Dom turns away from me, staring out at the Christmas tree long enough that I begin to squirm. “Oh, come on,” I prod, needing this torture to end. “It sounded bad, but would you have rather I told you that I’m falling madly in love with you even though I keep telling myself that I don’t even know you yet?”
“Well, yeah,” Dom responds. He rolls onto his other side so he’s facing me. He kisses my belly button as his hands travel up to my neck. “But a word of advice…”
“What’s that?” I ask. Dom scoots up so he’s practically sitting in my lap. “Every time you want to say something, run through it in your head and stop after the first part.”
He tilts my neck so we’re sitting with our foreheads touching. I desperately want him to kiss me, but I want Dom to be the one in control right now. “Because when you say everything that’s running through that pretty little head, you tend to ruin the moment.”
“I’ll try to take that under consideration,” I tease. “But knowing me, I’d say it’d be better if you get used to me running my mouth too much and stop listening after you hear what you think I want you to.”
Finally, Dominic presses his lips to mine. He nips at my lower lip, never taking it any deeper. It’s sweeter than just about any kiss we’ve shared to this point, but it’s also one that’s overflowing with promise.
I push Dom off of me just long enough that I’m able to spread out with my head on one arm of the couch and my legs hanging over the other. Dom lies down, half on top of me and half between me and the back of the couch. We stay that way, watching the glowing heat of the fire and the cold of the falling snow until we both drift off to sleep.
Rather than fight the post-New Year’s traffic, changing my flight and a swarm of crabby holiday travelers, we decided to rent a car two days after Christmas to drive back to Virginia. It seemed fitting, given how we originally met. This time, the trip was much less eventful because I was driving and Tony sucks at being the co-pilot. We weren’t even into New Jersey before he was snoring in the passenger’s seat. If not for GPS, we’d probably be somewhere in the Ohio River Valley at this point instead of pulling into a quaint subdivision. I check the address Tony input before crashing because this can’t possibly be right. If it is, Tony and I definitely have to have a talk about what constitutes an ‘adequate’ place to live.
“Baby, wake up.” I nudge Tony and he scrubs his eyes as he looks out the window.
“Holy shit, did I sleep the whole way?” he asks. I’m tempted to tell him that he drove part of the way, just to see what he’d say, but I don’t. But then it dawns on me that he’s not confused about our location, which means the two story colonial house with a wooded lot is our destination.
Although I’m not hurting financially, I don’t even want to think about what he’s paying per month for this place. And with the future of my company in limbo, I’m more than a little worried about whether or not I’ll be able to afford my share. Then again, maybe that’s his hope and he plans on letting me work off my debts. There are worse things in the world than living off the barter system.
“You know, if this is your idea of just okay, I’d hate to see what qualifies as posh in your mind,” I huff. After turning off the car, I grab my bags out of the back seat and follow Tony up the driveway.
“The code is 5285,” he informs me as he’s punching in the code to open the garage door. “When you get inside, the code is reversed to disable the alarm system.”
The garage door lifts, slowly revealing a new Dodge Charger as well as a matte black motorcycle of some sort. Even with my moderate success in life, I could never dream of living this type of life and thinking it’s normal.
“You okay?” Tony asks when he realizes I’m frozen in place. Somehow, I had an image of a crappy little house with weeds where the grass should be and a car almost old enough to be considered a collector’s vehicle in the driveway. I’m not one to dwell on material possessions, but all of this serves as a reminder of how little time Tony and I have spent getting to know more than the best ways to make one another writhe in pleasure. “Dom, you’re kinda freaking me out here.”
I shake the doubt from my mind, taking the first steps into Tony’s home. Well, I suppose it’s technically my home as well, but only time will tell if it’s more than just a place to crash for a while. “Sorry, just stuck in my own head. You’re not some sort of dirty firefighter taking bribes from the corrupt government, are you?”
