Alveus (ABC's Inc. Romance #1) (22 page)

“Daney,”
she whispered, completely taken in. “You’re not playing fair.”

“I
never do,” he said, his voice husky. “I play to win.”

Weakness
,
Lexi thought as she played her fingers through the light coating of curls
across Dane’s chest. Round one goes to Wellesley. They were wrapped in each
other’s arms after a very satisfying interlude atop the surprisingly sturdy little
bed in Dane’s room. Oh, excuse me, corrected the interplay in her head,
sofa
in Dane’s new
office
. Despite his excellent distractive maneuvers, she
still had some questions.

“So,
the contessa is your mother?”

“Really,
Pips, now? − Oof!” He jerked at Lexi’s sharp slap to his bare skin.

“I
told you not to call me that!”

“Not
gonna happen,” he solidly informed her, then expertly caught her hand in his before
she could repeat her actions. He chuckled victoriously, covering the offending
hand with kisses before sliding its forefinger into his mouth and embracing it
with his tongue.

Oh,
my…
who would have thought that such a simple action could produce so many intricate
effects throughout her entire body?

“Dane,”
she murmured, her body stirring against his. No, she must be strong. His other
hand grazed her breast, his fingers teasing its nipple taut. Maybe she could
concede this next round…
weakness.

“Dane,”
she repeated with slightly more force. Lexi pushed herself up and pulled her
finger from his mouth. He opened his eyes and met hers, they were heavy with
lust.

“You
know what I was thinking while I sucked on your finger?” His voice came out gravelly
and his eyes sparked. He jiggled his hips suggestively.

“Yes,
your thoughts are quite concrete,” she answered, feeling his
thoughts
solidly against her thigh. “But, you did say that you wanted to clear the air,
and the aroma of that woman still lingers.”

Dane
wrinkled his nose. “Yes, her perfume is quite… pungent, isn’t it? I’ve always
hated it.” He pulled Lexi back down to his chest. “I love the smell of you,” he
murmured into her hair.

“Dane!”
She brought her head back up. “I’m trying to hold a conversation, here. One you
arranged this evening around. Now, could you please get a grip?”

His
hand slid up her thigh to cup the cheek of her buttocks, “You mean like this?” he
asked, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Okay,
that’s it! Lexi shoved off the bed and turned to collect her clothes. “I’m glad
you’re so comfortable there, because that’s where you’ll be spending the rest
of the night.” Her voice held no anger, just chastisement. He wants to act like
a child, then… She had her top on and was pulling her jeans up when he grabbed
her from behind.

“You’re
right. I’m sorry, liebling.” Hugging his chest against her back, he tucked his chin
in her neck. “It’s just that I can never seem to get my fill of you.”

“Dane,”
Lexi sighed, resolutely.

“No,
Pips, it’s the truth. I swear it’s not just a tactic to change the subject.
Although, I will admit that I prefer not to think about Cara.”

With
a sigh, he acquiesced by slipping into his jeans and carefully confining his effervescent
member. Entranced, Lexi watched each beautifully sculpted muscle work in accord
to perform the task.

“Pips…
liebling, I won’t be responsible for my actions if you keep looking at me like
that.”

“What?”
Lexi pulled her eyes up to Dane’s face. His shirt came down over his head,
diverting her eyes once again, this time to his chest before it also became
obscured.  Unwittingly, her hand reached out as if to caress and now it paused
in place. Sliding her gaze back up, her eyes landed on a cocky grin. Embarrassment
colored her face. Lexi quickly turned away and set her attention to gathering
up the remnants of their meal.

“Okay,
so tell me about the contessa.”

Lexi
and Dane sat at the kitchen table – neutral territory. The Jensens were tucked
away for the evening in their own little bungalow, just a hop and a skip from
the outside kitchen door. The faint blue glow of a television was the only
light escaping from the darkened quarters; even so, their close proximity
promised a good chance that the two lovers would keep their minds on the task
at hand. Clearing the air.

They
had raided the pantry and found a fresh baked apple pie, which now sat between
them with two slices missing. The co-conspirators enjoyed the spoils of their
mission with steaming mugs of coffee and companionable silence – neither
bothered to erase the satisfied smiles off their faces. Lexi decided that she
could happily get used to this. She reached over and sliced off another small
piece of pie and placed it on her plate, before inducing the conversation.

“Why
do you think she came here out of the blue, pretending that she would be moving
in? She’s
not
moving in – is she?” The last sentence trailed in a slight
panic.

“Absolutely
not,” Dane answered firmly.

»ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

Dane’s
gut clinched as it always did when he thought of the woman that had given him
birth. As a child he’d felt cheated while watching Lexi and the Carstens
interact with their mothers. Oma was wonderful, of course. More than a mother
to him, really. She’d seemed to want to make up for her daughter’s lack of
maternal… well, anything. He couldn’t help but wonder, though. What was it like
to have parents? A mother and father willing to put his life before theirs. He
knew now that he’d had the best possible parents in Henry and Marta Brighton,
and thanked God that his childhood longing for his parents hadn’t come to
fruition. Well, not entirely.

For
some reason, Cara had snaked her way into his life when he was studying at
Oxford, and for some reason, he had let her. Well, he wasn’t about to let it
happen again. It took him several years to accept the fact that she was one
hundred percent self-centered, and many more to realize how fortunate he was to
have had her out of his life. His mother had no perception of another’s needs
or feelings. Making herself the center of importance was the only goal she
understood. She cared nothing for family, most especially him. Actually, she
seemed to harbor hatred toward her parents, for reasons beyond his
comprehension.

“Cara
effectively ignored my existence until I was at University. When she showed up
at my dorm it was the first time I’d laid eyes on her, other than a photograph.
She was beautiful, and when she smiled I thought it was actually aimed at me –
her son – and I basked in it. I naïvely fell all over myself trying to claim
her approval, as (I later discovered) did every other male I knew. ” He gave a
harsh, self-debasing laugh. “I was an ass. By the time I successfully completed
Cara 101 and 102, I knew exactly what she was, because I had become the male
version – cold, heartless, and calculated. Under her tutelage I learned the
important uses of power and the opposite sex; she is an expert at using the
later to gain the former.”

“But,
why would she bother, Dane? What did she have to gain from you?”

“That’s
a very good question,
mein liebes
.” Dane picked up Lexi’s hand and
kissed the inside of her wrist, sending chills up her arm. “Somehow she’d
gotten wind of the fact that Opa had been rushed to the hospital with a heart
attack…”

“And
of course you would be the one to step in to run Brighton Industries, should he
become unable to return. Wow, she is a witch, isn’t she?” Lexi came over to sit
in his lap. “I’m so sorry.” She pulled his head to her chest. “It must have
felt horrible when you realized.”

“That
her motives were monetary instead of motherly? Yeah, it did,” he confessed. “I
still didn’t entirely believe it until grandfather returned to work and she so
graciously accepted a monthly settlement from me, to stay the hell out of my
life.”

“You
paid her to stay away from you?” Lexi shook her head in disbelief. “But, then
today…”

“I
guess being a contessa allows her to forfeit a month’s payment. Either that, or
she wants something from me that’s worth more.” Dane tilted Lexi’s head up to
look in her face. “What was she doing in your mother’s work lab?”

“I
know what you’re thinking, but there’s nothing of value in there. Mother just
liked to go in and pretend. It was like a child’s play kitchen. She would pick
up the laser tool and tap it against an old transistor – it wouldn’t even be
hot, we couldn’t let her hurt herself. Sometimes she’d fuss with the computer,
talk to herself – her words made little sense, but it made her happy.” Lexi’s
eyes turned wistful. “Mother turned anything significant she’d been working on
over to Fenwick when she realized there was a possibility that her deteriorating
mind could end up ruining an important project.

“No,
the contessa seemed to be more interested in the signatures on my remaining
paintings, than anything else. I could see my uncle believing that she might
spot something valuable that he may have missed. In my opinion, if she was here
at my uncle’s bidding, that would most likely be what she was looking for.”

“Where
is Fenwick, now?” Something didn’t settle right in Dane’s gut.

“We
convinced him to come back to Al-Tech, along with two other members of his
team.” Lexi answered. “It cost us a pretty penny, but he’s crucial to our
success. He had a hand in all of our patents. Mother must have trusted him,
Dane,” she seemed to sense his misgivings, “else why would she hand everything
over to him?”

Dane
didn’t have an answer, but he sure as hell had a plan. As soon as he got the
chance, he would be speaking with Ferguson about Al-Tech’s resident scientist.

»ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

“Oma’s
coming
here
?”

A
few days after Cara’s sudden intrusion, Dane announced his grandmother’s intent
to visit. She was coming at the request of Ed Bravanger who had apparently
received the envelopes Lexi had given his son Gareth to distribute. Yeah, okay,
she’d chickened out of dealing with her father’s wishes to bring the ABC’s
together on her own. She just knew that they would have felt obligated to help
her get Al-Tech back on its feet. Determined as she was to prove herself, she
didn’t want to be forced into throwing their kindness back in their faces.
Although, now it seemed the elderly lawyer had taken it upon himself to bring
the senior friends back together, on Alex Alberton’s bequest. The news of Oma’s
arrival reminded Lexi of how much she had missed the older woman’s loving
counsel.

