Chapter 14 Daphne
DAPHNE
Cru’s eyes, riveted on mine, penetrated as much as his body did. Once he was as deep inside as he could be, he stilled, and my pussy clenched his cock as if by its own volition.
I’d loved Beau, or so I thought, but the connection between this man and me was much more powerful.
I could feel his love, and it made my heart swell.
I longed to say the three words that meant more than any other, but I couldn’t bring myself to.
I didn’t want Cru to think it was only because I was swept up in the moment or that the way he made my body sing was the reason I was ready to finally admit the depth of my feelings for him—my love for him.
It was so intense it nearly brought me to tears, and I closed my eyes.
“Daphne, don’t shut me out,” he said barely above a whisper.
“I’m not. It’s the opposite. I’m so overwhelmed by what I feel…” Tears leaked when I gazed into the warmest eyes I’d ever known.
He brushed the hair from my forehead, cupped my cheek, then kissed me at the same time his body began to move again. He thrust slowly at first, then harder and deeper.
“Put your legs around me,” he said, using one hand to lift my bottom. The change in angle caused him to swell and pulse. “Not yet,” he said, even though his breathing accelerated and he only held still a few seconds.
“I’m going to fuck you hard, Daphne. We have all the time in the world to make love, but I need you in a different way first.” He leaned down and sucked one hardened nipple into his mouth, then moved to the other.
He adjusted me a second time, not thrusting again until I could feel him pressing against my G-spot.
“Fuck me, Cru,” I begged.
Three words, very different than the ones I’d stopped myself from saying earlier, turned him into a man possessed. He pounded into me again and again, forcing my pussy to clench around him.
When I cried out, tightening my legs and arms, holding him as close to me as I could, I exploded with an orgasm so powerful it brought me to tears a second time.
He brought his lips to mine in a passionate and possessive kiss, then I felt him convulse like I had.
Did he know he’d just made me his? That I’d never be intimate with any other man again?
He shifted us to our sides without withdrawing from my body, draping my leg over his thigh.
“There are things I want to say—no, need to say—but I’m so afraid you’re not ready to hear them,” he said, stroking my lower lip with his finger.
I leaned forward and kissed his chest, right above his heart, then looked into his eyes. “I love you, Enzo. I have for so long. When I think about the time we wasted when we could’ve been together, the hurt is almost unbearable.”
“You love me?”
“I do, and not as a friend. Although you are that. You’re my best friend, my confidante, my hero, my protector, and now, you’re also my lover.”
He gripped my neck and brought his forehead to mine. “I feel like I’ve loved you all my life. I’ve longed for this. Yearned for it. No matter how often I told myself I shouldn’t push you, I was too weak to give you the time and space you needed to accept the two of us as a couple.”
I smiled. “I didn’t need time, Cru. I only needed you. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. I was just too stupid to see it.”
“I love you, Daphne.”
“I love you, Enzo.”
He separated himself from my body and went to dispose of the condom. When he returned with another, I shook my head.
“I don’t want anything between us.”
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“Completely. I have an IUD, so I won’t get pregnant, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve been intimate with anyone.”
He knelt between my legs and positioned his already hard cock at my entrance but didn’t breach my welcoming flesh.
Instead, he rolled to his back, bringing me with him.
I straddled him, and with his powerful hands, big enough to almost wrap around my waist, he guided me onto him, thrusting once so hard I almost had another orgasm.
“Fuck me, Daphne,” he demanded, putting both hands on my breasts, capturing my nipples between his fingers, and pulling. In the same way he had, I let go, bringing us both to climaxes so brilliant I swore I saw stars.
Cru kept his promise of our making love until sunrise.
As it came up on the horizon, he wrapped us both in the comforter he pulled from the bed and we snuggled on the porch swing, knowing that with the dawn came a new life for us both.
We’d work together, our passion for making wine filling our hearts as much as our passion for each other.
Somehow, I knew I’d never leave the man who held me so close and made me feel safe and loved. I’d live out the rest of my days here with him, on the land his ancestors had made their home, and now, Cru and I would too.
My parents left to return to Australia two days after our dinner. When they’d arrived, I felt certain they’d try to convince me to go back with them. However, the subject never came up. We said a tearful goodbye at the airport after my father made Cru promise he’d take good care of me.
We stood side by side and watched them go through security, waving until they were out of sight.
“It seems more real now,” I murmured.
“What’s that?” Cru asked.
“My life here.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “I hope it will be our life, Daph.”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
Our daily rhythm as the vineyards came alive was magical. As the heat of the sun intensified, so did our love for each other.
