Chapter 13
DANGEROUS
LEO
“Leo,” she says with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I know the owner and stopped in for a quick meeting,” I lie because I don’t want her to know I tracked her down.
I do actually know the owner, but my visit to the club has nothing to do with business and everything to do with Daphne.
I took a big risk. I went to Hook & Hustle, hoping no one would recognize me, and paid a waitress a hundred bucks to tell me where Daphne was. I went there with every intention of talking to her, but when I found out she took the night off, I knew this was my chance.
“Oh. Well.” She glances down at her feet. “I don’t want to keep you.”
“How have you been?” I ask, trying to find a way to keep the conversation going and feeling her out.
“Really well.” She gives me a fake smile. “And you?”
“Good.” There’s an awkward pause as we stare at each other.
She’s so beautiful. The month apart was harder than I expected. I sent flowers every few days, making sure she didn’t forget about me and always knew I was thinking about her. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Daphne glances over her shoulder, and my eyes follow hers to Michelle. “It’s probably best if you don’t.”
I reach over and brush her hair off her shoulder, touching her skin with the backs of my fingers. Daphne doesn’t pull away, and I know she’s struggling as much as I am. “Just one,” I beg.
Daphne turns again, looking toward her friend. “Michelle doesn’t like you much.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing I’m not interested in Michelle. Please sit,” I tell her, pulling out a chair at the table next to us. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t be too long,” she says as she sits down and relaxes back into the chair.
As soon as I order our drinks, Michelle walks over, tapping her fingernail against her glass. “I don’t like you,” she tells me, reinforcing what Daphne has already told me.
“I know.”
“You’re dangerous.”
“I’m not.” I keep my cool, knowing if I don’t win over the best friend, there’s no hope of ever getting Daphne. “My father may be—just like Daphne’s—but I am not dangerous.”
Michelle eyes me. “What are your intentions toward my best friend?” She raises an eyebrow and cocks her head.
“Intentions?”
She nods. “Are you just playing with her heart, or are you more into the whole mindfuck thing?”
“Neither.” I turn toward Michelle and rest my elbow on the bar. “Have you ever met someone and wanted them so badly you can’t even explain it?”
“Well, maybe,” she says and fidgets with the drink in her hand as she glances down at the floor.
The only thing I can do is lay all my cards on the table. “Listen, I know there’re a million reasons why we shouldn’t be together, but none of them matters because of how I feel about her.”
Michelle drops her chin and peers up at me. “And that would be?”
I’ve never been one to talk openly about my feelings, especially with a stranger. But I know Michelle’s the key to my ever having a chance with Daphne, and that means I have to be open and honest.
“I love her.” The words slide off my tongue with ease. Maybe because I’m not saying them to Daphne’s face, but professing them to her best friend. “I know it’s crazy. We barely know each other, but…”
“No,” she says, cutting me off. “It’s not crazy.
” Her words shock me. “I’ve known Daphne my entire life, and I’ve never seen her so tied up in knots over someone.
” She leans forward and drops her voice.
“She’d kill me for saying this, but I think she loves you too.
I’ve never seen her as miserable as I have the last month. ”
“Then I have to set shit straight and get my girl,” I tell Michelle.
“Daphne isn’t the obstacle. It’s your father and hers that are the issue. I’ve warned Daphne about you, told her to stay away. But I can’t do it anymore. I’ve never seen her so sad, and I can tell you care for her. I’ll give my blessing and bow out tonight, giving you two time together.”
“You’d do that?” I’m shocked Michelle is so willing to give us tonight.
“Of course.” She smiles and glances in Daphne’s direction. “Just figure out a way to make shit right, or you won’t have to worry about Santino Gallo. I’ll hunt you down myself.”
I laugh. Michelle’s small, but I can see the same fierceness in her eyes I see in Daphne’s. “I’ll figure out a way.”
I’ve made multimillion-dollar business deals before.
Our fathers are no different. They’re driven by the dollar and ego.
