Hope

Chapter Sixteen

"Yeah, I may have heard about her in passing from a few people."

"Well it's true. Even when I was proposing to Claire, it was because we had been together for so long that I thought it was the next step in our relationship. I never thought that I would ever be able to feel this much for someone," he kissed me softly. "I was going to tell you last night with dinner and a little romance, but now is as good a time as any."

I started to get a little frightened, because I was pretty sure I knew what he was going to say, "Danny..."

He placed a finger to my lips, "Let me say what I need to." I nodded, "I know that we haven't know each other that long, and maybe this is too soon. But, I've never felt so close to anyone before I met you. You've managed to become such a big part of my life with your beauty and grace." He kissed me again, "I love you, Rose."

Even though I knew what he was going to say, I was still taken aback. I brought my hands up to his face and kissed him hard. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I undulated my hips back and forth over him, enjoying the feeling of him hardening beneath me. When I needed to take a breath, I pulled my face away from his, "I..."

"You don't have to say anything that you don't mean, babe. I just wanted you to know how I felt."

"Can I talk now?" I asked him cheekily. He nodded and I laughed, resting my forehead on his shoulder for a brief second, "I started falling for you when you bought me that strawberry bubble bath. Then when you came home that first time from the fire while I was still in the tub, you looked at me with such ferocity that I wanted to crawl out of the water and fuck you so bad. I'm definitely falling for you, Danny, hard and fast. I wish I could tell you that I loved you with all my heart right now, but I'm fast on my way to meeting you there."

Finally, the sad look was completely gone from his eyes, "Babe, I only want you to say it back to me when you feel it. The fact that you are falling for me, god it is one of the best things I've heard in a long time." His hands slipped under my shirt and lifted it over my head. I hadn't bothered with a bra when I was throwing on clothes, so his mouth immediately went to cover one of my nipples, sucking on it as his teeth nibbled.

I couldn't help but move harder against his hips, feeling an orgasm building even though we were still mostly clothed. When one of his hands went up to my hair and pulled my head back as he bit down on my nipple, I came hard. I felt shaky, but I stood up and pushed my pants down my legs so I was standing there completely naked.

He sat there and stared at me, "Fuck babe, you are so bloody gorgeous." He stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the house and towards the living room. Stopping, he kissed me hard before turning me around and pushing me over the back of the couch. His hands grabbed my hips and he thrust into me.

"Oh god," I looked over my shoulder at him. "Fuck me now, please." He moved in and out of me slowly, which felt fucking fantastic but just kept me barely on the edge. I tried to push my hips back against him, but his fingers held me in place, "God damn, Danny, I need you to fuck me hard, now."

One of his hands grabbed my hair and pulled my back up into an arch, "Fine babe, if that's what you want." After a few minutes of furious coupling, we came at the same time and he leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder, "I love you so fucking much, babe."

My legs were shaking so hard after so many orgasms that Danny picked me up and carried me into his bedroom. He left and went into the bathroom, coming back out a few minutes later to pick me up again. When he set me down in the warm water of the bath, I laughed, "You are too good to me Danny. What did I ever do to deserve you?"

He climbed into the tub behind me and pulled me back against him, "Oh babe, I think it's more a question of what I did to deserve you." We laid there in the water pulsating water for a few minutes, "So, I have something I need to ask you about."

"I'll do my best to answer you."

Danny brushed his fingers against the bruise on my arm, "Where did you get this? You didn't have it yesterday before you went to work."

"Can we just enjoy this moment for a little longer before I piss you off." I forced his arms to wrap around my waist and held them there, enjoying his strength, "I'll tell you right now if you insist, but I would rather wait until after the great sex glow has passed."

"Okay babe, I'll hold you to that."

We stayed in the bath until the water cooled. When we had gotten out and were drying off, I could tell that Danny wanted to ask about the bruise but was holding back. I sighed, "Alright, I'll tell you where the bruise came from now, but you need to promise me that you won't go running off and do something stupid, or I won't tell you."

He looked intrigued, "I can't promise that I won't get angry, but I can promise not to do anything about it right now and that I won't be angry at you." Smiling lightly he added, "I want you to be able to tell me anything. If that means controlling my temper, I can do that."

"Well, fuck. Now I really don't want to tell you, because I know this is going to make you mad. It sure as hell makes me mad." I put my hand over the bruise on my arm, almost like I was trying to hide it, "So the cook, Seth, well he's kind of a jackass. I have no idea why he's such an asshole, but apparently he knows something about what happened to me that night."

Danny's eyes narrowed and he got a really angry look on his face, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Look, I know this is shitty and you probably want to go kick his ass or kill him right now, but you need to try and calm down a little so I can tell you the rest of it."

"There's more?" he sighed. "You're right, of course."

"When Daisy called to tell you that I was at the bar with her, Seth came and sat down with me. When I tried to get up, he grabbed my arm really hard and forced me to sit there and listen to what he had to say." I had to look down at the ground to avoid the look in Danny's eyes, "I won't tell you everything he told me, but basically he knew about the tattoo on my hip so he has either seen me naked or someone has told him about it. From the other things he said, I'm pretty sure he knows about my rape, although he didn't talk like it was rape."

Trying to keep his voice even he asked, "Do you think that he is the one who... did he...?"

"No, it wasn't him," I was relieved when Danny relaxed slightly. "He is fucking creepy and I don't really want to spend more time with him than I have to, but I haven't had any flashbacks around him. I was pretty out of it that night, so he could have been there and I just don't remember him."

"If you're certain that he wasn't the one who raped you, then I promise to not kill him the next time I see him. However, I can't promise not to knock him out for treating you the way he has." He pulled me into his arms for a hug, "Do you want me to have a talk with Gerry about him? Or to just talk with Seth? Maybe I can get some more information from him about who you are."

"Please don't do either of those things. I don't want to make things difficult for Gerry, and even if you did have a talk with Seth, he probably wouldn't tell you anything." I didn't want to tell him that Seth probably would tell him things, just not things that I wanted him to know, "Look, I'm trying to move on from what happened. The details of my... attack are really fresh in my mind, but even if he could provide more specifics I'm not sure that I would want to. He wouldn't tell us who did this to me, and considering how asinine he can be, I'm not entirely sure that he would tell us who I am."

"I could make him tell us who did this to you."

"Danny, I couldn't ask you to do that. Nor do I want you to. I like you because you are a good guy, and I don't want this jackass to change who you are just because he might know something about me." I looked up into his face and gave him my best 'pay attention to me I'm being serious' look, "Please, just let this go. I only told you because you asked and I don't want to keep things from you like this."

"Okay, Rose. I won't bother Seth with any questions, but I still can't promise not to knock his on his ass the next time I see him," he walked into his bedroom and started pulling on clothes. "How would you feel about O'Malley's for lunch?"

"That sounds like a perfect idea," I walked over and kissed him as he was buttoning his pants. "I'll go get dressed and we can head over there. I don't have to be at work until the dinner shift today, so we've got plenty of time to hang out and enjoy each other's company for a while longer." I headed out of his room, "I'll meet you in the living room."