CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER 190 FULLY AWAKE

*LORENZO*

I sense her before I’m fully awake. The warmth of her body seeps into mine. Enjoying the feel of her skin on my skin, I open my eyes to greet the misty morning and the lovely Danica. She’s fast asleep and curled around me like a fern, her hand on my belly, her head on my chest. My arm is wrapped possessively around her shoulders, holding her close, and she’s naked. I grin as my body rouses.

What a difference a day makes.

I lie for a moment cherishing her heat and the fragrance of her hair. She shifts and mumbles something unintelligible, and her eyelids flutter open.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I whisper. “This is your early-morning wake-up call.” And I ease her onto her back. She blinks a couple of times as I kiss the tip of her nose and nuzzle the pulse point beneath her ear, and she beams and throws her arms around my neck as my hand travels down to her breast.

********

The sun is shining. The air is crisp and cold. “No Diggity” blares over the sound system as I drive up the A39 toward Padstow. I’ve ruled out going to Sunday service. There’ll be too many people at the local parish church who know me. Once I’ve told Danica who I am and what I do... then maybe. I glance at her as her heels bounce in time to the music. She flashes me a quick crotch-tightening grin.

Man, she is captivating.

Her smile lights up the Jag’s interior and me.

I give her a wicked smile in return, remembering this morning. And last night. She tucks her wild hair behind her ear, and an innocent blush steals across her cheeks. Perhaps she’s thinking about this morning, too.

I hope so. I see her, a vision in my bed, head tipped back in ecstasy, her mouth open as she cries out and comes, her hair spilling over the edge of the bed. My blood heads south at the thought. Yeah. She seemed to enjoy it. She seemed to enjoy it very much. Shifting in my seat at the memory, I reach across to squeeze her knee.

“You okay?” I ask.

She nods, her deep brown eyes sparkling.

“Me, too.” I take her hand, bring it to my lips, and give her a grateful kiss on her palm.

I feel buoyant, more than buoyant, I’m elated. I’m happier than I’ve been...since...since I gave up my dreams. No. Since before I even gave it up. And I know it’s because I’m with Danica.

I’m intoxicated with her.

But I don’t dwell on my feelings. I don’t want to. They are new and raw and a little unsettling. I’ve never felt like this. Truth is, I’m excited. I’m going shopping with a woman, and I’m looking forward to it is this a first?

But I suspect it will be a battle with Danica. She’s proud. Maybe it’s how she was raised. At breakfast she was adamant that I couldn’t buy her any new clothes. But she’s sitting beside me in her only pair of jeans, the thin, graying white top, her leaky boots, and my sister’s old jacket. This is a fight she’s not going to win.

I park in the spacious car park by the quay. She’s curious, peering through the windscreen at our surroundings.

“Want to look around?” I ask, and we climb out of the car.

It’s a picture-postcard scene: antiquated houses and cottages built of gray Cornish stone line the small harbor where a few fishing boats are moored up, idle, because it’s a Sunday.

“This is a good view,” Danica says. She’s huddled in her coat, and I stretch my arm around her shoulders and hold her to me.

“Let’s go and get you some warm clothes,” I offer with a smile, but she immediately steps out of my embrace.

“Lorenzo, I cannot pay for new clothes.”

“It’s my treat.”

“Treat?” She frowns.

“Danica, you have nothing. This is very easy for me to put right. Please. Let me. I want to.”

“It is not right.”

“Says who?”

She taps her finger to her lips, and it appears that this is not an argument she’s considered. “Me. I say,” she answers eventually.

I sigh. “They are a gift for all your hard work...”

“They are gifts because I had sexual intercourse with you.”

“What? No!” I laugh, appalled and amused in equal measure. I quickly scan the quay to check no one can hear us. “I offered to buy you clothes before the sex, Danica. Come on. Look at you. You’re freezing. And I know your boots leak. I’ve seen your wet footprints in my hallway.”

She opens her mouth to speak.

I hold up my hand to stop her. “Please,” I insist. “It would give me great pleasure.”

She purses her lips, unimpressed. I try a different tack.

“I’m going to buy them for you anyway, whether you’re there or not. So you can come with me and choose something you like or leave it to me.”

She folds her arms.

Fuck. She has a stubborn streak.

“Please. For me,” I beseech her, holding out my hand. She glares at me, and I give her my very best smile. Then she sighs, resigned, I think, and puts her hand in mine.

Yes!