Total Package (7 page)

Alexi nodded and watched Sidney stir restlessly. He studied Danya in the way of one brother preparing to test another. “My wife says that if Sid needs a place to stay, she’s welcome at our house.”

“No.” Danya cracked eggs into a bowl and added milk. He
whisked the mixture briskly before pouring it into a skillet sizzling with butter.

“Then Aunt Mary Jo and Uncle Fadey have plenty of room, even with our father staying there—”

“No.” Danya eyed Alexi. “No, and double no.”

“Oh. But look, she is sleeping on the floor. The least you could have done would have been to give her your bed.”

“No.”

Sidney yawned and turned to look at the men. “‘Morning. Hi, Alexi.”

She stood and stretched and started touching her toes. Her boxer shorts and Danya’s overlarge T-shirt did little to hide her curves as she walked to the bathroom.

Alexi looked at Danya who was tracing the sway of her hips, his throat drying and every molecule in his body taut and aching.

“Your eggs are burning.”

“Uh-huh. It is a nice day.”

“It’s snowing outside.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So she’s the one, huh?”

This time, Danya turned to his brother. “She’s driving me nuts. Not a clue.”

Alexi started to chuckle and Danya scowled at him. Sidney chose that moment to walk out of the bathroom. She walked to the table, sat, placed her feet on the opposite chair and picked up a piece of toast, munching on it. “What’s so funny?”

Danya carried the rest of the breakfast to the table and picked up her feet, placing them over his thigh as he sat. He held her ankles by gently resting his hand over them. When she tried to remove them, he shook his head. “The floor is cold in the morning. You aren’t wearing socks…. And my brother has a strange sense of humor. He’s just leaving.”

Sidney dug into her eggs and toast, ran the back of her hand
across her lips and sipped her coffee before speaking. “This is great.”

When Alexi had gone, Sidney wiggled her toes against Danya’s belly, just to see if whatever had passed between them last night was still simmering.

“Stop that,” he ordered and lifted a piece of bacon to her lips. Sidney took a bite and decided to exchange the favor. She lifted another piece to his lips and wondered what he would do if she moved onto his lap…if she leaned against him as she had last night.

Danya’s eyes darkened. “I don’t know that I would like what you’re thinking.”

“About the dance?” she lied to divert him. “I was thinking that social hours and dances are a waste of time. I can’t dance anyway. Never learned. I’m kind of a freestyle girl. I do really well at aborigine celebrations.”

“Socializing and dancing are about getting to know each other. That takes time.”

“I’ve never had a lot of time. Too busy.”

“Make it.”

“Why?”

With a brief smile that didn’t reach his eyes, Danya released her ankles and stood, clearing away the table. “Ellie has your measurements. You’re to stop at her home late this afternoon for a fitting. I’ll meet you here and we’ll go to the resort together.”

“But I could meet you there.”

“I will take you—that’s how it works, Sidney. The man escorts the woman. You are the woman, and I am that man.”

He seemed to be setting rules for her and that nettled. “Not if I have to be all coy and frilly.”

Danya leveled a look at her. “Have I asked you to do that?”

“Just getting everything straight between us, guy. And by the way, I won’t embarrass you by hanging all over you like some women do.”

“If we go as a couple, there would have to be a certain amount of touching, don’t you agree?”

“Just enough to get by, for looks,” Sidney agreed and wondered how close and tight she could hold him to get a really good impression of that great body.

“I

“They were my mother’s. I would be honored.”

“Well, that’s just the point. These aren’t cheap and what’s more they are sentimental pieces. Your wife wore them, didn’t she?”

“My wife preferred more modern jewelry.”

Sidney ached to try the intricately fashioned earrings, just once, to see how she looked. Ellie’s creation, a long, basic black gown moved sensuously along Sidney’s body and she felt like a different person. “Oh. Still. I can’t wear them. What if I would lose one?”

“You won’t. It would please me, Sid.”

