Enticing Daphne

by Jessica Prince

  Placing a kiss on her beautiful lips, I murmured, “Happy Thanksgiving, wife.”

  “Happy Thanksgiving, husband.”

  “Ew!” Sophia cried from the side of the island, waving a large plastic spoon at us. “Stop being all gross and mushy around the food.”

  Daphne giggled as Lola sniffled. “I think it’s wonderful.” Tears welled in the feisty Italian’s eyes. “So much love in one room. It’s beautiful.” Then she burst into loud, ugly sobs.

  “Grayson!” I shouted toward the living room. “Your woman’s having a pregnancy meltdown again! Get your ass in here!”

  That earned me a smack on the back of my head and a disapproving look from my mother. “Watch your language around the baby,” she scolded.

  “Christ, Mom,” I said with an eye roll. “She’s four months old.”

  “Still. I don’t want my precious little angel’s first word to be a curse.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Daphne cursed even worse than me, so the odds were stacked against her.

  Grayson came rushing into the kitchen toward Lola. “Hey, honey. That Hallmark movie you like so much is on. Why don’t I put it on in the den for you?”

  “O-okay,” she blubbered, allowing him to lead her from the kitchen.

  “Good Lord,” Sophia muttered a few seconds later, rubbing at the tiny bump in her midsection. “Is that what I’m in store for?”

  “Probably not,” Fiona answered, “Seeing as you have no soul.”

  Everyone laughed while Sophia threw a dinner roll at Fee’s head.

  “Okay, I need people to start setting the table,” Daphne announced. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  The chick Deacon had brought to dinner hopped off her stool eagerly. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  Fiona, Daphne, and Sophia gave the poor girl blank looks. “Nope. We’re all good, Leah,” Daphne answered before pasting a fake smile on her face.

  She visibly deflated. “You sure?”

  “Yep,” Sophia chirped. “But you can go tell everyone else it’s time to eat.”

  Leah headed out of the kitchen, everyone else following to start loading our table with the massive Thanksgiving feast Daphne and the others had been working tirelessly on.

  “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to be a little nicer to her,” I mumbled once the kitchen had cleared out.

  My wife stared daggers at me from over her shoulder. “Why should I? She’s not one of us.”

  I rolled my eyes to the heavens, praying for patience. “Deacon’s been dating her for three months. You guys took Fiona in after just a few hours.”

  Daphne looked back to the pot of potatoes and began mashing violently. “That was different.”

  Resting my chin on her shoulder, I spoke against that sensitive part of her neck, causing her to shiver and break out into goose bumps. All this time and I could still see the effect I had on my girl. I fucking loved it.

  “Please? For me? Deacon can tell you guys don’t like her, and it’s starting to cause problems.”

  Her shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath. “Fine,” she relented. “I’ll make an effort.” She spun in my arms and pointed the potato masher at my face. “But I want it on the record that I still think this is a huge mistake. Deacon and Fiona belong together.”

  “Consider it recorded. As long as you and the other two Misfit Musketeers don’t go sticking your noses where they don’t belong.”

  Her eyes darted away, a suspiciously innocent look on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Daphne,” I warned. “I’m serious. Stay out of other people’s business.”

  “Okay.”

  That was too easy. And when something with Daphne was too easy, I knew there was trouble ahead. “What have you guys done?”

  Her response was to sling her arms around my shoulders and kiss me square on the lips. “Nothing, honey.” I started to relax. Until… “Yet, anyway.”

  “Christ,” I grunted, pulling her tighter against me. “You’re lucky I love you so damn much, because you drive me crazy, sweetheart.”

  “I know.” She smiled brilliantly. “And you drive me crazy too. It’s why we’re so perfect for each other.”

  She wasn’t wrong about that. Being with Daphne meant I had a lifetime of crazy in store for me. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

  The end

  *keep reading for a sneak peek of Charming Fiona, coming soon*

  Charming Fiona Excerpt

  Prologue

  As children we were taught that the sky was the limit, that when we reached adulthood we could become whatever we wanted. For a long time, I’d taken them far too literally, first deciding that I wanted to be a Barbie doll, then a princess, then a mermaid (that one was on you, Ariel).

  By the time I finally got over the heartbreak of discovering that Disney princesses didn’t actually exist in real life I’d decided I wanted to be the first woman president or an astronaut. That phase hadn’t lasted long.

  When I reached my teenage years, my father began grooming me to take over the family business. After all, I was Calvin and Evelyn Prentice’s only child. So it came without saying that I’d one day carry on the legacy that had started as nothing more than a small, family run department store on the west coast and eventually grew into a worldwide fashion empire thanks to my father, and his father before him, and so on and so forth.

