Heartbeats in Moonlight

Part 86

His hands came off the door and he threaded his fingers through her hair, grabbing a fist full as he leaned in to hold her in place as he kissed the breath out of her. "Open your mouth." David demanded against her lips. His tongue laved at the seam of his lips, then his teeth nipped to add demand. "Now." She resisted for all of a second. And then she dissolved. She dropped her handbag so that she could use both hands to hold onto him.

"Fuck." He growled against her throat as he worked his way down her neck, to her shoulders. It appears she favoured dresses with shoestring shoulder straps, given they had snapped the shoestring straps earlier this day, he was more careful. With her head thrown back, he gently imprinted his mark on her throat.

He was about to ease one of the shoestring shoulder straps off her shoulder when he heard the voice on the other side of the door. David automatically backed into the door, David broke the kiss and leaned his weight against the door, leaving the person on the other side baffled by the fact the door couldn't budge. David heard a mutter from the other side. Then it became quiet and David turned his head to plant his ear against the door to see if he could heard anything outside.

Ella took that moment to step back. Breathing hard she stood and looked at him. Breathing hard he turned his head and he simply stood looking at her.

"Let me out of here." She told him softly. For several seconds he said nothing. She bobbed down to pick up her handbag.

The smile that appeared did nothing to settle her heart. "You need to fix your hair." He said, reaching for the door handle. "I'll wait for you outside. You, your father and I need to talk."

"I don't think so." She cringed.

"Oh, sweetheart, that's where you're wrong." He told her calmly, but she could see the passion that still burned, "I'm not drunk tonight. You owe me."

"What?" She scowled at him.

"For services rendered. And I aim to collect tonight." But with your father on side, he told himself. With that he opened the door and stepped out of the cloakroom.

While he was waiting for Ella to emerge from the cloakroom, he saw her father. And after a few seconds of consideration, David approached him. The group around him, excused themselves and left David with Ella's father. And David took the opportunity to broached what had, or more to the point, what hadn't happened ten years ago.

A few minutes later she emerged and he was standing a few feet away from the door. And he was talking to her father! She glared at both of them. Then she turned around on her heels and marched off in the opposite direction, muttering quietly.

She'd barely made it a few feet when Rory appeared at her side. "Hey, I wondered where you'd got to. I missed you." He draped a casual arm along her shoulder and pulled her closer. "Come on...."

David continued to talk to her father, but he felt his blood boil when he saw her date-leech arrive and he had practically draped himself all over her. His eye's narrowed.

"I think I'll call it a night." Ella told Rory, as she headed for the elevators. She was not going to risk bumping into David again. That kiss had been way to potent.

"What?" Rory looked at her puzzled, "It is just gone eleven. The night is young."

She smiled and made an effort not to look behind her shoulder. "You stay. I'm tired." She didn't notice the way David was watching them.

"You do look a bit, well, I don't know what, but, different, I guess."

"I just need some sleep." She folded her arms to cover the fact her nipples were distended and she hoped that Rory wouldn't notice the hickey on her neck.

"I'll walk you to your door."

"I'm staying here remember." She pinned on a smile. "There's no need."

He grinned. "I'll see you to your room, then maybe check with reception what else goes on in this town." He didn't move in these circles, and if his cousin hadn't married Gabriella's father, Rory wouldn't know these people. Rugby wasn't his thing. And if he was going to spend the night in Auckland, then he was going to check out the party scene. "Do you think the reception will know of any nightclubs around here?"

"Da Cinco." She told him as they stepped into the lift. "Around the corner."

"Great." He said. "I'm going to get out of this gear and head out. As I said, the night is young!"

The lift closed, and David was about ready to hang, draw and quarter that man. By the time he'd managed to make his excuses and leave her father, the lift doors had closed. He'd hit the other lift button, and while he waited for it, he'd watched to see which floor they stopped at. He couldn't work out what was going on. But he was pretty sure that her date was not a real date. As he watched the lift lights as it passed the levels on its way down, David's brow furrowed. But a thought registered in this brain: Ella was a fighter not a flier! In his gut, he knew Ella's character. She was not running away. She was taking time.

"She's in 1006." Her father told him and watched the surprise register in David's eyes.

"I should have done this ten years ago." David announced.

"Yes. I know."

"I thought she was running away. But I know her. I really know her. She wasn't running away."

"What do you mean?"

"Your daughter faces things, but she takes time. If your daughter has to make a decision, if she has opportunities, she will take time to review her options. Move away, just to think without the distractions.

Her father smiled. "I am pleased that you know my daughter's nature. Sounds like you really know here." He placed a hand on David's shoulder, "1006." Her father told him again. "And don't ever upset my daughter again."

David looked at the man who had managed him all those years ago, "I'll try not to, but I need to set her straight on a few things, and it might upset her." They had a lot to talk about.

"You'd better hope not." Ella's father raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." David's lift arrived. "But she can't leave every time she has a problem with me."

"That might have something to do with me."

David squared his shoulder.

"I gave her some advice after that incidence, ten years ago." Her father said quietly.

"To stay away from me?" David looked directly at him.