Page 44 of Dark Holiday

Daniel

My heart stops at those words. Could it be true? But how? I saw the picture. Granted, it was dark, but the hair, her dress…. “You’re seriously telling me you’re a virgin? Please. I wasn’t born yesterday. I saw the lust in your eyes, how wet you got when I ordered you around. There’s no way that much passion just sat on the shelf all these years.”

More tears gather in her eyes, but I harden that small bit of my heart that’s left. Tears of a liar mean nothing to me. “I. I promised you, Daniel. I said I’d wait for you. I haven’t stopped waiting.”

Her words, though soft, slam into me with the force of a train. I know she’s been around other men. The PI showed me pictures. Hell, I’ve seen footage of her out on dates with other guys. They went to her home. This is just her trying to trick me, and I won’t stand for it. “You’re twenty-four. Nobody goes twenty-four years without dating, without sex, hell even finger banging.” Cindy drops her head, guilt flashing through her eyes. Ahah. There it is. There’s no way she can deny it now.

“Yeah. I’ve dated. You left me there. Alone. What else was I supposed to do? But you know what? The few men I’ve gone out with, let into my home, none of them were you. None of them could compete with your memory. A few lackluster kisses, and I sent them home, diving for my romance novels to finish the job.”

She pauses and looks back up at me, the strong defiance I know and love coming back into her eyes. “I’m not going to lie to you and say I’ve been celibate. Far from it. If you saw half the books on my e-reader, you’d probably be shocked and appalled. I’ve become very good friends with my hands and vibrators, but think whatever you want. I’m through trying to convince you I’m good enough.”

Her voice trembles as emotion surges through her. “Promises may not mean anything to you, Daniel Grinwich, but they sure as hell do to me. I never once broke my promise, but you damn sure broke yours. You ask me what I want from you? You ask me why I can’t call you Daddy? It’s because you never lived up to your end of the bargain.”

I stare at her, barely able to even blink. Her words are like a slap in the face, and I physically reel back from her. Could she really be telling me the truth? I have no concept of how long any of those other men were in her house. I just know that they went up there with her. The PI never listened in. I wish now that I had him bug her house.

The earnestness in which she conveys everything makes me think that she must be telling the truth. God. Oh, God. What have I done? Have I really fucked all this up? Have I really spent all these years living a half-life because of a damn lie? I work at the ropes holding her, needing to keep my hands busy for a moment.

The soft sobs as she cries nearly tears my heart into two. Once more, suspicion niggles its way into my brain. “I waited for you, corsage in hand. When you didn’t show…they had pictures of you, Cin. I was standing there like an idiot in the rain, just outside the doors. I had my acceptance letter and a plan. All that was missing was you.”

“Wha-what door? You wanted me to meet you at the gazebo.”

Pausing, I pull back and look down at her. “No. I never said that.”

“I was at the door. You weren't there, and Mark....” She trails off, her brain working just as hard as mine to put all the pieces together.

Anger starts to simmer as they start to click into place. “Mark what?”

“He said you had a surprise for me. You wanted me to wait in the gazebo. I thought you were going to give me a promise ring or something. But then hours went by, and you never showed. Jason, Mark, and Andrew all showed up, laughing at me. I - I didn’t know what else to do, so I ran. You had been so mean to me at the start of the semester. I just figured you were all in on the joke.”

Fucking hell. All this time. All these years she could have...would have been mine. “You thought I was a monster, and you still didn’t go have sex? There wasn’t a single man that drew your interest?”

“They weren’t you. They didn’t make my soul sing, and my heart cry out all at once.”

Desperate to have her in my arms, I pull out a knife and cut through the remaining ropes, unable to stand the idea of fussing with them any longer. Not now. Not when I have a decade to make up for. Once her legs are free, and she’s able to stand, I work on her arms, watching as each piece of rope drifts down to the floor.

I pull her into me, hugging her close, needing to feel her, to assure myself that this isn’t a dream. “I’m going to fucking kill -.”

Her lips brush against mine, and all thoughts of murder and mayhem fall to the wayside. Scooping her up into my arms, I bring us closer to the fire. No wonder she shied away at the things I did to her. I treated her with the same cold disdain as when I first met her.

I brush Cindy’s hair away from her face as I lay her down. “I never meant to be mean to you, Cin. You made me feel things I had never felt before. I was a kid. I didn’t know what to do with them. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were mine. I wanted you, every inch, but you were only fourteen. I was so close to turning eighteen, to graduating. I knew I had to wait.”

Reaching down, I start to work the row of buttons on the front of her gown, letting old memories resurface, needing her to know how much she meant to me. “I've wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was a kid. They talk so much about statutory rape and how bad that can be on a career, so I shoved you aside, forced myself to become the opposite of what you wanted and needed. I tried so hard not to fall for you. But I did. God, Cin, I fell so hard.”

Her soft sighs as I bare her breasts spur me on. “That night, once I knew I was accepted into college, I was going to lay out my plans. Once you were eighteen, I was going to come back and take you to New York.”

Pausing for a moment, I swallow, forcing myself to stay in the present and not linger back in those moments. “Even though you betrayed me, rejected me, I couldn’t just leave you. I saved every penny I could while I was in college. Deep down, I always knew I’d come back for you, even though, at the time, I thought you didn’t want me.”

Leaning down, I slide my lips across her clavicle, noting the way her body arches up at my touch. “Every time I came back home, it was another guy, another date. I thought you were happier without me. I did my best to force you out of my head, but when I saw you in my office, on your knees in front of me, I knew I wouldn’t be complete without you by my side. I haven’t been the Daddy you’ve needed, but in my own way, I tried.”

Cindy looks up at me, the tears still flowing down the sides of her cheeks and into her hair. “I thought you hated me.”

“I wanted to, but I think deep down part of me believed that you were still mine, and I grasped at every straw I could to keep you there. God. How many damn buttons are on this thing?”

Her giggles are cut short as I grip the fabric and rip it the rest of the way down, sending buttons plinking across the parts of the floor not covered by rugs. The firelight bounces off of her skin, setting her aglow. Bending down, I wrap my lips around her pert nipple and suck, moaning at the feel of her writhing around me.

“Sensitive, are we?” Grinning, I reach over and pluck at her other nipple with my fingers, basking in the decadent sounds of her moans. I pull back and settle between her thighs, smirking at the small mewls of disappointment. “Beg me, Cindy. Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

Her lashes flutter for just a moment, that delightful tinge of pink darkening her cheeks. “Fuck me. Oh, please fuck me, Daddy.”