The Wild Ones (31 page)

The housekeeper, Drogheda, had smiled when she answered the door.  I liked her instantly.  Something in her eyes welcomed me as the guy who would make Cami happy.  I didn’t realize how much I needed to see that from someone else.  Someone who loves Cami almost as much as I do.

Without a word, she led me back to Jack’s office. He was sitting behind his desk looking at something on the computer when she stopped in front of the open door.  He looked up, not in the least surprised. Or so it seemed.  He nodded to her and she walked off, leaving me standing there to be examined like a bug under a microscope.  But I didn’t care.  Jack was the least of my worries.  But he’s important to Cami and she’s the one I care about, so I stood my ground.

He didn’t invite me in, but I went in and grabbed a chair anyway.  We sat in silence for a painfully long time before I decided to take the bull—or in this case, the jackass—by the horns.

“I know you don’t respect me.  I know you would’ve chosen someone else for your daughter.  But I also know that you could scour the Earth for the rest of your life and you’d never find someone who loves her as much as I do.  She’s one of the few things in the world that really matters to me and I won’t rest until I give her the life she deserves.  Whether or not you want to be a part of that is up to you.  It would mean an awful lot to Cami if you’d stop being so stubborn.  And, no offense, but her feelings are the only ones I care about.  

“You don’t have to care about me.  You don’t have to respect me.  Hell, you don’t even have to like me.  You care about Cami and that’s enough for me.  That’s all I ever need to know.  How much you’re willing to sacrifice for her, though, is entirely up to you.”

I was ready to leave after I said my piece.  But I felt obligated to wait for him to respond, so I did.  I leaned back in the chair and laced my fingers together over my stomach and I eyed him.  Just like he was eyeing me.  

When he finally spoke, he surprised me.  I really didn’t expect the old bastard to cave.  But he did.  I was right all along about that, too. Cami is his kryptonite.

“All right.”

“All right?”  

He nodded.  “All right.  I believe you.  And I’ll give you one chance to prove it.  But just one.  If you hurt her, I’ll castrate you.  And you’ve lived in the country long enough to know what something like that looks like.  You get my meaning?”

I couldn’t help but laugh.  “Yes, sir.  Lucky for both of us that’s not gonna happen.  I love her.  More than I do myself.  I’d rather die than hurt her.”

“Just remember that.  Because I can see to that, too.”

I nodded.  He nodded.  And then he turned back to his computer screen.

That was the best I could hope for from Jack Hines.  But that was all I needed, so the rest didn’t matter.

But now…now I get to tell Cami that I finally got that cold prick to see I’m what’s best for her, that no one will ever love her like I do.  That alone makes it all worth it.  Cami’s worth everything.  At least now more than one person knows that it’s become my mission in life to give this girl everything she ever wanted.  And maybe even a few things she didn’t know she wanted.  

Until she met me.

THE HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER END

A FINAL WORD

A few times in life, I’ve found myself in a position of such love and gratitude that saying THANK YOU seems trite, like it’s just not enough.  That is the position that I find myself in now when it comes to you, my readers.  You are the sole reason that my dream of being a writer has come true.  I knew that it would be gratifying and wonderful to finally have a job that I loved so much, but I had no idea that it would be outweighed and outshined by the unimaginable pleasure that I get from hearing that you love my work, that it’s touched you in some way or that your life seems a little bit better for having read it.  So it is from the depths of my soul, from the very bottom of my heart that I say I simply cannot THANK YOU enough.  I’ve added this note to all my stories with the link to a blog post that I really hope you’ll take a minute to read.  It is a true and sincere expression of my humble appreciation.  I love each and every one of you and you’ll never know what your many encouraging posts, comments and e-mails have meant to me. 

http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-thanks-is-not-enough.html

Other books by M. Leighton

Beginnings: An M. Leighton Anthology

Blood Like Poison: For the Love of a Vampire

Blood Like Poison: Destined for a Vampire

Blood Like Poison: To Kill an Angel

Caterpillar

Fragile

Gravity

Madly

Madly & the Jackal

Madly & Wolfhardt

The Reaping

The Reckoning

Wiccan

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Dante’s Girl
by Courtney Cole

Chapter One

It is impossible to look hot in the dingy fluorescent light of an airport bathroom. Or as my best friend Becca would say, hawt.

At this particular moment, I’m not hot
or
hawt.  I make this revelation as I vigorously scrub at my arms and face and then use a wet paper towel under my pits. 

And what is it about peeing in an airport toilet ten times in a day that makes you feel so completely scummy?  I glance around at the crumpled tissues strewn about on the scuffed floor and the dirty toilets peeking from behind half-closed doors and cringe.  That answer is clearly ‘because of the germs’. Ack. 

Trying not to think about it, I clean up the best I can.  After running a brush through my hair, I stick a piece of gum in my mouth, apply a thin layer of lip gloss and call it good.  I glance into the mirror and cringe.  It isn’t good
enough
, but it will have to do.  Very soon, I’ll put this dreadful four hour layover in Amsterdam behind me and before I even know it, I’ll be in London.

