31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) (8 page)

‘It’s not too late to change your mind,’ I advised
him.

‘No. Full disclosure, that’s what I agreed to,’ he
replied with a half-smile. He came to open my door and help me down, then went
to take my hand.

‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t
think we should hold hands in front of her parents, not when I’m meeting them
for the first time.’

‘I think it would be a good idea if you talk to
Theo and Florie first, while I sit with Moira for a while. Then we can swap.’

‘You want me to sit with your comatose wife?’ I
asked aghast.

‘She has a team of nurses on shift, I think it’s
Sheila on duty now, so you can ask her any questions until you’re satisfied
that I’m not trying to deceive you.’

‘Dan, I feel so stupid now. Do we have to do
this?’ What the hell was I thinking insisting on seeing the proof?
Making
sure he’s not a lying bastard like Zac was, Ellie
, I reminded myself. I’d
trusted Zac who I’d been with for five years, it would be irresponsible to give
Dan the benefit of the doubt after knowing him for such a short period, no
matter how I felt about him. The thought crossed my mind that with his
millions, or billions, he could have paid actors to fool me. Then I shook my
head, why would he go to those lengths? And where would he get someone who was
actually comatosed to play the part? Maybe I should have brought a needle with
me to do a test of my own, by jabbing her with it to see if she really was out
of it.

‘It’s not exactly my idea of a fantasy first date
with you Ellie, but I don’t want any doubt in your mind,’ he replied, as he
placed his hand in the small of my back and directed me to the front door. I
rapped my hand against my side as he pressed the doorbell and I heard footsteps
on a wooden floor, then the door being unlocked.

‘Daniel,’ smiled a serious looking gentleman. I
took a large gulp as Dan introduced me.

After being introduced to Theo and Florie and
settled down in the lounge with a cup of black coffee, Dan gave me a half-smile
and disappeared leaving me uncomfortably perched on the edge of the sofa with
her parents staring at me.

‘I’m really sorry to intrude, this can’t be easy
for you,’ I offered with a sympathetic smile, wondering if they had any idea how
difficult this was for me.

‘What’s not easy for us is Daniel refusing to let
her go,’ Theo replied as he took his wife’s hand. She nodded her agreement.
‘Believe me, meeting you is easy. I know I can speak for both of us when I say
that we are happy that Daniel’s met you and that he’s considering moving on.’

‘I don’t understand how … how you can …’ I
stalled, unsure how to discuss such a sensitive subject.

‘Ellie, Daniel has been here day in, day out for
nearly four years. Only thin ice on the loch stops him. For a man who only
married our daughter out of a sense of obligation, he’s done far more for her
than we could ever have hoped for. He bought us this house, set Moira up with
her own annexe, hired nurses to take care of her. He’s a part of our family now
and we’ve grown to love and respect him. He deserves some happiness in his life
and the only time we’ve seen him smiling is when you came to stay in December. He’s
not been the same since you left. We want him to move on.’

‘I can’t believe you’re both so understanding, not
after what you’ve been through.’

‘It was a long time ago, we’ve let her go, he
needs to as well.’

‘Is there no chance she could recover?’ I enquired
and Florie shook her head.

‘She’s brain dead Ellie. Daniel won’t accept it,
he keeps paying for her to be checked by different specialists. Her muscles
have wasted away, she’s a shell of girl now. We want to let her go, but he
won’t have it. I know he carries a lot of guilt over the loss of Rebecca, I
think he feels that by refusing to give up on Moira, it’s his way of
alleviating that guilt. Like some miraculous cure would free him, but it’s
never going to happen.’

‘That must be so difficult for you to accept,’ I
sighed.

‘We’ve accepted she’s gone, what we can’t accept
is Daniel not moving on,’ Theo replied. ‘We can only hope that his growing
feelings for you make him see reason, that he’ll want to move on and start a
new life with you.’

‘I think you could change his mind,’ nodded Florie
and I looked at her startled.

‘I don’t know what Dan’s told you, but we haven’t
even agreed to start a relationship yet. We have a lot to discuss, on both
sides, before we even think of going down that path. I’m not in a position to
be asking him to consider letting her go for you. That has to be a decision the
three of you come to.’

