Dangerous to Know & Love (51 page)

She smiled smugly, glad that he was the one on the wrong foot for a change. Her eyes traveled up and down his body. He’d definitely lost weight but otherwise there was nothing to suggest he’d been through an invasive surgery – nothing except the gauze on the side of his head.

“I’m going to have a shower. Do you want to have one with me?”

Daniel’s eyes lit up but then he frowned.

“Yeah, but I have to keep this dry,” he said, pointing to his ear.

“Okay, I’ll be gentle with you,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows, then chased her into the bathroom.

Chapter 21

Lisanne made a mental note to put shower sex at the top of her list of favorite things to do with – and to – Daniel. Whether it had been the steam, his slick soapy hands, hot water, and hotter sex, the combination had been an alchemist’s dream, creating a wonderful golden, molten moment.

She glowed, and Daniel looked very pleased with himself. Unfortunately and perhaps inevitably, his dressing had been completely soaked.

Lisanne was shocked again when she saw the long scar and shaved skin, although his hair was beginning to grow back, creating a soft, peachy fuzz.

Hiding how she felt as she looked at the ugly scar, guilty by association, she still insisted that they couldn’t risk going back to bed. Either Harry or her parents would be home soon.

“Five more minutes,” begged Daniel, pressing her naked body up against the bedroom door.

“No!” she said insistently. “Put your damn pants back on. Anyway, we need to fix your head.”

“Many women have tried,” he said solemnly.

“Hardy ha ha! Now get dressed.”

It didn’t take Daniel long: one pair of pants, one t-shirt, and he was done. Lisanne’s reassembly took a little longer and she wanted to blow-dry her hair, thus avoiding anyone asking why she had soaking wet hair just after her boyfriend had arrived to visit.

Daniel lay back on her bed watching her, a small smile on his face.

“What?” she said, once she’d finished.

He shrugged. “This – I like it.”

“What, watching me dry my hair?”

He smiled, although his eyes looked a little sad.

“Yeah, but not just that. All of it: you, me, spending time, nowhere special to be, no pressure, you know. No roommate.”

“I know what you mean. But Kirsty’s not so bad. You two get along now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, she’s okay I guess. I just meant… ah fuck it. I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“We could maybe go to your place sometimes?”

Daniel shook his head. “No, baby doll. I wouldn’t do that to you. Besides, I’m moving out. I’m going to get a room somewhere. I’ve seen a couple of places…”

“But… what about Zef? Isn’t it your house, too?”

“It’s not really working out anymore – things have gotten kind of intense. I just need to find my own place. Hey, I forgot to tell you, I got a job.”

Lisanne’s face fell. “What about school? What about your degree?”

“I’ll only be doing 15 or 20 hours a week, that’s all. It means I’ll have to work weekends, but I’ll still go to school. I might have to drop one class – I’ll try it first.”

“I’ll never see you!”

He stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “We’ll work it out – if you want to.”

“Of course I want to! Why wouldn’t I?” She kissed him quickly. “Idiot.”

He smiled down at her.

“I don’t know, Lis, I come all this way, and you abuse my body the second I walk through the door, and now you’re name-calling?”

She pinched his ass, making him jump.

“Get used to it – you’re mine for the holidays.”

Five minutes later, Lisanne’s parents found them sitting innocently at the kitchen table while Lisanne taped pieces of gauze to Daniel’s head.

“Hello, Daniel,” said Monica warmly. “How are you, dear? Oh, you look so much better than last week,” and she kissed him on the cheek, making him duck his head and grin.

He stood up to shake hands with Lisanne’s father, which earned him an angry reproach from Lisanne as her fingers skittered over his wound, causing him to wince.

“Sit still,” she said, swatting his back to make her point.

“Lisanne!” hissed her mother.

“Well, he can’t hear me, mom, so I have to,” said Lisanne, petulantly. “It’s the only way I can make him pay attention.” She pulled on Daniel’s arm so he looked at her. “My mom thinks I’m being too rough with you.”

Daniel laughed. “Yeah, you’re pretty scary.”

“See, mom,” said Lisanne. “He’s fine.”

“Well, still… may I offer you a drink, Daniel? Some iced tea or a coffee perhaps?”

But Ernie had already reached into the refrigerator and pulled a can of beer from a six-pack. “Or one of these?”

