“You may help yourself to some wine, ma’am,” Dani said, never taking her eyes off the road. “We’ve got white wine and red.”
“I don’t want any wine,” Lola sulked. “I want champagne.”
“You’ve had enough to drink, Lola.” Storm’s voice was imperious. “You don’t need anything but a bed right now.”
“Ooh,” she purred, “that sounds good.”
Dani couldn’t decipher Storm’s response. It sounded like a cross between a grunt and a snort. She was dying to see the expression on his face. Curiosity got the better of her and she glanced into the rear view mirror. He chose that very moment to look up and their eyes met, his dark brown and mysterious and hers, wide and startled. She dropped her eyes and embarrassment washed over her. Please don’t let him keep staring at me. She knew she was probably red as a lobster.
Danielle Swift, keep your eyes on the road and mind your own business. Great advice, except it wasn’t so easy to do when you kept hearing whispering behind you, whispers that kept dissolving into girlish giggles and then a gasp. What the heck were they doing back there? Don’t look, Dani, don’t look. She wished she could press the button and put the tinted glass back up. At least she’d be able to block out the sight and sounds. But she knew she couldn’t do that. It would be too obvious and besides she couldn’t just close the window without their permission. It was not her choice. She was there to serve them, after all.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the giggles died down and she heard the tinkle of liquid being poured into a glass. Apparently Storm had decided to let Lola have a drink, after all. She didn’t blame him. At least that would shut her up, which was a great deal more bearable than listening to her irritating giggles the whole time.
The brief silence was broken when Storm spoke. “Make a detour onto Kenilworth Avenue so I can drop Lola off.”
Before Dani could respond the woman’s voice came out in a wail. “But Storm, I thought we were going to your place.”
“No, Lola, I'm going to my place.” His brusque tone should have been enough to cool any woman’s ardor, but apparently not Lola’s. Dani heard her shifting on the seat, the fabric of her dress ruffling as if she were sliding closer to her traveling companion.
“Storm, the night’s still young and I’m not ready to go home yet. Don’t make me go home. Please.” She dragged out the last word like a child trying to wheedle a treat from her mother. From her, a grown woman, it sounded desperate.
Dani gritted her teeth. God, she felt like slapping the woman upside the head. All she could think was, Have some pride, woman. Don’t go begging a man for his company. But again, she had to catch herself. This was absolutely none of her business and she’d better learn to remain unaffected and uninvolved. Just because she’d never be a doormat to any man didn’t mean other women didn’t enjoy that kind of thing. Although why they would, Dani could never understand.
Storm totally ignored the woman’s plea. He gave Dani the address and remained silent even when Lola commenced to sigh heavily and lament how lonely she would be without his company. It was only when she dissolved into soft sobs that he spoke.
“Spare me the dramatics,” he said coolly. “I’m tired and I’ll be leaving on an early flight tomorrow. You know I have a busy schedule this week so stop acting the victim.”
“But I am, I am,” she said through her sobs. “You treat me so harshly even though you know I love you. Why do you torture me so much?”
“Save that drivel for somebody who actually believes it,” he responded, his tone unapologetic. “You’re drunk. Now be quiet and rest your head on my shoulder. I’ll wake you when you’re home.”
“You…you don’t hate me do you, Storm?” Lola said, her voice wavering then ending in a hiccup.
He gave a deep, tired-sounding sigh. “I don’t hate you, Lola. I just need you to get home safely. Now come.”
Dani couldn’t resist a glance and this time, thankfully, both her passengers were too preoccupied to look in her direction. She saw Lola curl up close to Storm then he put up a gentle hand and pressed her head to his shoulder. The woman sighed and closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep in seconds.
Storm’s gentleness surprised her. Was this the same man who had been so unmoved just minutes before? She’d thought him a selfish brute and had silently cursed the woman for being so weak. Now, though, his hushed whisper into Lola’s ear and his gentle hand supporting her against his shoulder made Dani wonder.
It didn’t take long to get to Lola’s home. Dani drove up the winding driveway and went around a circular garden to pull up in front of a stately mansion. The place looked and smelled of money. Dani could see that Lola was not a woman to scoff at, which made it all the more bewildering as to why she seemed to have so little self- esteem. Storm Hunter might be rich, sure, but this woman obviously had money dripping out of her pores, too. So why did she act like she had to take anything Storm was dishing out? Okay, so he was cute. Not just cute, breathtakingly handsome with dark, enigmatic looks. But that didn’t make him a god on earth, did it?
All Dani knew was that she’d never take that kind of treatment from any man, no matter how rich he was. If that was what it took to satisfy a man, he’d have a heck of a long wait.
She hopped out of the car and went around to open the door for Storm. He rested Lola back against the seat and slid out then without so much as a flex of his muscles he slid his arms under her shoulders and legs and lifted her out like she wasn’t the dead weight Dani knew she was in her drunken state.
Storm turned and mounted the steps to the wide porch then reached under her and pressed the doorbell with his thumb. Somebody must have been waiting up cause only seconds passed before the door was flung open and Storm was allowed entrance. He disappeared inside and was gone for a good fifteen minutes, leaving Dani still standing by the limousine, wondering if he’d changed his mind and decided to bed down with Lola.
She’d climbed back into the driver’s seat and was just ready to call in and ask permission to leave when she saw him strolling across the porch then down the steps toward the waiting car. Dani rested the cell phone back down and climbed out of the car. She’d better hurry and get the door for His Royal Highness, she thought cheekily, then grinned at her own private joke.