CHAPTER 2

Daniel followed Wilhelmina down the corridor of her building, watching her form get closer and closer to her door of her place. She walked like she had three men walking behind her. His heart was beating a mile a minute. His palms were still balmy from the moment he jumped in the town car. He could feel his pulse in his ears. The blood in his ears rushed so quickly he felt lightheaded. He was nervous. Why he agreed he couldn't even answer for himself. He couldn't back down now. He coaxed himself to stay for one drink and keep things civil, respectful.

As the keys rattled in the door, Wilhelmina looked over her shoulder and gave Daniel a smirk as the door hinged open. She noticed his nervousness. Daniel definitely did not have a poker face. She could read him like a book that she had read a hundred times. The small smirk was more than a polite nod. She recognized the power she had at that moment. It felt good.

He watched her cross the threshold and step aside letting him into the foyer. Daniel felt Wilhelmina's eyes follow him as he scanned his surroundings. The apartment was a lot to visually take in, Daniel noted, in its ornateness and styling. The view was spectacular. His thoughts were broken by her voice.

"What would you like to drink? Vodka? Scotch? Brandy?"

"Vodka's good."

She threw her fur coat on the chair and placed her keys on the side table, never taking her eyes of him. In part it was amusing teasing him and in part she was testing her clout with him. "Take a seat, make yourself comfortable." Daniel did as he was told. He took a seat on the red chair across from the crème satin couch. He comfortably leaned back in the chair and let its plushness envelop him. With one hand Daniel began to fuss with his bow tie, never breaking eye contact with her. He tried to read her movements, facial expressions. This woman was a fortress. She never led up. His eyes travelled the room as she crossed his path and walked toward the suspended fireplace. Wilhelmina picked up the remote of the side table and started the contraption with such swiftness it was like the devil appeared in front of him. She continued on her way to her expansive and expensive liquor collection on the opposite side of the room. Finally undoing the tie, he unbuttoned his shirt and welcomed the coolness of the air on his clammy skin. Wilhelmina turned her back to Daniel preparing the cocktails. He just watched her in silence. He stood up from his seat and removed his suit jacket.

She felt his presence shift through her peripheral vision and she said with her back turned to him "You nervous?"

"No." Daniel shot with quick timing, his voice not betraying him.

"No?" She questioned. Daniel knew her eyebrow shot up and her lips pursed. He knew her that well based on her patronizing tone. He was challenged at that moment by her ego and he accepted her challenge with an equally dry, low tone "Maybe a little…but that's only because I worry as to where you're going to stash my body?"

He watched her from behind as her body shifted from her throaty chuckle. She turned to face him and picked up the cocktails as she slithered toward him. Slow and tantalizingly shifting her hips "Very funny. I'll do a lot of things, but I think even I would stop short of murder." She handed him his drink and stood in front of his open legs. Staring her in the eye, Daniel reached for the short crystal glass she stretched out in front of him and said "Well I guess I can breath a sigh of relief." She clinked her glass with his and they both took a sip of their drinks, never breaking the eye contact. If this was Wilhelmina's game of luring in her prey, Daniel couldn't help but think she was the master of seduction, but he tried to stay level headed because with her he knew anything was possible. Even standing in front of him, Daniel felt his body betray him as his mind worked overtime.

Wilhelmina turned on her heel and tried to get the last word in as she retreated to the crème, satin sofa across from Daniel. "Besides alcohol dilutes the blood, so I don't want to make more of a mess than necessary on my new rug." She cocked her eyebrow at him and crossed her legs strategically to the side where her dress split open. Daniel watched her body lay across the love seat. Her arms stretched along the length of the backrest as her lower body revealed her long legs. The same legs he was intrigued by earlier that evening. Daniel ran his free hand through the scruff of his face and he rubbed his chin, in part from his nerves and partly due to his unfamiliar arousal he had neglected since Molly's death. Wilhelmina loved the game and was a master at driving men crazy.

Daniel decided to knock her off a peg and spin the control back in his corner, "Level with me then, why did you invite me here tonight?"

"You're sparkling personality." She dryly lured as she brought her glass to her lips and looked at him deep in his piercing blue eyes.

"Funny, I assumed you needed someone to give it to you good" Wilhelmina choked on the bitter liquid heating her throat. A devilish grin spread across Daniel's lips as he watched her struggle for a second.

"That's no way to speak to a lady."

"This is true. But I would hardly classify you as a delicate flower."

"Ok Meade. You want to play this game with me. Strip."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"You first."

