Beauty & the Blue Angel Read online

  “Just a sec,” he said. Then to the deliveryman he said, “Just bring it inside. I’ll take it from there.”

  “Okay by me,” the fellow said, giving Daisy a look that told her he was thankful that at last a man had arrived to clear things up.

  “Alex,” she demanded as she watched a stranger set two big boxes and several smaller ones down in the middle of her already cramped living room, “what is going on?”

  He just grinned, dipped into his jeans pocket for his wallet and pulled out a couple of bills. Handing them to the man, he said, “Thanks,” and let him out, closing the door behind him.

  Once they were alone again, Alex glanced around the room. “Where’s the baby?”

  “She’s asleep.”

  “Good.”

  He looked so pleased with himself. A slow smile curved his mouth and seemed to reach across the room to light a small fire in her belly. She deliberately tamped it out. Hormones. It was just hormones.

  “Alex, what are you doing?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Yeah, so far.” She glanced down at the unopened cartons and back again to him. “What is all this stuff?”

  “I went shopping.” He shrugged, then dropped to his knees beside the biggest box. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small knife, opened it up and slit the cardboard.

  “For what?” She stepped to the side, so she could keep an eye on both him and the box.

  “You’ll see.” When he had the strapping tape cut away, he tossed the lid of the box aside and said, “Ta-da.”

  Daisy looked down and saw a disassembled crib. Frowning, she shifted her gaze to him. “A crib? Angel already has a crib.”

  “I know,” he said, then pulled some of the packing paper away from the intricately carved, pale oak headboard. “But this is the Cadillac of baby furniture.”

  She was sure it was. The thing was gorgeous, and compared to the secondhand crib she’d painstakingly painted herself, it looked even better. And apparently Alex thought Angel deserved more than her mother could provide. Which stung Daisy more than she wanted to admit.

  She’d been taking care of herself for a long time. She didn’t need a rich, handsome prince riding to her rescue.

  As he pulled piece after piece out of the carton and she stood there, silently watching, Daisy felt her control slipping away. The shiny new crib made her whole apartment look different. Instead of cozy and familiar, the furniture now looked a little shabby. Forlorn. She’d always taken pride in the home she’d made for herself. But now she was seeing it as Alex must see it.

  And she didn’t like it one bit.

  “Take it back.”

  “What?”

  “I mean it, Alex. Take it back.” She moved away from the carton and him. “Angel already has a bed. We don’t need this.”

  Obviously confused, he said, “I know you don’t need it. I just wanted you to have it.”

  “Why?”

  “Huh?”

  “Why? It’s a simple question.”

  He set the crib aside and stood up to face her.

  “Because I saw it and I thought, apparently wrongly, that it would make you happy.”

  “Because what I can give her isn’t enough?”

  “That’s not what this is about.” His voice dropped a notch or two, and she heard a thread of anger rising through it.

  Damn it, since when was giving someone a present a capital offense? For the first time ever, Alex had dipped into the inheritance he’d come into when he turned twenty-one. Until now, he’d been content to live on his salary as a navy pilot. It was only for Daisy and Angel that he’d wanted more.

  And hadn’t that turned out well?

  “I’m not spending time with you because you’re a Barone, you know.”

  “I know.” He threw his hands up, then let them slap against his thighs. Where was this coming from?

  “I don’t care if you’re rich.”

  “My family’s rich. I’m a pilot.”

  “Whatever. I’m not interested in your family’s money.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “Then why would you do all of this without even talking to me first?”

  He crossed the room to her in three angry strides. Damn it, he’d wanted to help. To make her smile. To do something nice for a woman he was pretty sure didn’t experience that very often. And if he said all that to her, he had the distinct feeling she might punch him.

  “I was downtown, picking something up for my mother, when I looked in a window and saw this crib.”

  Her gaze fixed on him, waiting.

  “And like an idiot, I thought you’d like it. I thought it would be a nice surprise.” He grabbed hold of her shoulders and ignored the flash of heat that swept from her body straight into his. “I love Angel. Like she was mine. I wanted to do something nice for her before I shipped out. Okay?”

  That wasn’t all of it. That wasn’t nearly all. He’d wanted to make Daisy smile. To see her eyes sparkle with delight. To be the one to make her happy.

  Idiot.

  “You don’t have to spend your money on us, Alex.”

  “Yeah,” he snapped, letting her go and turning around to pack up the crib again. “You know, I noticed that there was nobody holding a gun to my head, forcing me to buy these things.”

  “I just don’t know what to do here,” Daisy said softly, and he looked over his shoulder at her. “Nobody’s ever… Well, I mean…”

  “You could say thank you.”

  “I could.” She took a step closer to him.

  Alex stood stock-still, not wanting to break the connection that held them.

  When she was less than an arm’s reach away, she went up on her toes and gave him a quick, light kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  He ground his teeth together and fisted his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her. He wanted nothing more than to yank her close, wrap his arms around her and kiss her until neither of them could breathe. But the moment was too tenuous for that. And she’d given him no sign at all that she was interested in him as anything other than a friend.

