“God, you’re tight, cara.”
I take a deep breath. “I’m going to come,” I say, and close my eyes. God, I can’t help it. He’s plunged all the way in, he’s pressing against my clit, and holy shit.
“Go ahead,” he whispers, and begins to pulse his hips, nudging the root of his cock against my sweet spot, over and over, and I can’t stop the eruption that starts at my core and shoots out of my every nerve, making me clench onto him and ride it out.
He swears ripely, but tenderly cups my face in one hand, releases my other hand, and grips onto my ass cheek, pulling me even more firmly against him.
“Open your eyes.”
I comply and stare up into his icy blue gaze as he begins to move faster, his hips pumping, his cock plunging in and out of me, and his hand gripping onto my ass so hard, I’m sure I’ll have bruises there later.
I can’t wait to see them.
“Again,” he growls.
“I can’t.” I shake my head, but he kisses me hard and grinds his pubis against my clit. Every muscle in his impressive body is tight, flexed in raw sexual need.
He’s simply breathtaking.
“Again,” he insists. “Oh God, Alecia.”
The hoarse whisper of my name is all it takes to send me over the edge again. I cry out, holding onto him for all I’m worth, as my world crumbles out from under me. Dominic hardly makes a sound, aside from his harsh, labored breathing, as he succumbs to his own release.
Jesus. Neither of us can breathe. We’re gasping, trembling.
I’ve never had an orgasm like that.
Make that like the last half-dozen or so he’s given me in the past twelve hours.
A girl could become addicted to this.
“That’s the plan,” he says, with a cocky grin. I must have said that last part out loud.
“I need a shower.” His eyes light with excitement, like a kid on Christmas morning, and I laugh and swat at his arm. “We have work, sex maniac.”
“We could conserve water.”
I shake my head, but can’t help but grin as he leans down and kisses me like he always kisses me, with a lazy confidence, as though it’s our first kiss all over again.
He’s so fucking good at that.
“Are you okay?” He brushes his knuckles down my cheek and watches me closely.
“Yes,” I reply, and realize that I mean it. I am okay. He studies me for another long minute, and then kisses my nose and rolls away, giving me space to sit up and stretch. “But you have to go away. No more distracting me. I have to get to work.”
“That hurts.” I spin and then relax when I see he’s lying with his hands behind his head, a confident smile on his lips. “I thought I was more than a distraction.”
“You’re a sexy distraction,” I qualify and, without covering my nakedness, stalk away and into the bathroom.
I start the shower and am just about to step into the hot spray when Dominic walks into the bathroom, wearing his shorts again, and scoops me up into a big hug. His hands glide over my back, down to my ass, and up again, but rather than join me in the shower, he plants a kiss on my head and murmurs, “Have a good morning. I’ll see you later.”
Dominic Salvatore gives the best hugs ever. I hold on for a moment, soaking in his warmth, his calm, his musky scent, before backing away and giving him a bright smile.
“You enjoy your morning too.”
He tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes. “Thank you.”
He sees too much.
I nod and turn to get into the shower, but he takes my hand, making me look back at him over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“Finish your breakfast when you’re done.”
“Yes, sir.” I pat his hard chest, then get into the shower and close the glass door. “See you later.”
“Later.”
He leaves and shuts the bathroom door behind him, and I immediately deflate like a balloon. What in the hell am I doing? Last night was…God. I don’t even know how to categorize it. I’ve never felt that connected to anyone in my life.
Not even Blake.
Not even my ex-husband.
I wanted him to stay. I wanted to lie in his arms and feel him breathing all night long, so I did the only thing that made sense to me and sent him away. The hurt look in his eyes will forever be burned in my mind. I wanted to say never mind. Ask him to come back to bed.
But he scares me! He makes me feel things I have no business feeling. And he can deny it all he wants, but he’ll eventually want to take this farther than just sex.
Hell, I might eventually want to take it farther than just sex.
And that would be a disaster, because I don’t do love. I can’t.
Like Jonathan used to say, I’m not capable of it.
I can’t do this. I can’t face Dominic today. I have to figure out how I’m going to tell him that this was a one-time deal.
Okay, a two-time deal.
I finish showering, my mind is made up, and dress quickly in a blue summer dress with black heels, twist my hair up, grab my computer and my handbag, and set out downstairs.
“Isaac!” I call out to the tall man as I approach the reception site.
“Hey, Alecia,” he says with a smile. “Things are going to go more smoothly today. I promise.”
“Great.” I smile and gaze about the area, pleased with the progress already today. “It looks like things are pretty well under control today.”
“They are.” He takes in my handbag and tilts his head. “Do you need to leave?”
“I do.” I so do. “But I’ll have my cell on me, and if you need me for anything, I can be back here within the hour.”
“We’ll be fine,” he assures me. “See you tomorrow?”
“You’re coming every day?” I ask with surprise.
“Yes. This is my brother’s wedding. There won’t be any more mistakes. Between Mark and me, we have it under control.”
“Sounds good.” I nod, not really paying attention to him, just needing to go. “Thanks for everything, and don’t hesitate to call if you need me.”
