Vanished Without A Trace (16 page)

"No, in my apartment." He replied sarcastically. "Of course in my office."

"Bring something?" She wanted him
to be rude, to tell her sexy clothes, wine, meal or anything. But he took the remaining coins out of the machine and gave them to her. "I’m quitting for today, so you go on and enjoy your evening.” He had no intention of staying for another moment seeing Odi’s face.

She was disappointed when he left, but she could not express it through actions or words, especially in front of Odi.

Karina did not close her eyes all night. Her thoughts were all about Daniel. In the morning, she felt a strong desire to see him, aware of the fact there was some harm in it
.
But this awareness did not stop her from waking up quietly, so she wouldn’t wake Odi, and going out with her shoes in her hands. She stood at the entrance of Daniel’s office at the site. She saw him covered with dust on his face and hands. For her, he looked great in any circumstances and the fact he was twenty seven made him more mature and manly. He smiled when he saw her, and she could feel her legs were much lighter crossing the obstacles in her way. "You were a bit depressed yesterday."

"Absolutely, Odi’s face did it to me. I'm just quite surprised there is no equal effect on you." he laughed.

"Odi is a nice guy." Karina said.

"I guess you love to be depressed," Daniel said. "Tell me, what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming in the morning
."

"I did not know... It was a sudden decision." She was checking his response. She noticed he was looking at her in a way different from the gaze she was used to. She wore a white shirt and jeans, her body was beautiful and her hair hung down to her shoulder with a modern and youthful haircut. "You changed your haircut."

"Is it pretty?" she asked. She was glad he noticed it.

"Everything is beautiful on you, I guess." His words could be described as a reluctant compliment and not very compelling, Karina thought.

"Your face is very dusty." She took a damp cloth out of her bag, walked up to him and wiped his face.

He got up and took her hand off his face, "You want me", he said, savoring the moment.

She did not answer, but rather put her lips to his lips. She felt a sweet tremble inside her body. Her
hand was stroking his neck. "Daniel, embrace me," she said. He pressed her body close to him and kissed her lips. She had been craving this. She had been waiting for him to do this for so long. She didn’t want him to stop. He took his lips away from her and continued to stare at her. "Will I see you tonight or was this your replacement visit?"

"What do you think?" she asked while he was still holding her. "Why don’t we go now?"

"No, not now," he interrupted, "I'll wait for you tonight. I have a lot of work to finish." He kissed her lips again. This time, it was gentle. She wanted to tell him she loved him, but she knew it wasn’t right.

He walked her out of the office staring at her while she walked towards her car. She looked so beautiful in the background of the construction site and in contrast with the workers as well.

"What's going on here?" he heard Mikhail, "Did you not tell me you didn’t have any feelings for her?"

"Just a physical attraction," Daniel said, and went back to the office.

"Make coffee for us. I will just finish some stuff and I will join you in a few minutes." Mikhail said. He wanted to hear the details about the new developments, but after five minutes he saw Daniel's car fly off and realized he would probably catch up another day.

22

Daniel entered Alexander's bar and quickly took two glasses of vodka. Alexander rushed to sit next to him, "Who's the girl?" Alexander was intrigued.

"You don’t know her."

"Special?"

"As special as possible," Daniel said, "Well, where's the food? I need to go."

"It’s on the house," Alexander said, when he handed Daniel a take-out bag, while his eyes were insinuating dirty thoughts.

"What a dirty mind you have. Believe me, ever since you brought in the girls your head has become completely dark."

"On the contrary, ever since I brought the girls into my life, I have a light in my head. Everything looks more glamorous."

When Daniel arrived at his apartment, he noticed the young neighbor opening her door. He ignored her and entered his apartment. He took a quick shower, turned on the TV and fell asleep even before five minutes had passed. He woke up an hour before Karina was supposed to arrive. He put a mat on the table, served dishes and plates he couldn’t even remember when and where he bought them. He arranged the food Alexander gave him on a plate, arranged some beautiful table napkins and admitted he had talent as a host. The table looked pretty good and even seductive. He heard knocks at the door while lighting two twisted and thick blue candles. Karina walked into the room. "Wow, it looks very nice. I didn't know you had such good taste".