“Well, okay. You’re suffering enough, acting as my date. I feel exposed in this dress.”

Danya bent to carefully insert the earrings into her ear
lobes, then leaned back to study the effect. His fingertip flicked one of the earrings and he grinned. “Beautiful.”

He bent to give her a brief kiss that shocked her, then shrugged, dismissing the intimacy. “It is an occasion, is it not? You and I on a date? This is my first one in a long time.”

“I…I’ve never had one. Sometimes Dad and Stretch and Junior and I go together.”

“I hope I’ll do.”

Sidney was still dealing with that brief hard kiss when Danya ran his fingertip over the tiny shoulder straps and downward to trace the square tight bodice that lifted her breasts into curves. “You are lovely, Sid. Why fight it?”

“This is just so much of a waste of time and energy. I do good work. They’ve already said so. I don’t know why I have to go through this agony.”

Danya was staring down to her breasts and when his eyes lifted to meet hers, they were dark and primitive and shook something deep within her. “There’s one more thing.”

He walked to the refrigerator and removed a plastic box, placing it on the table.

Danya was beautiful, tall and in a white shirt, tie and a dark fitted suit; he could have been a male model posing for an exclusive clothing ad. He looked sleek and dangerous and experienced—very experienced and gorgeous.

As he walked toward her, the fragile orchid corsage in his hand, Sidney’s heart started that strange flip-flopping again. She held her breath while he carefully bent to insert his fingers into her bodice and pinned the corsage. Because everything was too quiet and still—except within her shaking emotions—Sidney tried to speak. “I’m going to take your family’s portraits—after this gig. I’ve got to do some stuff in New York to finalize, but I’ll come back. It’s the least I can do for this dress Ellie made. She’s a whiz. She even borrowed a pair of shoes to match. I don’t usually wear high heels—I hope I don’t fall and embarrass you.”

He seemed very intent upon fastening the corsage to the square cut of her gown. “Mmm.”

“Shoes?” Sidney repeated, her mouth drying as his fingers slid inside her bodice to protect her from the corsage’s pin. The pale orchid spotted with maroon drops was gorgeous. She’d press it and keep it and savor it after she had left Amoteh, just as she’d heard that other women did with flowers from special occasions. She had to have something to remember this night with Danya, even if it was a girly thing like a dead flattened flower. “They’re going to be after you tonight. The models, I mean. Some of them are—well, man hungry like I told you, and on location they get—lonesome. I’ll protect you, Danya. It’s the least I can do for all this trouble.”

“Thank you.” He slowly removed his fingers and studied her. “What were you saying about shoes?”

“That Ellie borrowed just the right size to go with this dress. Look. I shaved my legs.”

She extended one foot and the long gown’s slit parted to show a bit of her leg. Danya crouched in front of her to study the black heels, his hand on her ankle. Then it slid slowly upward to rest briefly behind her thigh, drawing more of her leg into view. “They are nice and your leg is very smooth.”

“Earl loaned me some makeup and he said to oil my legs so they shine and I wouldn’t have to wear nylons. That would be real torture.”

When Danya stood, his hands slid up over the gown, over her hips to her waist. “Shall we go?”

Sidney couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe and her heart raced wildly. “Okay. Let the pain begin.”

A half hour later, Sidney held her shoes while Danya carried her from his truck in the parking lot into the Amoteh Resort. “I’m perfectly able to walk, Danya. You didn’t have to carry me down your steps and all the way to your truck, or into the resort. What will people think? That I’ve sprained my ankle? Oh, boy, that’s all I need—the models fussing over me….”

She felt light and feminine—and scared, and Danya wasn’t making it any easier. He handled her easily, and just now he had just brushed a kiss against her temple. She just
had to smooth those waves at his nape and stroke the smooth line of his jaw. In close proximity of a devastating male, preparing for an event, she’d been fascinated, watching him as he shaved in the bathroom with only a towel around his hips—until he closed the door in her face. She’d never done a nude male portrait, but she ached to “shoot” him. But to be truthful, she wanted to slide her hands over those powerful shoulders and back and chest and those hard little mounds of his butt and down to his thighs and in between and—

As Danya carried her toward the resort, he was looking at her breasts again, causing her unexplainable quiver. Sidney swallowed the tightness in her throat. “You smell great. Thank you for the corsage. It’s my first.”

