“Would you show me her picture sometime?”
“Go in my room and get my wallet off the dresser.”
Dani scrambled off the bed, grabbed his wallet, and returned, handing it to him. He opened it, removed a photo, and then turned on the lamp. The girl staring back at Dani was drop-dead gorgeous. Long dark hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were almond shaped, her cheekbones high, and her full lips parted in a beautiful smile. But it was her black eyes sparkling with humor and mischief that told Dani she would like this girl.
“I see why you didn’t want to show this picture to the guys. They would’ve driven you crazy wanting to meet her.”
“Buchanan and Turner have met her. It was impossible to keep her a secret once they came to work for me, but I made sure they knew the danger of thinking of her as more than my sister.”
“How old is she?”
He took the picture and looked at it, his eyes turning soft and loving. “Just turned nineteen. She’s a sophomore at Florida State.”
“So, it’s just you and Maria?” She wanted to hear more about the two of them. From what he’d said, they hadn’t had an easy life.
“Yeah. I have no idea who my father is or Maria’s. They were probably Navy men since Lovey Dovey mostly worked the bars surrounding the naval air station. When I was fifteen, there came a day when there was no milk in the house for Maria. A baby needs milk, so I tried to steal some at the convenience store near my house. I got caught by the owner. It was the luckiest day of my life. Mrs. Jankowski grabbed my hand and marched me home to discuss my sticky fingers with my parents. She took about thirty seconds to assess the situation before appointing herself my and Maria’s guardian angel.”
“What happened then?”
He chuckled. “She gave me a choice of going to jail or coming to work for her. Not knowing a fifteen-year-old would likely be turned over to social services and not sent to jail, I chose her. She kept Maria supplied with milk, put me to work in her store, and taught me the meaning of honor.”
Fascinated, she asked, “So, you adopted her as the mother you wished you had?”
A fond smile curved his lips. “Something like that. She was a taskmaster, giving no quarter. As soon as school was over, I had to go home, get Maria, and bring her to the store. Mrs. Jankowski set up a little play area in her office for Maria, and as soon as we arrived, I sat at her desk to do my homework. Once it was done, she looked it over, and if it met with her approval, I was put to work. I swept floors, carried out trash, stocked shelves.
“At first I hated her. No one had ever made me do my homework before, but about two months into my captivity, miraculous things began to happen. Science started to get interesting, turned out I had a knack for math and languages, and geography was fascinating. My grades went from failing to average to above average to the day when I got my report card and stared in amazement at all the A’s.”
“Mrs. Jankowski sounds like an incredible woman. Is she still alive? I’d like to meet her someday.”
He smiled and Dani studied the man who had made something of himself in spite of all the strikes against him. Tears burned her eyes. What a sad, lost little boy he must have been before his savior rescued him and his sister. And then to discover his talents, grasping onto learning everything he could from his studies as a means to escape his environment. He had transformed himself from a throwaway kid to her Renaissance man. Oh God, he wasn’t hers, she didn’t want him to be, but she could easily fall for him.
That scared her.
He wasn’t a sweet, lovable bear-of-a-man like Evan. He was hard and unyielding—arrogant. There was nothing sweet about him. But, merciful heavens, she wanted him. He made her pulse race and her body want. It was lust, that was all. Lust could be assuaged.
His hand came up to cradle her face. “Someday, perhaps,” he said as his thumb slid gently across her bottom lip.
Someday what? Lord, the man had the ability to steal her wits. Hypnotized by the desire she saw in his gaze, she lowered her mouth to his. His eyes darkened as his arm wrapped around her back, pulling her hard against him.
“Dani,” he whispered, making her name sound like something precious.
“Please.” Oh God, please don’t stop.
He reached up to turn off the lamp and stilled. She felt the change in him under the palm she rested on his bare chest. His muscles tensed, the arm at her back fell to the bed, and he took a deep breath.
What had she done wrong?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Logan blamed his lapse on his head wound.
How Dani had wormed his past out of him, he didn’t know. He talked of it to no one. Only Maria and Mrs. Jankowski were privy to most of the story because they were a part of it. Maybe the pain pills he’d taken at the hospital had given him a loose tongue.