Christmas tree. His grin was downright wolfish, and it shouldn’ t have excited me as much as it did. Then he lunged, which made me squeal before bolting in the opposite direction. But I didn’ t stand a chance. We flew through the kitchen like bats out of hell, weaving between the islands and looping around the table. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest as I raced back to where we’d started, aiming for the nearest door and darting past Antonio—who I was pretty sure tried to help me by sticking out his foot as soon as I passed by. But Davian easily cleared it, closing more of the distance between us. “Wait!” I cried when he got too close for comfort, blood surging in my veins. I jerked out of his reach and tightened my grip on the piping bag, but he was right about it being useless as a weapon. I needed a different strategy . “Time out —” Davian only laughed before his arm hooked around my waist like a steel band, and he pulled me flush against his front—knocking the air out of my lungs. I wheezed and grabbed his arm, but Davian made it even harder for me to breathe when he tucked his face into the crook of my neck, and he growled—actually growled —against my skin. It made my toes curl, especially when his lips trailed up my neck and nipped my earlobe. “I’m taking you back to bed,” he murmured against my ear . An unintelligibl e squeak es caped my throat, and I was pretty sure my brain broke as he hauled me over his shoulder in one smooth motion. “Dav!” I laughed, planting my hand on his lower back to catch myself. His grip on my thigh k ept me from tumbling to the floor, but that didn’t stop me from clutching his suit jacket when he started walking. I really hoped Antonio hadn’ t heard what Davian said. I also hoped my skirt hadn’ t flipped up and flashed the poor chef. But Davian’ s hand was dangerously high on the back of my bare thigh, and it made worrying about anything else difficult—until I saw the trays of cupcakes that hadn’ t been frosted yet. “Wait!” I cried through my laughter, grabbing a cupcake off the counter we passed. “I need to finish icing these.”
Davian stopped midst ep, then dutifully turned and carried me back to my station. He set me back on solid ground but didn’t go far. Instead of st epping away, he pressed his front against my back, and both his palms flattened against the counter to cage me. I swallowed and placed the cupcake down. This felt nice. Once I could breathe normally again, I patted Davian’ s forearm. “Good boy.” He leaned down far enough to kiss the skin beneath my ear, followed by another soft growl. “Finish your cupcakes.” Both the command and the kiss sent a delightful rush of blood to my cheeks, and I cleared my throat. I was still grinning as I carefully piped pink daisy petals onto a cupcake, despite Davian’ s looming presence tempting me to rush the job. “ This is what I made for you.” I finished the last petal and held up the completed masterpiece to Davian. “It’ s a thank-you for helping me.” He bent over my shoulder , took a large bite of the cupcake, then hummed. “It’s good.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “But you taste better.” A bolt of lightning shot up my spine at his words. He was giving me the same look as when he sucked his fingers clean out on the patio. My face burned hotter than a preheated oven, because that was definitely louder than a whisper . Had he for gotten we weren’ t alone? I elbowed him in the stomach. “ Davian .” He grunted quietly, but his lips curved against my cheek before he placed a lingering kiss there. A throat cleared behind us, making me wince. “That’s my cue to make myself scarce,” Antonio announced, shuffling around us and heading for an exit. I shrank back into Davian’ s arms to hide, but Antonio paused at the door and caught my eye. One bushy brow rose. “Forget what I said earlier. You’re welcome in my kitchen any time, dolcezza .” I sent him a soft smile, having grown fond of the chef during our baking marathon. “Thanks, Antonio.” Davian’ s hands settled on my hips just as the door swung shut, and I gulped.
Now we were alone. “Do I want to know what that was about?” He rubbed my hips. “Or why my chef is calling you pet names?” “Just kitchen talk.” I smiled, refocusing on my piping. I had a feeling Davian wouldn’ t appreciate it if I told him Antonio had warned me to run far, far away from here. “Speaking of kitchens, did you know you have the most gor geous one I’ve ever laid eyes on?” He rested his chin on the top of my head, watching me decorate. “It’s just a kitchen, Sadie.” “No way. It’s so much more than that!” Pausing in the middle of piping a pink daisy, I tilted my head back against his chest to peer up at him. His square jaw looked even more appealing from this angle, and I had the strangest urge to bite it. “Your stand mixers alone cost over three months’ worth of my school stipends. Each .” “Sounds like I need to lower Tony’s appliance budget,” he said dryly . “What? No! Don’t do that,” I backtracked, wishing I hadn’t said anything. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for Antonio. “It’s a good thing. I got to use both mixers at the same time. Do you have any idea how big of a turn-on that is?” Davian’ s hands stilled on my hips. “You’re telling me you were in here getting turned on with my chef?” ... Oops . Setting the piping bag down, I turned in his arms to face him. I had to stretch up on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck, and he let me tug his head down. “Maybe we should focus on the part about me being turned on now?” I asked, drawing him closer to my lips. “Because of some mixers,” he said flatly, though his fingers dug into the skin of my hips as our lips brushed. I hummed. “Yes, because of your beautiful, magnificent twelve-speed and self-cleaning mixers.” Just thinking about them again made my voice all husky, and Davian’s eyes darkened. But, like a tease, he only pressed a fleeting kiss to the corner of my mouth before p eppering a trail along my jaw to my ear. I hung on tight as my back arched to get closer to him.
