Boxed Set: At the Billionaire’s Command – Vol. 1-3 by Lucy Jones Page A

when I started to feel ill; he told the stewardesses, collected my luggage, managed to find out where I had been taken and it was Vincent who sat with me until I woke up."
As the tears rose in my throat, my voice started to shake and my speech became slower. It was a bit unfair to turn Vincent’s help into a reproach against Daniel, but I wanted to show him that he was wrong to get carried away.
    "He’s a bit pale, your good samaritan.”
His words were contemptuous, but his tone was not. I decided not to respond, he was just provoking me in return.
Daniel came and sat down on the bed and gently caressed my eyelids with the inside of his index finger to chase away the tears.
We calmed down in the ensuing silence and a different kind of tension arose between us.
    "Forgive me. I’m exhausted. I was really scared."
    Daniel’s hand had not left my face; he was stroking my cheek affectionately. After a while, he continued:
    "The doctor monitoring you said you can leave this evening. I’ll come and collect you.
I smiled faintly and nodded my head in agreement
    Daniel’s palm covered half of my face, from my forehead to my chin. He left his hand like that and I closed my eyes. This gesture said so much, it was so tender and so comforting. It said that all his worry was over, it said,
“everything will be ok”
, it said he had been waiting for this moment and wanting to touch my skin again. I sighed with relief and happiness at being with him and also with pleasure.
    Daniel brought his face close to mine and his lips brushed against my lips. He did not press, just brushed from left to right, from bottom to top, as if he was looking through touch. I inhaled the scent of our reunion. Daniel ran his tongue along my lower lip, nibbling and brushing against it and then began again. His touch was so soft and so sensual that it made me tremble slightly. His lips sank slightly into mine. The pressure they exerted was precise and deliberate. His tongue slipped between my lips, inviting me to open my mouth and welcome it in. It found mine. And our tongues joined and merged together and our mouths twisted, devoured each other and became as one. All our waiting, all our memories and all our hopes were concentrated in the intensity of that kiss; it expressed all our desire. That kiss was so strong in its gentleness, so unknown yet familiar at the same time and so delectable. That kiss was like the very first kiss.
    We caught our breath, forehead to forehead.
    "I have to go."
Daniel took my lower lip between his and sucked it gently. He leant his forehead against mine again.
    "I really have to go."
He kissed my eyelids, then stood up, adjusting his suit jacket as he did so. I watched him walk away.
    "Really? Aren’t you staying?"
He was at the door, but he stopped and turned round. His expression revealed nothing of his recent passion.
    "I really hate hospitals and I have some urgent business to take care of: two good reasons not to stay."
And me? Am I not a “good reason”? Is being with me not “reasonable”?
    "I’ll come back and collect you. I’ll take you somewhere quiet, far from the bustle of the city… and far from Vincent,” he said, as he left the room.
    A few minutes later, Vincent, who had wisely waited for Daniel to leave, came back into the room.
    "Well, he’s not all that easy-going, your friend."
    "I’m sorry about the way he spoke to you. He also apologised. He was waiting for me at the airport and he was mad with worry when he didn’t see me come out. He hasn’t slept all night. He wasn’t expecting to see you here…”
    "And he’s very jealous,” joked Vincent.
    "No doubt…"
    Vincent spent the rest of the day at my bedside. His presence distracted me from Daniel’s absence. I would’ve liked him to stay with me, would’ve liked to be worth staying for. He was there, like an apparition and then he vanished again. He’d abandoned me; left me stuck in this cold, spotless hospital room. Then I