She shifts her hips towards me again and I look up at her – grinning as she bites her lip.
“Dominic,” she breathes.
I slide my finger under her panties and feel her sweet honey gathering in her folds. My cock throbs between my legs, but I let my fingers move ever so gently back and forth. She makes that irresistible whimpering sound once again, and I kiss the inside of her thigh.
I’ve never wanted anyone this badly. My whole body is on fire, and all I want to do is rip the last shreds of clothes off her and take her right now. I’d plunge my cock into her and fill her with my seed in an instant.
And yet, when I look up at her face and see the pleasure washing over it, all I can do is keep moving my hand back and forth. I push the fabric out of the way and dip my head down towards her slit. I kiss her gently, letting my tongue slide out to taste her desire.
She moans as I taste her again, a little bit deeper this time. I find her bud and kiss the little bundle of nerves until her whole body quivers. Her fingers are wrapped in my hair as I gently slide my tongue around her sensitive bud.
She’s whimpering and trembling as I explore her body for the first time. I hook my fingers into her panties and slide them down her legs, dragging my eyes back up towards her glistening center. My head dives back down and she fists her hand into my hair, arching her back and grinding her hips up towards my face.
This is more erotic than I could ever describe. She tastes better than anything I’ve tasted before, and I can almost feel her pleasure in my own body. I kiss and lick and taste and devour, until she’s trembling underneath me, grinding her hips up towards my face and pressing my head down towards her.
When I slip my fingers inside her, Mara’s whole body contracts. I give myself to her completely, moaning with her as her walls squeeze my fingers and her back arches. She gasps and moans, fisting her hand in my hair and pressing her hips up towards me.
My lips are covered in her wetness, and I don’t stop eating her until she relaxes. I lay one more soft kiss at the top of her slit and finally look up at her beautiful face.
Mara’s eyes are closed, and her hand is thrown across her face. Her chest is heaving up and down, and I kiss her hip once more before lifting myself up towards her. She opens her eyes and looks at me, shaking her head from side to side.
“Dominic,” she breathes. “That was…”. She shakes her head again. The corners of my lips curl upwards and I start to chuckle.
“That was fucking hot,” I finish for her. She grins and nods her head. Her fingers find the sides of my face, and she pulls me towards her to share another kiss.
Chapter 14 - Mara
My body feels like it’s on fire. Vincent never touched me the way Dominic just did. No one ever has, really. The way he runs his hands over me feels like he’s known me for years. Even now, as I tremble and recover from the intensity of my orgasm, he trails his fingers over and back across my chest. His touch sends shivers through my torso.
My heart is pounding, and I take a deep breath to try to slow it down. I turn my head and see him staring at me. I can’t help but grin as a blush spreads across my cheeks.
“Dominic,” I breathe.
He leans down and presses his lips against mine, hooking his hand around my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and moan into his lips as we kiss – our arms and legs intertwined on my bed. His lips are soft and he kisses me slowly, groaning as he tastes my mouth.
Dominic shifts his weight and presses himself down on top of me so his erection is pressing against my stomach. I tilt my hips to feel it and he groans in satisfaction. He runs his fingers down my side and cups my ass, guiding my legs until they’re wrapped around him.
We’re closer than I could have imagined. It feels like every part of me is touching him – like he’s wrapped around me and I’m wrapped around him, both so tight that I never want to let go. I kiss his neck. He groans in response, sending a thrill straight through my core. The heat of my desire is blossoming once again as he slides his shaft through my wetness.
The feeling of his cock against me is driving me wild. I press my hips up towards him to feel it against me, and it sends an aching need through my core. I want to feel it inside me. I want to feel him inside me. I want him to take me right now.
It doesn’t matter who he is, or who I am, or who our families are. All that matters is his body, and my body, and our pleasure. All that matters is the way his hand is tangling into my hair, and the way my fingers are sinking into his shoulders. All that matters are the groans he’s making every time I touch him.
I’m more alive than I’ve ever been before. I’m flying. I reach over to my bedside table and grab a condom. Dominic looks from the condom to me and his eyes spark. His chest rumbles as he takes the crinkling package from me.
“You sure?”
“Never wanted anything more,” I breathe. I watch as he kneels in front of me on the bed and rolls the condom onto his hard cock. It glides on smoothly, and once it’s on he grabs his cock and drags his eyes up to mine. My whole body is on fire. I bite my lip and look at Dominic, letting my eyes wander from his dark eyes down to his muscular shoulders. His chest and abs are almost gleaming in the moonlight from the window. I reach up and run my finger down the center of his torso until I hit the base of his shaft. I wrap my hand around his thickness and savor the fire that floods my veins.