Tony lets out a roar of laughter. He quickly turns off the alarm and reaches for my bags. “Where in the hell did that come from?” he asks, still chuckling. You can almost see the light bulb over his head when Tony catches the reference. He drops the bags, spinning around to take me in his arms. “Please tell me you don’t have some weird crush on Stephen Baldwin that you’re hoping I’ll fulfill.”
“First of all, it was William, not Stephen,” I inform him. Tony’s managed to pin my arms behind my back and has me pressed up against the wall. Feeling him getting back to the more forceful man I met that night on our way up I-95, I decide to forget about my worries and just enjoy the fact that the stars aligned so we didn’t have to say goodbye. “And second, you are so not on the same level as the Baldwin boys.”
“I stand corrected,” he laughs. “But you’re also wrong because Scott Glen wasn’t doing it for money, he was trying to expose the corruption of a few city council members. It backfired on him horribly.” Tony’s mouth crashes against mine. The bags are forgotten somewhere in the lower level of the house as he backs me toward the stairs. I struggle to free myself from his embrace when my ankle hits the bottom stair, but Tony’s grip tightens, refusing to give me a moment of separation.
By the third stair, Tony realizes that we’ll get wherever he’s taking me much quicker if I’m not blindly backing up the carpeted staircase. At the landing, he pushes me against the banister, yanking at the hem of my shirt. “Fuck, it’s good to have you here,” he groans. I lift my arms, allowing him to pull the shirt over my head. “Want you in my bed, Dom.”
I take the last set of stairs two at a time. I have no clue which room is his, but the sooner I get to the second floor hall, the sooner I’ll find out. Tony presses his body against my back, making me aware of just how badly he wants this. We awkwardly make our way to the last door on the right, not bothering to turn on the lights.
Tony pushes me to the edge of the bed, instructing me to wait where I am. It doesn’t matter that I’ve tried to tell myself that I can’t allow him to have this kind of control over me, I’ve missed it. Ever since I came back from my little freak out to Rhode Island, he’s been sweet and loving and has done everything he could think of to make me feel special. The problem with that is there’s no denying how my body reacts when Tony issues his demands.
A few minutes later, I hear water running in the bathtub and curiosity gets the best of me. The way I see it, the worst he’ll do is spank me and that’s something he’s taught me to enjoy. As I carefully walk through the dark bedroom to see what he’s doing, I realize that part of the reason I’m falling in love with Tony is because he’s forcing me to step outside of my comfort zone. It’s something I’ve learned to do in other areas of my life, but sexually it’s been about getting the job done and getting out without the other guy trying to attach labels or strings to the situation.
I yelp when my toe meets the corner of Tony’s dresser. I reach out to steady myself, biting my lip because it hurts like a bitch. Tony rushes out of the bathroom, chuckling when he sees my discomfort. “If you’d stayed where I told you, that wouldn’t have happened.”
With my free hand, I show him that I think he’s number one in my book and gingerly put weight back on my foot. Yes, I’m probably being a big baby, but it wasn’t a light brush against the hardwood leg, I managed to catch it so the corner of my big toe met the corner of the dresser. “I’ll try to remember that next time,” I respond sarcastically.
Tony reaches for the buttons on my jeans, s
lowly stripping the fabric down my legs until he’s kneeling in front of me. He stares up at me with those light blue eyes and I’m a fucking goner. I don’t care if we never get beyond the basics as long as he keeps staring at me as if I’m the best thing to come into his life. Conceited? Yeah, a bit, but he’s the one giving me that look, so I’ll go with it for now.
He stands, dragging his body slowly against the length of my body. I’m so aware right now that I swear I feel every hair on his chest brush against my erection. His hands trace every line of my body as he nips along my neck to the sensitive hollow behind my ear. “Going to take care of you tonight,” he whispers.
One hand wraps around my cock as Tony kisses me. I fumble with the button on his jeans, jerking the fabric over his hips so I can feel him. Tony stops me when I try to lower myself so I can taste him. “Not yet,” he scolds.