She
couldn’t keep the excitement of seeing her again out of her voice. Even so, her
eyebrows creased with concern. “You’re sure that the trip won’t be too
strenuous for her? She’ll be staying with us, right? Oh, does she know about
us? Maybe you shouldn’t have remodeled your room… I guess we could have another
made up for you. I don’t want her thinking…” Her sentence was cut off when Dane
leaned over and kissed her.

“What
was that for?” she asked, momentarily dazed by the way her insides melted.

“It
was the only way I could think of to stop you from rambling into dangerous
territory,” he explained. “Oma knows about us, liebling. She knew about us
before we knew about us. I’m certain that the only thing she will be thinking
is – what took us so long?”

“But,
I don’t want people believing…” Lexi blushed. “I was brought up to be chaste,
Daney, and you have a reputation… I mean, you know. And, what about the others
– Uncle Ed and Uncle Lee? Especially after Saleh’s harem and stuff…” She was legitimately
pouting now.  Dane pulled her into his lap, bringing her head to his shoulder.

“Why
do I get the distinct feeling that there’s more bothering you about the ABC’s
reunion than our sleeping arrangements?”

“You’re
a guy,” Lexi insisted, “it’s different for you.” She could hear his chuckle
down deep in his chest.

“I’m
glad you noticed,” he teased, “but, I’m still not buying it.”

He
was right, there was more worrying her about the upcoming meeting. Her mother
and father’s friends had always been another set of parents to her. It was true
that she didn’t want to be a disappointment to them, and the fact that she and
Dane were intimate without the pledge of marriage would probably fall into that
category. Although, her father’s disapproval meant even more. When they
discovered that she had ignored his last request because of pride… well, she
will have disappointed them all. She’d done her best to avoid them, but now
with Oma’s visit, a confrontation was inevitable. Her chest lifted as a deep
sigh escaped her mouth. She knew she was going to have to be honest with Dane.
Obviously their childhood connection was back in full force and there was no
hiding her emotions from him. She hid her face in his chest and mumbled.

“I
m…nn’t …odder I… d…dees ass… e-kess.”

“I’m
sorry, liebling, but I don’t speak wookie.” He lifted her face from his chest.
“Could you try that again in English?”

“I
didn’t honor Daddy’s last request – exactly,” she confessed, taking a great
interest in her manicure. Dane pulled her chin up, trying to force her to look
in his eyes.

“Exactly?”
he echoed, hinting for her to explain further.

“No,”
was all she said, studying his left ear.

“Pips,
how am I supposed to help you, if I don’t know all of the facts?”

Abruptly
yanked from her guilt, Lexi pushed herself off of Dane’s lap and took a few
steps away from him. “Don’t you get it?” she ranted. “I don’t want anyone’s
help! Everyone thinks that I’m some kind of child who can’t think or deal with
anything more than the everyday mundane functions of brushing my teeth or
getting a manicure!” She faced off with him, as if he’d even had a chance to
respond. “I’m highly educated and thoroughly trained. I have an inherited
instinct for this. And, I
will
pull my parents’ legacy back up out of
the muck – where, by the way, I didn’t put it to begin with! Okay, so I trusted
my only living relative, but that doesn’t make me stupid! I know what I’m
doing! I am not weak. And, don’t call me
Pips
!”

Dane
sat on the sofa, sporting a cocky grin. That irresistible dimple stood prominent
on his right cheek.
God knows, she’d always loved his smile!
As if
magnetically lured, her eyes grazed up to connect with his. Soft and beautiful,
they held no refute, no ridicule, nor placation – they were filled with
overwhelming, undeniable, pure and passionate love. And it practically knocked
her off of her feet. He jumped up from his seat, catching her in his arms, just
as her legs began to dissolve beneath her.

»ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

Molecules
of memories and feelings that had somehow been dissociated came flooding back
to Dane, invading his core in an explosive chemical reaction. As if patching
the sequencing of an injured DNA strand, they filled in and complimented its
paired double helix. He was whole again, because the missing part of him was
the woman in his arms.

As
adults he and Lexi had submitted to the force that brought them together
physically, but it wasn’t until the child Lexi came through in her tirade that
the young Dane had been freed from the chains which had bound him all of his
adult years.

Of
course he’d known that he wanted her – needed her. He knew they belonged
together – those feelings had come back quickly. Even the compulsion to protect
Lexi was inherent in his make-up, but now he knew that it had been cocooned in
a fog. The damned wall his mother had helped him build in his youth, the wall
that protected the sensitive young boy from the harsh world, he’d assumed had
crumbled when Lexi appeared back in his life – but he’d been wrong. A part of
his heart had been locked up with the boy Dane. He understood now why Oma and
Greig treated him like he was a ticking time bomb. They were waiting for the
Dane they both knew so well to reappear.