Dominic groans and tilts his head back as I grip his member, pushing his hips down towards me as I open myself up to him. My legs fall apart and I tilt my hips up to accept him. When the tip of his cock presses against my opening, my whole body relaxes and a moan escapes my lips.
I can’t describe the feeling of Dominic’s cock. It’s better than I can put into words. My body stretches to accept him and grips his girth as he pushes into me. It’s like he fits inside me so perfectly that nothing else can compare.
A gasp escapes my lips as he pushes himself deeper and deeper inside me. Inch by inch, he enters me. My walls contract around his girth and I moan once more.
When he starts to pump his shaft in and out of me, I’m already there. The orgasm is building in the pit of my stomach, and I know that in a few instants I’ll be flying off the edge. With every thrust of his cock, the pressure in my core builds and builds until my body is no longer under my control.
With one more thrust, Dominic grunts and it reverberates through my chest. The pressure finally releases and the pleasure floods my veins. My back arches as the pleasure courses through my body – over, and over, and over, in wave after wave of bliss.
I don’t know if I’m screaming or if I’m silent. I don’t know if I’m grabbing on to Dominic’s shoulders, his neck, or the bedsheets. I don’t know what’s happening. All I know is that the intensity of my orgasm is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. My whole body contracts around him until he grows harder and starts to tremble with me.
The sweetness of our release is indescribable. He’s panting into my ear as I grip onto him. I run my fingers along Dominic’s skin, through the thin sheen of sweat that our lovemaking has produced.
When he collapses on top of me, I'm as spent as he is. For a few blissful moments, the only sounds in the room are our heartbeats and our long, ragged breaths.
Finally, I’m able to think again. It’s like a fog lifts from my eyes and I see Dominic again for the first time. This time, he doesn’t seem like the rugged mountain man that lives on the edge of town. He doesn’t seem like a renegade – like the man who has opposed my family for a decade.
He seems calm, and loving, and gentle. He seems so real. I run my finger down his cheek and I scratch the stubble on his jaw, and he groans in satisfaction. His eyelids flutter open and he studies my face for a few moments.
“You’re beautiful, Mara McCoy.”
“So are you, Dominic Clarke,” I answer with a grin.
A smile spreads across his face and he closes his eyes again. He tilts his chin
towards me as I run my fingers over and back along his jaw. I watch him for a minute, or an hour, or an eternity – until sleep takes us both.
Chapter 15 - Dominic
I wake up to the grey light of dawn streaming through the open blinds. I don’t recognize anything around me. My heartbeat immediately starts to race as I look around the room through my bleary eyes. Finally, I see Mara sleeping beside me and the memories of last night flood my mind.
“Shit,” I say under my breath. I crane my ears to try to hear any noise in the hotel. Everything is dead quiet. Mara stirs beside me and her eyes flutter open.
“Hey,” she mutters, seeing me awake. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I answer, running a finger along her cheek. “I should go.”
“So soon?” She asks, opening her eyes a bit wider. She lifts her head to look at me and then at the window. “Stay.”
I smile. “I wish I could. You know what kind of drama that would cause.”
Mara snorts and closes her eyes again. “Five minutes,” she says as she throws her arm over me.
“Fine,” I whisper, happy to let myself be convinced. She rests her head on my shoulder and nuzzles into me. I run my fingers through her soft brown hair and kiss the top of her forehead. She murmurs in response. I lay back and stare at the ceiling of Mara’s bedroom.
How did I get here?
This wasn’t what I was expecting when I came here last night. I was going to tell her that the deal was off. I was going to tell her that no matter what she offered me, I couldn’t do business with her. I was going to ask her to not come back to the workshop.
And now?
Now I’m in her bed. I had the most amazing sex of my life. Calling it just ‘sex’ feels wrong – it was so much more than that. It was like we’d known each other our whole lives. I mean, we have known each other our whole lives. But it was like we’ve known each other our whole lives. Like I’d spent the last three decades getting to know her body as well as I did my own.
She sighs, draping her arm across my chest and moving her fingers ever so slightly back and forth along my collarbone. I catch her fingers in my hand and press my lips to them.
I don’t know how this happened, and I don’t know what it means, or where it will go. What I do know is that right now, with Mara in my arms, I feel good. I feel good for the first time in years. I feel like I belong here – or like she belongs with me.
A noise makes me turn my head towards the door. It sounds like someone in the restaurant kitchen. I take a deep breath and lift Mara’s arm off me. She opens her eyes again and groans.
“Fine,” she sighs.
“I’d stay if I could,” I say, kissing her lips. I slip out of bed and pull my clothes on as the chill in the air hits my skin. Mara lifts her head onto her palm and watches me as I get dressed. She smiles, and shakes her head.
“I’m not sure what just happened, but I can’t say I’m upset about it.”
A smile breaks across my face and a chuckle starts to bubble up inside me. “I feel the same way.”