‘I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to make you feel
pressured, it’s just that he’s distanced himself from anyone and everyone, and
to see him with a smile since he met you has got our hopes up,’ smiled Theo.
‘He’s an amazing young man, who’s really gone above and beyond for us. He
deserves some happiness of his own.’

‘I agree, I’m just not sure if it will be me that
can provide it,’ I smiled sadly in return. ‘He wants to stay up here, I have a
life in London and I feel selfish saying this, but I’m not sure how I’d feel
knowing your daughter was always going to be his priority.’

‘I think having you in his life would shift his
focus, give him something to look forward to and you’d soon become his priority
Ellie,’ advised Florie. ‘Please don’t worry about us, we want him to move on.
We’d be happy for him. Our hope is that he wants a new life with … someone and
that he’ll realise holding onto the past is holding him back.’

‘You’d really be ok with him seeing someone?’

‘We would,’ she nodded with a smile up at Theo who
nodded his consent too. I sat back with another coffee and listened as they
sang Dan’s praises, reaffirming my gut instinct that he was trustworthy and
decent. What he’d done for them was amazing, it wasn’t all the money either. He
could have set them up here, paid a lump sum and walked away. Him visiting her
so often, a woman he didn’t even love, spoke volumes. I looked up as the door
opened and he ducked his head to enter and raised his eyebrows at me.

‘She’s fine,’ laughed Theo. ‘We haven’t scared her
off if that’s what you’re worried out.’

‘They’ve been bigging you up as a matter of fact.
You have quite the fan club,’ I smiled.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked with a serious look on
his face. I bit my lip as I looked at him.

‘I don’t think I need to, I’ve heard enough, I
feel foolish for doubting you as it is.’

‘I don’t ever want any doubt in your mind, Ellie.
Theo and Florie don’t mind.’

‘We don’t,’ advised Theo as he stood up. ‘Please,
as Daniel says you came here for reassurance. Would it help if he went in there
with you?’ he asked. I looked up at Dan and he gave me a brief nod of consent.

‘Ok, thank you.’ I stood up and Dan took my elbow
and guided me back to the hall as I took a few deep breaths. He gripped the
handle of a door on the ground floor and looked around at me.

‘It may seem a little odd, but I talk to her as if
she can hear me. She’s hooked up to machines and Sheila’s watching over her
today. She’ll answer any questions you might have.’ He leaned over and kissed
my temple then opened the door.

We waved goodbye as Dan backed the Land Rover out
of the drive and I looked out of the window with a frown. That had been tough.
I thought I’d feel some sense of relief at knowing that he hadn’t lied to me,
but all I felt was a mixture of emotions, none of which were relief. I felt
guilt at doubting him, guilt for imposing on this family, anger that he’d put
his life on hold for so long, confusion as to where that left us and if I
wanted to take this further knowing I’d seemingly always be second place in his
life. Then that just enhanced the dominant feelings of selfishness. I’d been
shocked at how frail she’d looked lying there in that bed, hooked up to beeping
monitors, with that machine pumping oxygen into her lungs and that IV line in
her hand. Sheila repeated what Theo and Florie had told me, that she’d been in
a coma for too long now, the chances of her ever recovering were minimal and
that Dan needed to let her go. She’d folded her arms and pursed her lips when Dan
scolded her and reminded her he was paying her salary and could just as quickly
rectify that. I’d shaken my head when she’d asked if I had any questions. I
didn’t. Not of her. I had a whole load of questions I wanted to ask Dan, but
that would seem totally insensitive of me after seeing what he was faced with
every day. The guilt he must carry to make that daily journey and sit with her
was unimaginable.

‘It was a mistake to take you there,’ Dan sighed,
breaking the silence and my focus out of the window. I hadn’t even noticed that
we’d made it up the mountain and were cutting through the dense forest on the
way back to the hotel.

‘No,’ I replied quickly, not wanting to make him
feel any worse than he probably already did. ‘I just … it’s a lot to take in.’

‘Does it change how you feel about me?’

‘No!’ I retorted quickly and firmly as I twisted
in my seat to look at him. ‘It makes me think you’re even more amazing. Do you
know how many men would do what you’re doing? Virtually none. I think I’ve
fallen in love with you that little bit more, if that were even possible.’ I
gasped as he suddenly veered off the main road down a track. ‘Shit, you just
scared me, what are you doing?’