Did
she feel it? Could she tell?
He hugged her closer
wanting to strip her naked – both of them without encumbrance molded together,
skin to skin. And then, he never wanted to release her.

“God,
Pips – I love you,” he confessed emotionally into her hair. “
Mein liebes.
”
The words flowed easily, sincere. His heart exuberant.

“Daney,”
she whispered, “please, don’t ever leave me again.”

“Then,
never let go of me, liebling,” he countered with a hint of desperation.

Suddenly
something sharp grabbed at his ankle.

“Ouch,
what the hell?”

Dane
looked down to find a tiny black dog attached to his foot. “Impossible – do not
tell me that evil little menace is still alive, after all of these years!” He
shook his foot, trying to gently dislodge the scrappy little canine.

“You’re
thinking of the first Louis – this is Louis the fifth,” Fani informed him,
without apology. Having followed her pet into the room, she reached down and
captured the animal, bringing him into the safety of her arms. Not to be
discouraged, Louis took up a diatribe of barking, throwing in an occasional
growl just to make sure his warning was being taken serious.

“That’s
ludicrous! Are you telling me that you’ve actually had five of these little,
flea-bitten terrors?” Dane could well remember the Carsten family’s pet
Chihuahua whose favorite meal was fresh human ankles! In fact…

“I
still have the scar from the time your first
Louis
had to be surgically
removed from my tibialis!”

He
heard a giggle and turned to find Lexi attempting to restrain her laughter. Her
eyes were tearing up with the effort, and he knew she was remembering the
incident he was referring to. The two of them were visiting the Carstens when she
tried to warn him about the dog’s fetish. At the time, he thought she was pranking
him when she told him to quickly remove his shoes and jump up on the sofa.
Right, he wasn’t an idiot. When the tiny pup came tearing into the room with
his yippy little bark, he’d laughed. With shoes in hand, Lexi was maneuvering to
the chair from the couch, making her way across the furniture to the far exit,
when the obnoxious, pint-sized Chihuahua attached itself to his leg. And the
damned little menace refused to let go!

“You
exaggerate,
mein
enkelsohn
.”

“Oma!” Dane was startled to hear her familiar, albeit chastising,
voice. “But, I was to pick you up from the airport,
tomorrow
.” He bent
down to pull his grandmother into a welcoming hug.

“I heard that Stefani was coming home today and changed my
plans. It’s much better to have company on the long flight. Don’t you agree,
jungen?”

“Perhaps, if that little ankle-biter isn’t considered part of
said company!” He glared at the
Chihuahua who bared its
teeth and growled back at him.

“Louie
the fifth has never done that before,” Fani said, giving the pooch a reassuring
kiss between his ears. “He must have thought he was protecting Pip from you.
He’s very fond of her, you know. Maybe I should give him to her as a wedding gift.”

“
Wedding
gift?” Dane’s defenses were at their limit. What the hell is she talking about,
now? Wedding! He looked over at Lexi. She appeared to be shocked immobile. The
youngest Carsten girl always was an odd one – words coming out of nowhere.

“Isn’t
that what ‘never leaving’ means,” she asked, all innocent like.
What the
hell? Were they..?

“So,
you were listening in on a private conversation?” he charged her.

“Well,
we thought it would be rude to interrupt,” she declared, as if the answer was obvious,
“that is, until Louis took it into his own hands… feet… er, mouth.”

At
that, Oma and Lexi broke into uproarious laughter! Dane didn’t much enjoy being
the butt of their amusement. He turned indignantly and strode in the direction
of the staircase.

“I’m
going to change out of these canine drool infested pants. Shit, I think he made
a tear in them, and they were one of my favorite pairs!” As if on cue, Louis
threw a champion-styled “loser” bark at his retreating form. The female laughter
exploded in volume. At least, Dane’s mouth caught on to the humor of the
situation, as the right side of it curled unwittingly. A half chuckle grunted
loose –
damn dog
, he mumbled.

As
he climbed the stairs to the second floor, Dane’s step became lighter and his
smile wider. Even though he could still hear the hilarity continuing below him,
it actually warmed his insides. It’d been a long time since he’d brought that
kind of laughter to someone he loved. In fact, the last time had been in this
very house. The place was magical, he decided. Yes, it was right that it would
remain a part of his life, his future – with Lexi. He slid his sweat pants off
and slipped on a pair of jeans, hoping that the tough material would ward off
the pain of another attack. Pulling up the zipper, he thought about the three
women downstairs and began planning a reunion with the rest of the ABC’s. It
was high time they reacquainted themselves with the fun and laughter of their
past.