Page 80 of Guarding Zuri
Zuri entered her sitting room and halted. The door closed heavily behind her, causing her to jump.
The broad shoulders. The light hair.
Her breath came in short gasps, her heart jolting painfully against her ribs. She raised her right hand. If she could just touch his cheek, she’d recognize in a moment if the face before her was real or not.
The man stepped forward, further from the glow of the sun from the window behind him that almost blinded her view of him. “Daemon…”
“Hey there, Princess.” He cleared his throat. “My apologies, Madam President. Forgive me.”
Princess.Her ears tingled at the sound of this man’s voice. But it couldn’t be Daemon. Daemon was dead. Long dead.
Her tongue moved around in her open mouth, but she couldn’t get words out. She was viewing an apparition. Her bodyguard was dead—killed eight months ago. Eight. Eight months. She had grieved him, convinced in the finality of his death—or had she really?
He smirked and stalked forward. “You want help with your tongue?”
“No! Not from you.”
“Ah, there she is.” He grinned. “Hello, Zuri.” His eyes drifted down, and she felt naked. Wonderfully exposed. It was really him? “You look absolutely beautiful.”
He kept coming forward, the gorgeous smile she had missed filling her vision. What had she meant when she’d said “no”? Of course, she wanted his help. She wanted all of him. “Daemon…” she whispered, tears wetting her cheeks.
His arms went around her waist. She rested her palms on his chest. “I’m right here, Princess,” he whispered. “It’s not a dream.”
“I thought you were—I was told…”
His lips covered hers. Warm, sweet, real. “Are you convinced?” he breathed against her cheek. Her arms slipped up around his neck. She clutched him, sobbing into his neck. “It’s okay, baby.”
Sobs wracked her body, the grief of his death she’d held inside flowing out in wet, salty tears. Daemon’s arms tightened around her. She had missed his strength. Missed his arms. Missed his lips. Too many nights she had dreamed of his coming to her, shattering the lie of his death. And every morning, the sun had risen, its heat burning away all hope.
“Let it out, Zuri.”
She would be here for days if she did. Her emotions swirled around inside. Her pillows held all the tears for her father, but her love for Daemon had stubbornly imprisoned a sliver of hope, despite the evidence. Her heart had kept lit a tiny flame she had long ignored. Now as that flame torched her heart, joy brought tears to her eyes. She didn’t know how much time had passed as he held her, whispering soothing words into her ear, his hands gliding gently up and down her back.
Eventually, the tears ceased, and she spoke. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she said into his neck.
He angled his head to place a gentle kiss behind her ear. “You thought I’d go down that easy, Princess? How disappointing.”
She chuckled and leaned back to see his face. “David told me you were dead.”
Daemon’s expression briefly hardened as a shadow crossed it, but he smiled and said, “Always have more than one source.”
Zuri’s gaze narrowed. “What do you mean by that? Did David—”
He kissed her long and slow, and she melted into him, her arms going around his neck.Whatever. She didn’t care. He was alive, and that was all that mattered. “How long will you be here?” she asked before kissing him again.
“As long as you want me, Madam President.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that as much.”
Daemon laughed loudly. “Noted, Princess.” He cleared his throat. “And you probably won’t like this. I—David knew I was alive. We agreed not to tell you.”
“What?” She eased out of his arms.
“At the time, we thought it was the best choice—for you—to believe I was dead. My father has—had cancer. It’s why he wanted me to take over Knight Industries. I’ve been spending the last—”
“Eight months.”
He frowned. “Yes, eight months. I spent them with him. Learning. Being by his side. Helping him pass on.”
