Who Wants to Marry A Billionaire?(37)
They managed to lurch their way back to the caba?a, and Daniel gave Nina a proper kiss. “I love…being with you.” He caressed her face, and then pulled her into the bedroom. Pieces of clothing starting hitting the floor, and Nina surrendered to the moment with abandon. They laughed and kissed and undressed each other, overtaken by the events of the evening and the passion that had steadily been building over the weeks.
Chapter Twenty Six
Nina clutched the sheet to her chest when she realized that she was naked. She looked at Daniel sprawled sideways in the bed on his stomach, an arm wrapped around her thigh. He was definitely naked too. Not that it was an unpleasant sight, but she couldn’t quite piece together the end of their night. Rubbing her head, she strained to think. She remembered them drinking a lot of rum punch as they danced, and then their driver bringing them back to the resort. Daniel had kissed her and then there was a fuzzy recollection of a very good reason for both of them to be naked. And as far as Nina could recall, Paulina Pruitt was very wrong about her evaluation of Daniel’s skills. Nina sat there absorbing the realization of what had transpired. They had certainly crossed a threshold; she only hoped that for Daniel, it was more than a boozy fling. She noticed a condom wrapper on the nightstand, so at least they hadn’t been completely stupid.
There was a loud knock on the door of the caba?a, and then Nina heard the door opening. She untangled herself from Daniel, wrapped the sheet around her, and called out, “We’re not up yet,” hoping that it was housekeeping as she ran to lock the door. Nothing quite prepared her for the sight of Elsa standing in their little living room.
Elsa looked like she had just eaten a dozen lemons when she saw Nina in the sheet. Nina froze, trying to surreptitiously wind the sheet a little tighter. After a long pregnant pause, Elsa spoke, “Well, well, well. I truly underestimated the Lowell hoi polloi. I suppose gold digging is incredibly motivational.”
Nina chewed at her lower lip. Anything she could think of to say seemed wrong, but saying nothing somehow seemed worse. It was, she felt, unfair for her to face the music alone.
“Daniel, we have a guest.” Slowly Nina backed toward the bedroom, “If you’ll excuse me, we weren’t expecting anyone, and I’m going to get dressed.” Suddenly, she broke and dashed into the bedroom, slamming the door.
Daniel, thankfully, had his sweatpants on, and Nina looked at him, horrified. “Elsa is out there. I thought it was housekeeping. She saw me like this.”
“Please don’t freak out, Nina, I’ve known Elsa my whole life. I—I told her that it was getting serious between us.”
Nina started to cry, “Can you please make her go away? She hates me, and I’m still trying to process what happened after a lot of rum punch.” Daniel came and put his arms around her, “It’s okay, please don’t cry. I know Elsa comes off like a tough nut, but it’s just because she’s protective of me. Once you two get to really know each other, everything will be fine.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t think she really wants that to happen.”
Daniel kissed her, “This is like the zip line—please trust me.” He wiped at Nina’s tears with his thumbs. “It makes me sad to see you cry, and well, I know the punch may not have been the best idea, but it doesn’t change the fact I care about you.” Nina nodded. “Get dressed, I’ll deal with Elsa.”
“What is going on in that pretty little noggin of yours?” Elsa hissed when Daniel emerged from the bedroom. “Please tell me this was an accident. She’s a gold digger Daniel, she’s just after your money.”
“You know, I seem to recall that you’re the one who decided to wave DeVere money in front of her. Until then, she was minding her own business.”
“Well, yes, but now she has delusions of grandeur!”
“Nina is not delusional. She is probably the first genuinely good woman I have ever been interested in—you should be happy about that.”
Elsa searched for some way to tarnish Nina in Daniel’s eyes, “She’s making getting this deal done complicated. You haven’t lost sight of why you’re here, have you?”
“So now I impress Arturo with a real relationship instead of a fake one—what’s wrong with that?”
Temporarily out of ammunition, Elsa relented. “So Arturo is getting back today, introduce Nina, and then I’m taking her off to do some Foundation business while you solidify the deal. You don’t need her mooning around, gumming up the works.”
“Is that really necessary?” Daniel found it difficult to stand up to Elsa, though.
“If she’s going to be promoted to field coordinator, then by god, she’s going to have to learn how to do it, right?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning to pick Nina up right after breakfast. Tell the little tart to be ready.”
“Elsa, I really care about her, and if you care about me, you’ll be nicer to Nina—or it’s really going to start affecting our relationship. Be respectful.”
“Whatever Daniel.” But Elsa’s mouth was a hard straight line as she walked out the door.
Back in the bedroom, Nina was trembling as she tried to brush her hair. She’d managed to put on a long linen skirt and a tank top, but Elsa had really unnerved her, and sleeping with Daniel seemed to have changed everything. The thought of three million dollars hanging in the air, and Elsa’s remarks about her being a gold digger, made her feel like a high priced call girl. Had she really sold out her integrity for an apartment and medical bills and tuition fees? She couldn’t look at Daniel as he came back in the room, but he watched how her hands were shaking and went to where she sat at the end of the bed.