Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Steff smoothed down her new dress. The one shoulder navy blue dress skimmed her curves. It finished just before her knees. It was simple, elegant, and casual enough for the Italian restaurant they were going to. She looked attractive if she did say so herself, and she hoped Dalton thought so too.
She was excited for the dinner with Fox and Cynthia.
She and Cynthia had gone on another outfit shopping trip that morning and had had a lot of fun.
They’d laughed and joked, and Steff had felt like the way she’d been prior to her kidnapping.
She wanted to keep that feeling, because it was so much better than how she’d been living the last couple of years.
She hadn’t even had the urge to feel pain, which was a huge step forward for her.
As much as she’d planned to approach Cynthia about what she’d said about Dalton, she hadn’t bothered. They were having too good of a time, and why bring something up when she and Dalton had already talked about it?
A low whistle had her gazing over her shoulder to find Dalton leaning against the doorframe, looking deliciously sexy. He wore dark blue jeans and a gray button-down shirt which had the top two buttons undone, giving her tempting glimpses of his hard chest.
She knew how he looked beneath that shirt, and the temptation to release a few more buttons so she could touch him, coursed through her.
Steff should be stunned at the direction her thoughts were going, but she wasn’t.
It was a relief to have them. To know that her panic attack from a couple of nights ago hadn’t tempered her desire for Dalton.
Not that she thought it would’ve, but the mind worked in mysterious ways, so she wasn’t sure if a mental block had been put in place when it came to intimacy and attraction to Dalton.
“You look beautiful Steff,” he husked, and a little shiver rippled down her spine.
“Thank you.” She twirled around. “I loved it the moment I put it on. And you look very handsome too.”
She closed the gap between them and placed her hands on him, the fabric of his shirt soft beneath her fingertips.
Letting herself feel instead of think, she went up on tiptoe and pressed her lips against his.
This was the second time she’d initiated a kiss between them, and it was empowering.
Dalton’s arms curved around her, bringing her tighter against him as he took over the kiss, teasing her to open for him.
She did so willingly. Enjoying the freedom to lose herself in the moment.
Desire pooled low in her belly, and she pressed her hips against him, reveling in feeling his erection and knowing that he wanted her. That he hadn’t been turned off by her panic attack.
She moaned her disappointment when he pulled away.
“Believe me, I don’t want to stop, but if we don’t leave now, we won’t leave at all.”
Another shiver trickled down her spine, and Dalton’s eyes narrowed as though he saw the slight tremor.
“Fuck, I didn’t mean to scare you, hon.” He made a move to hug her, but stopped as though worried it would freak her out even more.
She grabbed his hands, holding them tightly. “Dalton, you didn’t. It wasn’t fear that caused that reaction. It was desire.” Her cheeks heated after her confession, but she wasn’t ashamed of it. He always talked about being honest with her, so she needed to be the same with him.
“Steff.” Her name a tortured whisper, and he brought her hands up so that they were resting against his chest. A place she loved being. “You’re killing me here.”
“You look pretty alive to me,” she sassed as she raked her gaze up and down his body, lingering a moment on his hard length visible beneath the denim.
“Keep looking at me that way, and everyone in the restaurant will know that I can’t get enough of my sexy girlfriend.”
Girlfriend.
They hadn’t given each other labels, and she turned the word over in her mind. “Girlfriend, I like that.”
His lips curved upward, and her stomach flipped at how it made him look even more desirable. “Me too.”
“You know what that means, don’t you?” She played with the buttons of his shirt, again tempted to slip the plastic discs through the little holes.
“No, what does it mean?”
“It means that you’re my boyfriend.”
“Damn straight I am.” He kissed her hard, as if cementing the word to her lips permanently. She had no problems with that at all. It was over as quickly as it started, and when he pulled away, she was breathless all over again. “We need to leave now, because if we don’t, we never will.”
Steff didn’t have a problem with that, but she kept the words lodged deep. She didn’t know what was going to happen tonight when they got home, but she wanted it to progress further than it had a couple of nights ago.
“You’re telling me that celebrity chef Astrid Conway is married to one of the guys you work with?” Cynthia’s voice rose so high that the people at nearby tables stopped to look at them.
Considering they’d interviewed some pretty famous people when they’d worked the entertainment beat, Cynthia’s reaction was confusing.
“I’m not known for telling lies,” Jag responded casually. His arm rested across the back of Steff’s chair, his fingers brushing gently against her bare shoulder.
Steff didn’t miss the look Fox threw Dalton’s way, as though he was surprised by his short response.
Had Dalton told Fox what Cynthia had said? Was that the reason for the look?
So far, the evening had been going well, until she’d mentioned the cake Astrid had made for Angelica’s birthday.
“You must get lots of treats in the office. Although,” Cynthia took a sip of her drink as she eyed Fox over the top of her glass as if tempting him. “it doesn’t show, if she does.”
Fox laughed. “We work hard to maintain our fitness. I’m sure you’ll get to meet her at the next get together we have.”
There was some heavy flirting going on between the two of them, and it pleased Steff to see her friend and one of Dalton’s friends getting on so well.
“When’s that happening?” Cynthia asked, her attention solely on Fox.
“Not sure,” Dalton responded before his friend could say anything. Although with the way Fox was looking at Cynthia, he didn’t appear to care about what she was saying or doing. It was good to see someone caring for her friend. She hadn’t had it easy.
Many times, when they’d been waiting for the stars to show on the red carpet, Cynthia had shared how her and her mom had a strained relationship, which made Steff sad.
Even though her relationship with her parents hadn’t been a good one, their deaths had still been hard.
In their own way, her parents had shown she meant something to them by making sure she was financially secure in the event of something happening to them.
“You okay, hon?” Dalton uttered quietly, his fingers moving from her shoulder to the base of her neck, still moving in that comforting circle.
“I am, why?”
“You looked all sad for a moment and a little lost.”
Of course, he’d picked up on her change in mood. Nothing got past him. “I was thinking about my parents. I miss them even though they’ve been gone a while now, and our relationship wasn’t picture perfect.”
“Time and feelings are irrelevant when it comes to the loss of a parent. A day. A year. Twenty years. The gap in your heart is never filled.”
Tears pricked her eyes at Dalton’s words. “That’s beautiful.”
“I’m lucky my parents are still alive, but I know that they’ll always be with me when they’ve gone. Just like yours are.”
“I know.” Steff reached up and touched his face. This man was sweet and gruff and hers. He’d said so earlier. And she was his.
“You two are so cute together.” Cynthia’s comment interrupted the intimate moment, reminding Steff that they weren’t at her apartment alone. They were out to dinner with friends.
“We are, but so are you two,” she agreed, laughing.
Cythia looked at Fox, and Steff swore she could see stars in her friend’s eyes. “We are.”
The server chose that moment to arrive with their food, and the aroma of garlic, basil, and tomatoes wafted around her, causing her stomach to grumble in appreciation. “This looks so good.” She admired the classic spaghetti and meatballs she’d ordered.
Their conversation was light, and the guys teased each other as they ate. She could see why Dalton and Fox were good friends, but she also knew that beneath that jokey veneer were two men who could kill an enemy without blinking.
She looked up and found Cynthia watching her. She smiled at her friend, who returned it with one of her own, before she dropped her attention back to her food.
Things were starting to turn in the right direction for her, and she was beginning to believe that the bad things that had happened to her were firmly in the past.