Chapter 23 #2
Smirking down at her, I brush my thumb along her jaw.
“What I mean is, you’ve always led with your strength, your sarcasm, your attitude.
But when you took care of me after Tori left…
” My gaze flicks to her mouth before finding her eyes again.
“That’s when I realized there’s a side of you most people never get to see. ”
Her expression softens. “It feels good to hear you say that.”
I drag my hand lightly over her hip. “It’s the truth. And I don’t know that I’ve ever said thank you, so…” I take a deep breath. “Thank you.”
She looks away from me, and I hate that I can’t tell what’s going on in her mind right now. “I guess I just know what it’s like to get your heart broken.”
“And did you vow to never open it back up again?”
“I did.”
As her eyes meet mine again, I toy with her bottom lip. “Do you think you might change your mind down the road?”
Her gaze moves down to my mouth. “I honestly don’t know. It’d have to be someone pretty spectacular for me to entertain that idea again.”
We sit like that, staring at each other as I war with what to say to her next. But she’s the one to speak first.
“Did you learn anything from your relationship with Tori?”
I huff out a laugh again. “The question should be what didn’t I learn from my relationship with Tori.”
“Explain, please.”
Moving my gaze from her face, I stare across the bathroom as a year’s worth of internal thoughts and therapy pour out of me.
“I realized that I never really knew her and was so blinded by the external factors of our relationship that I overlooked the important things. Looking back on our conversations, they were always about me, and she would always agree with me on everything, except when she convinced me to have kids. We never talked about her or her feelings. She plucked information from me like a leech.” A sigh leaves my mouth.
“It’s like she couldn’t think for herself.
I—I don’t even know if she knows who she is. ”
“Well, I know enough about her to know she’s a horrible person.”
“Wow. That seems like a pretty mild description, even for you.”
“I get that people make mistakes, but I also believe that actions speak louder than words, Elliot. She showed you her true colors over and over. Hopefully, you’ve got your fucking eyes fixed now so you can actually see the truth.”
“My eyes are just fine, thank you.”
Dilynne huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
“I’ve definitely seen the truth now, though,” I continue. “In fact, today I met with my dad’s friend that was the executor on my grandfather’s will, and he confirmed that there’s something I’m not privy to.”
Dilynne sits up and twists slightly to face me. “What do you mean?”
I recap the meeting, and then Tori’s attempt to smooth things over after what she said to me at the winery.
“I didn’t realize you two spoke again at the winery.”
“It was brief, and that’s when I let it slip that I overheard her and my dad talking. I shouldn’t have, but I was so irritated that it just came out.”
“So what happens now?”
“I called Rhonan earlier and asked him to get some dirt on Tori, my dad, and Greg. He said it might take a few weeks, but I hope it’s enough for me to be able to confront them.”
“Motorlux is over in two weeks, which means we will be too.”
Her words rest between us like a brick, weighted down with a reality that I don’t want to acknowledge.
“We don’t have to be over, Dilynne,” I want to say, but keep that thought to myself. I know she isn’t ready to hear that from me, and until she is, I have to play this safe.
“Well, I should probably fuck you a few more times between now and then, huh?”
She twists to meet my eyes. “I—I guess I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”
I drag my nose up the column of her throat. “Yeah, neither would I.”
She presses her mouth to mine, pulling me down to her so there’s the smallest amount of space between us. Our tongues tangle, my dick grows painfully hard, and then she moves my hand between her legs. “Then make me come, Elliot.”
I rest my forehead on hers. “Dilynne…” Fighting with myself not to say more, I wait for her to say something else.
“Please. I—I need you to touch me.”
She spins back around so her back is against my chest again, her legs open wide beneath the water, my legs cradling hers.
I reach up and toy with her nipples first, twisting them softly between my fingers as her back arches.
“Fuck, Dilynne. You have no idea how sexy it is to see you this needy for me.”
“Don’t stop.”
“Never,” I mutter against her neck as I kiss and nibble on her sensitive skin, all the way up to her earlobe, taking it between my teeth. “You’re mine tonight.”
“I don’t belong to anyone, Elliot. I thought I made myself clear about that.”
The memory of that conversation takes a few moments to come back to me, but when it does, I chuckle.
Earlier this year during one of our normal repartees at the winery when Rhonan was still dealing with Vienna being his neighbor, Dilynne made it very clear that she would never be mine, even if I was the last man on earth.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
“Well, looks like I have some time to change your mind,” I say as I lower my hand between her legs, running my finger across her clit, back and forth, back and forth, watching her squirm because I’m barely giving her the pressure that I know she needs.
“I swear to God, Elliot. If you edge me like this…”
“You’ll what?” I growl in her ear. “Looks like I’m the one in control of this situation, Dilynne.”
She lowers her hand below the water, inching closer to her pussy as if she’s about to take matters into her own hands. But I put a stop to that quickly.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I say, pulling her hands back and wrapping my arms around hers, pinning her hands to the outside of her legs so I can still play with her with mine.
“Elliot…” she warns as I go back to rubbing my finger back and forth over her clit. Her hips lift from the base of the tub, begging for more friction, so I slowly slide a finger from my other hand inside of her and then pull it out just as slowly.
“Patience, baby.”
“I don’t have patience.”
Chuckling, I say, “Oh, believe me. I know.”
“You’re an asshole,” she grates out.
“An asshole that had you a needy mess last night on the hood of your car, right?”
She groans as I slide two fingers inside of her this time. “Yes…” she replies.
“That’s what I thought. Seems the asshole thing turns you on.”
She twists her head to face me as I continue to rub her clit and slowly finger her under the water. “I’ve officially come to the realization that something must be wrong with me, then.”
“Why? Because you want this?” I pick up the pace as I finger her. “Because you like this?”
She nods. “Yes.”
“Why does that make you wrong?” I lean forward and pull her bottom lip between my teeth as I keep working her over. “What if the reason it’s so fucking good, Dil, is because it’s right?”