He nods as I turn and walk briskly around the villa, almost running into Celeste as she’s arriving for the day.
“Oh! Hi, Alecia.”
“Hello, Celeste.”
“You’re leaving?” She raises a brow. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I lie. “I have some business to see to. Can you please pass the message on to Dominic? I won’t be back until tomorrow.”
Coward, my mind taunts me.
“Sure, I’ll let him know. Have a good day.” She waves and disappears inside, and I make a hasty retreat, immediately regretting leaving, but unable to turn around.
***
Four hours later, I’m pacing my living room. I’ve talked myself in and out of pursuing a physical relationship with Dominic six times.
Six. Times.
I’m sick of myself.
I scoop up my phone, and before I know it, it’s pressed to my ear and ringing.
“So, you do remember that I exist,” Blake’s dry voice comes through the speaker and I want to cry. I bite my lip and stare out my window at the boats floating on the blue water of the sound and concentrate on breathing. “Hello?”
“I’m here.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately concerned, and that makes me want to cry too. “Damn it, Leash, talk to me.”
“I’m an idiot.”
“Sometimes,” he agrees, and then chuckles, and I take a deep breath. “Why this time?”
“You’re not helping.”
“Start at the beginning. What’s up?”
“I slept with him.” I walk numbly to the glass and lean my forehead against it. The cold feels good on my warm skin. “And I liked it.”
“I hope you liked it. If not, what in the hell is the point?”
“Not helping.”
“Who, exactly, did you sleep with?”
“Dominic Sa
lvatore.” I swallow and close my eyes. “I slept with him last night, and again this morning, and then I ran out of there and came home. I’m an idiot.”
I can hear Blake shuffling around and then his chair creaks as he leans back in it. “Why is sleeping with Dominic a bad thing? He’s a good guy.”
“That’s just it. He is a good guy. And he’s sexy and hot and the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“Hey!”
“Oh, stop it.” I roll my eyes and pace back toward the kitchen.
“So I’ll ask again. What’s the problem?”
“This isn’t just a fuck buddy situation, Blake. I’m way too…” I wave my arm about, trying to come up with the right words.
“Beautiful? Amazing? Wonderful?”
“I was going to say incapable of having a real relationship.” I bite my lip and then feel myself grin. “But thanks for the compliments.”
“I don’t know what the fuck Jonathan did to you, but I do know that he did a number on your view of relationships. Leash, of course you’re capable of having a relationship. You and I have been in one for more than three years.”
“That started as sex, and now we’re just friends. And I love you, but not in that way.”
“And you think you could love Dom in that way?”
Much to my distress, tears fill my eyes. “I like him.”
“Do you think he likes you back, or is he just looking to get laid?”
You make me lose my English.
“He likes me.”
“He’d be stupid not to.” Blake chuckles ruefully. “Alecia, you are a sexy, beautiful, smart woman. Not all romantic relationships work, but some do.”
“Not for me.”
“Shut up for a minute. Jesus, you’re fucking stubborn.”
“Did you just tell me to shut up?”
“Yes, and you’re not good at taking orders, obviously.”
Come, Alecia. I’m good at taking orders from Dominic.
“Just take a deep breath, Leash. You’re over-thinking this. I know you. You had a good time, and it scared you, and now you’re doing the girl thing, over-analyzing it all.”
“I am a girl.”
“I’m aware,” he says with a chuckle. “I love you, kiddo. You’re the best friend I ever had. You’re still the best sex I ever had.”
“Blake—”
“You deserve to be happy. Just be happy, Leash.”
“I want to be happy too,” I choke out.
“So, just do that. Be happy. Fuck him senseless. Laugh with him. Let him teach you about wines and all that other fun shit, and don’t worry about the rest of it.”
“How did you get so smart?”
“I was in love with you for a long time, and you couldn’t love me back.” My heart stumbles to a stop as my eyes widen and my jaw drops. “I’m lucky just to have you in my life. I got over it, and now I think of you more like a sister, but don’t shut Dom out the way you did me. Not if you think it could work out between you.”
“Blake.”
“I mean it. Go back out there.”
“I’m going to go help Emily out tonight at the Haverland wedding.” I’m still stuck like stupid on I was in love with you for a long time. “Blake, I didn’t know.”
“You weren’t in a good place then, kiddo. You’re good now. I’m okay.”
“We’re okay?”
“We will be if you go back to the vineyard tonight. Emily doesn’t need your help. The Haverland wedding is tiny, and she has it handled.”
“It’s my business. I should be there.”
“It’s your business, and you’ve hired good people. You’re being stubborn again.”
“I love you too, you know.”
“I know. Go to the vineyard.”
“No.”
“I’ll give you a thousand bucks.”
“I don’t need it.” I giggle and flop down on my couch, feeling more relaxed than I have since this morning when I was in Dom’s arms. “You’re bossy.”
“Fine. Do what you want.” He sighs dramatically. “What do I care if Salvatore gets laid?”
“He already got laid today. He’s fine.”
“I don’t want to know this.”
I chuckle again and then take a deep, cleansing breath. “So, I overreacted.”
