I stared at him for a moment and then nodded wordlessly, letting him pull me to my feet and lead me down the hall to the bathroom.
He carefully stripped me out of my remaining clothes as we waited for the water to heat up. With a soft smile on his face, he tugged me into the shower, his eyes still just as dark and heated as before. Slowly, as though afraid that I might startle, he reached out and grabbed a loofah, soaping it up and then reaching out to drag it across my body in soft strokes.
I couldn’t help but watch him as he continued to trail soap suds across my body, leaving no part untouched, no part unexplored. There was nothing particularly sexual about it, but at the same time, it was so incredibly intimate, to the point where I felt like I might tremble into a thousand pieces. But his gentle touches with his hands, stroking down my skin in the wake of the loofah, just made me feel more and more calm and relaxed, until I felt half-asleep there beneath the spray.
He washed me until I was cleaner than I’d ever been before in my life. I smiled down at him, watching as he glided his soapy hands across his own body. He pumped his cock a few times, and I watched as it twitched in interest for another moment, not fully hard but definitely thinking about it again.
I grinned, and I watched as a blush spread across his features. He looked for a moment like he was going to say something more, and it made me suddenly aware again of all the conversations we needed to have. What were we doing? Was it possible for us to build something more, he and I? What about the media? What about his reputation? What about the business side of things?
I started to panic, but I could practically see Daniel set all those things aside for the moment. I sighed as he reached around me to shut off the water in the shower, ending the gentle fantasy. As much as I might wish that it was just the two of us, alone in the world, it just wasn’t that way. There was so much more, between work around the office, our business partners, the media. It could never be just about what Daniel and I felt for one another.
What did I even feel for him? It was hard for me even to say to myself.
Forgetting everything else, I would be with him. I was sure of that now, in a way that I had only touched on before. I thought of all the arguments against being with him, and they all seemed like things that we could solve, if we would only try hard enough. And oh, it was going to be hard work. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the media frenzy around him.
But at the same time, I was sure that I could promise him not to believe everything that the media had to say about him.
I had never felt more confused in my life. “I’m sorry,” Daniel said as he wrapped the towel more tightly around me. He kissed my hair and then held me close to him. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re stuck with me. If you want to go work somewhere else, know that I’ll fully support that. Whatever you need from me.”
I swallowed hard, and slowly, I shook my head. “I want to be with you,” I told him, my voice barely audible. But I could tell, from the way that his arms tightened around me, that he had heard me. “I just don’t know if I can handle all the drama and the attention that goes along with it.”
“Then we keep this between us,” Daniel said simply. “Nobody needs to know.”
I wasn’t sure that it would be so easy. But on the other hand, what did I really have to lose? I didn’t think we could keep away from each other, and I really wanted to keep working with him. So...
I nodded at him. “I can do that,” I told him. And to be honest, the secrecy of it all seemed almost... exciting?
I grinned at him, and he grinned back. And suddenly, I felt like maybe things could work out between us.
Chapter 13
Daniel
I STOOD TO THE RIGHT side of the stage like I had been instructed, taking deep breaths to quell the nervousness and fighting the urge to do something terrible like running my fingers back through my carefully fixed hair. The ladies who had done my hair and makeup, cooing over me the whole time, would never forgive me if I knocked half the strands on my head out of place moments before we went on.
It was another stupid television interview. A live one. I had to do these every so often, but they still made me just as nervous now as they ever had. With all the negative news articles about me, though, it was the easiest way for people to understand that I really was a person, and that I really wasn’t the horrible person some of them thought I was.
Not only that, but it kept my fans interested in me. Which kept people interested in the company. It was just what Gerrard had once accused me of, with the news about me. Using it to keep the company on everyone’s minds. And while that wasn’t the only reason I went on these television shows, it was definitely effective.
But there was another reason for the timing on this one. The more I could give the media now, the less they would try to hunt around for other stories. Because there was only so much funding they could spare to send paparazzi on stakeouts outside of McGregor Enterprises. Only so many magazines for their followers to read. If I gave them this, there was a chance I might have a minor reprieve from the crazy fans.
I could always hope so, anyway.
I took a final deep breath and headed up onto the stage when I was summoned, waving out at the crowd even though I could barely see their silhouettes given the bright lights of the studio. I could hear the applause, of course, but that was a far cry from putting me at ease about any of this.
I perched on the edge of the couch and turned my full attention to my interviewer. “So glad to have you on the show today, Daniel,” she said, and the flirtatious note to her voice was more pronounced than it really needed to be. She leaned toward me and trailed her fingers down my arm, and I fought the urge to shake her off. I knew that if I even so much as hinted that there was someone else, she would be catlike with her claws, trying to tear the truth out of me.
It seemed that she wanted to know all about my love life anyway, though. She started out innocently enough, asking me about the business and my recent charity appearances, among other things. But then, she dove right into the core of what everyone really wanted to know, the type of questions that I hated. “So, Daniel, you’ve recently been named the hottest young bachelor in Chicago for the fifth year running. Any comments on that?”
I shrugged. “You know, it’s an honor,” I said, using my fake “media” voice with her and refusing to rise to the bait. I knew everyone was still dying to hear what had really happened between me and Abby James. Hell, everyone was still dying to hear what had really happened between me and Ivy.
“Nothing more to say than that?” the interviewer, I think her name was Erica, asked. “Are you even still single anymore? You know, there have been a lot of rumors about you recently.”
I shrugged at her and then turned my grin toward the audience, miming locking my lips and throwing away the key.
Erica groaned playfully. “Not even a little hint?” she asked. “We all know that you’ve always been closemouthed about your relationships, but can’t you at least have some mercy on the women of Chicago? Give us a nod or a head shake—yes or no, is there a woman in your life?"
I grinned at Erica even though I really wanted to scowl at her. She was worse than all the rest of them, really. I tried to remember who it was who had set up this interview. Who had thought that Erica was the right person for me to talk to? This was absolute trash.