  Well, he wasn’t about to trust his heart again to a woman who didn’t want it. He’d learned that lesson the hard way. So he fought down his own instincts, his hunger, and said simply, “You’re welcome.”

  They were so close he could feel her breath and count the beats of her heart, throbbing at the base of her throat. He wanted her more than anything. He spent his days being her friend and his nights dreaming about being her lover.

  And neither situation was good enough.

  He wanted more.

  For both of them.

  But if Daisy hadn’t wanted the gifts he’d brought her, why would she want him?

  Nine

  Daisy couldn’t even remember a time when Alex wasn’t a part of her life. He’d made a place for himself so neatly, so quietly, she hadn’t seen it coming, and hadn’t been able to defend herself against it—even if she’d wanted to. Which, she admitted, she probably wouldn’t have.

  It was crazy. It was completely out of the realm of reality. She was a fool to let herself get used to him being there. But at the same time, she just couldn’t bring herself to stop enjoying it.

  Strange, but up until the night Alex had walked into her life, she’d considered herself happy. She’d had her job, her home, her baby to plan for, and had routinely counted her blessings. Now, though, she was beginning to want more. Even knowing that she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of that dream ever coming true.

  Lying in her bed, Daisy stared up at the ceiling and tried to ignore the ache deep within. It was ridiculous to be so stirred up inside when the man hadn’t done anything to deliberately raise her blood pressure. But then, apparently just being around him was enough to make her tremble with a need she hadn’t felt in far too long.

  Tossing the blankets back, Daisy swung her legs off the bed and stood up. She wasn’t going to get an
y sleep, so she might as well get up and do something. Anything. Keep busy so her brain wouldn’t conjure up images of Alex’s eyes. His mouth. His hands.

  “Oh, boy.”

  She walked into the baby’s room and by the glow of a fairy princess night-light, crossed the room to stand beside the brand-new crib. Daisy stared down at her daughter, peacefully sleeping, and envied the infant her untroubled dreams. She ran one hand over the cool, smooth oak railing and thought about Alex’s hands putting this bed together. How they’d laughed over the practically unreadable instructions, and how proud he’d been to install his gift in the baby’s room.

  “And this isn’t helping,” she whispered firmly to herself. Turning around, she left the room, keeping the door open so she could hear Angel’s slightest cry, and walked into the living room. She flicked on a light and, on automatic pilot, cruised the small area, straightening pillows, picking up papers, looking for something to keep herself occupied. Something to draw her attention away from the man who never seemed to leave her thoughts.

  But it was a losing battle and she knew it. Even after Alex had gone and their time together was nothing more than a memory, she’d remember him. She knew that during the long nights in the years to come, her brain would torture her by replaying the events of the past few weeks. Every time she looked into her daughter’s face, she would remember the night of her birth and the feel of Alex’s hand on hers.

  A knock on the door startled her, and Daisy’s gaze flew to the nearby clock. Eleven o’clock. Who would be coming by at this time of night?

  She hurried across the living room and looked through the peephole in the door. Alex. Her body jumped to life and even her blood seemed to be doing somersaults in her veins. It was as if her thoughts had conjured him, and surrendering to fate, she threw the chain off and opened the door.

  Alex just stared at her for a long minute. Soft, chestnut-brown hair tumbled around her face. Her shoulders were bare beneath the straps of her powder-blue tank top, and the thin material skimmed her small, perfect breasts, outlining her peaked nipples just enough to taunt him. Worn white boxer shorts hung loosely around her narrow waist and hips, displaying a swatch of pale skin that made him want to touch her and relish the smoothness of her flesh. Pink polish decorated her toenails and she wore a silver toe ring on her left foot. She looked warm and rumpled and ready for loving.

  The only thing that held him in place was the fact that he knew that, medically speaking, she wasn’t ready.

  She stepped back to let him in and he moved quickly, before she could change her mind. Man, he was in bad shape.

  “Alex, what are you doing here?”

  “I was outside. In my car. I saw your light come on….” He paused. “Great. Now I sound like a stalker.” He scraped one hand across the top of his head, then shoved that hand into his jeans pocket. “I know how that sounds and I don’t like it any better than you do. But for some reason, I just…” He shrugged, as if silently admitting he couldn’t come up with a good reason for being there. “I just got in my car and I ended up here.”

  What he didn’t admit to was that being with his friends hadn’t taken his mind off Daisy. That sitting in a bar having a beer wasn’t any fun when all he really wanted to do was be with her. Damn it, he hadn’t counted on this.

  He’d sworn off love. Being dumped on Valentine’s Day shortly before your wedding did that to a man. But Daisy had slipped beneath his radar. She’d come up on him on his blind side, and by the time he’d noticed just how deeply she’d crawled under his skin, it was too late.

  Now he didn’t want to be rid of her. Now he just wanted to be inside her.

  Everything in him went hot and still at the thought, and it took every ounce of his self-control to keep from grabbing her.

  “I’m glad,” she said, and shattered that self-control in an instant.

  Alex stepped close to her, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. He felt the small, rigid tips of her nipples pressing into his chest, and he deliberately shifted her, rubbing her flesh against him until he saw her eyes go soft and cloudy.

