“Well, if you say so,” he said, dragging the words as if they were the hardest things for him to say.
Dani gave him a firm nod. “I do say so. I’ll see you tomorrow at five. Don’t be late.”
She waited for him to turn and watched as he crossed the lobby and went through the door, still mumbling in distress and confusion. She laughed to herself as, from the door, she watched him climb on his motor cycle and ride away then she headed back to the elevator, punched the button and headed up to her apartment.
She was still laughing when she went inside. Storm Hunter had forced her to explore a wild side she never knew existed. Now she would force him to explore his softer, more sensitive side.
It was going to be fun watching him squirm.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Lola, calm down. There’s no need to be so dramatic.” Storm had to grit his teeth to keep his voice calm and under control. The woman was impossible.
“Dramatic?" she shrieked as she clenched her fists and glared at him from tear-filled eyes. “Is that what you call it? No. This is dramatic.” She grabbed a stapler from his desk and threw it across the room at him, missing his head by mere inches. He’d had to duck to keep from being brained.
“Lola, stop it,” he said in his most imperious voice but it was like talking to a mad woman. She was already reaching for the heavy tape dispenser and he had to dive for it and wrench it out of her grasp.
“How could you do this to me, Storm Hunter? How could you?” Lola’s face crumpled and she collapsed into a chair and covered her face with her hands. “I love you. You know I do. Why would you torture me like this?”
“Lola, please. I’m not doing this to hurt you.” Storm let out a heavy sigh. He hated to see a woman cry. “You don’t love me, Lola. Its just infatuation. It’s only because our parents expect-”
“Don’t tell me what I feel for you.” She lifted her face and spat the words at him, her eyes flashing with a rage that made her look crazed. “For years I’ve waited for you. Years. And you led me on, making me think you felt the same way.”
“But we never-”
“It doesn’t matter. I was waiting for you till we were married. I know you had other women, playboy that you are, and I let you have your flings.” She sucked in her breath, her nostrils flaring. “I was giving you time to grow up. He’ll come around when it’s time, I told myself. He’ll settle down one day soon and when he does it will be with me, the woman who's loved him faithfully all these years.”
Now Storm was getting pissed. What kind of guilt trip was Lola trying to throw on him when he’d never made any commitment, not even a promise, to her? Despite what their parents wished, as far as he was concerned he was not about to be forced into an arranged marriage.
“Get serious, Lola,” he said, his voice cold. “We were never going to get married and you know it.” He shook his head. “You turned up here suddenly and started with your usual antics, acting like we’re lovers...which we’re not. I had to tell you because this behavior has to stop. I can’t play those games with you anymore.”
“So that’s all it was to you, a game?” Her voice was a bitter, broken whisper. “All this time I was loving you, you were only playing a game. With my heart.”
She stood up then and hugged her purse to her chest like a protective shield. “And now you tell me you’ve got a fiancée. Where the hell she came from, I don’t know. Well, if this is something you cooked up to humiliate me you can give yourself a pat on the back. It worked.” With an injured sniff she turned on her heel and walked to the door. This time, instead of her usual ‘Love you, darling’, she opened the door then turned and said, “Don’t think this is over, Storm. We are not going to end like this.”
Storm let out his breath and shook his head then he dropped himself onto the leather sofa by the window. He hadn’t meant to reveal the engagement - fake though it was - until after he’d announced it to his parents, but Lola had been more annoying than usual. She’d always been expressive with her feelings but today she’d become more physical, throwing her arms around his waist and planting an unexpected kiss on his lips.
It wasn’t that he had anything against her. He was just tired of playing her game, a game that their parents wholly endorsed. And that was why he’d seized onto the idea of Dani as his fiancée. She was the perfect solution to getting everybody, including Lola, off his back.
The sad thing was, it looked like he had just created a brand new enemy.
Dani dashed around the apartment for the too many-eth time, making sure everything was just right. Her heart was pumping like she was on the edge of a cliff ready to bungee jump.
She could beat herself. She’d invited Storm to join her in making a quilt, not even thinking about where they’d be executing the project. Of course, it ended up that it would be at her apartment. She couldn’t very well lay out fabric and put him to work in the lobby of the apartment building. And it wasn’t like she had any other place she could take him to do that. It was too bad she had blurted out her idea without thinking about the consequences.
Number one question - what would he think of her modest apartment, with him being a billionaire and all? Number two dilemma - shouldn’t she have suggested something that would allow them to be in a neutral place rather than an intimate setting such as her apartment? Number three disaster - now that she’d had a taste of him how was she going to be able to keep her hands of the ‘merchandise’?
When the buzzer sounded Dani jumped. She was so tense she had to take two deep breaths before pressing the button to answer. Storm was on his way up to her apartment and she wasn’t ready. She felt like she’d never be. She checked the mirror one last time then slid her damp palms down the sides of her jeans.
She heard the elevator door open then footsteps coming down the hallway, the heavy footsteps of a man. They stopped right in front of her door. She pasted a practiced smile on her face and opened up.
The face that greeted Dani was not the one she’d expected. Instead of a smiling, relaxed Storm she saw a man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. His lips were drawn tight and he was almost scowling.
“Are you alright?” She stared up at him, momentarily taken aback, and then she stepped aside so he could come in.
“Uh, sorry,” he said then just like that he seemed to snap out of his trance. It was as if he just realized where he was. The creases on his brow disappeared and his lips relaxed into a smile. “Forgive me. It’s been a long day.”