Taking me by the hand, Tony leads me into the bathroom and my eyes are immediately drawn to a claw foot tub on the other side of the room. “Get in,” he instructs me and I do as I’m told, assuming he’ll be right behind me.
Instead, Tony shimmies his way between the tub and the wall, coaxing me back until my overheated skin meets the porcelain. His hands dip beneath the water, pulling back a trail of suds, massaging the soapy water into my shoulders. He starts kneading at the muscles there; I didn’t realize how tense I still was from the drive, or from allowing my mind to fill with doubt for what we have building here.
His strong hands continue working my torso, dipping a bit lower with every pass. Tony leans over, sliding his tongue between my parted lips as his hand circles around my shaft. My body arches out of the water as his thumb traces the head, dragging through the slit. “God, Tony…want you in here with me,” I plead. Tony stands, pushing my shoulders forward slightly to prop himself so he’s sitting along the top of the tub with one leg draped on either side of my body. It’d be so easy for me to turn around and take him into my mouth, but I’m surrendering control to him tonight.
“Be patient, baby. We have all night and nowhere to be tomorrow, either. I’m finally going to take my time with you.” His voice is strained and I know he’s trying hard to make this a memorable night for me. It will be unforgettable regardless, I only wish he’d get on with it because my mind keeps replaying his promise that he’s going to claim me and I’m hoping he’s going to find the primal side of himself that he’s been ignoring.
Dom hasn’t even touched me, yet I feel utterly blissed out as I slide into the tub behind him. I’ve never felt particularly lonely in this house, but now that he’s here with me, it feels full. I hadn’t intended on any of this happening, but seeing the way he started freaking out when we pulled up to the curb, I knew I needed to do something to get his mind off the doubts. I have faith that we’ll be able to build a strong relationship, but for now, I’m going to remind him of the ways we already know that we work well together. The rest of the ways will be revealed in due time.
I twirl my fingers through the dark, wet curls that lead down to Dom’s dick, cursing myself as he begins grinding his ass against me. His hands work their way up and down my thighs, unable to reach where he wants them to be.
My hands come to rest on Dom’s hips, not wanting to push either one of us closer to coming right here. I kiss my way along Dom’s shoulder, savoring the sweet moans as his head falls back to rest against my body.
“To answer your question from earlier, our grandparents set up a trust fund for each of us and when mine was released, I knew I wanted to use it to get out from under my dad’s thumb,” I tell Dom. Perhaps it’s not the best time to get into deep conversations, but my hope is that he’ll be willing to open up to me just as I am to him. “My father tried to hide it from me, but my grandfather wasn’t a stupid man. He and my father never got along, and part of me thinks this was his way of flipping Dad the bird when he died.”
“Okay.” The single word is slurred and I know Dom’s finally completely relaxed. “Why are you telling me this now? It’s kind of a mood killer.”
“Because, baby, I want you to know everything there is to know about me and I want to know every detail about you as well,” I say softly. I bite Dom’s earlobe for no other reason than I can’t resist tasting him when my mouth is so close to his skin. “I could see you freaking out earlier, and I don’t want you to think this is something temporary for me. I know I made it sound like you moving in here would be convenient for both of us, but the truth is, I didn’t want to come home and not have you with me. You’re the first man who’s made me feel like my life would be empty without you waiting for me when I come home from a bad day at work. I’m falling in love with you.”
Dom’s body stiffens. It’s not the first time I’ve alluded to the depth of my feelings, but this is the closest I’ve come to flat out saying the words to him. If not for that little part in the back of my mind screaming that you can’t love someone you’ve only known for a couple of weeks, I’d be telling him every chance I get just how much he means to me.
“But you barely know me,” Dom protests. “What if you regret asking me to come down here with you once you learn more?”
“I won’t,” I promise him. My hands start working their way back up his body, hoping that the day will come when this vulnerable side of Dom fades to a distant memory. “I’ve already seen you at your lowest and I feel this way, so I don’t see anything happening to keep me from completely losing myself to you.”
