It would be the national championship all over again. Never coming in first, always falling short.
“I knew you’d argue.”
Dane’s words barely registered before he bent and picked her up. With one arm behind her back and the other behind her knees, he headed toward the master bath. Stella laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes.
“You should go,” she murmured. “I’ll take a quick bath to relax, but you should already be in your room sleeping like the rest of the guests.”
Dane eased her onto the edge of the Jacuzzi tub. “If I left, you’d fall asleep in the bathtub and drown. Now get your clothes off.”
He started the water, testing it with his hand and completely ignoring her as she started working on each button.
“You really didn’t stay for sex?” she asked, shrugging out of her dress.
Dane’s focus turned to her, his dark eyes raking over her bare skin. The hunger just as apparent as when he’d been touching her earlier.
“You’ll be wide-awake when I have you.”
He stood straight up and glanced around the spacious bath. He went to the vanity and searched through the basket he’d had delivered, pulling out products before settling on one. He flicked the top, sniffed, seemed to nod in agreement with himself and dumped the entire bottle into the bath.
Stella laughed. “That’s a bit much and one hell of an expensive bath.”
He set the empty bottle back on the vanity. “I’ll buy you more.”
Stella couldn’t wrap her mind around this guy. Who was he? Other than a perfect stranger who’d swept into her life just as fiercely as the storm threatening the mountain.
But...was Dane a threat? He hadn’t shown any sign of that and she truly didn’t believe he worked for her father. That idea had popped into her head due to stress and exhaustion from dealing with, well, everything.
Stella removed her bra and panties and slid into the warm bath. She didn’t even try to suppress the moan as she let the heat and fragrant bubbles envelop her. She leaned back against the cushioned bath pillow and closed her eyes.
“Don’t let me drown,” she muttered.
Dane’s chuckle carried from the room, as did his footsteps over the hardwood floor. Maybe if she just relaxed for a few minutes and let someone else take care of her she could revive herself.
Letting someone else have control certainly wasn’t the norm for her. Since her mother passed during childbirth, Stella had spent her whole life figuring out how to take care of herself.
Her father often blamed her for her mother’s death. He punished her with a strict childhood that always kept Stella in line. By the time she was a teen, she realized that he was an angry, bitter man, lashing out over the loss of his wife. Being left with a daughter when he’d wanted a son hadn’t helped matters.
Still, he was the only parent she knew and she wanted...something. At first she wanted acceptance, then she wanted acknowledgment. Now...
Stella opened her eyes and blinked against the burn. She hadn’t cried in so long and she certainly didn’t like feeling so vulnerable. But was it too much to ask to just be loved by a parent? Was she that hard to accept and let in?
“Here you go.” Dane strode back into the room and set the stemless wineglass on the edge of the garden tub. “Oh, no.”
He stared down at her as he took a seat next to her glass. “Why the tears?”
Dane reached out and swiped the pad of his thumb over her cheeks and Stella’s heart thumped. She’d known him such a short time, yet she felt some strange connection to him, yet she truly didn’t know him all that well.
“It’s just been a long day,” she replied, offering a smile. “The bath does help and the wine is a definite perk.”
“I’m not sure how much this is helping if you’re upset.” He cocked his head and continued to look at her with worry etched over his ruggedly handsome face. “I only stepped out for a minute.”
Stella curled her fingers around her wineglass and lifted it to her lips. Bubbles slid down her arm and dripped back into the water. She let the cool, crisp, fruity blend calm her and make her think of happier times. There were happy times...weren’t there?
“Have you ever wanted something so badly, living your whole life for that moment when you’d get it, but once you got there, you realized maybe you’re just a fool and it was never in your reach at all?”
She was babbling, she knew, but she risked a glance at Dane and noted the sympathy had turned to understanding and maybe a dose of anger. The muscle in his jaw clenched and he merely offered a clipped nod.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be what my father wants,” she went on. “I’m not sure I want to be, honestly. I’ll never understand how he couldn’t just love me for me. Why we can’t just be father and daughter. But after all this time, it’s just not going to happen. Is it?”