Текст книги "Danny's Main"
Автор книги: Lisa N. Paul
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
“Wait.” The backs of his knuckles inched slowly down the soft skin of her jaw. “I remember going down on you.” The image of her face as she flew apart under his ministrations was branded into his eyelids. Her sweet moans and tangy taste were the only reminders he’d needed as he stroked himself off in the shower both morning and night. “If memory serves me right, you were quite eager to reward me for the mind-blowing orgasm I gave you.”
Julie swatted his arm. “I’ll give you that—it was pretty freaking mind blowing. And I was prepared to do some blowing of my own, but some super sergeant I know passed out before I got his pants unbuttoned. And regardless of the fact that I went home with a virtual stranger, there was no way in hell I was performing any sort of lewd acts on an unconscious man.” She tightened the hair in her ponytail holder and bee-lined to her car.
“Umm, Jul? Just for future reference, you know, since we’re no longer strangers and all…” Danny quickened his pace to meet her at the driver’s side door of the Datsun. “Feel free to perform any lewd acts you want on me while I’m sleeping or unconscious. I promise…I’ll love them.”
The drive was pleasant but not as talkative as he’d hoped. Danny found himself chuckling as Julie sang, albeit slightly off key, to Prince, Bon Jovi, and Robert Palmer. She didn’t live far from Chester’s Bar, only about fifteen minutes or so, but the short distance may as well have led them to an entirely different state. They’d gone from the flat dry land where the barracks and bar resided to the plush grassy neighborhoods where driveways were filled with station wagons and yards with swing sets. When she pulled her red Datsun into the driveway of a modest but beautiful two-story home, questions began to overload Danny’s brain.
“Jul, do you live here alone?”
“Y-yes.” There was no masking the hesitation in her answer.
“Is this your home?”
Julie shifted the car into park and faced him, the engine still running. “I brought you here to my house. My home. And I know you’d like to talk, get to know me, but not just yet. Not right now.” Her eyes moved to the house before coming back to his. “I have nothing to hide and everything to hold on to.”
Her audible swallow nearly gutted him. What the hell had happened to the beautiful woman who’d already stolen his attention and unknowingly laid claim to his thoughts? “Julie—”
“Maybe it would be better if we went back to your place after all. No harm, no foul.” Her upper lip slid between her teeth for a beat as she wiped imaginary dust from the center console. “Because as much as I want you, I’m not sure I’m ready to do this here.” Her steely gaze darted to the single-family home at the top of the driveway before coming back to his. “This”—she pointed between them—“is supposed to be fun. That”—she nodded at the house—“is the real me. Let’s go back to your place.”
Emotions whipped through Danny like a hurricane, from sympathy for the unknown pain the woman next to him had faced, to anger for the hurts she’d dealt with, to lust for the sexy woman who brought out every protective instinct he never knew he had. Again with the caveman shit. I’m screwed. “Turn off the car, woman. Let’s go inside and take it slow.”
She blushed. “Oh, you misunderstood. I…umm, I totally want to have sex with you. I have an orgasm to repay, and since you’re sober tonight, I’m betting you have a few things you could show me? I just hoped to save the talking until after playtime, okay?”
“Fuck.” He gritted his teeth. “Yeah, honey, I think I can agree to that, but—and I can’t believe I’m about to say this—the ‘get to know you’ portion of the evening will not be forgotten, no matter how hot our fire burns. Get it?”
With a curt nod, she pulled the keys out of the ignition.
“Words, Julie, I need words.”
Once again she turned and faced him. “I promise I’ll let you into my mind as soon as you’ve satisfied my body.”
“Fuck me.”
Chapter Three
I Wasn’t The One Who Needed Help
SHE ENTERED THE well-lit, quiet house the same way she did each night. The only difference was the large hand resting on the small of her back. The heat from his touch penetrated her sweat-dampened tank top, making goose bumps blanket her skin.
“You cold?”
She let the question go unanswered, knowing damn well the cocky sergeant knew her physical response had nothing to do with the ambient temperature and everything to do with the slow boil his touch seemed to generate.
“This is some place you’ve got here.”
His statement was filled with questions. How could it not be? They hadn’t shared their ages, and even though she sometimes felt decades older than her almost twenty years, she certainly didn’t look it.
“Thank you.” Unready to hit the hard topics just yet, she needed to shift his focus. “Would you like something to drink, maybe an iced tea or lemonade?”
