1
FOUR YEARS AGO
Daniella ‘Dani’ Moreno put the final touches on the presentation she was preparing for her uncle.
Evensheknew she’d outdone herself this time. This… this, was what was going to snag her the prestigious promotion she’d been working her butt off for the last six months.
You’d think with it being her uncle’s company, she’d be a shoo-in, but her mother’s brother had never been one for blind nepotism. Even his own son, her cousin Luca, had worked his way up from pool boy in one or another of his father’s resorts.
Of course, Luca had still scaled the ladder far quicker than Dani had, but she supposed that was to be expected, since Zio Lorenzo expected him to take over the company one day. Not that Luca wasn’t good at his job; he was. Or that Lorenzo didn’t send Luca on some equally random assignments. He did; like the ‘mystery shopper’ trips he insisted Luca take to check out their resorts as a customer.
But Luca was the apple of his father’s eye, whereas Dani often felt like she was a piece of lint on his custom-tailored suit.Sometimes she thought he wouldn’t have given her a job at all, if her mother hadn’t insisted Dani needed something constructive to do with her time.
Hermadrewas under the mistaken assumption that Dani was going to burn through the inheritance her late grandfather had left her, so even though it went against everything Concetta believed in, she’d insisted the young Dani’s time be filled to stop that from happening… at least until it was time for Dani to settle down and have babies to occupy her time, instead. After all, Dani’s trust fund was supposed to be her dowry. As if she’d let a man anywhere near her money! But she had accepted the job her uncle had offered with glee.
Sure, she’d gone to college and gained her business degree. Paid for with herstronzofather’s money. But it had only been deemed acceptable because, in her mother’s eyes, a good education made her more marriageable, and a good college meant she got to meet a lot of eligible bachelors.
And despite Concetta’s beliefs, Dani’s wealth was secure. She’d always invested the money carefully and right now it was probably worth three or four times the amount she’d been bequeathed. Enough that she could live off of the interest alone if she chose. It was the financial independence she’d always craved.
But damn it, she was excellent at her job. It wasn’t just a filler or something she felt obliged to do because it was family.
She loved it. The hospitality industry was in her blood.
And not only did she deserve this promotion because of her own hard work and dedication, but there was no one even close to her level of competency. As far as Dani was concerned, it was pretty much in the bag.
But that didn’t mean she could rest on her laurels. Doing an exceptional job was a matter of pride for her and she had a constant thirst to learn, to excel at every part of the business ofrunning a resort, so she stood out as an all-rounder and could turn her hand to anything. She was definitely a career woman, no matter what her old-fashioned family thought.
Then again, against every expectation she’d had, and every rule she’d made for herself, Dani had met a man…
Simply thinking of Zack had her heart tripping, just as it always did. She strongly suspected she was in love with him. Not that she had any means of comparison, since she’d never allowed a man close enough to battle through the barriers around her heart before.
She’d embraced her sexuality, just as she’d promised herself a decade ago, choosing to keep all her sexcapades relegated to Club Risqué, the high-class kink club she was a member of. But Zack Kincaid had sneaked through unexpectedly. Against the odds, she trusted him. It helped that he was a renowned billionaire in his own right and therefore didn’t need her money.
The astonishing fact that the very idea of life without him seemed like an abyss of dread, which scared her to death even more than the obnoxious notion of marriage, convinced her this must be what love felt like.
In his arms, she could actually imagine being a wife and mother for the very first time. But with Zack it would be as an equal… except in the bedroom; the only place Dani was prepared to submit.
She smiled a secret smile at the thought of seeing him that night and hurried to finish her presentation so she could leave and get ready for her evening. Because it was also true to say that Zack Kincaid was the only person who could drag her away from her work.
2
Zack walked into Club Risqué and looked around for Dani as he made his way towards the bar.
He always arranged to meet her here. Anything to avoid their hook-ups from seeming too much like a date.
It wasn’t that he objected to their relationship heading into deeper territory. He would have preferred it if he were honest with himself. He was ready to settle down and start a family, but that was out of the question right now, from a moral point of view, if not a physical one. And he didn’t want to lead her on by offering something he wasn’t able to fully commit to. It wasn’t fair on her.
Pushing the bitterness out of his mind, he resolved to enjoy their evening and the time they could spend together.
They were well matched when it came to kink. He’d met her here at this very club, twelve months ago, and in that time, things had evolved so they were now exclusive.
He’d resisted it at first. Didn’t want to give her the wrong impression, but as time had marched on, he found himself less and less interested in entertaining other play partners. He simply couldn’t bear the thought of having sex with anyone but Dani. Like he was being unfaithful or something, even thoughthey didn’t have any kind of genuine relationship that extended beyond hooking up for a kink scene.
And wasn’t that the ultimate irony.
Zack found her talking to a couple of other submissives, and her face lit up when she saw him. She was like a balm to his battered soul.
He walked over and kissed her forehead when she jumped up to greet him. She felt like his safe place. With Dani, everything seemed simple. Oh, he knew it wasn’t, but he liked the illusion. It allowed him those precious moments of peace.
