Chapter Six—Sonny
Ifucked up. Big time.
And I knew it. Which was why I’d spent the days following my erotic interlude with Delani—something that exceeded my wildest fantasies, that I was desperate to experience again, if she’d just talk to me so I could explain what a total moron I was—in a real shitty mood.
I tried to apologize to her the following morning, but she was busy with the city health inspector. Still, I offered a wave and smile and asked if she was free later in the day.
She blew me off with a vacant smile and a terse don’t call me, I’ll call you reply.
I pretended it didn’t bother me, but fuck, it was like being elbowed right in the gut.
Afterwards, I tried to focus on work, but halfway through my usual duties, I was pacing the floors.
“Bro, you need to chill,” Buck, one of my best friend’s and weekend bartender, said and pointed to a vacant stool.
His real name was David Antonetti. We met when we were in college and then again when I was working for a famous hotel chain, updating the bars in a series of their hotels on the west coast.
Buck was actually a multi-millionaire, having invested his trust fund before he finished school. He’d always let me in on the deals, and I had quite the nest egg myself.
The man simply had a nose for making money.
But rich or not, Buck enjoyed working at the bar, and the customers loved him.
Especially the ladies.
He was ridiculously good looking, all smiles and charm oozing out of his pores. He had that sweet boy next door charm that I could never pull off.
Not that I ever had a problem with women. Until I’d fucked up with Delani.
My gut twisted, and I groaned out loud. Days had passed since I’d had her in her shop, and I was starting to lose my damn mind.
The woman was driving me crazy. I’d been waiting to catch her alone, but every time I stopped by her shop, Delani was too busy to see me.
Her loyal employees, especially Bonnie, wouldn’t let me anywhere near the back room.
Hello, those women she’d hired ran interference better than some professional football players, and I knew a couple of them! There were dozens of professional athletes living in a twenty-mile radius of The Whiskey Bar, part of why I’d chosen this location.
I growled and ran a hand over my face.
Goddamn it.
Buck was right. And I hated it when that fucker was right. But yes, I needed to chill.
I’d spent almost every night dreaming about Delani’s sexy little body writhing against mine. Every day I wondered how long she was going to make me eat crow for my fuck up.
I deserved it, for sure. That was not even a question.
“Oh, the caterer for the tasting bailed,” Buck called out, and my head shot up.
“What? When?”
“Nunzio says he can’t do it, something about an unexpected trip. I don’t know what the big deal is, we can just get a restaurant?—”
“No. This tasting is too important. It needs a special touch,” I growled, anger coursing through my blood.
Panic started in my ankles, and by the time he finished, it was buzzing around my brain.
Fuck that fucking prima donna chef, Nunzio. He thought he was the east coast’s answer to Gordon fucking Ramsey, and the asshole wasn’t half as talented as he pretended to be.
Nevertheless, I fucking needed him for the tasting.
It wasn’t about money. I had that aplenty.
The Blair Group had connections money couldn’t buy. The world of whiskey was a cruel and exclusive club, and I wanted in.
Badly.
There was only one thing I wanted more than that. Delani.
And fuck me for jumping the gun and ruining my shot.
Yes, I realized now I was wrong to ask Delani to close her store.
Arrogant. Bully. Whatever.
I’d been stupid and selfish and so fucking wrong. But I blamed it on the sexual haze I was still under for not thinking it through.
I didn’t even know why I was so worked up about the fragrance that sometimes came from her store to mine.
I mean, I loved the fucking smell of her shop. Craved it, even.
No, that wasn’t true. I craved her.
The scent of chocolate, so decadent and rich, was just one part of her charms.
It permeated her skin. Making the sexy siren taste better than fudge.
My cock twitched behind my jeans, and I closed my eyes, attempting to will the thing away.
I’d been walking around with a semi boner ever since I’d had a taste of the gorgeous woman.
My hand was no fucking substitute and my dick deflated if I even thought about fucking anyone else.
I just wanted her. Only her.
“I’m gonna go for a think,” I growled at Buck.
He nodded, but his attention was on a group of soccer moms who’d come in to schedule a birthday party for one of their husbands.
There were four private rooms at the back of the bar, each one big enough for twelve to sixteen people.
Once I realized there was a market for private, smaller get-togethers, I started advertising The Whiskey Bar as the place to host whatever it was you were celebrating.
Birthdays. Anniversaries. Promotions. Retirements. You name it.
The door to the alley slammed behind me and I put both hands behind my head and exhaled. The smell of chocolate was so strong, it told me what I already knew.
It was late afternoon. The store was closed, and Delani was inside, making those delectable goodies she shipped all over the globe.
I noticed the same red Subaru I’d seen the health inspector get out of earlier that day, still parked in front of Delani’s shop, and I frowned.