Mission accomplished. Danny’s mouth ticked up. “Love some iced tea, please.”
She beckoned Danny as she strode into the kitchen. She pulled two mason jars from the cabinet and the pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator, all while feeling the weight of his stare on her every move.
“I hope you don’t mind it sweet.” She gestured to the pitcher.
“Drink it sweet, drink it tart”—his gaze dropped to her lips—“cool, hot…just want it on my tongue, Jules.”
Julie blinked twice, then swallowed loudly. For a woman who poured drinks for a living, never had the task been so difficult. It was obvious when Danny saw his words had the desired impact because he chuckled. The sound was warm syrup over hotcakes—smooth, liquid, delicious, and setting her ablaze.
Facing each other, they stood at the kitchen counter. While he seemed to marvel over the glass pitcher in her hand, thoughts of him sifted through her mind. He was the hottest man she’d ever seen and the only one she’d brought home since her parents had left. What it was about him she didn’t know, but something was screaming that she should trust him. She wanted nothing more than to listen to that voice.
Rolling up on her toes, Julie pressed a kiss on Danny’s cheek, then turned her back, leaving him in the kitchen with his half-filled glass in hand.
“I need a shower,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m a sweaty mess.” The knot in her stomach tightened as parts of her wished she could disappear from the brazen behavior. Other parts bloomed, coming free from restraints she’d never realized she wore. “Invitation’s open.”
“Goddamn,” he muttered as the sound of glass clunked in the stainless sink and the facet turned on.
She waited a second while he must have been cleaning their glasses. When the water turned off and his heavy footsteps thumped around the linoleum, she hurried up the stairs. Julie covered her mouth to mute her giggle as she bounced into the bathroom. She was in trouble when it came to Danny Marcus. Her heart wasn’t beating double time because he had rinsed their drinking glasses and possibly put them away, as if he’d already found comfort amongst her things. She hadn’t welcomed a man into her adult life, let alone her home. Therefore, the ease they seemed to find with one another had her insides twisted and melting all at once.
Hot spray pounded on Julie’s tired muscles. Four consecutive twelve-hour shifts had definitely done a number on her feet, not that she’d ever admit it to anyone. Hell, she’d been ready to work another double the following day had Chester not forced her to take the time off.
She poured a generous amount of Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific shampoo onto her palm and massaged it into her long locks. Thoughts of Danny walking around her home, amongst her things, unnerved and thrilled her all at once. While his presence was large, it wasn’t intimidating, even on the car ride back to her house earlier. The air snapped with his mere being, but not once had she felt suffocated by his existence.
“That invitation still open?” A rough voice asked through the glass shower door.
The question startled Julie, although she recovered quite nicely. “Only if you’re willing to scrub my back.” She stepped under the spray to rinse the shampoo from her long tresses as the door slid open, bringing cool air to her hot skin.
“You asking if I mind touching your naked skin?” His seductive tone felt like steam hugging every inch of her form.
Slowly she opened her eyes. His muscular body filled the shower stall as desire showed all over his face.
“Fucking gorgeous.” His tongue slicked over his bottom lip. “Every single inch of you is perfection beyond dreams.”
Funny, she thought, as she took in his nakedness for the first time. “I think I know exactly how you feel.”
Wetness that had absolutely nothing to do with the shower pooled between her thighs as a heavy throb pulsed deep in her core. They hadn’t even touched, and already her body responded to his like iron to a magnet. Need pushed her closer, wanting to connect with the one thing meant to truly hold her tight. Him.
Beads of water splashed against his chest before rolling over each defined ab. Despite the moisture surrounding them, Julie’s mouth went desert dry as she stared wantonly at the length that rapidly thickened between his legs. She wanted him. All of him. On her skin, beneath her touch, inside her. Her hunger seemed just as desperate as his desire.
“You keep staring at me like that, honey, and we won’t make it out of this shower. Hell, we won’t manage to get clean.”
Ogling him from toe-to-top once more, she shrugged. “I’m not sure I have a problem with that.”
Uncertain which was louder, the beating of her heart or the pounding shower, Julie’s breath caught in her lungs as Danny’s chest inched closer. Flesh brushed flesh and her eyelids closed as naughty thoughts pummeled her mind. Click. Squeeze. Snap.
Her eyes snapped open. “What are you doing?
