“Did you break his heart?” Rocco laughed a little bitterly. “I can imagine that.”
“You think I’d break his heart?” Danielle blinked. “No. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”
He looked at her. “No boyfriend at all? Never ever?”
She shook her head.
“So.” He paused.
She knew he was joining up the all too obvious dots.
“None of the usual boyfriend-girlfriend experiences either?”
She put down her fork. “Are you asking me if I’m a virgin?”
“Yeah,” he breathed out a sigh. “Are you?”
“Technically.”
“Technically?”
“I’ve fooled around a little… but yeah, I’ve never gone... all the way.”
He just stared at her.
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” she picked up her knife and fork and started sawing into what little remained of her dinner. “Don’t look like that.”
“How in the hell are you still a virgin?”
“We’re not all out shagging ski-bunnies from our early teens.”
“No? You missed out.” He chuckled. “But you’ve been on campus for over a year, right?”
“I wasn’t up for screwing my lecturer either. Or any of the guys in my classes.”
“Lecturer? Please tell me you’re joking.”
Mouth full, she shook her head.
“Why didn’t you want any of them? You like packaging, were they were all ugly?”
“It’s not all about looks,” she said. “I know what I want. And what I don’t want.”
“What don’t you want?”
“Some… fumble… some regret.”
“That was the fooling around?”
“It didn’t work for me.”
He shoved his plate away. “So what do you want?”
She paused for a moment, mentally debating. But she’d come this far, had been this honest. What was the point in holding back anything more? She was mature, right? Could talk about her emotions. Her needs. Her wants. She was mature enough to handle the fall out.
She lifted her head and met his steely black-eyed stare. “You.”
He sat utterly immobile for a long, long moment. Then he stood up from the table, turning away from her. “You can’t always get what you want.”
“I know that already.”
He drew in a breath. His body was tense, like every muscle was on alert. “Dani—”
“Don’t make this relevant.” Her shoulders sagged. Too freaking late.
“Of course it’s relevant.” He looked appalled.
“Why?”
“It just is.”
“What is it with guys and a girl’s virginity?” She threw her hands up. “Either you’re all trying to get it on the instant you find out, or you’re running scared.”
“I’m not running scared.”
“Yes you are. You’re more freaked out than I’ve ever seen you.” She picked at the last potato with her fingers. “What do you think is going to happen? Oh…” she paused, nodding her head. “You’re afraid of the sight of blood?”
His expression hardened. “You know what, smart-ass, you think you’re so funny.” He stepped over to her, pressing his knuckles onto the table beside her. “But brace yourself, because here comes the truth. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She looked up at him.
“And I don’t just mean physically.” He leaned closer. “What happened before was… an accident.”
“An accident?” She mimicked him. “You feeling me up was an accident?”
Strain creased his forehead and he turned away from her again. “Dani. This makes a difference. You know it does. It’s not just age. It’s experience too. You’re lacking in both departments. It’s a combination I can’t take advantage of.”
“Even when I want you to? When I’m asking you to?”
He spun back to face her at a ‘safe’ distance in the center of the room. “It’s not fair on either of us.”
“Don’t. Don’t give me the excuses, the lines… Don’t give me the pity.” She spat the word at him. “Just give me some honesty. If you wanted, you’d take. It’s that simple. You don’t want.”
“It’s not that simple,” he shouted. “Sex is never that simple. If you were as mature as you need to be, you’d know that.”
“And how am I supposed to come by this supposed maturity when I can’t get the experience from which I’m supposed to learn?”
“I’m not your guy. I’m not the one gonna do that for you.”
“I know,” she shouted right back at him. “I got that already. No need to ram it home,” she snapped. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” she stood from the table with a rough jerk and stomped off. “I’ll go live my life.”
“No. No running away.” He was blocking the door in a nanosecond.
She stopped a few steps along and sent him a disdainful look. “I’m not. I was going to lock myself in your bedroom.”
“Well. Good.” He huffed out a frustrated breath.
She huffed one back. She caught his eye and suddenly laughed.
He stared at her thunderstruck for a second, and then a reluctant smile tweaked his mouth.
“You should have seen the look on your face,” she giggled.
“Yeah, well,” he stepped back, rubbing his forehead. “You can’t run away from everything all the time.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have to grow up sometime.”
That piqued her again. “Okay, then I’ll go find myself some young, inexperienced jerk to fumble round with…”
“Dani.”
“Don’t worry.” She rolled her eyes and held her hands up in surrender. “Not tonight. I’m here for the one night. I’ve got it.”
She stomped to the sofa, picked up the remote to the TV and fiddled with buttons. “I feel like a horror movie, don’t you?”
Chapter Seven
“WHY DON’T WE go for a swim? The pool here is the best.” Rocco needed to get very, very cold, very, very quickly.
She flicked the button to turn on the TV but muted it. “Isn’t it after hours?”
“I own it.”
She started pushing the menu buttons. “I don’t have my bathing suit with me.”
“Come see the pool anyway.” He had to get out of here. Get her out of here. He’d exercise to exhaustion. It was the only way to pour ice water on this temptation.
His fucking phone rang. He looked at the caller ID.
Well, maybe this’d do it too.
“Sorry to bother you Rocco.” His night manager sounded nervous. “But I really need some advice.”
Rocco listened as the manager spoke in low, urgent tones about the demands one of their guests was making.
Of all the nights, why tonight? Was this karma for something shitty he’d done when he was a kid? Sure, he’d done some shitty things. But this was just a nightmare.
“She knows you’re here,” his manager whispered anxiously. “She won’t be put off. Determined to see the owner himself. I don’t need to tell you how famous she is...”
His hotel was becoming the Manhattan residence of a number of nubile celebrities and socialites. While it was good for business, these people were notoriously fickle. An establishment could be the epitome of chic for months, but with a few words from someone like this particular pop princess, it could be dropped.
He had no intention of his baby being a flash-in-the-pan. He planned for The Trove to become a Manhattan institution—a centurion of boutique style. Which meant at least another ninety-five years at the top of the tree. He wasn’t jeopardising anything he’d already achieved. He’d paid back his private investor, though Logan hadn’t wanted him to. But he’d hated that debt—he didn’t want to owe his friend anything other than loyalty.
Independence was everything.
So yeah, he was going to have to go and smooth the ruffled feathers of the pop tart.
“I’ll be there shortly,” he ended the call. Actually, this one was going to be easy. The demanding diva was nothing on the trouble he had sitting on his sofa. “Dani...”
“Problem?” Dani didn’t look away from the screen as she scrolled through the horror film selections.
“Demanding guest. I have to go sort it out.”
“Of course you do. I bet she’ll be very demanding.” She grinned evilly.
“Are you going to be here when I get back?” Rocco very nearly growled.
“Don’t worry, you can trust me.” She threw the remote down. “I have no phone, no money. It’s snowing outside. What do you think I am, crazy?”
“I think you’re resourceful.”
“I’m not that desperate to escape your wicked clutches,” she said blithely. “It’s not like you really want to clutch.”
###
Rocco spent as little time as possible sweet-talking the starlet. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he was attractive to some of his guests. As was his known association with Logan and Connor. Hunter and Xander were serious babe-magnets too. So, after a couple lessons learned early on, he’d become a master at maintaining distance while remaining friendly.