Chapter Five—Delani
Holy balls! Did that just happen?
I was sucking in air like a marathon swimmer who’d just done a zillion laps.
Disbelief. Shock. Pure, unadulterated satisfaction. Each emotion hit me one after the other like train cars in a crash.
Slam. Slam. SLAM.
I could feel the aftermath of the tumultuous sex I’d just had with the super hot owner of the bar next door dripping down my leg despite the condom, but I was too damn sated to think, never mind move.
Just moments ago, I’d thought this was the worst day of my life. After all, it wasn’t every day I woke up to catch my so-called boyfriend cheating.
But now I was experiencing a postcoital bliss that was totally unexpected. My brain was playing catch up as my body reveled in what was the most fantastic sex of my entire life.
I knew I had to clean myself up. But I couldn’t move an inch. Not yet.
I couldn’t believe I just did that. And with a man I’d been secretly fantasizing about for weeks!
Turned out, I didn’t have to move first. Sonny did. He untied the apron from my waist and grabbed the box of napkins off a nearby table.
Saying nothing, he carefully disposed of the condom and cleaned my thighs with gentle pats to my skin, quickly followed by soft kisses.
He petted me, caressed me, and before I knew it, I was hot and bothered all over again.
Whoa. One time with Hottie McBarOwner and I was a goddamn slut.
Down girl. Women can like sex too. It’s society that villainizes us when we do.
Society was dumb. I knew that, but it didn’t stop my brain from nearly combusting as all these thoughts ran through my head.
I didn’t know what had come over my sexy as sin neighbor, and really, I wasn’t complaining. But I had to get myself under control.
A little quirk about me, I had a difficult time separating sex from emotion.
Hence why I’d stayed with Pete for so long.
I fucked him, so I had to love him, right?
WRONG. Like really, really wrong.
If I’d loved Pete, there was no way I’d have just banged the shit out of Sonny. My cheeks heated, and I grabbed my shirt off the floor while Sonny went to right his underwear.
Somehow, during whatever the fuck that was, he’d kicked off his shoes and his pants. My eyebrows rose as I got a magnificent view of his superb gluteus maximus while he pulled up his drawers.
Gray boxer briefs, actually. And damn, they looked sexy on him. Tight with the legs stopping at about a third of the way down his thick, tatted thighs. The view from the front was even better than the back.
Wipe the drool, Del.
The man was seriously packing in a way I had personally never experienced. Now that I had, I wondered how any man would ever compare.
“Hey, what’s going on inside that head of yours, beautiful?” he asked, gathering me up in his arms and kissing me on the lips.
“Um, well,” I began, biting my lip and gazing up at him through my lashes. “This was, um, unexpected.”
“Unexpected?” Sonny scoffed, and fuck, that touch of arrogance made him even more adorable.
“Delani, I’ve been walking around with a hard on for you since I first helped you move in. It might have been unexpected for you, but now me, Baby,” he admitted, and something inside me warmed at that.
“Really?”
“Hell, yeah. I only stayed away cause you had a man. But now that he’s out of the picture,” he said, kissing me again.
“How do you know—oh, these walls are pretty damn thin, aren’t they?” I said, guessing he’d overheard me and Jan on the phone.
I shook my head, and he just flashed me one of his patented panty-melting grins.
Really, that expression should come with a warning.
Already, I felt my pussy respond, growing hot and wet at the flash of his white teeth against his gorgeous, olive-toned skin.
“The walls are thin, but I hope you don’t think I intentionally eavesdropped. I mean, I’m not saying I haven’t gotten an earful. And I wasn’t exactly trying to not hear,” he said and shrugged.
“No, of course, I don’t think you go into your alley just to eavesdrop on me. I’m not that interesting,” I said and shook my head.
“The hell you’re not,” he said and nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, making me squeal.
I mean, I was a chocolatier, not anything interesting, like a master of espionage or an exotic dancer.
“Never say anything like that in front of me, Baby. You’re fucking perfect,” he said, and I nodded, liking him bossy.
I cleared my throat, cheeks burning as he was holding me loosely in his arms, swaying me from side to side in rhythm with the music we could hear from his bar.
Speaking of bars, the one in his underpants was growing harder where he pressed against me, and my shocked gaze met his. Sonny grinned and shrugged one shoulder.
“What do you expect? Your gorgeous ass is a temptation I don’t even want to try to resist,” he confessed. And my ovaries exploded.
He looked beautifully masculine in the darkness. There were on lights on in the front of my shop, and we sat together in a tangle on the floor—which I would definitely be cleaning and disinfecting because we sold edible items, thank you very much.