Once again, he reached past her to replace the conditioner bottle on the shelf behind her. Soft hazel eyes met hers, his long lashes clumped into spikes from the water. “When’s the last time someone took care of you?” Without waiting for a response, he continued, “Turn around.”
Kisses from heaven. There was no other way to describe how his strong fingers felt massaging her skull. When her hair was rinsed, he made good on his promise to scrub her back, and she made good on her desire to stay dirty.
“What are you doing?” Danny asked in a guttural moan when Julie wrapped her small hand around his shaft and lowered herself to her knees.
“Taking care of you.”
Giving oral sex had never been one of her favorite things to do—in fact, receiving it hadn’t been at the top of her list either—but the blissful delight Danny had brought her that night on his sofa, the way his absence had burned, and the complete joy that had consumed her when she learned that their night together had been more than a drunken mistake made Julie want to give more to the man staring down at her than to anyone she’d ever known. Eyes locked on his, she swiped her thumb over the thick head of his erection, then repeated the motion with her tongue. Danny widened his stance, his stare not leaving hers. A second lick turned into a third until Julie wrapped her lips around him, sucking him into the warm depths of her mouth.
Danny groaned as his lids slid closed. “So good. So fucking good.”
His encouragement was her incentive as she wrapped one hand around his hard shaft and fed him into her greedy mouth. Each time her tongue touched a spot under the head of his dick, he’d gasp his pleasure. He threaded his fingers through her wet hair, gripping the locks even though he seemed to restrain his movements.
“Lick me, baby, suck my cock. Fuck… oh, God…”
His pleasure became her aphrodisiac as her clit pulsed, begging for relief. The hand that wasn’t working him slid to her needy place, and as she licked and sucked with enthusiasm she never thought possible, her fingers rubbed small circles on the sensitive nerves at her core. An unchecked moan slid from her mouth as Danny’s dick hit the back of her throat.
“Fuck me”—his gaze cloaked her—“you touching yourself, honey? Sucking me off turning you on?”
She nodded, her eyes heavy with arousal. Her mouth full of him, words weren’t an option.
“Fuck.” The word was drawn out in an erotic sigh. “Do not come, Julie. Leave you for me. Understood?”
Understanding filled her over-stimulated brain as she pulled away, letting him drop from her mouth but not from her hand. The water at her back was losing heat, but she refused to have this thing between them based on anything but truth. “Then you do something for me.”
“Go on.”
“Don’t hold back. I can tell you are…don’t. If I’m not doing it the way you like, tell me. But otherwise, do not hold back.”
Danny closed his eyes, and she hoped she hadn’t read him wrong. “Open your mouth, Julie, and suck me down. You don’t want me to come in your mouth, I’ll give you warning. You stay on me, you swallow what I give.”
Arousal slid from her core as his words tingled every part of her body. She leaned forward and took him in again, starting with her tongue and working her way down. As Danny’s body started to shake, he wrapped her hair around his fist and pumped, fucking her mouth and calling her name.
“Gonna come, honey,” he warned as his thrusts slowed in order to give her a second to detach.
There was no way she was leaving him unfinished. She wanted everything he had, everything he offered. So instead of peeling her lips from his shaft, she took him deeper and hummed.
“Jesus Christ,” he grunted.
He thrust in and out of her mouth until warm liquid burst on her tongue and down her throat. Delicious it was not, but it was Danny’s. Therefore, she would take it any time he wanted to give it to her.
“Holy shit, Jules,” he rasped. “That was…holy fucking shit.”
The water was turned off, and she was lifted into his arms and carried out of the shower, out of the bathroom, and onto the bed. “Danny, we’re soaking wet.”
“Ummhmm.” He disappeared back into the bathroom and returned with the bath towels she’d left on the counter. Two fluffy towels—yes, she’d been hopeful.
Once the cotton was wrapped around him, hugging low on his defined hips, he strolled over to the bed. Up on her elbows, she watched him sit beside her and move the soft towel up and down her body.
“Curious,” he muttered, the cloth on her shoulder. “I think I’m drying you off, but goose bumps keep covering your skin. Can you explain that one?” His flirty tone had her every nerve alert and ready to be touched by him. “Wonder what would happen if I dry you here…”
His gaze moved to the wet skin of her chest, and her breath labored in her lungs. He dabbed the soft cotton over her sensitive peaks. A sigh left her lips like a song as fire burned inside her belly.