Dom’s quiet for too long and now I’m the one questioning myself. What if I’m coming on too strong and he thinks I’m naïve and desperate because he’s the first man I’ve opened up to like this?
“See, now that was perfect,” he praises me. I cock my head to the side as Dom looks back at me with those gorgeous brown eyes. He stretches to kiss my jaw, running his hand along the other cheek. “I was waiting for you to ruin the moment, but you didn’t. I’m proud of you, DeLuca.”
Dom bursts out laughing and I retaliate by covering his face in bubbles. That leads to a bubble fight that I’m sure leaves more suds on the floor than in the tub, but eventually, we both settle back to enjoy the comfort we feel when we’re together. We wind up talking about random shit until the water goes tepid. Topics most people would cover over dinner on a first date, we discuss naked in the bathtub after moving in together. It probably won’t be the last thing we do completely backward from how a relationship ‘should’ be built.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before you turn into a prune,” I laugh, reaching for the towels I set on a shelf next to the tub. I get out first, wrapping one around my waist and then hold out the other for Dom. When I twist the ends together, I allow my fingers to linger just above Dom’s semi-hard dick. “I think we’ve done enough talking for one night.”
“About fucking time,” Dom quips, turning to press his wet chest against mine. “I mean, talking’s good and we need to do that, but there are so many other things I’d rather do tonight. Like see how comfortable that huge bed is.”
“Fuck, yes,” I agree emphatically, tugging on Dom’s towel to lead him back to the bedroom.
As Dom settles onto the bed, I scroll through my phone, building a quick playlist of songs that will help me show Dom just how much I mean it when I tell him that I’m falling in love. I turn around and my breath hitches as I see him splayed out in the center of my bed, erection jutting proudly between his legs.
I lick my lips as I cross the room to the bed, making one quick detour. I fumble through the top drawer of my dresser for the bottle of massage oil that was given to me as a gag gift over a year ago. Dom’s eyes track my movements, pleading with me to join him. The towel around my waist drops and I kick it out of the way.
Settling between Dom’s feet, I flip the cap open, pouring the sweet smelling oil into my palm. After coating both hands, I reach for Dom’s foot, propping it on my thigh. “I told you, baby, there’s no hurry tonight.”
I work my way to his knee and repeat the process o
n his other leg before repositioning myself so I’m sitting on top of his thighs. This time, I dribble a trail of oil from each shoulder down to the tight nubs on his chest and continue until the trails meet in the thatch of hair below his navel.
“Tony, this is sweet, but are you going to fuck me or what?” Dom growls. The fact that Dom’s cursing tells me that he’s hanging on by a thread at this point. He’s usually so eloquent that the slightest hint of vulgarity makes me sit up and listen to him. I prop myself so my elbows are on either side of his head, our stiff cocks slipping and sliding against one another as they become coated in the oil. My mouth is less than an inch from his, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of closing the distance.
“No, I’m not going to fuck you tonight,” I inform him bluntly. “Fucking is something you do with a guy you’re attracted to. What I feel with you, Dom, it’s so much more than that. Tonight, I’m going to make love to you so you’ll never doubt my confidence that we’re it for one another.”
Dom’s fingers dig into the back of my neck, forcing my mouth down to meet his. His hands move down to my ass as the kiss deepens, spreading the globes so the cool air hits my tight ring. Dom reaches for the bottle of oil that’s now on the mattress beside us, coating his fingers.
“Oh, fuck,” I groan as his middle finger breaches my entrance. As much as I’d love to let Dom stretch me so I can ease myself onto his cock, tonight’s about him. It has to be about him.
I pull his hand away, sliding off his legs. “Hold your legs up,” I instruct him. “Show me that ass.”
Dom does as he’s told and I slide a slick finger into his hot passage. I kiss and suck my way up the back of his thighs as I add a second finger, stretching him because I’m not going to last much longer without feeling his body wrapped around me. “Fucking beautiful.”
Dance With Destiny Page 18