“Probably. What’s up with women? Why can’t y’all just fuck like rabbits and then get on with your day? Why do you have to sketch out a three-year plan and talk it to death? Just enjoy the sex, for Christ sakes.”
“People should pay you for this advice,” I say dryly. “Speaking of sex, are you seeing anyone?”
“I’m seeing a few someones,” he replies with a smile in his voice. “I don’t have sex hang-ups.”
“You’re gross. Tell me you’re being careful.”
“I buy condoms by the case.”
“Ew.”
“You asked, sweetheart.”
Chapter Nine
~Dominic~
“Good morning, Mr. Salvatore.”
I glance up from my computer as Celeste walks briskly into my office. “Good morning.”
“I just saw Alecia,” she begins, and opens her iPad to go over notes with me, as is our usual morning routine. “She was just leaving.”
My heart stills. “Leaving?”
“She said she has some business that requires her attention, so she asked me to pass the message on to you.”
“Fine.” I nod, as the rest of me sighs in relief. Business. Yes, it’s just like my Alecia to run off at a moment’s notice if her business needs her. I love her work ethic, her passion for her job.
Yet, it’s interesting that while she loves the planning, she’s as cynical as they come when it comes to love.
I wonder if I can change her mind in that area.
I begin rattling off duties for Celeste to see to during the day. “Mick, the head of security, will be here tomorrow morning, and every day thereafter until the wedding.”
“Yes, I have that on the schedule,” Celeste replies with a nod. “Do you want me to have lunch brought in for your brothers today?”
“My brothers?” I ask with a raised brow.
“Yes, all of them are here.”
I blink at Celeste in confusion. “All of them?”
“Whether related by blood or marriage, they’re here. The backyard is a huge mass of testosterone. Can you bring them by more often?”
I laugh as I stand and shake my head at my assistant. “They’re all completely in love with their women, you know.”
“I don’t have to touch them to appreciate them. I’m sure their women would understand.”
“Would Clay understand?” I ask, referring to her husband of more than a dozen years.
“Clay doesn’t have to know.” She smiles and follows me out of my office. “So, lunch?”
“Yes, have sandwiches brought in from that café I like in Olympia. I’ll be in the backyard.”
“Lucky bastard,” I hear her mutter, and can’t help the smile that comes to my lips. I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit that the Montgomery side of my family is a handsome one. I don’t see any of them as my eyes scan the reception area, but I can hear raised voices coming from the ceremony site in the vines.
“Why do you smell like me?” Isaac asks Matt, the second eldest brother, with a scowl.
“I had to use your body wash when I caught a shower at the office before we came here,” Matt replies calmly, with more than a little mirth in his trademark Montgomery blue eyes.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Isaac yells, as the rest of the brothers laugh. “You can’t use my body wash!”
“It’s soap, dude,” Caleb says with a shake of the head. Caleb is only a year older than me.
“I have to burn the fucking body wash now,” Isaac mutters.
I stand back and take them all in. Not only are all four of my brothers here, both Luke and Mark Williams are here, along with Leo Nash and Nate McKenna as well.
The whole fucking family.
Mark is measuring boards and Isaac is manning a saw. I frown as I realize they’re all in jeans, holding tools, hammering boards.
Even McKenna.
“Are we having a party that I wasn’t aware of?” I ask as I approach.
“Oh, good, you’re here.” Will grins and shakes my hand, then claps my shoulder. “We’re making the arbor.”
“We are?” I glance toward Isaac. “Don’t you have a crew for this?”
“We decided this would be more meaningful,” Luke replies with a smile. “We’re making the arbor, and Will is going to take it home after the wedding and put it in their garden.”
“It’s something from the brothers,” Leo adds with a grimace. “I tried to talk them into just letting me write a song, but Will has his pansy ass set on something pretty for the garden.”
“Fuck you, man, Meg loves the garden,” Will replies, and then grabs Leo into a headlock and rubs his head with his knuckles. “You telling me that if Sam said she wanted pretty in the garden, you wouldn’t give it to her?”
“I’d give her anything she asked for,” Leo replies as he wrestles out of Will’s hold. “And did just this morning.”
“Watch it,” Luke advises. “She may be your wife now, but she’s my sister, and I can still kick your ass if need be.”
Matt shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Anyway,” he says, and grins at me. “We were waiting for you. You have to hammer some nails for your soon-to-be sister-in-law too.”
I roll my sleeves and take an offered hammer from Mark.
“How’s the baby?” Caleb asks Nate, and we all crack up when the tall, tough former fighter breaks out in a goofy grin.
“Stella’s awesome.” Nate wipes his sweaty forehead on his black T-shirt and takes a long drink of water. “She’s fucking beautiful.”
“Well, look at her mother,” Mark says off-handedly as he measures out more boards, earning a raised brow from Nate.
“Have you been looking at her mother?” Nate asks, and we all glance at each other, trying to hold our laughter in.
“Sure, I mean—” Mark suddenly stops and frowns and then looks at Nate. “Dude, not like that. It’s Jules, for fuck sake.”
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