“Yeah, great. Thanks, Mr. Maclaine.”

“I’ll have a beer, too, dad,” said Lisanne.

“You certainly won’t!” snapped her mother.

“Why not? Daniel is only a few months older than me!”

“Lisanne!” said her mother in a warning voice.

Lisanne pouted and Daniel winked at her.

“Honestly! I think you like Daniel more than me!”

Ernie rolled his eyes. He taught hormonal teenagers for a living. Having them at home, as well – that was wearing, to say the least.

“I’m going to watch some TV,” he announced to no one in particular. “There’s a Bruce Willis film on in a minute.”

Monica shook her head.

“I don’t know what plans you two have this evening, but I’m beat. I can order pizza if you’re hungry.”

Daniel looked worriedly at Lisanne, who was nodding happily.

“Um, Lis,” he said, quietly, “I don’t have any money on me. I’ll, ah, have to go to the ATM tomorrow to pay for it.”

Monica laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Nonsense,” she said. “You’re here as our guest. We won’t hear of it.”

Harry interrupted them by slouching in through the back door and slamming it behind him.

“Hey, Dan! Whoa, wicked scar! That’s awesome. It must really hurt.”

Lisanne pushed her brother, but he shoved her back, making her stumble.

“For goodness sake!” yelled Monica. “Can you two at least pretend you’re housebroken!”

“Sorry, mom,” said Harry cheerfully. “She started it.”

Daniel had only caught part of the conversation, but he guessed the rest.

“How you doin’, man,” he said to Harry. “You want to see where they took my brain out?”

“Yeah!” said Harry, peering at Daniel’s half covered scar. “They really took your brain out?”

“Sure,” said Daniel, “but I think they put it back the wrong way around.”

“I can’t tell the difference,” said Lisanne.

Daniel grinned as Monica gave her a hard stare.

“Lisanne, finish up with Daniel’s dressing and tell me what pizza you both want.”

Harry wandered away after extracting a promise from Daniel that they’d hit the arcade at least once during the holidays, and Lisanne placed the last bit of tape on Daniel’s wound.

He pulled his beanie back on, covering her work.

“Are you going to wear that inside as well?”

He nodded. “Yeah, so?”

“I just think it looks weird wearing a hat indoors.”

“As opposed to a six inch fucking hole in my head,” he snapped.

Lisanne bit her tongue as an angry reply surged forward. For once, she took the hint from his irritated expression. It was obviously a sensitive subject in more ways than one.

“Sorry,” she said, softly. “Sorry.”

She placed a gentle kiss on his short hair as he rested his head against her body, and let his arms wrap around her waist.

Monica suddenly felt like an outsider in her own kitchen, as she witnessed their private moment. She was proud of her daughter for dealing with Daniel’s disability with pragmatism and directness, but at the same time she was terrified by the depth of feeling she saw between the two of them. He was Lisanne’s first boyfriend, the first boy she’d ever shown the slightest bit of interest in, and it was obvious to Monica that her daughter was head over heels in love. Daniel was less demonstrative in his affections but his actions spoke louder than his few words. Monica was in awe that he’d elected to have a surgical procedure because he wanted to hear Lisanne sing.

And the physical nature of their relationship, that was a concern, too. Especially since Monica had cleaned Lisanne’s room after their Thanksgiving visit and found a number of used condoms in the wastebasket.
That
particular fact of life she’d omitted to mention to her husband.

She’d tried to have ‘the talk’ with Lisanne but, stubborn as ever, her daughter had insisted that she knew what she was doing and that it was none of her mother’s business. It had been a short conversation.

“Why don’t you two go on through to the TV room and I’ll order the pizza. Hawaiian, honey? And what would Daniel like?”

Lisanne ran through the menu from memory and Daniel settled on the Meat Feast, winking at Lisanne as he did so.

Monica didn’t miss the look on her daughter’s face as Daniel made his choice, but she very much wished she had.

Lisanne led him into the TV room to await the arrival of the food.

“Dad, can we have the subtitles on, please?”

“Oh, right,” said Ernie. “Of course.”

For ten minutes, they watched Bruce take down a helicopter with a car and generally save everyone from the bad guys, when the doorbell rang. As Monica got up to answer it, Harry looked at Daniel.

