DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN (32 page)

He leaned down to her and turned her onto her
stomach.
 
And when he laid on top of her
and entered her from the back, his massive body gyrating hers in rhythmic, bed
shaking bounces that caused even him to yell out
oh
, she cried.
 
She cried as
he fucked her.
 
She cried as he thrashed
her.
 
She cried because it felt so good,
and it felt so right, and it felt as if she was never going to overcome this
man, this big, wonderful, domineering man, that she loved too much.

A small café on Division Street and Melanie
arrived late.
 
Luke waved her toward the
back, where he was seated, and after they ordered drinks, Melanie leaned
back.
 

“Don’t be so impatient,” she said to him.

“Impatient?
 
Didn’t you hear me?
 
Daniel fucked
her last night.”

“How would you know that?”

“I can tell by the way she looked this
morning.
 
They’re back together.
 
I’m telling you.
 
She didn’t give me the time of day when they
were separated. I was patient as hell, too, just like you said I had to
be.
 
Now they’re back together.
 
I don’t stand a chance!”

“What did I tell you, Luke? Daniel Crane is a
mountain that has got to be chipped away.
 
It will not toppled all at once.
 
But it’ll fall.
 
Believe that.”

“Daniel will fall?”

“Absolutely!”

“You want the man you love to fall?”

Melanie hadn’t expected him to be that
sharp.
 

“What, you think I’m stupid?” Luke asked
her.
 
“You love Crane about as much as I
do.
 
Maybe even less.”

“You’re mistaken, but that’s beside the point
anyway.
 
The point is: do you still want
Nikki?”

“Of course I want her!
 
I haven’t wanted anybody else since she
walked into my office.”

“Then calm yourself down, Luther.
 
It’s working.
 
You’ll have her.”

“What are you talking, lady?
 
You are so sure of every damn thing when
nothing’s happening!
 
Even after those
naked photos.
 
Even after that very
specific phone call I got a friend of mine to make, she still thinks the world
of Crane.”

“But seeds of doubt are being planted, how
many times do I have to explain this to you?”
 
Then Melanie exhaled.
 
“But I
agree, we should kick things into a higher gear.
 
I agree with that.
 
That’s why, while I’m in New York kicking it
higher with Daniel, you need to be right here, in Wakefield, kicking it higher
with Nikki.
 
I had hoped that it would be
a smoother way to go, but that doesn’t seem likely now.
 
For some idiotic reason Daniel’s completely
devoted to that child.”

“And she’s completely devoted to him.
 
Even when they’re supposedly not together.”

“Right.
 
But everything works in accumulation.
 
That’s what happened to my . . .”
 
Melanie could not believe she almost went there.
 
She stared at Luke.
 
He was staring at her.

“What happened, Mel?”

Melanie smiled.
 
“Nothing happened.
 
Nothing at all.
 
Forget I said that.
 
Let’s just focus on the here and the
now.
 
We leave for New York this
afternoon.
 
And while I’m on that
business trip with Daniel, having what I am determined to be the time of my
life, you will be here, with Nikki.
 
Alone.
 
And if that’s not an
opportunity for you, and for me, I don’t know if there ever will be.”

“But you should have seen her this
morning.
 
Crane must have put it on her
sweet, because she was beaming.”

“Forget that, Luke.
 
Focus on the here and now.
 
We’re breaking through.
 
Trust me.
 
I know what I’m doing.”

Luke stared at her.
 
He wondered what game was she playing
at.
 
What was she after?
 
It certainly wasn’t any love of Daniel Crane.
 
He was no fool.
 
That woman probably hated Crane.
 
But why, he wondered.
 

But one thing he knew for certain: Melanie
Chandler was a sly dawg if ever he saw one.
 
A slick, manipulative, as sly as they come dirty dawg.
 
And although he wouldn’t trust her as far as
he could throw her, he was nonetheless glad they were on the same team.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The work of the conference had been
exhausting, but Daniel still took the time to show Melanie the town.
 
Although they journeyed to Greenwich Village
in search of jazzman Arthur Chandler, and didn’t find him since he never would
headline a club, they still didn’t give up.
 
They hung around, enjoying good jazz in a small club on Bleecker Street,
where the conversations were muted because the real reason for the season was
the music.
 
And they listened to every
note, listened like the jazz enthusiasms they claimed to be.
 
And they danced.
 

Daniel and Melanie danced in the middle of
the room.
 
He in his Oxford suit and Vito
Artioli Italian shoes, and she in her backless Armani evening dress.
 
They danced as if they were in love on the
dance floor.
 
The music was
It Just
Happens That Way
by Mindi Abair, and it was played impressively, Daniel
thought, by the club’s headliner band.
 
Melanie knew how to move, and so did Daniel, and when he dipped her, he
smiled.
 
Because she knew how to do
it.
 
She knew how to allow her hair to
flow back and her neck to tilt just angular to his chest, and when he lifted
her back up, back into his arms, they were practically lip to lip.
 
Daniel stared at her lips, and then in her
eyes, he stared at this goddess of a good looking woman, and he could have
kissed her.
 
He could have pressed his
lips into hers and he knew she would have allowed it.
 

But he held on.
 
He pulled her closer to him instead.
 
But her back was bare.
 
And the feel of that bare back made him grind
her on the dance floor.
 