  Most teenage girls would have dreamed of working in the high-end fashion industry, reveling in all the perks, the haute couture. But I wasn’t one of those girls. I didn’t dream of running an empire. I didn’t care about notoriety or fame or any of that stuff.

  I didn’t care about being the next big “it” name or who walked down the red carpet in one of our designs.

  Truth was, I hadn’t earned any of that. It had just been handed down to me as the next Prentice generation. No, what I wanted more than anything in the world was to be a wonderful wife and mother. Yes, I was aware that my ambitions set feminism back by decades, but I didn’t give a shit. I wanted a family. I’d grown up watching my father dote on my mother like she was the only woman on the planet. They kissed, they touched, they didn’t care where they were or who saw their sometimes sickening—especially to a school-aged girl—displays of affection.

  Most days my dad could barely keep his hands off of her. And I was sure had my mom been able to, our house would have been full of children.

  Unfortunately, her body just wasn’t built to carry a baby. Her pregnancy with me was difficult enough, and after nine months of living in constant fear of his wife’s wellbeing, my father had decided that one was more than enough.

  When I finally came into the world, I got all that adoration and love showered on me as well, so it had been engrained in me from day one to find a man who treated me like I walked on water and hold on tight to that.

  Because of that, I’d grown up with a somewhat inflated sense of romance. Meaning I threw myself into every single relationship I ever entered and had my heart crushed when they eventually came to an end.

  But the absolute worst heartbreak I’d ever encountered had come at the hands of a man I’d grown up with. A man who I’d idolized and placed on a pedestal for as long as I could remember.

  Grayson Lockhart was absolutely everything a woman could want. He was kind and sweet, he was driven in success, smart, funny, and tying all of that up in a shiny, perfect bow was the fact that he looked like a Greek God.

  The man was hot. I was talking take-your-breath-away, drench-your-panties HOT. He could give you a mini-orgasm just by walking into a room and smiling.

  And he’d been all mine.

  For a time.

  After our relationship ended I’d been devastated. I threw myself into work, eventually jetting off to Prentice Fashion’s Paris headquarters. I just couldn’t take seeing him with other women. And since our families were such close friends it felt like every exploit since our breakup was being shoved do
wn my throat.

  It wasn’t until years later when I’d finally managed to mend my broken heart that I realized Grayson was never supposed to be my everything.

  No, that title belonged to the one boy who’d been a central figure in my life practically since day one. He was the one who held me when I cried, who I shared my deepest and darkest fears with, who knew each and every one of my hopes and dreams.

  He had once been my everything, and I’d been too stupid to realize it, even though it had been right in front of my face all my life.

  I’d been taught that I could be anything, do anything, that true, unflinching love really did exist.

  But what I hadn’t been taught was that it didn’t wait forever.

  Eventually true love got tired of sitting around, waiting for you to get your head out of your ass and realize you’d picked the wrong brother.

  And that was exactly what had happened to me, because by the time I realized that Deacon Lockhart was the love of my life it was too late.

  And I had no one to blame but myself.

  * Be sure to read up on other ladies of Girl Talk!*

  Available now.

  SEDUCING LOLA

  I’ve had my fair share of bad relationships. I’ve dated liars, cheaters, shoe fetishists, and everything in between. Sure, these experiences would make any woman cynical when it comes to dipping her toe back into the dating pool, but I used my past for good and made a career out of helping other women avoid going down the same paths I had.

  And I was damn good at it.

  Until a random act of fate set my life on a course I’d been avoiding for years, and put me in the crosshairs of a man that made me feel things I swore to never feel again.

  Now I’m in his sights and it seems like he’ll stop at nothing to seduce the hell out of me. He might hold my career in the palm of his hands, but if Grayson Lockhart thinks he can blackmail me into submission with his sexy voice and sexy hands and sexy everything, then he’s…probably right.

  TEMPTING SOPHIA

  Having my heart broken once was enough to make me give up on the idea of love all together. Instead of searching for The One I decided to embrace variety and turn my back on monogamy. I made a living convincing women they didn't need a man to feel complete.

  And I totally rocked at it.

  Until the man who shattered my happily ever after came waltzing back into my life, determined to make me fall for him all over again.

  He claims that I'm the love of his life. He wants a second chance, and it seems like he'll stop at nothing to tempt the hell out of me. But if Dominic Abbatelli thinks he can win me back with his puppy dog eyes, heartfelt apologies, and declarations of love then he's...probably right.

  About the Author

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