Throughout the rest of January and into the beginning of February, we continued to prune.
With over six hundred hectares of vineyards, the equivalent of twelve hundred acres, planted with twenty different varietals, Cru and I had a lot of ground to cover.
However, we didn’t do it alone. What I’d never realized was the number of people Los Caballeros employed.
During the slower times of year, there were still more than one hundred full-time workers.
As the seasons progressed, it could swell to three hundred.
During the first few days, Cru and I visited every vineyard, double-checking those that had already been cut and making a plan of attack for those that still needed to be done.
With each we walked, Cru asked for my opinion before sharing his own. At first, it felt like a test. Soon, I realized he simply valued my input.
“The vineyards are immaculate,” I commented on one of our daily walks.
“My father, then Brix, were insistent they be kept this way. It’s no different than what they do in Spain. Californians are a little more lax.”
I laughed. “Compared to Australians, they’re not.”
He chuckled too. It was a long-standing joke between us that it was anyone’s guess whether a bottle of Chardonnay from Perth contained any of the varietal at all.
The truth was our wine law was more stringent than that of the US; however, our growing, harvesting, fermenting, and bottling methodologies were where we could stand some code enforcement.
Since Los Cab’s primary grapes—Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Chardonnay—accounted for fifty percent of what was planted, those were the areas we checked first. Next were Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Petit Verdot, which made up another thirty percent.
The remaining twenty percent was dedicated to experimental plantings.
As I learned, those were Cru’s favorite and soon became mine too. I loved the way his eyes lit up when he showed me what he could grow that others insisted wouldn’t thrive on the Central Coast.
Because my degrees were in viticulture, or grape growing, and enology, or wine-making, I found myself working with the vineyard manager on almost a daily basis rather than strictly with Cru.
“What would you like to do today?” Cru asked after we’d spent the morning lounging in bed rather than hurrying out to work. We’d promised each other we’d take a few days off since the month of February was slow and we’d done all the pruning we could without compromising the vines.
“Hmm,” I murmured, gazing at the sunlight streaming in through the window.
“What day is it?” he asked.
Admittedly, I had no idea, and without looking at my mobile, I couldn’t even guess.
I was relieved when he picked up his phone rather than forcing me to admit I was becoming just as bad as he was.
“It’s the tenth of February.”
“Is the date significant?” I asked.
“In a way. It means, if we wanted to, we could pay a visit to El Lugar de Curación.”
“El what?”
“Tryst’s ranch. It means the Healing Place. He built the house and other outbuildings for his wife Rosa. It’s where they spent the last months of her life.”
“How sad.”
Cru shook his head. “It is, I suppose, until you’re there. I don’t know how to describe it, really.”
“Addy said it’s magical.”
Cru thought about it for a minute, then nodded. “Spiritual too.”
“I’d love to visit.” I sat up in bed, not bothering to pull the sheet over my nakedness. If I had, Cru would only tug it away.
He typed something on his mobile, then set it down. Almost immediately, it pinged. “He says now would be the perfect time to come. I should also alert Brix.”
While he did, I got up, went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower.
I studied myself in the mirror while waiting for the water to warm up.
I looked happy, and even though it was still winter in California, the freckles on my nose that came out when I spent time in the sun were visible.
The most telling thing was the lack of dark circles under my eyes.
I’d tried everything to get rid of them—creams, patches, cucumber masks—and nothing worked.
Who knew that being with Cru could be the magic cure?
I’d just stepped under the warm water when he joined me. “What’s on your mind, Daph?” he asked.
I giggled. “Truthfully, I was thinking about how good I look.”
His gaze went from my eyes slowly down my body, then made its way up again. “Let me check the other side.” When he spun me around and rested his hand on my arse, I giggled more.
“Yep, I’d say you look perfect. I should probably find out how you feel too.” He spread my legs, put his hand between them, then ran his finger through my folds. “Better than perfect.”
He turned me a second time. “What’s going on, Daph?”
I reached up and put my hands on his shoulders. “I’m happy, Cru. Happier than I’ve been my entire life. I’m far less stressed, as evidenced by the lack of bags.” I pointed to my eyes.
“It’s all the phenomenal sex.” His chest puffed out a little.
I leaned forward and ran my tongue around his nipple. “You’re right, but there’s more. I’m finally where I belong, Cru. I feel it deep in my soul. I’ve never known such contentment.”
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I nodded. “Me too. It just took me a while to realize it.”