“Hmmm,” Danny said, “doesn’t seem like your body wants to be dry, honey.” A devilish grin sent her pulse racing and her insides thrumming. “Guess I’ll just need to keep you wet.”
Without a second’s delay, his tongue darted out in sweeping circles over her pointed nipple while his hands explored her body. Calloused palms ran over her skin, setting off sparks that turned to blazes. She was burning beneath him and had no desire to put out the flames.
“Oh God, oh…God…”
His teeth grazed her nipple, then the other, inflicting pain, something she’d never known to ask for. Then the moist heat of his tongue lapped the sting and, like a balm, only pleasure remained.
“So good, Danny,” she panted.
Following his hands, his lips traveled slowly, inch by inch, over her ribs, her belly, the ticklish spot at her hips, and when his fingers entered her tight channel, she squeezed her eyes closed and mewled at the indescribable feeling. Holy shit, how does he know how to do that? His wrist turned, and the pads of his fingers made contact with her g-spot—or as she referred to it, her “me-spot,” because she’d been the only person who could find it. Lost in the knowledge that he had found her hidden treasure, she nearly shot off the bed when Danny’s warm tongue slicked between her fold and across her clit.
“Your mind stays with me.”
“Oh, believe me, it’s only with you.”
“Mmm, so sweet, Julie. Your pussy’s damn sweet.”
Thick fingers plunged in and out, fucking her brilliantly as he lapped at her clit. He brought her higher, her body tighter, as release coiled in her gut, waiting for just the right moment, the right touch to go off.
“Give it to me,” he rasped, her juices glistening on his lips. His fingers stilled inside her before he lightly tapped her g-spot. “I wanna watch you come.”
The tapping turned to pressure on the special spot—no thrusting, no movement, just pressure as he sucked on her clit—and the foreign sensation set her off like nothing she’d ever experienced, nothing she’d ever heard of, nothing she’d ever forget.She lost all sense of time and self. It stole her breath and left her wondering how she had ever settled for less. Amazing.
Tremors rippled through her body in small waves of bliss as Danny’s mouth moved from her core to her hips. Ever so slowly, he traveled up her body, putting out the fires he’d stoked on the way down. Boneless and sated, Julie reached for his silken hair, running her fingers through the still-damp strands. Her breaths slowed as her muscles, sore from work and relaxed from the scrumptious orgasm, melted into the mattress. Her lids became heavier with each gentle lick and sensual suck. And then…she was gone.
***
HE KNEW THE minute he lost her, yet he couldn’t stop himself from finishing the tour he’d started. Every inch of her skin was silk, each measured breath she took was precious. What the ever-loving fuck, Marcus? Precious breaths? He looked at his hard cock. Nope, haven’t grown a pussy…yet. Sure, Julie Bell had fallen asleep on him—how’s that for payback? The devil on his shoulder teased—but Christ, the woman had rocked his world in the shower. Truth be told, she’d been shaking his foundation since the day they’d met.
Danny’s eyes raked over the naked form sleeping next to him. From her long strawberry-blonde hair, to the faint dusting of freckles that kissed the bridge of her nose, to the plump kissable lips that had been wrapped around his cock like a goddamn dream, down to the most perfect set of tits he’d ever had his hands on, the woman could have been created specifically for him. And that was based solely on the superficial. But there was more. She was more. Sex or not, he intended to get inside Julie’s mind, because she was already burrowing her way into his heart.
###
“MY PARENTS WERE amazing people.” Julie’s tight words hung in the dark room.
Danny was a light sleeper—something he’d learned in the army—so as soon as he realized that she was speaking to him and not in her sleep, he rubbed his eyes with one hand while pushing himself up to a sitting position with the other. He could make out the outline of Julie’s body, the white blankets tucked beneath her arms, but he couldn’t see her face, her eyes, or her mouth. A purposeful act, he assumed.
“They loved me like crazy, and they loved each other even more. I grew up knowing what it felt like to be surrounded by happiness,” she said. “Life wasn’t always perfect. We had our fair share of heartaches, and my parents dealt with issues that they thought I knew nothing about. But even when things were tough, they were…God, they were strong.”
Danny reached out. He wanted to touch her, wanted to offer an anchor for the pain he knew was sure to come.
“No.” The sheets rustled as she moved farther from him. “You can’t touch me. Not yet. I only got through what I did because I had no one else to lean on.”
He heard her swallow, and the pit of his stomach felt as though it filled with lead. He reluctantly placed his clenched fist on his lap and listened.