Eek! I had sex in my store. How scandalous!
Sonny stood up, pulling me with him. He danced with me slowly and I clung to his tattoo-covered body so as not to trip, and really, well, just because I liked the feel of his many muscles.
He was so freaking hot I damn near swooned.
“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?” he asked, and I bit my lower lip before responding.
“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting to appear clingy.
“Wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t sure,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Alright, then, yes. I would love to have dinner with you.”
“Good. I look forward to that.”
“It will have to be a little later. You see, I’ve, um, recently lost some of my working time,” I teased.
“I see, and is business booming, then?”
“Oh yeah. It’s great,” I told him honestly.
“That’s good,” he smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, I’m glad to hear it. And I hope you don’t mind, Delani, but I have a favor to ask. I need you to stay closed on the 14th. I have some people coming for a tasting and I can’t have the bar smelling like a candy store?—”
The blissful post sex haze I’d been floating in abruptly left me. His words were like a bucket of ice cold water thrown in my face.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, stopping his gentle swaying.
I must have heard him wrong. At least, that was what I had thought. But no.
Sonny repeated himself and it was worse the second time around.
He spoke with such certainty that I would follow his instructions in this as easily as I had when it came to sex.
The nerve of this bitch.
Sonny Delgado, bar owner, was asking me, Delani Whitman, to close my chocolate shop on the busiest day of the year because of some little whiskey tasting with potential investors.
This prick.Oh my God!
My elation deflated. I was pretty sure my sexy neighbor had just fucked me to get his way.
“Let me get this straight. You think the smell of chocolate and candy might impede this tasting, did you call it?”
“Uh, yeah, I mean, it’s whiskey,” he said slowly like I was an idiot. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
“Doesn’t it?” I asked, moving away from him.
“Delani, look,” he grumbled, cupping the back of his neck as he spoke. “Chocolate is all fine and good, but I am trying to get my whiskey label off the ground, and I need these investors and their connections.”
“What does that have to do with my shop?”
“A successful tasting hinges on my ability to produce the right atmosphere, striking the right atmospheric notes so they can really enjoy the complex flavors and true quality of the liquor.”
“And you think my chocolate will ruin the quality of your bar?”
“No. I am not saying that. It’s just one day?—”
“Get out,” I whispered, anger and humiliation rising along with the bile in the back of my throat.
“What?” Sonny asked, clearly confused.
Asshole.
“Delani, when I said I need you to not be here on Valentine’s Day, I didn’t mean because of another woman?—”
As if that was the only reason I had to be pissed.
“Get. Out.” I repeated firmly.
“Del—”
“GET OUT!” I screamed.
I waited until he shrugged into his pants, ignoring his efforts to speak to me again before I locked the door after him.
Only then did I slide to the floor and lean against the door, letting the emotional rollercoaster that was my day wash through me.
First, Pete’s betrayal.
Second, Sonny’s unexpected ardor.
Third, his ridiculous ask.
I don’t know who I pissed off up there, but if anyone listening could just give me a break, that would be great.
I sent the silent plea into the ether, hoping god or whoever was out there would take pity on me.
I still could not believe it. The man broke my pussy with how good he made me feel. I’d never had such great sex. And it was more than that, too.
I felt a connection with Sonny. Had since we met.
But of course, he couldn’t just let me enjoy that. Oh no. The most astounding orgasm of my life just had to be followed up by the ugly truth.
He’d used me.
And not just to sate his physical needs, but to coerce me into closing my shop for his cockamamy whiskey tasting.
Which was gross, by the way. I detested whiskey.
But what did I expect? My experience with the opposite sex, while small, was enough for me to know I had the absolute worst luck when it came to men.
That my sexy neighbor had suddenly developed feelings for me was preposterous.
That I thought for one single moment our sizzling encounter was more than just a meeting of bodies was plain dumb.
Yeah, right, Delani. Men don’t take chubby chicks who make candy for a living seriously.
That was horseshit, of course.
I didn’t really believe all that. It was just, could this day get any worse?
A slip of paper pushed beneath the front door, and I got up, adjusting my disheveled leggings as I meandered over to it.
I felt dirty and sad and just plain tired.
There I thought my whole curse of having no date on V-Day would be solved, but nope.
Once again, I would be alone on Valentine’s Day, and didn’t that fucking suck?
I bent down to get the bright yellow paper, and my eyes almost fell right out of my head. A health inspection citation for improper disposal of trash?
What the shit?
There was a Post-It attached with a time and a winky face. I moaned and covered my face with my hands.
Looked like the health inspector was coming by once again in the morning.
Fanfuckingtastic.