"Me too, to be honest."

She looked at him as he walked to the closet. He did not bother to dress in particular, three-quarter white pants and a designer white shirt. He was barefoot and still seemed tall. Regardless, he certainly looked good in any situation. He pulled a bottle out from the cabinet and poured for the two of them. She was glad he remembered that she loved white wine. He put food on her plate, trying to urge her to taste each food item. When she refused, he mounted food on the fork and put it into her mouth while waiting for the comments. When she complimented it, he quickly said, "I told you, there is nothing like Solly’s food." He had a considerable respect for Solly and her food because he ate almost everything. When he finished, he sat back on the couch in a lazy kind of movement, "How was your day with Odi?"

"It was okay, he was quite good."

"Sometimes I really don’t understand you. I don’t know if I should admire you that you can live with a Shrek or think something is wrong with you."

She looked at him quizzically. "Who?"

"Shrek, the famous character."

Karina could not understand the connection between a famous character and Daniel's obvious dislike for Odi unless it wasn’t something positive or flattering. "Do you think because I kissed you today you are already allowed to say such things?"

"Probably" Daniel said.

"Did you ever think maybe there is a possibility I'm just looking for a temporary adventure with you and he was actually my guy?"

At least that clears my conscience, Daniel thought. After all, to sleep with your partner just because you want to have a good time with her or take revenge on her boyfriend sounds pretty dirty.

His face was calm and peaceful and revealed nothing about his thoughts. She tried to absorb it, but she failed. She regretted her words and was afraid he might not talk to her anymore. She already had a hard time dragging him into a conversation. Moreover, she feared he might not touch her after she insinuated Odi was her serious choice and he was
just a part-time adventure. Actually, she came all the way here just for him to embrace her and kiss her just like he did this morning, but now she ruined everything.

"Come here," Daniel got up, "we will go to the balcony. I'm suffocating here." He sat down on the tanning bed and she lay down beside him, just like the day in her hotel room. He barely spoke, only occasional comments about banal things like the weather and the heights of the waves a few days ago. He found himself comparing her and Neta. Neta was married, and Karina remained as some sort of an option, at least until he could find someone more suitable, but if he waited longer, Karina would eventually marry Odi, and he would end up with the neighbor next door. He shuddered.

"What?" Karina asked, when she noticed he was staring at her with a mysterious smile.

He straightened the back of the arm rest cursing the timing in which Odi decided to call.

"Yes Odi, I believe I will leave here in an hour, okay?" She closed the phone and turned to Daniel, "It was Odi. He wanted us to go to the club today."

"What does a man of his age have to do in clubs? Did he not pass the age yet? He might even get himself into a fight."

"You really don’t like him," Karina said, "You know, honestly, you also don’t have much sympathy for me."

"Wait, wait, about Odi, I really don’t have any sympathy for him. But for you ..." He moved to the edge of her bed and held her hands. "You're an amazing woman. I have known you for almost seven years. You were about my age when we first met. You've always been impressive. Because of you, I am where I am now."

"I never thought you would remember."

He put his lips to her lips and kissed her, melting her. He was the only one who could kiss her and make her body shiver with pleasure. She put her hand on his neck, closed her eyes and enjoyed the blissful feeling. Daniel kept his eyes open, he loved to see her submissive, she was so much in love. He was flattered. He unbuttoned her blouse, and couldn’t ignore the thought Odi was waiting for her in the hotel. He dropped her shirt on the floor. He opened her bra at the back and slowly released it from her shoulders. She wanted to scream she loved him, but she did not dare. He probably wanted sex with her today, and she didn’t care. He released her for a moment while he took off his shirt, but then she felt her body touching his body. She had been longing for this moment for years.