Wilhelmina took the challenge and knew how she was going to spin this. She did as she was told. She got up from the sofa and took the few short steps to Daniel, tantalizing him between his legs. She downed the ruminants of the vodka trapped in her glass and loudly slammed it down on the table beside him. She slowly reached across her body to the side of her dress and lowered the zipper as its sound screeched across the salon.

Daniel began to panic. His eyes got wider and the sweat began to form on his brow. He could feel his heart pound through his chest. Wilhelmina ever so coolly slipped the gown to the floor with one swift motion, revealing her strapless balconette bra and barely-there undergarments. Daniel swallowed hard not believing what was happening in front of him. Wilhelmina was drunk with power at this moment. This was her favorite feeling, when she knew she had a man by his vices.

She steadied herself across the arms of the chair Daniel sat in. She slowly leaned in desperately close to him, with enough room to intensify the heat between them. She whispered in his ear "Is this what you want Daniel? You think you can handle me?" She gently brushed her lips up the length of his ear and continued coaxing him "hmmm?" Her perfume engulfed his senses, making him feel like he downed the whole bottle of vodka. "Aren't you going to give it to me…good?" Daniel still holding his glass of vodka lifted the glass to his lips and turned his head back to her and returned the favor with a throaty tone, rather than a whisper "You are insatiable. But I won't."

"Why's that?" Her voice still husky as she retreated enough to look him in the eye with her bedroom eyes.

"Because I know you don't want to really do this. This is a game to you."

Intrigued by his statement she called him out, "How can you be so sure?" He reached up and placed both his hands on her face and brought her face closer to his, temptingly close to his lips. They both instinctively closed their eyes anticipating the turn the moment could take. She could smell the sweet ruminants of vodka on his breath as Daniel softly breathed, "I know you Wilhelmina."

Her eyes shot open. Wilhelmina could feel the rage start to rise in her, like the devil had awaked in her. Cocky son of a -"You know nothing" she barked. Sensing her tone Daniel released the gentle touch, as she still leaned over him. He responded looking her dead in the eye "You challenged me. I upped the ante. And now I see through your bluff. If this ever happens I want you at your knees. I want you desperately needing it, not like this." His bravado and cockiness really started to rattle Wilhelmina's cage. She stood upright in front of him with attitude, arms crossed, leaning her weight on one leg ready to rip a strip off Daniel "Cocky, cocky little boy. You have no idea…"

Daniel stood up from his seat and accepted her challenge. He planted his two feet square and cut her off "No I know more about you and how you operate better than anyone. This makes you feel good. It gets your juices flowing. You are a power hungry bitch and you are the master of mind games, temptation, lust and greed. It comes from your years of hurt and rejection. And it pisses you off that I know you almost as well as you know yourself, hence the games. That makes me a man because I can handle you and take you for what you are and not what I want you to be. Remember my words, every relationship you've had to date, you dated boys. They never lasted because they were BOYS! I meant what I said tonight, Connor was the biggest idiot in the world letting you go. I lost my wife to disease and I know now more than ever what it is like to be a man and stand by someone through the worst of times. Whether you like it or not, I am the one man in your life who knows you and can handle you. That's why I won't fall for this. When I have you, I want it to be all of you, not this part of you."

"Get the hell out of my house you smug son of a bitch!" In her fit of rage, Wilhelmina reached for the glass on the side of the table and launched it against the wall behind Daniel to scare him and regain some of her power. His eyes burned with intensity from his little speech and the shock of the sound of the crystal shattering. Wilhelmina's eyes reflected the flames burning in the room. Her chest heaved from intensity and her breath was unsteady. Everything began to blur in front of her. It all came bubbling up like lava. The rhythm of her breath steamed like a locomotive, moving faster and faster as the fuel of Daniel's words registered in her mind. She was so ashamed of what had transpired moments ago. She was saddened by the events of the last few weeks. Wilhelmina's heart broke in front of Daniel. Her resolve crumbled. Her strength faltered. Wilhelmina finally broke down in tears, the tears she held back for years.

Daniel instinctively reached for her broken form. The cry so intense that she held on to him for dear life. He said nothing. He just held her and supported her in silence, unsure what the ramifications of his words had really done. Wilhelmina's power was now all laid out on the floor of her condo, her dress in a heaping pile which once was her weapon of seduction, her liquid courage spilled from her vicious attack, her intensity reflected in the shards of broken crystal and all that was left was her spirit that was now crumbling in Daniel's arms.