I can’t help but make a face as I raise my spritz. “I’m good at making drinks, not food.”
“Oh, please! You’re the only one I can pass down the family recipe to. Promise me you’ll think about it?”
The request paired with the earnest look in her eyes makes my stomach roll. “Yeah, Aunt Gloria. Of course.”
The conversation remains light as the sun begins to set. Strings of fairy lights criss-cross the patio, leaving us in a somewhat ethereal glow. When the stars start to dot across the night sky, Gloria looks up and sighs.
“I think I’m going to turn in for the night,” she says, pushing back from the table. As she stands, her hand on the table slips, and she loses her balance. I’m out of my chair before I can even think, reaching her before she’s able to teeter forward.
Pen gasps and moves to stand, but Gloria waves her down. “Don’t everyone get all worried now,” she says. If I didn’t know my aunt so well, I might have missed the strain of conviction in her voice. “Must have been the wine!” She steps away from my steady hands and I move to follow her. “Dominic, stay. I’ll be fine getting in the house on my own.” The look she gives me leaves no room for argument.
“Okay. Just shout if you—” My statement is cut off as she slides the patio door shut. “Well, alright then.”
Pen takes a sip of wine as I sit back down at the table. “That was strange,” she muses. “Do you think she’s okay?”
Shrugging off any lingering worry for my aunt, I turn my attention to Pen. Her dark-blonde hair is pulled to one side, secured by a purple bow that perfectly complements her sundress. She has thrown on a white sweater now that the temperature is dropping with the setting sun. As she sits there, completely at ease with a glass of wine in hand... Penelope is undeniably stunning, and I can't help but ache to reach out and touch her.
“You’re looking at me funny,” Pen says, setting her wine glass down.
“I can’t look at you?” I’m unable to hide the longing in my voice, something Pen notices immediately.
"When you look at me like that," she starts, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. She takes a deep breath, as if gathering courage, "you make me feel… wanted. Like I could be the main character in a story."
“Pea,” I murmur as I lean forward and grasp the front legs of her chair, pulling her closer to me. She yelps in surprise at the movement before I capture her lips with mine. With my hands cupping her face, I kiss her gently, teasing my tongue against her lips until she eagerly opens them for me. As I suck on her tongue, she moans with pleasure, her whimpers turning into gasps as our tongues stroke against each other.
We kiss for minutes or hours, I’m not entirely sure. I’m content to simply lose myself in her, the precious moments of time we have. But I’m hungry for more. My hands wander from her face down her arms, coming to rest on the edge of her dress, just above her knees. As my thumb brushes her bare skin, she gasps, pulling back from the kiss.
“Dom.” Her whisper is rough and warning.
“What?” I smirk, unable to keep my hands from slipping below her dress, caressing the soft, smooth skin of her thighs. My mouth lowers to her neck, giving her a tiny nip before running my tongue over the spot.
Pen hisses, “Dominic! We are outside!”
I haven’t gone this far before— literally, my hands have never made it this far up Penelope’s thighs, this fucking close to her center. “This yard is completely secluded, remember?”
She sighs. “But Gloria?—”
“Went to bed. She’s not coming back out.”
“How do?—”
Leaning back, I examine Pen’s flushed face, her eyes wide and chest heaving. Leaving one hand on the cushy interior of her thigh, I gently grasp the back of her neck. “Pea, I am going out of my mind with want for you. I’m desperate to touch you. Please?”
There’s a cool silence, only broken by the faint music playing from the bluetooth speaker on the table— some sort of “evening Italian” Gloria had put on to pair with the dinner earlier. Pen searches my face; I don’t know what she’s looking for but I hope she finds it and I hope it tells her to say…
“Yes.”Wait, did she actually say that or am I projecting?At my hesitation, Pen tilts her head with a smirk. “Yes, Dom. Please, touch me.”
My grip tightens on the back of her neck and her eyes flash with fiery desire. Slipping my hand further up the inside of her thigh, Pen spreads her legs for me. Damn, she looks like a deviant little minx right now, skin flushed, legs spread, panting for me.
“Tell me, Pea. Are you wet for me?”
“Oh, Dom,” Pen whines as she nods frantically. “Yes, yes I am.”
“Let’s see.” My heart is beating so hard it’s ready to burst from my chest. I’ve been anticipating this intimacy with Pen forfar longer than the few weeks we’ve been enjoying kissing each other and indulging in a some hot makeout sessions.
I brush my knuckles against the soft, damp fabric of her underwear and choke back a groan. Pen moans at the light contact and I gaze at her, drunk with desire.
“Oh baby, is this all for me?”