Danya nodded grimly. He leveled a stare at the men waiting outside the resort’s doorway—all the Stepanov males were standing there, grinning widely. An older man, slightly balding and shorter than the younger men, came forward. It was Viktor Stepanov whom she’d already met while hunting Danya. “My son,” Viktor said formally.

“Father.” Danya’s acknowledgment was equally formal.

“I am honored,” Viktor said as he took Sidney’s hand and brought it to his lips. “You wear my wife’s earrings well. That pleases me.”

“They’re beautiful. I’m not hurt or anything,” Sidney felt obliged to say. “Danya just—”

Viktor smiled warmly. “My son wishes to carry you. I understand why.”

“He’s only being nice, but really, I can walk. Danya, put me down.”

His answer was curt and adamant. “No.”

“I could make you,” she whispered in his ear.

“Could you?” His tone held a challenge.

Sidney watched the Stepanov wives come out of the resort and lean close against their husbands. She didn’t understand what was happening, but suddenly she was amid the Stepanov
family and Danya was holding her close. She tried to maintain appearances when she knew that her face was heating.

“Oh, hello, everyone,” she managed lightly, and then the words just flew from her lips: “I’m not hurt. I can walk just fine. Isn’t this corsage beautiful? It’s my first. I didn’t get Danya anything. Oh, no, I didn’t get Danya anything, and look, he loaned me these beautiful earrings to go with this dress—Ellie made it in only a day, you know. She’s wonderful, and yes, I would love to take your family portraits—Ah, this is a corsage, an orchid. No one else is wearing a corsage, Danya. Why am I?”

“Sid?” Danya whispered against her temple.

“Huh?”

“Hush. Everything will be just fine.” He carried her into the resort and slowly placed her on her feet. Danya took the high strappy heels from her and kneeled to slide them onto her feet. He rose to turn her slowly until she faced a full length, massive mirror.

Sidney didn’t recognize herself; standing in front of Danya, she looked sleek and beautiful, the earrings shimmering in her ears. She’d dabbed a bit of the model’s makeup around her eyes and glossed her lips, and she looked feminine and—

“Beautiful,” Danya whispered, his arms sliding around her from behind to draw her close to him.

She seemed so unfamiliar, this beautiful feminine woman, and terror spread through her. “This isn’t me. I know it isn’t. I want to go home, Danya. Let’s leave now. Say I’m sick or something. And I really am getting that way,” she added earnestly.

His opened lips moved against her nape, and then to her cheek leaving a heated trail as he whispered, “So you’re running from a fight? You’re afraid?”

Sidney looked over her shoulder to him. “You know that’s not true. Why I’ve been in the middle of earthquakes, I’ve—”

His mind-blasting, devastating, gorgeous smile stopped her mind and she could just stare up at him. Danya took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. He felt solid and strong
and good and a part of her. “We’re still who we are, friends who met on Strawberry Hill, right? Let’s go socialize, do our bit and then eat. I’m starving.”

Who was she?
Sidney wondered as they entered the Amoteh’s ballroom and the Stepanov family came to surround them. Who was this beautiful woman, floating dreamily on a cloud?

She was going to do something wrong—she was going to embarrass Danya—
“Let’s leave now—”

Then she saw the models homing in on Danya, moving en masse toward them and she knew she had to protect him….

Danya looked down at the small woman standing protectively in front of him. “Back off,” Sidney said firmly to the approaching tall svelte models. “You’re not getting him. He’s mine.”

It wasn’t exactly a declaration of love, but it would do, Danya thought with pleasure.