“Because I was an only child and we didn’t have extended family on either side, they never traveled unless we went together. The one time they did leave me with a family friend, I was four and I got a horrible ear infection and ended up in the emergency room. Needless to say, after that, we were a package deal traveling the country.” Her giggle sounded like it held years of good memories. “I turned eighteen in late fall of my senior year of high school, and we joked that my parents could finally travel without me because I was officially an adult. However, they still had an arm’s length of reasons why they couldn’t leave. They didn’t want to miss seeing me off to prom, they wanted to be around in case I stressed out during finals, and of course, they had to see me walk for graduation.”
Danny’s desire to comfort Julie was bordering on obsessive, but he reminded himself that her needs were important at the moment, not his own. So his fists stayed clamped in the sheets and his mind stayed focused on her story.
“I assured them that if they went in the spring, they would be back for all of the milestones they wanted to see and they’d be well-rested and ready to keep me calm and focused. That seemed to be the incentive that finally pushed them forward and led them to booking a two-week dream trip to Mexico.
“Their preparation became a running joke at the dinner table over the weeks leading up to their departure. It wasn’t the packing or their itinerary that kept them busy, but their concerns for my meals and my laundry in their absence. The whole thing was silly because they’d taught me to do those things years before, claiming it was a parent’s job to raise independent children. But my dad begged me to suck it up and allow my mom to worry about me. He said it would make her feel better about leaving, so I did as he asked and nodded a lot and smiled each night until we all broke out into laughter.” Julie took a deep breath. “The morning they left, Mom handed me pages of instructions, including numbers to the electric company, the gas company, old friends of my father’s from his time in the Marines, the family dentist just in case I somehow managed to lose a tooth—all bases were covered if there was an emergency and I didn’t know what to do.” Brittleness infused Julie’s voice. “She hugged me as if she’d never hugged me before and she never would again, and they left for their Mexican paradise.”
Quickly, Danny scrolled through his memories for what events had happened in the past couple of years, and within seconds, Mexico City blazed like a red flashing sign. “Shit, Jules, they were in Mexico City, weren’t they?” He wheezed as if the air had been knocked from his chest. The 1985 Mexico City earthquake was so huge, so completely devastating, it came with a foreshock in May 1985. The main event happened on September 19, 1985, and it had two major aftershocks, one on September 20, 1985 and the second seven months later on April 30, 1986. The magnitude of the final aftershock was 7.0, even though the event occurred more than two hundred twenty miles away. It caused major damage to Mexico City, and many more lives were lost.
The mattress trembled beneath him as her soft sobs filled the otherwise quiet room. His heart ached and his gut churned as he thought about the two devoted parents who’d reluctantly left their child but did so in the most strategic way in order to be back in time to witness the life events they’d coveted so deeply. In the end, they’d missed them all.
“All of that preparation,” she croaked, “all of those instructions, and none of them helped me during the emergency. Because I wasn’t the one who needed help. They were.”
He stared in her direction, silently begging his vision to sharpen in the darkness. Ultimately, he remained impaired to anything more than the muted image of her body twisted around itself.
She continued, urgency lacing her tone as her sentences came out in rushed huffs. “They were supposed to arrive home on May first. I waited for them. I knew they weren’t coming, but I waited anyway. I quickly learned how parents felt when they stayed up at night, waiting for their children to arrive home after missing curfew. That…that feeling of anger that gets swallowed up by prayers, prayers to any god who will listen, to please deliver your loved ones home safely. You promise you’ll bank the anger and just give hugs if only you see your loves again.” She hiccupped. “They didn’t come, and my anger swelled. After five days, when I got confirmation that amongst the tour of one hundred people my parents had been with that day, only three had survived and my parents weren’t in that tiny, lucky group, I had no prayers left. None.
“I went numb, completely anesthetized, but I needed to keep myself together and finish school—not for me but for them. Prom didn’t happen—there was no way I could have stomached that without Mom and Dad by my side—and I didn’t walk in the graduation procession, but I did graduate with honors. Finals were cake. I’d been granted immunity from taking them due to the tragedy I’d suffered, and since my grades were fantastic, not sitting for the exams wouldn’t have lowered my GPA too drastically, but I chose to take them. I needed to focus on my studies. I had to concentrate on the tests that were marked in green on my calendar, and I couldn’t let myself look past those dates because my whole life had changed. My plans for after graduation were gone, and after those circled green dates, I had…nothing.”
