by Piper Rayne
My hands seek anything to grab hold of, and I find it as my fingers dig into the waist of his slacks.
“Okay, this isn’t your wedding,” Enzo says.
Dom stops the kiss like a motorbike—fast and skidding to a stop. Our eyes catch, and the heat overflowing his sparks every cell in my body to life.
“Well, congratulations you two. Now go to your room next time,” Luca says over the microphone.
I look down, embarrassed for making such a spectacle.
“As delicious as always,” Dom murmurs but untangles from me, holding out my chair.
I sit down, unsure of what to do. I reach for my water goblet and catch Bella and Annie staring at me with dumbfounded expressions.
Shit. That was so believable, I almost thought it was real.
Chapter Eighteen
Dominic
* * *
Fuck. What did I do? I could’ve left it as a short peck on the lips. No one would’ve said anything. But I lost control. Me. The disciplined guy who makes sure every box is checked, and everything is in order just mauled his fake wife in front of an entire room full of family.
Val’s quiet beside me, and the waiter has refilled her water glass four times now. When she excuses herself between dinner and dessert to go to the restroom, I’m relieved because all I can think about is pulling up her dress under the table and seeing how wet she is from that kiss.
I can’t even stand to look at the ring on her finger. So I dodged her all night—until everyone clanked their glasses. We didn’t have a choice. The more you deny them, the more they clink.
Ma and Pa get up from the table to go say hello to someone, and Enzo and Carm slide over next to me.
“What the hell was that?” Carm asks. “You were about two seconds from clearing the table and laying her down.”
Enzo laughs.
“It’s an act.” I take a sip of my scotch, staring straight ahead so I don’t have to look at them.
Enzo raises his eyebrows. “That wasn’t an act. You need to face the facts, bro.”
I take another sip of my scotch. “Val and I are not an option, but I can’t deny that I want her.”
“Then do it. Have sex,” Carm, the least responsible of us, chimes in.
“I can’t.”
“Why? You guys are fighting some crazy chemistry.” Carm shakes his head. “Maybe you’re both just horny. You put that stipulation in place that you can’t have sex with anyone else. And then the two of you are living together? I can’t imagine how you’re holding up. Pornhub?”
I nod.
“That’s not gonna work for long. If you guys had casual sex before, why not now?” Carm asks.
“That’s stupid,” Enzo says. “It’s because he clearly loves her.”
“Whoa.” I hold up my hands. “I don’t love her.”
Enzo blows out a breath. “You’re delusional.”
“I get that I fell for her once upon a time maybe, but we’re friends now. Childhood friends. I might have love for her, but I’m not in love with her.”
Enzo sits back in his seat. “Bullshit.”
What is it about people who’ve found love wanting everyone else to have the same? It’s irritating as hell.
“Then that’s perfect.” Carm shrugs. “Screw her and get it out of your system. You guys will get the annulment after all this and that’s it. I have no idea why you’re second-guessing yourself. It’s pretty simple.”
Huh. He could have a point. After last summer, I should be good at leaving my heart out of the equation. No point in being sexually frustrated when I don’t have to be.
“You might be the smartest brother.” I wink at Carm.
He winks back, beaming at Enzo like “take that.”
Enzo rolls his eyes. “You’re both idiots. And when you lose her and you’re devastated, don’t come crying to me. Carm can handle that all on his own.” He stands, pats Carm’s shoulder, and walks away.
“Thanks,” I say to my youngest brother, perfectly happy to go ahead with this plan.
“Any time.” Carm shakes his glass and the ice inside clinks. “I gotta go get a refill. Go find your woman and make it happen.”
He leaves, and I think his advice over again. Every big decision deserves a second thought. But when it comes to Val, I think I’ve done enough thinking.
So as the waiters take away our dinner plates, I stand, planning on having my dessert upstairs.
Chapter Nineteen
Valentina
* * *
I’m reapplying my lipstick when Annie and Bella enter the bathroom. There’s a small lounge area, and they sit in the velvet chairs facing the large gilded mirror.
I stop applying and meet their quizzical eyes. “What’s up?”
“You know we know, right?” Bella says. I think she’s the more outspoken of the two.
“I figured.” I drop the lipstick into my clutch and turn to face them, leaning against the small counter.
Annie’s eyes hold a note of sadness.
“What I’m wondering is… is all of it fake?” Bella crosses her legs.
“Bella, it’s none of our business,” Annie says, which I’m thankful for, but to be honest, I’d like their opinion.
My mind is a jumbled mess and Lulu is so occupied with motherhood and pregnancy that I’ve gotten away with telling her we’re moving forward with the annulment without having to go into any detail. Dominic Mancini’s name alone tends to make her blood pressure skyrocket and she doesn’t need that right now.
“Dom and I… we’re complicated. I’m sure the boys have told you that we share a past we have a hard time walking away from.” I sit on the third chair tucked into their corner.