  “You just had a baby,” he whispered, his right hand sweeping down her back to glide over the curve of her behind.

  “Mmm…”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You’re not,” she said, and gasped slightly as his left hand came around and slid between their bodies to cup her breast.

  Alex’s gaze moved over her features slowly, deliberately, enjoying the rush of color in her pale cheeks, and the way her lips parted with a sigh of desire. The quiet in the room seemed to close in on them, taking them out of the world into a place where only the two of them existed.

  “I want you, Daisy,” he murmured. The admission stirred his blood into a thick, boiling mass of need.

  Her eyes opened wide and she looked up at him, tilting her head back. The line of her neck tempted him to lay a string of hot, damp kisses on her flesh. His thumb moved over the tip of her nipple and she flinched, inhaling sharply, deeply.

  “I know,” she said. “I feel it, too.”

  Those few words acted like a bellows on the fire in his gut, fanning the flames until he felt consumed by them. This was why he’d come here so late at night. This was why his friends’ chatter had sounded like an annoying hum of noise. With Daisy in his mind, his blood, he could think of nothing else.

  “I need to kiss you. I’ve been thinking about it all night,” he told her.

  “I have, too. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t think.”

  “There’s no thinking anymore,” he murmured. “Just feeling. Tasting.”

  When she licked her lips, the quick dart of her tongue nearly undid him. Need crouched inside him like some caged tiger waiting for the chance to pounce. He’d never felt this before. This all-consuming urgency to be with someone. To feel that someone close and warm and eager.

  In the soft lamplight, he watched her as he lowered his head to hers. Slowly, deliberately, drawing out the pleasure, the anticipation of that first brush of lips to lips. And when he couldn’t stand the suspense another instant, he took her mouth with his.

  Electrical.

  Fiery.

  Sizzling.

  Heat blistered between them, and a kiss that began as a soft, teasing caress became a feast fit for a starving man. Alex’s arms came around her, pinning her to him with a strength he kept carefully in check even as he held her tightly enough that there was no chance of her escaping him, had she wanted to.

  But she threw her arms around his neck and hung on just as tightly to him, as though he were the only stable force in the universe. If that was so, then the world was in serious trouble, he thought, because he felt as though he was teetering on the edge of a chasm.

  And in the next instant, he jumped in willingly and dragged her along with him.

  Alex parted her lips with a swipe of his tongue and delved into the warm, damp heat of her. He groaned at the hard, sweet relief of having her mouth on his. He tasted her, reveling in the hot, thick pumping of his blood and the eager response from her. She gave as good as she got, and stole his breath with her reaction to his kiss. She molded herself to him, leaning into his body, pressing hard along the length of him.

  He tightened his arms around her, lifting her feet right off the floor. Her small, compact body felt so right against his. This was where they’d been headed since that first night at Antonio’s. A part of him had known it then, when he’d looked into her eyes and lost himself in the glory of her.

  Their tongues mated, dancing, entwining, stroking, caressing. His hands moved up and down her back, following the line of her curves, feeling her lush body come alive beneath his touch. He skimmed his hands under the hem of her shirt, wanting, needing to feel her, skin to skin. She sighed into his mouth as his fingers trailed along her spine. His body tightened even more and he took her mouth harder, deeper, wanting to give and take all he could. He needed this time with Daisy to feed the fires
that had started burning within him weeks ago.

  His hands slipped beneath the loose waistband of her shorts and swept across her behind, loving the feel of her soft, cool flesh. His fingertips hummed with an electrical force that seemed to send the tingling sensation deep inside him, where it obliterated every thought but the need to feel more. To touch more. She shifted in his arms, moving even closer until he thought she just might slide right inside him. Still that wouldn’t be close enough. Not for him.

  And not for Daisy.

  At his touch, she melted.

  That was the only word swimming through her mind. Alex’s touch was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. It was as if thunder and lightning were pounding through her body, and she was awash in a storm that kept building until she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to breathe. Somehow she didn’t care, so long as he kept touching her.

  She moved against him and his hands swept over her behind, cupping her, pulling her close enough to him that she felt the hard, thick proof of his desire pressing into her belly. Damp heat roared through her and her knees weakened, so she leaned into him farther, trusting him to keep her upright.

  Magic, she thought. It was magic that a man’s touch could be so exciting. So all-consuming that nothing else mattered but the next touch. And the next.

  She hadn’t counted on this. Hadn’t known she could ever feel this. Every cell in her body felt more alive than ever before.

  When he tore his mouth from hers, she wanted to moan in disappointment, but he only lowered his head to kiss her neck, her throat. He clamped his mouth to the pulse beat at the base of her throat, and she felt her heart quicken in answer to the touch of his tongue to her already sensitized skin. She clutched his shoulders, digging her fingers into the soft fabric of his dark red T-shirt, and leaned back, silently pleading for his lips to go lower, farther. She wanted his mouth on her breasts, wanted to feel the heat of him pressed close to her heart.

  “Too many clothes,” he whispered, his breath dusting her skin like drops of fire from a sparkler.