He carried her into the bedroom, which was illuminated with candle light had been lit in advance. ‘He knew I wanted to sleep with him, a thought crossed her mind. However, she could not stop her weakness. The fact he just wanted to fuck her made her angry, but it made her want him more. She felt him inside her, enjoying every moment. No one had ever pleased her like this. Daniel was everything
for her. He heard and understood what she enjoyed. He knew when to finish. Her moans maneuvered him.

He lay down next to her, leaned on his hand and kissed her face again and again, but now, after the scene, the feeling of being victimized took control over her. She could not get rid of the thought she was just a sexual object to him. She wanted more but presumed she couldn’t have it. "Well, I must go," she said when she could not disengage from her thoughts.

"Where? To meet Odi and go to the club?"

"Yes," she ignored the sarcasm in his voice. She lifted the sheet and covered herself to go to the bathroom, but he pulled the sheet from her to make her smile a little bit, leaving her naked. But she continued to walk towards the bathroom.

Then she picked up her clothes and began to dress, while Daniel was lying on his stomach. He looked at her with a smile which she couldn’t understand the essence.

"Don’t you take a shower? You’re going to Odi without taking a shower?"

"What do you want, to humiliate me more?"

"Why? When was the first time?"

"Come on, Daniel." She continued to dress.

He jumped out of bed and grabbed her. "I will never humiliate you. You are one of the people who are most precious to me in this world."

'He did not say he loves me. He uses anything except this', she thought to herself. She grabbed her bag and walked towards the door, she did not want him to see the tears in her eyes that threatened to break.

"Karin," he shortened her name. It was the first time someone called her that. She stopped at the door. He approached her, hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear, "Stay with me."

She turned to him, "I can’t."

Daniel couldn’t understand what happened to her. "Karin, I enjoyed this moment with you and so did you, we are not supposed to separate this way."

"I have a meeting with Odi. Bye, Daniel." She tried to escape from his arms.

"Karin, I'm asking you to stay with me. I want to get up in the morning and see you next to me in bed."

She closed her eyes and gave herself a moment to think.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because that’s what you want."

His answer annoyed her very much. "No that's not what I want. What I really want is to marry Odi." She wanted to retaliate, to take revenge on him for not being able to tell her that he loved her, that he wanted her.

Daniel felt a knife stuck in his heart. "Okay, I do not want to spoil you. Go to your meeting with Odi." He released her arms and opened the door for her. She kept standing by the door, considering whether to stay anyway. "What will I tell Odi?"

"I do not know," he said, and moved away from the door towards the living room. He couldn’t believe she came back in and explained to Odi on the phone she had to stay at Daniel’s house because they had an urgent trip tomorrow at six in the morning. Odi insisted with his disagreement, but Karina raised her voice and explained it was a business trip and he had to respect it.

"Did he believe you?" Daniel mocked.

"Enough, Daniel, I don’t really feel comfortable
fooling around on him. Seeing you pleased with yourself makes me feel worse." She saw a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. She picked up the dishes from the table and went to wash them in the sink. She felt his arms wrap around her and his lips were on her neck. He undressed her while she was washing the dishes. He carried her to bed with a gentle touch of love. Karina felt Daniel was acting different from last time. He coated her with small kisses again and again, and when her eyes met his eyes, there was something deep between them.

She was glad he fell asleep a few minutes later, so she could watch him for hours.

In the morning, when she woke up, she put her shirt on without a bra and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"I thought the house was on fire. It’s the first time something is cooking in this kitchen," Daniel laughed, enjoying the smell coming from the kitchen. He got out of bed. The table was set for breakfast; coffee, salads, and an omelet. 'She should be here more often', he thought. He lay on the sofa, looking at her going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. When she finished serving the toast, she smiled at him and he joined the table. She spread butter on the bread and served him. If there was a moment Daniel understood the full significance of the pleasure of living together, this was the closest. The woman sitting across from him had an inexhaustible sharing ability. He brought his lips to hers and kissed them. "I love your lips. They are always pink and sensual."