Danner surprises me.
After staying inside the cabin for about fifteen minutes, he now strolls along with a glass of whiskey in his hand. My heart beats in my throat for the unknown that now follows. He perfectly controls the anger that reigns within him.
Quietly he sits across from me and looks straight into my eyes. "Whatever it is you've got with Dordrich, you're going to end it today," he says with restrained irritation. "I warned you once to stay away from him but you don't listen. Now that you're engaged to me, it has to stop. Now!".
I try to give myself an attitude, there is little point in denying now, the photos speak for themselves. "I'm sorry, Danner, it's just an impulse. It won't happen again. I promise." To reinforce my words, I grab his head between my hands and kiss him full on the lips. "And not only Dordrich, also Aziel and Alex. You are now exclusively mine, no more experiments. You have enough with me".
My face softens, what he says there is the total truth. All my escapades outside of Danner were simply to protect myself in case he broke up with me one day, I wanted to protect myself from the disappointment that would entail. But with his ring now in the works and his public confirmation that I'm the only woman in his life, I'm more confident.
"Alex and Aziel have been fired", I joke to release the atmosphere.
He looks at me seriously. "I saw you two busy in the parking lot that day. The photos are no surprise to me. The only problem is that they ended up with the press. I hope that journalist doesn't use them to blackmail us. It won't end well if she dares to do that". I sigh, you can never be sure with that Alyssa and I'm too proud to ask her not to publish them. I will not give her that victory over me.
"The photos are from a period before we announced our engagement, they will be of no value to her. The trouble is that Dordrich's marriage may be in danger if she publishes them. But his wife must have read the magazines and know that I'm with you now. Maybe we should give a few more TV stations an interview so that they don't miss the coverage". Danner won't let himself be told twice, media sick as he is, he immediately picks up his phone and answers a few Whatsapp messages from media editors that had already approached him for an interview. I listen to him make arrangements for tomorrow with two celebrity news outlets, although I'm sure our engagement is already known everywhere.
He goes into the cabin again to get me a drink and we move to a lounger where we lie in each other's arms enjoying the view over the creek. His arm is wrapped around my body and I lie comfortably against his chest. Suddenly we hear the clicks of a camera and approaching footsteps.
"Don't move!", Danner whispers in my ears. "Let them do their thing. We have nothing to hide. If they thought the pictures they showed would separate us, they have no news today." I relax again and now go deeper against his arms.
Alyssa must be behind this session, I'm so sure. Certainly thought there would be a dramatic back and forth swearing, followed by a heartbreaking break up and has her men lined up for more spicy shots.
Well wrong, miss Alyssa!
Today you are going to work harder to earn your money, you have the wrong fish on the hook. Laughing, I nibble at Danner's earlobes, look, that photographer must still be able to present something to declare his costs to the medium, right?! It would be disappointing and certainly a loss for him to travel such a long road following us, just to return to Alyssa empty-handed. And such free advertising is not going to pass me by. Danner gets in the mood, he turns to me and kisses me deeply and we can't keep our hands off each other.
Take that, Alyssa!
The clicking sounds more aggressive, the man thinks he has some good angles.
"Loraine, I love you. Let's make this work. I promise to be faithful and always look after you". If our spy could also record this, that would be excellent. "I also promise to be faithful, Danner, and to always consider your feelings." We stay like this for half an hour until it's time to leave. As we walk to the car, I take in Danner one more time. I am so lucky to have such an amazingly handsome man, despite being so sought after by women, he chose me. His toned thighs and abs and tanned skin are wonderfully attractive and totally mine.
On a whim, I jump in front of him and kiss him again. Automatically his arm goes around me and he presses me against his warm body. Perhaps I should indeed avoid Dordrich and put him out of my mind altogether. That attraction and lust are temporary, while what I have with Danner has stood the test of time and has a solid foundation.
Maybe it's time to say goodbye to all that sexiness and settle in with this drop gorgeous hunk that every woman envies me for. Happily smiling we climb into the car and drive back to my house. "Loraine, we have to decide where we're going to stay. I can't live apart anymore, I want to wake up next to you and drive you to work and pick you up again", Danner says.
That possessiveness again and we're not even married yet.
"What do you propose?", I ask without hiding my disapproval. He looks up but says nothing about it. "My penthouse is closer to our offices. We can live there until we have kids and it's time to buy a house with a big yard," he says casually.
Kids? Danner is way ahead of business. "That won't happen in the first five years to come. We still have our careers to work on. We'll talk about that again in ten years," I tell him firmly.
"Why that long? It's good to start having children when we're still young. Then we can enjoy them longer," he replies, still as if it's no big deal.
"Danner, not going to happen!".
He doesn't push the matter, just turns on the CD and we do a duet on Mary J. Blidge.
And with that, the good atmosphere is back...