Bella stands and moves her chair to face me.
Annie still looks as if she just watched the ending of Titanic. “Isn’t that the best part though? That you guys have so much history? Maybe you’re meant to be.”
I laugh until I realize they aren’t. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Dom isn’t a father-of-two-and-a-white-picket-fence kind of guy.”
Annie nods, but I’d really like to hear her thoughts on this matter.
“Not yet,” Bella says. “But Carm didn’t want to settle down either. Or Enzo, right, Annie?”
Annie shakes her head. “The Mancini brothers are hard nuts to crack.”
Bella laughs so loudly, she startles two older ladies walking through the door.
“That kiss, though? There was nothing fake about that kiss,” Bella presses, keeping her voice down now that we have company. Strands of her red hair fall from her updo because she’s so animated when she talks. She and Carm are so alike.
“No, there wasn’t.” I can’t refute it. My toes are still tingling, and my knees are still regaining their strength. It’s like a movie playing back in my mind, over and over again.
Bella points at me. “See.”
“Bella,” Annie sighs.
Bella’s head swivels in her direction. “What? You coerced me and Carm to get together. From that duckpin bowling to the house in the Hamptons. Why aren’t you on my side here?”
I wonder how close Bella and Annie are. They have no idea I was part of Dom’s life while they were getting together with the Mancini brothers. At least I don’t think they do.
“Because it was different. Dom is…” Annie’s gaze shoots to mine. “Different.”
“See.” I hold out my hand toward Annie. “She gets it.”
“Different isn’t bad. He’s like any other guy,” Bella insists.
“She has a son,” Annie says. “She can’t take a chance on a guy who works every hour of every day.”
“Yeah, but he’s, like, almost sixteen, right? It’s not like he’s going to grow super attached to Dom and ask him to be his Little League Coach.” She shoots me a look as though she’s asking me to side with her.
I nod. “No, but I do have to worry about who I introduce him to.”
“Okay, forget the kid
.”
“Forget the kid?” I question.
“No, not like that. I mean, the kiss was hot. I bet you guys had hot sex too.”
My mind travels over our history of sexual exploration. From when we lost our virginity together to last year when he made lo—screwed me in the backseat of our rented car outside a winery. Still, I raise an eyebrow. “Your point is?”
“You probably don’t get it a lot, what with being a mom, right?”
I laugh.
“Bella,” Annie sighs.
I smile at her to say it’s okay. “True. My unicorn cock vibrator goes through its share of batteries.”
“Then take advantage of it while you can. If you both have your reasons why it won’t work out between the two of you, then just be fuck buddies in the interim.”
“You can’t be serious?” Annie leans forward as though she has to look into Bella’s eyes to see if she means it.
“I am. Look at them. They could barely control themselves out there.”
Annie presses her lips together.
I shake my head. “We tried that last year and it ended horribly.”
“Wait, what?” Bella holds up her hand and looks at Annie.
But Annie isn’t surprised. She knew. I let that sink in. She knew. Maybe that’s why she’s so against us now.
“You’re the reason he kept disappearing on the weekends in the Hamptons?” Bella asks.
I nod.
“And what happened?”
“It just didn’t work out.” I’m not willing to go into specifics.
Annie looks as though she’s still screaming, “JACK!” in her mind. “How did Rose not save you? There was room for two of you on there.”
“Why not?” Bella asks, pinning me with her gaze.
“I told you. We’re complicated.” My shoulders sag as I think back over our long and sordid history of on-again and off-again.
Bella nods. “Okay, then I definitely say screw one another and have fun. Your son is gone for how much longer? How often do you have this kind of time to yourself? You don’t need a vibrator; you need the real thing. Might as well enjoy it while you have it in the next room.”
“I feel like I don’t even know you,” Annie says, standing and heading to the mirror I was just using.
I watch Annie reapply her makeup, her eyes skittering to mine every once in a while. She doesn’t think a fling is a good idea and I can’t say I blame her.
“Work him out of your system,” Bella says before she joins Annie at the mirror.
I contemplate their advice, or really Bella’s. Could I sleep with Dom again without getting all up in my feelings? Our kiss runs through my mind again, and yeah, I think it’s at least worth a try. Being around him all the time and not being able to have him has been torture.
Besides, I already know what it feels like to have Dom walk out of my life. I survived before, and if I do grow attached, I can survive again.
I follow Annie and Bella out of the women’s restroom, and there stands Dom, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. When he sees me, he smiles.
If there were any doubts in my mind, they float away like a helium balloon on a windy day.
Chapter Twenty
Dominic
* * *
“Go get her,” Bella whispers as she walks by.
“Bella, seriously!” Annie scolds, the two walking back toward the banquet room.
Val approaches me, her eyes fixed on mine. That has to be a good sign. With any luck, our kiss is still affecting her as much as it is me.
“Hey,” she says as though she didn’t see me moments ago.
