“We’ll see about that.”
He teased her with shallow thrusts, nibbled her neck and then lost control. He shouted her name there at the end, but Daley only moaned. Even so, the sound caused his skin to erupt in gooseflesh.
“I like making you come,” he said, breathing hard. “And I like watching you come. You’re even more beautiful than usual in that moment.”
She stretched her arms over her head. “You’re better than two glasses of wine. Plus, I can drive afterward.”
He frowned. “Thanks? I think?”
Rubbing her thumb over his bottom lip, she grinned. “I’m sorry you’ve not been feeling well. If you’re this good when you’re ill, it’s no wonder you have women panting after you all the time.”
Tristan rolled onto his back beside her and rested an arm across his forehead. He wasn’t functioning at a hundred percent, but having Daley here was good medicine. Who knew if this would ever happen again? Tonight was a surprise. He’d better take his chance.
“Daley,” he said quietly.
“Hmm?” She might have dozed off.
“May I ask you a personal question?”
He felt her body stiffen. “I suppose.”
“I asked Tabby when she and John were here recently, but she said it was your story to tell. You alluded to something bad that happened when you were young. In your early twenties. Will you tell me what it was?”
She rolled to face him and propped her head on her hand. “Why?”
That was a good question. He wasn’t sure. But he felt an urgency about it.
“I want to know you,” he said slowly. “We’ve gotten things turned around in this friendship. Maybe I’d like to back up and remedy that.”
Her gaze was steady. “And you’ll be willing to be as open with me?”
His stomach clenched. “I’ll try.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “But do you mind if we go back to the den?”
Without waiting for an answer, she gathered her clothes and ducked into his bathroom. When she reappeared a few minutes later, he was waiting for her down the hall.
He let her have her own seat this time. No point in tempting fate. Even wearing his ridiculously oversize clothes, she looked adorably appealing.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Daley?”
“It’s embarrassing,” she said. “Or maybe I’ve always been embarrassed because I was so caught off guard.”
“Tell me,” he said softly.
“I had my own apartment when I was twenty-four. And a good job at an ad agency. I was already thinking about starting something on my own, but you know...baby steps.”
“So Tabby would still have been in college?”
“Yes. It was her freshman year. We didn’t get to see each other as often as before, and I missed her. My parents had invited me over for dinner. I think empty nest was catching up with them, and they liked to hear about my life and see how I was doing.”
“Was your mother a good cook?”
“Not as good as my grandmother, but yes. I got to the house early that day. They had run to the store to pick up something she had forgotten. Daddy drove her. I had a key, of course, so I let myself in. I think I was going to watch TV or scroll through Instagram. It was the house Tabby and I had grown up in, so it was nice to be home.”