‘You don’t have to kill yourself, Dee,’ he said, touching her arm again. Always touching her. ‘You know she’ll find you.’
‘The best defense is a good offense.’
He grinned. ‘Football coaches-’
Dee laughed, pushed him again. ‘We can’t have sex.’
She should just get it over with. She should haul him into one of those cheesy pressboard-furniture-and-industrial-carpet rooms they’d been scouring, toss him on the bed, and break most of the cardinal rules of nature. He sure wouldn’t be whispering in her ear after that.
‘You’re not going to have sex with me until you find her, are you?’ he asked.
Dee stood by his bike, running her hand over the butter-soft leather. ‘I have responsibilities. Since you showed up, I’ve forgotten most of them. But that’s not going to keep Xan from coming after us. If we don’t stop her first, we’ll never be safe.’
‘Coward.’
She straightened to find that he wasn’t smiling anymore. The storm shadows collected in the hollows of his cheeks and made him look fierce.
‘I am not a coward.’
‘You’re hiding behind your sisters, behind the threat of your aunt. Behind the door of that little house of yours. You’re braver than that, Dee.’
‘I’m not hiding. I’m trying to live a normal life, just as I dreamed when I was a little girl. Hell, I even have a white picket fence.’
She knew she was trembling again. Her stomach was suddenly in turmoil. Right there in the middle of the Dollar Dayz parking lot, for God’s sake. Couldn’t he challenge her in private? Couldn’t he not challenge her at all?
‘You have a prison surrounded by a big garden.’
‘You don’t understand,’ she whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse. ‘You don’t know what Xan really is.’
‘I’m not talking about Xan.’
‘Then what?’
He bent over so he could face her eye to eye and took her face in his hands. ‘Not everyone hides her passion in the attic, Dee. Come out into the sunlight.’
‘As what?’ she asked, pulling away. ‘I can be a bulldog. Or maybe a seagull, except nobody really wants them around, no matter how cute they are.’
He ran a finger down her cheek, setting off sparks all the way down her arm.
‘As the woman who painted those paintings.’
He brought her to a stop. They’ll see me.
Danny frowned. ‘Who’ll see you?’ Dee started. ‘You’re doing it again.’
‘Then maybe I am psychic. Tell me, Dee. Who’ll see you?’
She drew in a deep breath, struggling to quell the hot rush of tears that crowded the back of her throat. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She watched the street.
The Dollar Dayz took up a corner of Main near the highway, a graceless stretch of fast food and strip malls. She’d painted it in shades of umber and gray. ‘Do you know what a nightmare it was to be Delightful Dee-Dee? To never have privacy? To have strangers think they had the right to you? Those paintings are…’ She picked at a loose button on her cardigan. ‘They’re me.’ She knew her voice was small. ‘I should have the right to say who I share them with.’
Gently Danny lifted her face. ‘You showed them to me.’
The button came off in her hand. ‘You don’t understand them, either’
‘I understand that they’re the product of an amazing, beautiful, talented woman who should be able to share her vision with the world. I understand that I want her to smile more and worry less. That I’ve been thinking about wandering the world with her just so I can watch her paint my favorite places, because I can’t even imagine how they’ll look through her eyes.’
How could something that sweet hurt so much?
Danny took her by the arms. ‘The rest doesn’t matter, Dee. I promise.’
Damn. The tears were swelling, searing her throat and forcing her to swallow. She nodded. ‘I promise you. It does.’
‘Then make love with me. As the woman who paints those paintings.’
For a minute Dee couldn’t manage a single syllable. She could barely see him through the tears she kept sniffing back. ‘You don’t believe in her. And I don’t think you’d like her’
‘I have the courage to try. And I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed. Do you?’
There was no air to breathe. Her heart hammered like an off-balance washing machine. Dee opened her mouth twice before she could answer. ‘Will you promise me something?’
‘My life, my wealth, my body.’
‘If you suddenly see somebody you recognize, just close your eyes?’
His laugh was sharp. ‘You do make life interesting, Dee.’
‘Promise.’
‘I promise. But I’m not inviting anybody to this party but you.’
His eyes were so sweet. So very dear and bright and clear. Dee sighed. ‘You may be surprised by who shows up.’
‘And you’ll make love to me without consideration of whether Xan is confronted or not. Or whether your sisters are having man troubles or Xan troubles or tattoo troubles. I assume they got them, too.’
Dee gaped. ‘How did you know?’
He grinned. ‘Because I know you’d never do that on your own. But you’d do anything for your sisters. Now, are you agreed?’
‘Where? When?’
‘Dee,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘We’re not scheduling a root canal. These things are better done spontaneously.’
‘Not in my house they aren’t. Lately, you just don’t know what’s going to happen there. Besides, I really, really don’t want any surprises. Well, more than are inevitable.’
Her heart picked up even more speed. She was damp all the way down her back. She shook like a terrier, and a fire burned in her chest that threatened to melt her.
Oh, God. She was going to try.
With Danny James. Her lover.
Well, there was no better way to spit in Xan’s face. If both of them survived, anyway.
‘The mountain,’ she blurted out.
Danny took a second to consider. ‘I like it. Dancing up with the witches. It’s just about Beltane, isn’t it? I know the moon’s almost full. Doesn’t sex play a big part in the celebration?’
‘How did you know?’
‘Researcher, remember? We’re all frustrated Jeopardy champs. I say we go right now. After all, my policy is to never put off something you want to do. Only the things you have to do.’
She giggled like a nervous virgin. ‘It’s only five. A bit of discretion from the local personal banker is always a good idea.’
‘On the other hand, if you shatter your reputation like cheap ceramic, it’ll give you the excuse to take up painting full-time.’
‘I don’t want to traumatize the girls.’
‘Are you kidding? The girls are going to throw a parade in my honor’
‘I beg your pardon.’
Reaching over, he pulled off her current rubber band and sent her hair flying. ‘You,’ he said, dangling the limp oval before her, ‘need to let your hair down more.’
She wanted to giggle again, but she was too breathless. He was smiling, but his eyes gleamed hot. His eyes took the stuffing out of her knees.
‘Also, when we’re traveling the world, being sybaritic and feckless, I absolutely forbid you to wear cardigans. Math teachers wear cardigans. You will wear silk and linen and the odd feather in your hair.’
‘On a researcher’s salary?’
He kissed her nose. ‘I’m going to live on your art. Clever, don’t you think?’
She nodded again. She was beyond fear. Somewhere between anticipation and terror, she thought. And before she’d even so much as shed her shirt.
He pulled her against him. ‘Kiss me to seal the deal?’
Dee took another anxious look around. ‘Right here?’
‘It’s part of proving how brave you are.’ He blew gently in her ear. And how feckless.’
Dee was glad he had a hold on her. Her knees failed again. Her nipples snapped to attention and showers of sparks washed down her neck. He was smiling down at her as if she were the last drink on a desert. She couldn’t have looked away if Xan had tapped her on the shoulder.
She managed to lift her face and smile back. It was all the invitation Danny needed. Dee thought she heard a sigh of relief from him as he bent to her.