A tall sleek, raven-haired model and a blonde with a carefully tousled mane came close to study Sidney. “Sid?” The dark-haired woman asked tentatively.

“Sid?” the blonde asked, leaning down from her six-foot height to look at Sidney.

“Yeah. It’s me. Just back off, will you? And if you make fun of me, just think of how I can make you look—really awful.”

The models grinned impishly. “But, Sid, we wouldn’t do that. We love you.”

“Yeah, well, just don’t try to cuddle me. I don’t go in for that hugging, kissy-poo stuff. Back off, will you?”

A sultry redhead with green eyes came to stand near Danya. “You must be Mr. Wonderful. No wonder Sid has been keeping you under wraps.”

“Misty, if you touch him, your takes are going to make you look like a hag,” Sidney said quietly, dangerously.

Another model came to study Sidney and then all of them clustered around her. “My gosh, you’re gorgeous, Sid.”

Danya eased slightly away as the models surrounded Sidney. It was easy to see that they really cared for her, that their remarks were those of delight and discovery, not of jealousy.

“Look at those earrings. I’ve never seen you in earrings.”

“Yeah, well, they’re borrowed from Danya. They were his mother’s. Just don’t touch the flower.”

“Oh, his mother’s earrings and he gave you a corsage. Isn’t that romantic, girls?”

Sidney looked up at Danya. “Romantic?” she whispered unevenly.

He recognized the stark fear in her expression, the widening of her eyes, the trembling of those soft lips. “We’re friends,” he stated as he reached to draw Sidney close to him.

“It’s not a real date or anything, ladies. I just had to turn up and please the brass. He’s doing me a favor.”

“Then let me do my job.” Danya drew her away from the women. He didn’t want Sidney frightened of a situation that might implicate a long-term commitment.

Sidney introduced him to a realm of executives who seemed even more fascinated with her appearance.

“Dance later?” one of the men asked as his gaze took in Sidney’s curved body.

“We’ve danced before, Ed. You didn’t like it,” she said.

“Things are looking quite different now, Sid. I’ll like it.”

Danya held his breath. Every decision Sidney made had to be hers. He relaxed slightly when Sidney eased back against him. Over her head, he leveled a cold meaningful stare at Ed. The other man frowned slightly, then nodded as if he understood.

As Sidney and Danya danced later, he met Alexi’s stare; the Stepanov family recognized his claiming of Sidney. Now all Danya had to do was to make certain that she understood that she was already a part of his heart, that already she was his wife, without frightening her.

Then there was the matter of Ben. Danya didn’t want Sidney on the rebound, still loving Ben.

Danya’s patience in handling Sidney hadn’t been easy;
earlier while he’d shaved and she’d come to study him, he’d recognized the desire in those beautiful large brown eyes; he’d felt her body quiver, the call of it starkly answered by his own taut one. The towel around his hips had been slightly damp and had revealed his bold erection.

His brief experience with Sidney had been very painful, but he could wait.

She had to know her own mind and he could be very patient.

While they danced, Danya forced himself to follow Sidney’s abrupt push and shove lead. It didn’t really matter to him, so long as her arms were around him, her body tight against his.

“You’re awfully big and hard to move around,” she whispered.

“Let’s try something different—put your arms around my neck and just rest a while.”

“But that would squash my flower, wouldn’t it?”

“We’ll be careful.”

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Sidney whispered as she rested close to Danya.

In the privacy of a shadowy corner, they swayed to the music. Those dark brown eyes studied him for a moment and then Sidney stood on tiptoe, reached for his head and tugged him down to her.

Her kiss was open and hot and he sank into it, his hands open on her body, dragging her close to him. The sounds that came from deep inside her throat were those of a woman aching for fulfillment, her body pressing, moving against his.

In the shadows of the dance floor, the heat rose too quickly between them. “Sidney—”

Her hands ran inside his jacket, up over his back, her breath coming in short pants against his cheek.

Sidney was explosively aroused, the heat pouring from her and Danya had to move fast. “Let’s go.”