The Sin Bin Ch. 03

Damien looked skeptical. "You liked a slob like me?"

"You're not a slob and I've never called you that." She pointed a finger at him. "Don't assume I ever thought that about you."

He said nothing so Maria took another step closer. "I went out with you because you asked, Damien, and I liked you, period. No buts, no stipulations, nothing. I liked you, plain and simple."

He looked like he might believe her. "Then what was with the way you were acting tonight?"

She drew in a deep breath and clenched her hands together to keep from reaching for him. "It was stupid."

"Try me."

"I'm not good with events like that one tonight."

"Because of your escort?"

"No. It had nothing to do with you, truly." She stared at him, hoping to make him understand. "I've never liked being in a room full of people I don't know and having to mingle. I suck at small talk and the more nervous I feel, the more of an ass I make of myself."

Damien's expression softened a degree. Maria took it as a good sign. She plunged on.

"Rick told me when he broke things off that he thought I wasn't smart enough to be his date for things like this. I was too unsophisticated and didn't know how to conduct myself around a certain class of people."

Damien's eyes widened before they narrowed, his brow furrowing. Maria swallowed and continued.

"I had never really given it much thought before but ever since he said that to me, I've felt so self-conscious about being in a big group of people." She waved a hand between them. "At the game, when you were shmoozing with all those hockey big-wigs, I felt like a bump on a log. I'd never felt so useless in my whole life."

"I never meant to make you feel that way."

"I know you didn't." Maria took another step and reached out to take his hand. "I never thought you did. This was always me, my own thoughts turning against me. I thought since Rick told me I was no good at anything like that, that it must be true."

"Rick is an asshole."

A giggle escaped Maria and she saw Damien's expression lighten again. "I won't argue with you on that."

"So tonight, when you introduced us, and said my bar was a club, you thought that would improve his opinion of me?"

Maria thought about it and tried to remember what had possessed her to say what she had at any point during the night. "I don't know why I said that. It was stupid and I'm so sorry that I made you feel like I thought you were inadequate. I don't think that. I think you're wonderful."

To her amazement, he looked embarrassed by her simple praise. He lifted his free hand to rub the back of his neck.

"You are, Damien. You could have drowned yourself in gallons of booze when your hockey career ended but you didn't."

"I tried, at first."

She smiled. "But you didn't. You turned your life around and turned this bar into a warm, welcoming place that people love to come to."

"That's not what you first thought when you came in."

She shrugged. "Not at first. First impressions can be deceiving. I've always tried to give people and places the benefit of the doubt."

Damien sighed and took her hands in both of his. Her heart leapt and she swallowed hard as she looked up into his eyes.

"Then why didn't you do the same when it came to you?"

She looked down at their hands. "I don't know. I don't know how I let Rick's words get to me. I may not have grown up in the big city or gone to boarding school with the rich kids, but I'm not an idiot. I graduated from university and worked my way up to a great position at the hotel."

"Yes, you did. You're an amazing woman, Maria."

"Thank you." She felt warm from the inside out at his kind words. "I have no explanation for why Rick got to me but he did. Until tonight."

Damien raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She gave him a wide smile. "I told him off. I realized I was being stupid for ever having listened to him and I let him know exactly what I thought of him."

Damien laughed and pulled her close for a hug. "That's great. I wish I could have seen it. But wait." He stepped back and put his hands on her arms. "He's not going to try to use this against you, is he? Because if he fires you over a personal issue, you can sue his ass off."

Maria smiled and shook her head. "I doubt he'd fire me over this. He'd have to explain why and he wouldn't want to do that. And anyway, if he did, I could make a few calls and find something new anyway."

"Really? How?"

"After I gave Rick a piece of my mind, I talked to some of the people at the party. I met Jane Carver and she gave me her card."

Damien grinned and the look he gave her made Maria feel so relieved. Maybe he forgave her for being such a fool for the past week.

"I'm so proud of you, Maria."

"Damien, I'm so sorry for making you feel the way you did. I should have told you before what was going on in my head but I was afraid you'd think the same thing about me." She blushed and looked away. "After the way you were with those people at the game, I was afraid to let you know I couldn't keep up."

He laughed and pulled her into his arms. "Oh, Maria. As if I care what those guys at the arena or in the Leafs organization think. I would never worry about having some society matron with me."

Maria smiled. She knew now how foolish she'd been.

"And besides, you would have been fine if you'd relaxed and been yourself." He cupped a palm around her cheek. "Like Stephanie told you tonight. Just be yourself."

Maria sighed and leaned into his hand. "I know that now."

"Good. Because I don't intend to keep you locked inside forever. I want to be able to show my girlfriend off now and again."

"Me too." Maria smiled. "Well, my boyfriend, anyway."

He chuckled and kissed her. They held each other for a long minute and Maria inhaled his familiar scent of cologne and soap. She had never been so relieved in her life.

"So you forgive me."

His expression was soft as he nodded. "There's really nothing to forgive."

He kissed her again, sliding his hand around to the back of her neck to hold her in place as he slipped his tongue between her lips. Maria felt her heart pounding harder and her blood roared in her ears.

God, his kisses melted her insides, every single time.

All of a sudden, he withdrew and pulled her towards the far wall, where the jukebox was.

"We never did dance tonight."

Maria laughed. "So?"

Damien dropped a coin in the machine and made a selection. The strains of some old rock ballad came on a second later and Maria smiled.

"Will you dance with me now?"

"Yes. I'd love to."

He pulled her into his arms and wrapped a hand around her waist as he took her other hand in his. They shifted and moved around the small empty space of floor in front of the jukebox for a minute without speaking.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

Maria felt her cheeks warm but nodded. "Right back at you."

He laughed and pulled her closer. She rested her head on his chest and let out a deep sigh as he continued to move them around in a slow, wide circle.

"Damien."

"Yes?"

She lifted her head and searched his eyes. She felt like she was floating on a cloud and maybe if she hadn't been making so many life changing revelations tonight, she wouldn't have the urge to do this.

"This may be too soon to say this, but I don't care. I don't want you to ever doubt how I feel about you."

His dancing slowed and they stopped a few feet in front of the jukebox. "What?"

She bit her lip and then said it. "I love you, Damien. I think I've loved you almost from the first moment I met you."

He didn't say anything, his eyes growing wider with every word.

"Is that corny?"

He shook his head and lifted both hands to hold her face. "Is it corny that I love you too?"

Her breath caught and she shook her head as much as she could with him holding her. "Not at all."

"Good." He grinned. "If it is corny, at least we're not alone in it."

She giggled and nodded. Then he kissed her. This kiss didn't end right away. It grew hotter, and more intense and Maria felt herself spinning until Damien pressed her against the jukebox. As he did, the song clicked off and the disc clunked back into its holding space. Damien lifted his head for a moment and Maria smiled up at him.

"Looks like we've come full circle."

He nodded. "Yeah. I just have one question for you."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Do you have a ride home?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No. I'm afraid you'll have to take me home."

"To whose home?" He leaned close, crowding out everything but the sight of his dark blue eyes boring into hers.

"Take me home, Damien."

He nodded and kissed her breathless before taking her hand. He led her out of the bar and drove her the short distance to his building.

He took her up to his apartment and peeled that sexy dress off her luscious body, kissing every inch of her as it was revealed. Then he made love to her with a hunger and passion that she didn't know he possessed. Later, exhausted and content, Maria succumbed to sleep, but not before she heard his murmured words of love. And this time, she was sure of what she heard.