Dizzy with information overload, Danny sat up, pulled in deep breaths, and tried to process how someone so grounded, so light-hearted, so sweet could have possibly gone through that brand of hell. He’d seen a shit-ton of bad in his years—he’d walked through fire and nursed the blistered skin left in its wake—but he had his father, his brother, and his squad to support him. Julie had…no one. NO ONE.
The silence fell heavy around them. With no more than her shallow breaths and soft sniffles, Danny was left with more questions than answers. However, he only had one pressing thing he had to know in that moment. “Julie, how? How in the hell have you made it this far?” His gut churned. She’d been the one to open up the book of her life, and he needed to turn a couple of pages. Just a few. “This house, it’s the home you grew up in, right?”
“Yes.”
Carefully, he continued. “You said you had no family?” He rubbed at his jaw, grateful for the darkness, that she couldn’t see the tears stinging his eyes.
“No, my parents were a bit older when they got married, so I was their only child, and their parents were deceased.”
Danny swallowed the lump in his throat. “Did you have anyone?”
The mattress beneath him shifted just before the room lit with the soft glow from a side table lamp. It was a move he hadn’t seen coming and one that surprised the hell out of him. After being stuck in the dark as she described her nightmare, the light made him feel uneasy, disoriented, as if the present was the dream and the darkness the reality. With her legs still pulled tightly to her chest, Julie draped the arm she used to turn on the lamp back around her calves and tilted her head. Paths had been made down the flawless skin of her cheeks, ones she clearly hadn’t bothered to wipe away. While her gray eyes were bloodshot and rimmed in red, they were no longer filled with the tears of a victim, but with the strength of a survivor.
“I didn’t have family, no.” She pulled her top lip between her teeth and released it. “But I wasn’t completely alone. My mom”—she snorted—“with all of her obsessive list-making, had put together a pretty impressive list of friends that she and my dad kept in touch with over the years. Some I knew, most I didn’t, but they all knew about me. While I was rolling my eyes, shaking my head, and making fun of my mom, she was contacting their friends and mailing them copies of their vacation itinerary and information about me. They must have thought she was crazy. But within hours of finding out about my parents, I had people at my door, offering help and support. My parents”—she brought her eyes to his—“they left for something amazing and beautiful, something they were supposed to enjoy. It was supposed to be selfish and carefree, but even in doing something for themselves, they made sure I was completely protected and surrounded by as much love as they could give me.”
Danny watched Julie swallow, her body still pulled tight, a protective barrier of sorts to keep her safe. His fingers knotted together and clenched to keep from reaching for her when she had clearly expressed her need for physical solitude.
“It took me quite a while to realize it, but even with them gone, I’ve never been completely alone.”
How could that be? He felt lonely for her. “I just”—he shook his head—“I can’t imagine how you got through all of that pain and still shine with so much brightness. Not to sound like a wuss, but you radiate with it.”
A small grin lifted the side of Julie’s mouth. “I think that’s the reason why I flipped on the lamp. I couldn’t tell you my story face to face. It’s still too fresh, too painful. But I need you to remember the woman you’ve seen, the woman you’ve kissed, the one that had you jealous”—he raised an amused brow, and she smiled—“yes, jealous when another man had her attention. I’m still that woman. You wanted to get to know me, but my past isn’t a slow over-dinner-and-drinks kind of story. It’s a trial-by-fire sorta tale.”
“Not that it affects the outcome, but how have other men reacted?”
Julie’s eyes narrowed. “No other man has ever had the opportunity to react.”
Indescribable amounts of something akin to possessiveness and pride washed through him as he stared at what had to be the strongest woman he’d ever met. His own mother hadn’t had the will to live, even though she had two children and a husband who loved her beyond reason, and this young woman stood like a tree in a hurricane, bending with the winds, moving with the rains but never breaking under the pressure.
“Sorry, I lied.” Danny’s gravelly voice cut through the quiet. “Your answer did change the outcome.” Julie’s wide eyes and slacked jaw would have been funny under other circumstances, but her insecurity was unwarranted. “I need you to believe me when I say I’m honored you shared that with me. And you’re right, honey, the light was essential. It didn’t wipe away your past, but it sure as hell cleared up any notion that I may have had regarding pity. I don’t pity you, Julie Bell. I admire you. You’re a soldier, a beautiful one…a strong one. Thanks for letting me in.”