‘I’ve waited long enough, Ellie. I need to be
inside you again. Right now.’

‘But we’re a few minutes from the hotel.’

‘A few minutes too long,’ he advised as he sharply
braked, pulled the handbrake on and deftly unhooked my seat belt, seconds after
his own. ‘Are you wearing knickers?’

‘Yes,’ I nodded, as I caught my breath at the
blazing heat in his deep green eyes and felt the need radiating off him.

‘Then I suggest you take them off if you’re
partial to them, if they’re not off by the time I make it to your side of the
car, I’ll be ripping the damn things off you.’

‘But we need to talk,’ I protested as he manoeuvred
his legs over the gearstick.

‘We can talk after. You wanted proof I didn’t lie
to you, I’ve given it you. Talk isn’t going to change the fact that I want to
fuck you, just as much as you want me to.’

‘Shit,’ I whimpered. I quickly hoisted my dress up
as he edged closer, lifting his right leg over the piece of metal separating
us. By the time I raised my hips to start tugging my tiny knickers down he was
next to me. The sound of his breathing was as fast as mine. As I kicked them
off I heard him undoing his zip. There was going to be no romantic seduction,
this was going to be a quick hot fuck, and knowing how Dan fucked, I was all
in. I gasped, not only to see he was commando under his jeans, but to lay eyes
on his large cock again. In my imagination, or memories of it, he wasn’t that
large. He took my breath away.

‘Straddle me, quickly,’ he ordered. I did as I was
told, barely escaping knocking myself out on the low roof and he repositioned
us on the passenger seat as he yanked my dress over my head, leaving me naked.
‘Fuck, your tits are sensational. I’m going to lavish them with attention
later, along with that juicy clit of yours, but now this is going to be hard
and fast. Understood?’

‘Understood,’ I nodded as he grasped my hips.

‘No one else is ever going to fuck you from this
moment forth, Ellie. You belong to me,’ he growled.

‘That goes … both ways,’ I breathed, as I reached
down and grasped him, positioning him at my entrance, desperate to feel him
filling me again.

‘Are you wet?’

‘Yes,’ I sighed, as we locked eyes and I felt my
insides do multiple somersaults. He literally took my breath away he was so
handsome. He didn’t even have to work on me to make me wet, being around him
had me in a constant state of damp knickered arousal.

‘You’d better be, because I’m telling you now,
once today isn’t going to be enough for me. Kiss me, kiss me like it’s our last
time. I need to feel how much you want me,’ he demanded, as he forced me down
onto his thick shaft, groaning as I screamed. I dug my nails into his
shoulders, acutely aware I was completely naked in his car in broad daylight,
while he was fully clothed and currently bruising my cervix he was wedged in me
so far. He reached up with one hand and grasped the back of my head as I
panted, wriggling my hips trying to accommodate him without pain, and pulled my
face down to his and kissed me with an intensity I’d not felt before. His
tongue prodded and probed, entwined around mine as I moved my hands into his
hair and started to move on him. ‘Christ Ellie, I’ve missed this. I’ve missed
you,’ he uttered between our frantic kisses.

‘I’ve … missed you … too,’ I whimpered, as he
angled his hips and lifted up into me as I bore down on him. ‘Uhhh,’ I cried.

‘Scream. I want to hear what I do to you, how I
make you feel. This, us, it’s never going to get any better with anyone else,
you know it too. I’ve not even started with you Ellie Baxter, I’m going to take
you to new sexual heights, show you what your body is capable of, the pleasure
it can bring us both. I’m going to fucking ruin sex for you if you ever leave
me, because no one will ever compare to me. Just like you’ll ruin it for me.’

‘Yes,’ I called out, as I worked as hard as I
could on top of him. His fingers digging into my hips, the others weaving
tightly into my hair as he forced my lips back onto his, crushing them with the
furiousness of his passion. How could he possibly make sex even better than
this? I just couldn’t comprehend it. There must be sexually bereft women all around
the world, having been tossed aside by him when he was done. Why was I so
special? My nerves were working overtime sending pleasurable sensations to all
my outer extremities. ‘Uh … uh …
uh,
’ I mewled.