“How do you answer your door?” he said, suddenly curious.

“He stands up and opens it, moron,” muttered Lisanne.

“No, really,” persisted Harry.

Daniel had missed Harry’s question, but he’d seen Lisanne’s reaction.

“What, baby?” he said, frowning. He really hated it when people answered for him.

She sighed.

“Harry wants to know how you answer the door,” she said, scowling at her brother.

Daniel stiffened slightly but replied easily. “My dad fixed up a light linked to the bell. Someone rang the doorbell and the light would flash in the living room.”

He didn’t bother to mention that it had been broken over a year ago.

“What if you were in the kitchen, or in your bedroom?”

Daniel lifted one shoulder. “Someone else would have to answer.”

“But what if there wasn’t someone around?”

“Harry,” said his dad, “that’s enough.”

Daniel flicked his eyes to Ernie before replying. “If friends are visiting, they text me first. Otherwise I’d hope they’d leave a note.”

Harry looked down.

“It’s okay,” Daniel said, quietly. “You’re wondering how it works – I get that.”

“Yeah,” said Harry, sounding subdued. “Sorry.”

Daniel shrugged. “I can still kick your ass at Ridge Racer.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “You think?”

“Sure. Bring it on.”

Lisanne smiled to herself and rubbed Daniel’s thigh softly. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Lisanne found herself suddenly breathless, then she remembered where they were and that her dad was watching them out of the corner of his eye.

Monica returned carrying the pizzas, and everyone dug in. Lisanne was just chewing on a slice of her Hawaiian, and smacking Daniel’s hands away when he tried to steal pieces of pineapple, when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

She glanced at the text but didn’t comment.

“Who was that?” said Monica. “One of your college friends?”

“No,” said Lisanne, shaking her head and hoping her mom would take the hint.

“Who was it then?”

“Mom!”

“Well, I’m just asking. It’s not a state secret, is it?”

Daniel winked at Lisanne, amused by her scowl.

“It was Rodney.”

Her answer wiped the smile from Daniel’s face. “Who’s he?”

Lisanne threw an irritated look at her mom, and Monica had the grace to look slightly abashed.

“A friend from high school.”

Daniel continued to look at her.

“He was in the orchestra, okay.”

“Yeah, and he had a crush on Lis for like forever!” snickered Harry. “He was always asking her out.”

His mother gave him a look and Harry suddenly found his ham and mushroom pizza of great interest.

“Well, tell Rodney we said ‘hi’, and that I hope Reverend Dubois has gotten over his strep throat.”

“Okay,” Lisanne said quietly.

Daniel was silent, apparently lost in thought, and ate his pizza without asking anything further.

She saw him wince as he chewed.

“Are you okay?” She touched his arm so he’d look at her. “Are you okay?” she repeated.

He gave her a lopsided smile. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Only when I laugh.”

“I’m serious!”

“I’m fine, Lis. I’ve just been living on instant soup for a few days. This is giving my jaw a work out – that’s all.”

Monica looked appalled and glanced at her husband. He gave a slight shake of his head and carried on watching the film.

“Didn’t… didn’t Zef help you at all?”

Daniel frowned and said quietly, “Drop it, Lis.”

“But he should have helped you!”

Daniel didn’t reply, but picked up his beer and took a long drink.

Lisanne’s phone beeped again but she ignored it.

“You got another message, Lis,” said Harry, helpfully.

Lisanne was about ready to strangle her little brother, and from the innocent look on his face, he knew it, too.

Daniel looked at her quizzically, so she pulled out her phone and checked the message.

“It’s from Rodney,” she said, answering his unspoken question. “He wants to meet up tonight. I’ll tell him I’m busy.”

“You should see your friends, Lis,” said Daniel.

His look was challenging and Lisanne felt like screaming with irritation. If Daniel wanted a pissing contest with Rodney, well, who was she to stop his fun? Although she wasn’t sure how much fun it would be for Rodney. But she did want to see him.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll tell him we’ll be there in an hour.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows then took another sip of beer.

Lisanne sent the text, and stomped upstairs to change, leaving Daniel with her parents. As far as she was concerned that was his punishment for… when she thought about it she wasn’t exactly sure why she was mad at him. She just knew she was.