was impressed
that she read them over completely, even not signing one because of some
verbiage she didn’t understand. He nearly offered his help on it, but her glare
had him keeping quiet. This woman was hot.

In the parking lot, the agent left, and Daniel
offered to take her in his car. She, of course, refused, and he simply slipped
into her car while she was getting in.

“What the hell are you doing?” she sputtered.
“I didn’t want to ride with you. What on earth makes you think I want you to
ride with me? Get out.”

“I can show you how to get there. And
there is a gas crisis. Just make a left onto Hamilton and I’ll show you where
to go.” He put on his seatbelt, sure that she was going to drive like a maniac
or toss him out while she was driving. “The lobby looks plain, and I don’t have
the artist flare to make it look professional.”

She didn’t speak during the entire
twenty-minute drive. He kept up a flow of information. How long they’d been in
the building, the colors that had been installed. He’d even gone on to talk
about the feelings he got when he first walked in.

“It has a great many windows in the
front. They bring all the light we need in during the day, so I’d like to have
the piece you make for us to be lit at night. Jesse, my brother, and I have a
big practice, plus we take care of the business for our family. Who is your lawyer?”

“I am. What do you want to spend on this
piece?” she finally asked when they pulled into his lot. “Knowing will give me
a better understanding of what you want to do.”

Daniel honestly had no clue. He knew
that she was very good and in very high demand, as he had read about her before
he’d had the meeting. Of course, even the Internet had her gender incorrect. It
never really said she was a male, but it didn’t say she was young woman either.
And there was never any mention of what she looked like.

Her dark hair was always pulled back and
up from her face in some sort of ponytail or braid. He wondered if it was curly
or straight, because there never seemed to be a strand of it hanging loose. Dark
brows slashed over large expressive eyes that he would swear were the deepest
shade of blue he’d ever seen. Daniel closed his eyes when she brushed past him,
her scent of something erotic and female made him think of silky sheets
crumbled on the floor and sweaty bodies lax in the aftermath of fantastic sex. Giving
himself a mental shake, he walked to where she stood.

“It’s plain, isn’t it?” She walked away
from him after asking, and he was pretty sure she hadn’t known she’d said it
out loud. “There is a great deal of room. We can go out if you’d like, or I can
make you a piece that is tall and has a plant base around it. Something that
can be sat on when they enter or view. It’s up to you.”

He could see that. A large piece with a seat
that served as a place to have greenery that could be enjoyed when you sat or
simply walked into the room. Joey had been on him about putting plants inside
as she’d done on the outside since they’d moved in. He just didn’t want to
spoil the openness of the lobby. He watched when she pulled out a pad of paper
from her bag and pencil. She sat on the floor and began to draw. He simply
watched her from a distance and wondered if he should bring up her son. Then
thought what the hell, she was aware he knew already.

“Why doesn’t your agent know about
Benny?” he asked. She stilled in her drawing, but then continued. “In fact, no
one seems to know about him. It’s as if you have separate lives concerning
him.”

“And it will stay that way, too. Benny
is none of your concern. He’s mine.” She continued drawing as she spoke. “My
personal life is nothing to you beyond what you’ve blackmailed me into.”

He nearly lashed out at her about the
term “blackmail” but knew that was just what he’d done. He leaned against the
wall just a few feet away from her and wondered if bringing up Carver was a
good idea. But she spoke first.

“One of the stipulations for me working
for you will be that you forget about him. He’s very special to me, and I’ll
not have you blabbing to everyone you know about him.”

“Do you know who his father is?” He
wouldn’t have asked her that if it was her son. He had a feeling she would not
have casual sex and would know every man she’d slept with. She didn’t answer
him.

“This is what I think would work here
for you,” she said as she stood up. “The colors would be earth tones, pretty
much what you have in here already. I have cobalt that I think would complement
your other colors, and when you get some plants picked out with it, I’ll make
sure my colors go well with them, too.”

He looked over the drawing, and his
breath caught. Christ, she’d only been sitting there for less than fifteen
minutes, and this is what she’d come up with. He looked at her over the pad.

“This is amazing. And I love that you’ve
put some of the plants on the piece as well.” He held it up where the piece was
going to go and could almost see it. “How long will this take? I’m in no hurry
other than to see it complete.”

“About three months. I have to throw the
base piece in several pieces and line them up. Then I’ll have to fire them like
that. The kiln I’m working on will be perfect for the sheer size of this, but I
have to finish it, too.” She took back the pad and handed him the sheet after tearing
it off. “Give that to your florist of choice and let me know through Rachel
what she comes up with. The only color I can see is the blue, the rest will be
between her and you.”

She was standing so close. He found
himself staring at her mouth while she spoke, and he could only moan when she
licked her lips. His gaze went to her eyes. He could see something there, and
he found he had to taste her.

“No. Don’t,” she whispered when he
cupped the back of her head to bring her to him. But it was too late; he had to
have her.

~~~

Reilly had been kissed before. Not a
great deal, but she’d had some mouth action. But this man wasn’t just kissing
her, he was…taking her. She started to reach up and push him away but was
wrapping her hand into his dress shirt before she could get her hand to do what
her mind wanted. When he pulled her closer to him, his flush with hers, she
moaned. The contact was scintillating; sparks seemed to ignite throughout her
body from his. He cupped her breast, and she felt it swell under his hand.

“O’Reilly,” he moaned her name, and she
felt his thigh press against her mound. “Come home with me. I want to fuck
you.”

Home. She wanted to go home with him,
and that’s when she remembered her home. Benny was there. The gate. The phone. She
wrenched away from him only to have him reach for her again.

“I have to…we can’t…you can’t do that. I
have to go.” She grabbed up her things and was to the door when she realized
he’d locked it when they came in. She turned to him when she couldn’t get the
lock to work for her.

He brushed against her without a word.
The electricity from him was almost enough to make her want to go back to where
they’d been, but once she was on the outside of the building with him, she took
several steps back.

“I’m not going to rape you,” he snarled
at her. “A simple no would keep me back.”

She nodded but wasn’t sure what to say.
She was humiliated, and he was angry. Not even sure what to say to him, she
started to the car. Stopping her with a jerk on her arm was the only thing that
kept her from running away.

“What happened back there? I thought we
were connecting and you run like I’ve done something heinous.”

“I did it. Not…I can’t get involved with
you. With anyone. I want to live my life like I have been. Alone. It’s safer for
everyone.”

He didn’t let her go but stared at her.
“Does this have anything to do with the call you apparently received before? The
one I asked you about? Is it Carver? Is he the one you’re hiding from?”

She knew she paled. All the blood
drained from her face in that second. She staggered back, and had he not still
been holding her, she would have fallen.
He knew
was all she could think
of. He knew that Carver was after her, and she wondered how.

“You won’t give Benny to him. I swear to
you if you even try, I’ll kill you myself. He’s my—”