“Not tonight.”
“Daphne—”
“I said not tonight.”
She’d rarely snapped at me, so when she did, I was stunned but also happy. The ability to be real with each other was something I also craved.
We’d just walkedinto the house when my cell rang with a call from Alex. “They’re letting Mad out now. Bit mentioned something about dinner.”
“Yeah, um, we’d planned to have Ma, him, and Daphne’s parents over.”
“Got room for two more?” she asked.
“Sure, if Maddox feels up to it.”
“He’s a bear, one who’s feeling no pain, by the way, other than hunger pangs.”
I hit mute on the call. “Okay if Alex and Maddox join us tonight?” I asked Daphne, who was pulling food out of the fridge. Her eyes widened. “Not at all if he feels well enough.”
I told Alex they were more than welcome, then hung up. The same overwhelming feelings I’d had in the old tasting room returned full throttle. I had to clench my fists to stop myself from approaching Daphne, liftingher so she sat on the kitchen counter, and ravishing her mouth with mine. The need I felt was almost too powerful to ignore. Was it really necessary to fight my attraction to her as hard as I was?
I sensed her approach from behind me and tensed. If she got too close, I wouldn’t have the willpower to keep my hands to myself. When she rested her palm on the center of my back, so many emotions flooded my system. I couldn’t process all of them. Want, desire, relief, and connection, but most importantly, love.
“Cru?”
“Daph, if I turned around right now, I won’t be able to resist?—”
“Turn around, Enzo.”
12
DAPHNE
His breath caught when I called him by his given name, and heat radiated from his body to mine through my palm. I’d reached the point where I didn’t care what we had to lose. The attraction between us was too great to deny. Before, I’d wondered whether he was as into me as I was him, but now, I had no doubt.
When he turned slowly and faced me, I rested my hands on his chest. I leaned up and brought my mouth to his, pressing his lips until they opened. I whimpered when Cru finally let go of his restraint and our tongues met. He lifted me like he had earlier, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He had to feel my heat in the same way I did his hardness. If our clothes weren’t between us, he could slide his cock into me with ease; that’s how wet I was.
He set me on the counter and spread my legs but pulled me toward him so my arse rested on the edge. With one hand, he held me in placewhile he snaked the other down the front of my jeans after releasing the buttons of the fly. He pushed my thong out of the way and touched my clit with the pad of his thumb, groaning when he realized I was bare.
“Please,” I begged, breaking our kiss only as long as it took me to say the word.
He responded by inserting one finger into my pussy and increasing the pressure on my clit.
“Cru—” I cried, knowing if he didn’t stop, I wouldn’t be able to hold off my orgasm.
When he added a second finger, thrust, and pressed harder, then leaned down and nipped my breast with his teeth through my shirt, I shattered. I clung to him as the continued waves of pleasure left me dizzy and breathless.
He kissed me, transitioning from heated to gentle as I floated back to reality.
Cru leaned back, removed his hand from inside my pants, refastened the buttons of the fly, then kissed me again, trailing his lips from mine across my cheek to my neck.
I had trouble forming thoughts other than wishing we could cancel dinner. “When will they be here?”
“In a few minutes.”
“Cru—” I repeated, but he stopped me from speaking with his lips, lifted me from the counter, and set me on my feet. As he walked away, I saw him bring his fingers to his nose and inhale. When his eyes closed and he touched the tips with his tongue, I came close to having another orgasm. He was so fucking sexy, so mesmerizing, so passionate that I couldn’t wait until later, when our naked bodies writhed against each other.
I was already drenched, and just looking at Cru made my pussy weep more. “I need to put on different clothes.”