Didn’t the man leave yet?
I’d noticed he seemed preoccupied with her place, but she didn’t seem to break any rules. The little time I’d spent inside I’d always been impressed by how ship shape everything was.
I frowned harder and walked closer to the side door.
“Okay, Mr. Oglethorpe, that’s everything I can think of you might need to know,”Delani’s voice came through the door, sounding tense and uneasy.
My hackles rose, and asshole move or not, I stayed and listened just in case. I have the motherfucker about ten seconds to leave before I broke the fucking door down.
Fine. I was a little possessive. If asked, I’d admit I had a problem.
Fucking sue me.
I couldn”t help my caveman attitude. The second Delani told me her pussy belonged to me, that was it. I was all in now.
Mad or not, the woman was mine. I knew she was pissed, but she was still mine.
This asshole inspector had hung around all day, and from what I was hearing, she hadn’t invited him to.
Not that it would have mattered.
I could be a real fucker when I didn’t get my way, although I preferred the word tenacious. Even if Delani had told him to stay, I’d have still found a way to kick his ass to the curb.
I’d been trying to go slow. To not scare her with my freaky ass possessive side, but that right there was where my patience ended.
I was not into sharing.
Something my mother told me was because I was an only child. It was a tough lesson for others to learn. A born brawler, I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty.
Besides, I hadn’t had a good fight in at least a year. Not since a bunch of rowdy fucks picked a fight at the last location I’d been working.
My fingers itched to pummel this degenerate loser, using his position of authority to hustle my sweet Delani.
“I told you to call me Brad, sweetheart,” a male voice said from behind the alleyway entrance to the chocolate store. “And I can think of a few other things.”
I heard intent in the man’s voice and was already pulling the door to go inside, but it was locked.
The sound of something being knocked to the ground was followed by Delani’s emphatic shout.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Don’t play hard to get, sweetheart. You’re like all the rest. You know you want it,” the inspector said.
Blind rage fueled my next movements, and I took two steps back before using my shoulder as a battering ram.
One hit and the door flew open, splintered wood rained everywhere.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” I snapped, crossing the space to where that piece of shit had Delani backed against the counter.
He’d pinned her hands to her sides and was using his weight to hold her there. I startled him with my intrusion into the shop, and the second he backed off, Delani moved.
She punched the asshole right in the jaw, and fuck, seeing her do that got me hard.
Her blue eyes flashed like sapphires in her anger, but once she locked them on me, I saw relief and something more elusive sweep across her face.
“Hey! That’s assault! You’re a witness!” the man screamed.
“The fuck I am,” I snarled and closed the distance, adding a left hook to the man’s injuries.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, and she nodded, running into my arms.
I hadn’t even realized I’d opened them, but of course I did. She was my girl. And this asshole was two seconds from knocking on death’s door.
I hugged her tight, kissed her head, and held her for a beat while she pulled herself together.
“Shit. Sorry, he was just, ugh, thank you, Sonny,” she murmured.
“I will always come for you, my beautiful badass, Del.”
The piece of shit inspector picked himself off the floor, but before I could properly threaten him, Buck was there, dragging him outside. I nodded at him, keeping my arms around a shivering Del.
“I got this, bro. You two need to have a chat.”
My big, burly best friend had connections to certain organizations that looked out for their own. I didn’t know much about them.
It wasn’t my business.
But I trusted him more than anyone else, and if he said he was taking care of that slime, then he was.
I turned back to Delani. She met my gaze, then ducked her head and stepped away from me. I hated that. She was rubbing her arms, and I knew she was still upset.
Fuck.
I felt like such a complete asshole, and I wasn’t sure what to do.
Bending down, I started cleaning up the mess that prick had made. Anger had me vibrating out of my skin. That asshole had touched my girl.
He knocked her stuff on the floor. Tiny, wrapped packages of chocolates. A stack of business cards. Her purse.
It wasn’t until I smelled the sweet, spicy, chocolatey fragrance that clung to her that I knew she was standing right beside me.
“It’s okay. I can do this, Sonny.”
“I got it, Baby,” I said, noticing her tension. “Hey, you okay, Del?” I asked, eyes flicking over her in case I missed some injury or other.
“C-could you hold me for a moment?” she whispered, and the vulnerability on her face just tore at my heart.
I stood up slowly, not wanting to frighten her.
I waited, allowing her to make the first move, and I was not disappointed when she stepped into my body.
Delani wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. Fuck. I wished that asshole was there so I could hit him again.
But all thoughts of that loser fled once I closed my arms around her. She was everything I wanted. All I could wish for.
Holding her was pure heaven, and I dipped my head to where her neck and her shoulder met, just breathing in her scent, and thanking God she was alright and that I could be there for her.
That she trusted me to be there for her was everything.
She was everything.