Valiance And Love | ✓

Chapter Ten

To succeed in life,
you need two things :
confidence and ignorance.

-
Mark Twain

_______________

Lying in the bed with my bare feet on the bed and my head on a pillow, I rest the book I'm reading against my chest and look out the window, watching the sky darken and a tree sway in the breeze.

"Allison, tell me," Hope requests, sitting on the U shaped couch in my room. I turn towards her with a grin.

"Tell me, your interest in Daniel is personal, isn't it?" Excited at the prospect, she leans forward, her eyes bright and inquisitive.

I stare back at her without blinking. "How long have I employed you, Hopine?" I ask, holding my huge teddy closer.

"Four years, nine months, eighteen days,” comes the immediate answer. She checks her watch. "And twelve hours."

"Four years," I repeat coolly. "And in all that time, have you ever known me to take a personal interest in a man?"

She hesitates, her smile fading. "No."

"There's your answer."

She turns the iPad to face me. Displayed above the list of facts she's compiled in her research are two pictures. One shows Daniel in a formal business pose, in suit and tie, standing with his arms folded over his chest and his legs spread as he stares unsmiling into the camera. He looks handsome but distant, the epitome of a focused, successful entrepreneur.

The other picture is a close-up of his face. Casual and unposed, it was taken outdoors. The sun gleams in his hair. His eyes are half-closed against the light. His head is tilted back a little, and he's wearing a boyish, unselfconscious grin, looking at whoever took the picture with a dreamy glint in his eyes.

His gorgeous, come-hither bedroom eyes.

Blue. Such a lackluster word for the glory of blue, and grey together in one ever-shifting canvas. I wish I could see him like this again. Free, cool and in his full glory but all I can find in Daniel is anxiousness, arrogance and anger.

Hope says, "You're telling me this face does nothing for you? Holy mother! This guy does nothing to you? How can you be immune to his beauty?"

I have to press my lips together so I don’t smile. She knows many of my secrets, but the effect Daniel Avery has on me is not something I'm going to share. Ever.