I just have to tap in to how the relationship could benefit them in order for them to call a truce, making an opening for Daphne and me to be together.
It sounds simple enough, but I know their egos will be the problem.
If Santino is anything like my father, I’m going to have an uphill battle.
“I know what it’s like when you want to be with someone so badly your chest hurts,” she admits.
“I’ll never give up hope, and I don’t think Daphne’s ready to walk away from you either.
Now, go,” she tells me and shoos me away from the bar.
“Make me believe true love is possible against all the odds.”
Concern’s written all over Daphne’s face as I walk toward the table with our drinks in hand, ready to spill my guts. This is new territory for me. I’ve never wanted someone like I want Daphne, and sharing my feelings isn’t something I’m used to either.
“Where’s Michelle going?” she asks as I sit down and place a whiskey neat in front of her.
I glance over my shoulder, seeing Michelle head back into the nightclub. “She’s giving us time alone.”
“Why?” Daphne’s eyes widen. “That’s not like Michelle.”
I don’t want to go into detail, telling Daphne how I basically poured my heart out to Michelle and professed my feelings to her best friend.
The first time I say the words, I want them to be special…
to mean something. I don’t want to say them in a trendy nightclub where the seriousness of them will have less impact.
I take her hand in mine. “I can be very convincing.” I smirk.
“I’m sure you can,” she whispers when I swipe my thumb across the back of her hand.
The sparks are there. Flying all around us in the thick night air. I feel it. She feels it. There’s no denying the connection we have. No matter what’s between our fathers, it has nothing to do with us—two people with no interest in their businesses—falling for each other.
“I’ve missed you,” I confess, and the words come out easier than I expect.
“I…”
I hang on her words, waiting to hear she feels exactly the same.
She gives me a small smile, blinking slowly across the table from me. “This is crazy, Leo.”
There’s no sanity in what’s happening between us. “Did you miss me?” I ask her point-blank. “Nothing else matters.”
“I did,” she says and sighs. “I shouldn’t have, damn it, but I did, which is insane.”
“Then we’re both crazy.” I laugh and squeeze her hand. “I’ll make things right.”
Her fingers curl around mine. “How?”
That’s the million-dollar question. There’re two stubborn, old-fashioned Italian men standing in my way. I have to convince them that we’re stronger together than apart. There’s nothing easy about it, but I have to face the two men who’re driving an invisible wedge between us.
“Don’t worry about it. Let me handle things. I’d move mountains to be with you, Daphne.”
“Do you understand how irrational this all is? We’ve known each other what…a month? I shouldn’t feel the way I feel about you.”
I can’t hide my smile. “Sometimes the best things in life go against reason.”
“Take me home,” she says, and no other words need to be spoken.
The drive back to my place feels ridiculously long. Daphne hasn’t stopped stroking my arm from the moment we pulled away from the valet. The second I get her alone in the elevator, I’m all over her.
Our mouths fuse together as our hands roam across each other’s bodies, wanting and needing more.
“God, I want you so bad,” I murmur against her lips and grip the back of her neck, holding her tightly.
“I need you,” she says as her fingers slide under my dress shirt and splay across my stomach.
We tumble out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. She’s in my arms, legs wrapped around my waist, kissing me with so much force my lips burn.
I carry her toward my bedroom, one hand in her hair and the other cupping her ass as she grinds her sweet spot against my impossibly hard cock. I lay her on the bed and cover her body with mine, trying to take this as slow as humanly possible.
I don’t want to rush. The plane was pent-up lust, but this is something entirely different. Her hands are sliding through my hair, tugging on the ends as she deepens the kiss and locks her ankles behind my ass.
My lips glide across her jaw until I reach the soft skin on her neck and the spot I know drives her wild. “Don’t you dare leave a mark,” she tells me.
I smile against her neck. “Not on your neck,” I promise her, but anywhere else on her body is fair game. It’s childish, I know, but I want there to be no mistake that Daphne Gallo belongs to me.