KDBookOnline
Share Us
It was the damn assignment he’d been working on. The photo shoot made him face issues he wasn’t ready to face and think about things he’d long since suppressed.
A primal growl sounded deep in his throat. The images from the dream still reverberated through his head, leaving him aroused and uncomfortable. He was hard and hurting, and there was only one thing—one woman—who could take away the pain.
She just didn’t know it.
Daniel threw off the sheets, marched into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. He adjusted the temperature and pressure until burning streams of water jettisoned over his knotted back and shoulders.
He’d always loved her. At fourteen years of age, Daniel had lost his heart forever. He’d taken one look at the beautiful adolescent girl and known one day in the future, they’d be together.
But teenagers didn’t make lifelong commitments. Hell, they could barely cope with month-long commitments. So Daniel had done the next best thing. He’d committed to being Amy’s friend. And for the last seventeen years, she’d been his best mate, his confidante, and secretly, his greatest love.
Good sex and short flings with other women had fulfilled every desire, every need he’d had. But now everything was different. Now Amy was the only one he wanted. He just had to prove it to her.
Daniel scrubbed his body clean, praying the lingering arousal brought on by the dream would be washed away with the soapy water. He didn’t hold much hope. All he needed to do was think about Amy and he’d be hard again.
It was time to take their friendship to a new level—a more meaningful one. His recent photo shoot at the pediatric cancer ward had taught him life was too short to screw around. If he wanted something, he had to chase it, grab it, and hold on for all he was worth. And Daniel wanted Amy. It was time to act on the feelings he’d developed as a teenager. Only he intended to turn them into very adult actions.
There was one problem.
Convincing Amy to fall in love with him was going to be the most difficult—and most important—task he’d ever undertaken. He couldn’t fail.
She was too comfortable in their friendship and too freaked out by men in general to consider him anything more than her best mate. Her beliefs that significant others neither stuck around nor valued commitment were cemented by personal experience. Since Simon the asshole had cheated on her, she’d lost trust in men in general. Not surprising really, since Simon’s behavior mirrored her father’s actions of several years before.
Though Amy trusted Daniel with her life, her conviction in his inability to commit meant she’d never trust him with her heart.
How could he explain that the last three months had changed him? That memories he’d put aside decades ago, traumatic issues he’d sorted out as a boy, had come careening back, devastating him with their clarity?
Daniel switched off the shower and dried himself before grabbing his phone. He dialed his sister and, without preamble, launched into conversation when she picked up. “Hey, Lex. Remember our conversation a few days ago? About Amy?”
“Mmm-hmm,” came Lexi’s sleepy response. “How could I forget?”
“I’m ready to put my plan into action.”
“You are?” Her voice was alert now.
“Yep. Are you?”
“I’ll need a little time. Can you give me a week?”
“I’ll give you two. Maybe we can make it coincide with your birthday?”
Daniel could almost see her nod as she answered. “Good idea.”
“Great. Now, one thing. Don’t tell Mum. You know her. She’ll be arranging a wedding before you’ve even put the phone down.”
“Can I at least tell Sarah?”
Daniel blanched at the thought of letting their older sister in on their plans. “Hell, no. She’ll pack up Ben’s old cot and entire baby wardrobe and deposit them all at my flat by sunset.”
Lexi laughed before her tone became serious. “You sure you’re ready for this, Danno? We both know your plan could backfire.”
A muscle worked in his jaw. If his plan was successful, Amy would be his best friend and lover. If it failed, she could wind up being neither.
The thought made him sick to his stomach.
“I’m sure.” He’d never been more ready for anything in his life.
There was a moment of silence before Lexi said, “Right. Let’s stop wasting time. We have a seduction to plan, and I intend to see it through to the end.”
The tension in his ribs eased. He even managed to smile. “I appreciate your help, Lex. But if this ends the way I intend it to, you definitely won’t be there to see it.”
Lexi snorted. “Can I at least be a bridesmaid?”
“Now you sound like Mum and Sarah. Get out of bed. It’s time to go to the hospital. You have work to do.”
Daniel heard the grin in Lexi’s voice. “Yes, I do. And for a change, it has nothing to do with sick children.”
He said good-bye with a smile and severed the connection. With the help of his sister, Daniel was about to change his own future and that of his best friend’s, the woman he loved, irrevocably.
“Hold on tight, Amy Morgan. You’re in for the ride of your life.”