She was pleased
with his touch and the rhythm of his movements, because she knew she had done
it.
 
She had created a magic moment.
 
He now desired her.
 
And that was the perfect result.
 
She had him, she felt for the first time,
right where she needed him to be.

While Daniel was out dancing with Melanie,
Nikki was at home watching
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
on DVD.
 
Her doorbell rang.
 
It was Luke.
 
At first she hesitated, because she’d told him earlier, when he offered
to take her out, that she preferred to spend the evening alone.
 
She opened the door.

“I thought I made myself clear, Luke,” she
said to her boss and friend.

“I couldn’t help myself, Nikki,” he said with
a smile.
 
She looked at him, in his jeans
and Pacers jersey, looking like the player she took him for.
 
“I really don’t feel up to going anywhere
tonight.”

“You don’t have to.
 
I just thought I’d spend a little time with
you.
 
Just talk a little and then I’ll be
on my way.
 
Scout’s honor.”

She smiled.
 
That Luke.
 
She let him in.

“What are you watching?” he asked as Nikki
settled back on the sofa, her small feet tucked under her butt, her shorts and
short shirt making Luke almost impatient with need.
 

“A movie,” Nikki said.

Luke smiled.
 
“I know it’s a movie.
 
What
movie?”

“
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
.”

“Your what?”

Nikki almost smiled.
 
“
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
.
 
It’s a comedy.”

“Seems like a Greek tragedy the way you
look.”

Nikki looked at Luke.
 
“What in the world are you talking about?”

“You, Nikki.
 
Look at you.
 
You’re nearly in
tears watching a comedy.
 
That should
tell you something.
 
Either that’s a
badass movie, or something’s wrong with you.”

Nikki exhaled.
 
“Just sit down.”

“No,” Luke said.
 
“I don’t wanna sit down.
 
You might rub off on me.
 
Misery loves company, you know.”

“First of all,” Nikki said, unable to
suppress a smile, “I didn’t ask your ass to come over here.
 
I didn’t ask for any company, okay?
 
And second of all, you can always leave.
 
Then I’ll be certain not to rub off on you.”

Luke stared at Nikki.
 
Nikki refused to look his way, but when his
stare wouldn’t quit, she did.
 
“What?”
she asked, still unable to suppress her smile.

He smiled.
 
“You’re cute when you get mad.”

Nikki stared at Luke, and then she
exhaled.
 
“Okay, you win.
 
I apology.
 
All right?
 
I’m just a little out
of it tonight.”

“And why’s that?”

“Can you sit down for two minutes?”

“I’d rather stand.”

Nikki smiled.
 
“Daniel’s not here.
 
You don’t
have to be afraid.”

Luke smiled too.
 
“You’re wrong for that, girl.”

Nikki laughed.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I couldn’t resist.”

“Answer my question.
 
Why are you down in the dumps?”

Nikki’s smile dissipated as she thought about
the never-ending drama of her life.
 
“I
just am,” she said.

“It’s Daniel, isn’t it?
 
He’s the reason, isn’t he?”

Nikki wouldn’t respond.

“You know what?
 
This is crazy.
 
I mean, look at you, Nick.
 
You’re the most beautiful, sweetest, kindest
woman in the world to me.
 
You don’t have
any business being down in anybody’s dumps.
 
And alone on an electric night like this?
 
I’d bet that bastard Crane isn’t alone, or
down in the dumps.”

Nikki looked at Luke.
 
Everybody seemed to think they knew Daniel,
everybody seemed to have such strong opinions about him.

“I’m here for you, Nikki.
 
I’m your friend.
 
I want you to feel that you can talk to me.”

When Nikki didn’t respond to that, Luke knew
when to back off.
 
He knew it well
now.
 
So he smiled.
 
“Guess what?”

Nikki looked at him.
 
“What?”

Luke pulled a small stack of CDs from his
pocket.
 
“I brought music.”

“What?”

Luke walked over to Nikki’s DVD player.
 
“Do you mind?” he asked.

Nikki gave up.
 
“Whatever, Luke, okay?”

Luke hated that she had such little
enthusiasm, but he was determined to change that.
 
He put on Robin Thicke’s
Blurred Lines
and then stood in the middle of the room and started
smiling.

“Come on, Nikki,” he urged her, “let’s turn
this mother out!”

“You turn it out.”

“Come on, Nikki!”

“No, Luke.
 
I told you I wasn’t feeling it.
 
I’m not feeling it.”

“You don’t have to feel it.
 
Blurred
lines. . . You know you want it
, kept repeating.
 
“All you gots to do is dance.”

“No, thanks.
 
You dance.”

“So it’s like that?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay.
 
Fine.”
 
Luke tried to dance, but
he was horrible.
 
Nikki tried not to
laugh, watching him, but when he whipped around so fast that his feet became
entangled, causing him to fall to the floor, she laughed.
 
She nearly fell over laughing.
 

“You need help, boy!” she yelled between
laughs.

“Help me then,” Luke urged her as he stood up
from the floor.
 

Nikki shook her head.
 
She wasn’t up for this, she thought.
 
But he was so cute standing there, a white
man with no rhythm at all, and she felt she had to do it.
 
She had to come to his rescue.

And they danced.
 
With Nikki leading the way, a teacher if ever
there was one, although Luke could hardly keep up.