“Hi.” I take her hand. “We need to talk.”
“Talk?” She doesn’t fight as I drag her toward the doors.
The doorman opens the doors when we approach, and we step out into the Chicago humidity. At this moment, I wish my cousin had had his rehearsal dinner at the hotel we’re staying in, but the wedding is there tomorrow, so I can’t complain.
“Taxi?” she asks.
But as fast as I want to get her back to the hotel room, we can’t just dive into this again. We need to set some boundaries like we had before. “No, we’re going to walk.”
“Have you seen my heels?”
I glance down, and yeah, I noticed her heels earlier when I was envisioning myself drilling into her with the pointy ends poking into my ass.
“It’s not far.” I take her hand, and we cross the street.
“Isn’t your family going to wonder where we went?” She steps up onto the curb with me.
“They’re going to think we’re doing exactly what we will be doing.” I let go of her left hand and go to walk on the opposite side of her, grabbing her right.
“What are we doing? Exercising?”
“Right now sure, but soon I’ll be fucking you.” She gasps, and I stop us. “Is that a problem?”
Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “No.”
“Good. I figured we were on the same page.” I start us walking again.
“And that page is…?”
“I have a proposition for you.”
“Did the ring come with stipulations?” she asks, slowing her steps again.
“No.” I tug her forward. I’m hoping we can settle the rules before we make it back to the hotel. Once I’m behind closed doors, I’m going to be done playing the polite fake husband. “This no sex thing isn’t working for me. I have no release, and everything you do is turning me on.” But I stop walking because I have to see her eyes. If there’s any chance things will become weird or awkward if we do this, as bad as blue balls are, I’ll stop myself. “I want the same agreement we had last year. Fun and fucking. No strings. No sleepovers, except now you’ll be in my guest room. No dates. And most of all, no feelings.”
She looks into my eyes, probably judging whether I’m the one who can handle this. I look away briefly and see our hotel one block over.
“Are you sure? I mean, after the Hamptons last summer…”
“I had to if you were going to give it a try with your ex. You can’t have a fuck buddy making conjugal visits if you’re trying to reconcile with your husband.”
She flinches. I know we were more than fuck buddies. It just about killed me to walk away from her, but she doesn’t need to know that. That’s for me to take to the grave. All she needs to know is that I want to do it again. I want the incredible sex she offers but no relationship. No relationship means no feelings means I don’t have to suffer through all that again.
“And what happens after Ryder returns? We still get the annulment?”
I glance at her ring and wince. I hate that fucking thing and what it represents. “Yeah.”
She nods and looks at the sprinkling of stars we can see past the skyscrapers. “I’m worried.”
“You’re worried you’re going to get hurt?” The last thing I’ve ever wanted to do is cause Val pain, but unfortunately, I’ve done my fair share of that over the years.
“Well.” She studies me, searching for a hint I might want more from her than sex. So I splash on a sexy smile to mask my true feelings. “No. I just—”
I end the conversation with a kiss. She’s worried about me because of last summer. Our last night together is vivid in my mind. I made love to her and promises fell from my lips, then bam, her ex-husband showed up the next morning saying he’d learned the errors of his ways and wanted to try again.
I need us to forget all that and move forward. I’ll never let myself get there with her again, so there’s no point worrying about it.
She pulls at my shirt, yanking me to her.
I didn’t think this through. I should have her at the hotel already.
Stripping my mouth from hers, I grab her hand. “We need to get to the hotel, pronto.”
Somehow, we make it through the hotel doors and up the elevator to our room.
I hold the room key above the sensor, examining her one more time. “You’re
sure about this?”
“I’m a thirty-six-year-old woman, Dom. Let me make this decision.” She takes the key from my hand and slides it over the sensor. It beeps, the light changing to green. She pushes open the door and pulls me in by my tie. The door slams shut.
“Do me one favor?” I ask, pulling her toward me. “Take the ring off.”
The hurt in her eyes almost cuts me, but I have to. After sliding it off her finger, she puts the ring on the desk next to the box it came in, then she slips out of her heels and moves her hand to the zipper in the back.
“Let me,” I say, turning her around.
She swipes her hair off her back, resting it all over one shoulder. I find the zipper and slowly lower it until I see the top of her thong. My dick twitches at the first sight of the lacy fabric separating me from her pussy. My hands splay on the bare skin I’ve missed since last summer. Yeah, there was Vegas, but that was a drunken mess I only half remember. This time, I’m going to savor the moment with her.
When I slide my palms up her back, she arches, her head falling forward as my fingers dive under the fabric of her dress at her shoulders. It slides off and down her arms, and I lean forward, allowing my lips to taste her. The smell of her body wash pulls at my memories of us together. She leans back into my chest, and I push the dress off her torso, freeing her arms. A moan escapes her throat. With her head on my shoulder and her mouth so close to my ear, a shiver runs up the back of my neck.