“ Oh, ” I whispered when he took my earlobe into his mouth. Suddenly , I couldn’ t think—let alone talk—anymore. I needed to change the subject before things got carried away in the middle of Antonio’ s sacred space. I cleared my throat and used all my willpower not to jump up and wrap my legs around his waist. “Is everything, um, okay with your rat infestation? Antonio said they haven’t gotten into the kitchen, so that’s a good sign.” Davian stilled with my earlobe between his teeth, and he nibbled once more before pulling back. A dark brow rose. “You want to talk about that right now?” No, but... “Infestations are no joke.” “It’s being handled.” As he spoke, his fingers slid under the hem of my top, and the graze of his calluses against my skin made my heart skip a beat. Any worries of rats or infestations flew out the window . “But another matter still needs to be resolved.” My gaze dropped to his mouth. “Oh?” His lips curved into a rakish grin. “I believe I owe you after we were interrupted on the patio earlier .” Flashes of me straddling him in nothing more than a slip of underwear bombarded me, and I ducked my head against Davian’ s chest to hide the blush spreading like wildfire. “Oh, now you’re shy?” he asked with a chuckle, his own voice growing husky. “You shouldn’ t be. I’ve thought about little else since then.” If human beings were liquefiable, I’d be a puddle on the floor . “You know what? I can finish icing these later,” I said. The way his thumbs skimmed the skin above my waistline made thinking impossible, let alone focusing enough to decorate cupcakes. Was everything about this man designed to scramble my insides? I still had the mouthwatering image of his sculpted butt seared into my brain. “Y ou mentioned bed?” His grip on my waist tightened, and he lifted me into the air for the second time today. But this was a much shorter flight before Davian d eposited me onto the counter . “Change of plans.” He squeezed my waist. “Stay right here.” I blinked as he st epped back, but he didn’t go far. Davian took the two large trays of dog treats on the counter behind me and stacked them onto other cookie trays.
Without another word, he walked to the nearest door to the hallway and... Flipped the lock? My fingers curled around the edge of the counter , and I swallowed to wet a suddenly dry throat. “What are you doing?” He flicked another lock, which sent a flutter of butterflies into flight in my stomach. “I’m making sure we don’ t get interrupted again.” My blood pressure skyrocketed . He moved down the wall to another door and locked it, then crossed the room to bolt another . How many doors did this place have? By the fourth one, I had the counter ’s edge in a death grip and was squeezing my thighs together before he’d even laid a finger on me. When the last lock clicked into place, Davian faced me with that same predatory gleam from earlier in his eyes. I gulped as anticipation shivered down my spine, which made one side of his mouth curve up. Like I said—be it from a heart attack or spontaneously combusti ng from the hunger in his gaze, I was going to die today .
D a v i a n I wanted to savor everything about this moment. The sudden stillness in the room. The anticipation coursing through my veins. The girl . Sadie sat perched on the edge of the kitchen island, wide eyed with a white-knuckled grip on the counter , watching me approach. She wore the trapped bunny look well. It made me want to take my time. Make her sweat it out a little longer. But we’d been interrupted earlier, and I wasn’t sure I had the patience to draw this out. When I reached her, it was as natural as breathing to ease her knees apart and settle into the space between her legs. Sadie had to tilt her head back to hold my gaze. “You locked all the doors,” she whispered. I bit back a grin at her stating the obvious and stroked my hands up her bare thighs, wanting to touch more of her. All of her. It shouldn’ t be possible for skin to be this soft. “Every last one.” Sadie glanced down and raised her brows before looking back at me. “But what about bed?” she asked, her voice dropping to a throaty whisper that made my fingers flex against her thighs. I leaned closer , all my focus on her full, alluring lips. “Bed can wait.” She audibly swallowed, and my patience snapped like a twig. I teased her lips with a slow, coaxing kiss, but it didn’t take much coaxing before she wrapped her arms around my neck and tugged me closer .