With my father.

For the summer.

It would be torture.

Just shoot me now.

And it’s not because I don’t love him, because I do.  My reluctance doesn’t stem from lack of love.  It comes from the deep-seeded fact that Alexander Ellis doesn’t understand me.  He never has and he never will. It’s something that I’ve made my peace with and I’m not angry about it.

I’m his only child and he works his life away as some top-secret agent for the NSA.  His job is so secret that I don’t even know what he does. In my head, I imagine him jumping from helicopters and saving starving children in war torn areas.  But in reality, I know he probably sits behind a desk and analyzes information from a satellite stream or a taped telephone conversation. I’m pretty sure that’s what the NSA does, anyway.  They aren’t the cool kind of spies.

Also, he isn’t exactly sure what to do with a daughter.  I was supposed to have been a boy. Seventeen years ago, sonograms apparently weren’t as absolute as they are today, because the technician told my parents that she was 99.9% sure that I was a boy.  They painted my nursery blue and picked out my name and everything.  I can only imagine the shocked horror on my father’s face when I was born with lady parts.

Regardless, I know he loves me.  Even though he had willingly given my mother full custody when they divorced years ago, I know he only did it because he works overseas so much and he isn’t exactly sure how to raise a girl.  He does okay.  But then again, I do have some reason to believe that he still pretends that I’m a boy, just to make it easier on himself.  It’s fairly easy to do since I still have the boy name that they originally picked out. 

With my head down, I trudge back out into the congested halls of Schiphol airport.  Weary travelers bustle around me and I shift my bags so that I can pull the stubborn strap of my tank top back over my shoulder where it belongs.  As I do, I crash into someone with enough force that my bags go flying out of my hands and scatter onto the ground under people’s feet.

“Son of a –“ I blurt before I even think.

“Buck?” a male voice offers helpfully. 

Looking up, I stare into the most unique and beautiful shade of blue that a pair of eyes has ever possessed. Of that I am certain.  Blue just shouldn’t be that multi-faceted and twinkling.  There should be a law or something. 

Or at least a warning label: 

Caution, these eyes may cause female knees to tremble.

Before I can help it, I scan the rest of him.  Sweet Mary.  This guy had lucked out in the gene department.  Tall, slender, beautiful.  Honey colored hair that had natural highlights that could even catch the crappy airport light, broad shoulders, slim hips, long legs.  He is tan and golden with a bright, white smile. 

I am surely staring at Apollo, the god of the sun.  Probably with my mouth hanging open, which makes me realize that I must look like an idiot- the personification of what foreigners think Americans to be.  I snap my mouth closed.

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, trying to still my racing heart.  “Did I run into you?”

“Only a bit,” Apollo says gentlemanly, with a shrug of his strong shoulders.  I can tell he is strong even through his shirt sleeves, which are snug across his toned biceps.  Sweet baby monkeys. 

“How can someone run into someone else only by a bit?” I ask with a nervous smile as I kneel to retrieve my stuff. 

Please don’t let him smell me right now
, I silently pray to any god who cares to listen. I am sure that at this point in my travels, I probably smell like soiled hamster bedding. 

He bends next to me and picks up the contents of my spilled purse. He smells like sunshine.  And rain.  And everything beautiful that I can think of.  I try not to cringe as his fingers grasp a tampon and slide it back inside my bag.  He doesn’t even flinch, he just casually continues to pick up my things like he’s used to handling feminine hygiene products.

“Oh, it’s fairly easy, really,” he answers.  He has an exotic sounding accent that I can’t place.  “At least, when you’re not looking where you’re going.”  My head snaps up and he laughs. 

“I’m kidding,” he assures me as he extends an arm to me. Even his hand is graceful.  I gulp as his fingers curl around mine.  “You can bump into me any time you’d like.”

“Thanks,” I mumble.  “I think.”

“I’m Dante,” he tells me, his impossibly blue eyes still twinkling. 

“I’m Reece,” I answer with a sigh, already anticipating his reaction. “Yes, I know it’s a boy’s name.”

“You’re not a boy,” Dante observes.  “Most definitely not a boy.”

Is that a note of appreciation in his voice?  Surely not. I look like a bedraggled Shih Tzu. 

“No, I’m not,” I agree.  “I just don’t know that my dad ever got that memo.” 

I look past Dante and find that he is alone.  He seems to be about my age so that’s a little unusual in these circumstances.  My parents had flown me as an ‘unaccompanied minor’ across the ocean for years, but other people’s parents are usually a little squeamish about that. 

“I’m sure that fact hasn’t escaped him,” Dante tells me in amusement.  Why do his eyes have to sparkle so much?   I usually go for brown-eyed guys.  But this boy is most certainly making me re-think that stance.

“That’s debatable,” I sigh.  Realizing that we are impeding the busy pedestrian traffic like a dam in a rushing river, I smile.

“Thank you very much for helping me pick up my things.  Safe travels!”