I hop on one foot to get my shoe on, and my bum hits her desk. Pens and pencils start rolling off onto the ground. “Shit,” I say under my breath, trying to catch them. I catch two before they fall, but most of them fall onto the ground. Mara laughs.
“Sorry,” she says. “I should really get a pencil holder.”
“Why do you need so many?” I ask with a grin as I lean over to pick them up. “There’s got to be two dozen pens and pencils here.”
“I like to have options,” she says. I glance over at her and see her laughing. I chuckle as I hold up two fistfuls of pencils, shaking my head and putting them back on the desk.
She shrugs. “Just a little quirk you’re going to have to put up with,” she says.
I lean down and place another kiss on her lips. “I can deal with a few pencils if it means I get to spend another night like that,” I say. Her eyes shine and her cheeks blush. I kiss her again. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay,” she answers with a soft smile. With one more look at the beautiful woman before me, I turn to the back door and slip outside.
The air is brisk, and I bury my chin in my chest as I make my way towards the nearby trees. I’ll circle back towards my cabin through the woods, where there’s less chance I’ll be seen. The last thing I want to do is start rumors – especially if I’ll be taking this contract with the McCoys. I may be conflicted about all this, but I do know one thing: I know exactly what my brothers and the townspeople will think if they find out Mara and I slept together.
By the time I’m in the trees, my shoulders start to relax and I take a deep breath. A hint of a smile plays on my lips and I inhale the fresh morning air.
I wasn’t expecting this. There’s a tendril of guilt inside me – the McCoys are basically our sworn enemies, after all. Aiden dated Mara when they were teenagers. She was the reason Dad got pneumonia and died. Her parents tricked us into signing over the family trucking business. I burned down their new hotel.
There are so many things telling me to leave Mara alone – to run as far away as possible and to keep my quiet life on the edge of town. There are so many things telling me this is a bad idea. How will my brothers react? How will the town react? How will Mara’s parents react?
But then I think about Mara’s smile when she woke up, and the way her dark hair looked against the white pillows. I think of her face when I made her come for the first time, and the way her fingers dug into my back last night. I think of how good it felt to wake up next to her, and the guilt starts to go away.
Our families have been at odds for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. Maybe this contract is an opportunity to mend things – and even though Aiden dated Mara when they were teenagers, it doesn’t mean she’s off limits. He’s married now! He wouldn’t mind me being with her now, over a decade later.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I know it’s not true. Aiden took our father’s death the hardest. He always blamed Mara for the accident, and still hasn’t forgiven her. I don’t think so, anyway. Any time her name is mentioned, a cloud passes over his face.
Does that mean I shouldn’t get involved with her?
I take another deep breath and wind my way along the path through the trees until I start to recognize the forest around my cabin. Even though summer is coming, the early morning is still quite chilly. The tips of the tree branches are covered in frost, and I take another deep breath as the thoughts swirl around in my head.
I don’t know what I should do. I don’t know how Aiden or Ethan would react to all this.
All I know is that by the end of today, I’ll be out of work. Mara is offering me the biggest contract of my life to redo the McCoy hotel furniture. I have to separate that from last night. Even if I can’t get involved with her, I still need to consider this job.
Something stirs in my chest, and I know that I won’t be able to separate the two so easily. I know that next time I see her, I won’t be able to resist putting my hand around her waist. I know that her lips will call out to be kissed, and my body will be drawn to hers like a magnet.
I know all these things, but I tell myself I just need the work. That I’m just taking this job because I need the money. The fact that Mara and I slept together last night is irrelevant.
… right?
Chapter 16 - Mara
I can’t keep the smile off my face today. I get up and hum to myself as I get ready. I sing in the shower and I smile as I get dressed. When I'm ready, I grab my drawings and make my way out to the dining room where I know I’ll find my parents. Sure enough, they’re sitting at their usual table having their morning coffee.
“Good morning!” I call out.
My mother looks up from the newspaper and furrows her brows.
“What’s gotten into you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re in a g
ood mood,” she says, leaning back in her chair and raising an eyebrow.
I laugh. “Is that not allowed?”
My father scoffs and motions to the chair beside him. “Have a seat, Mara. Coffee?” He motions to the pot of coffee in the middle of the table. I nod in thanks and pour myself a mug. He lets me sit down before speaking again. “We were just talking about the renovations. We’d like to see some drawings soon. Will you be applying to the Parks this week?”
I slide into the chair and put the folder of sketches on the table. “That’s what I’ve come up with so far. The concept is to maintain the hotel’s natural heritage while highlighting some of the mountains around. The color scheme is based on the landscape,” I explain as my father thumbs through the drawings.
He passes some papers over to my mother who inspects them with a critical eye. She makes a noise and purses her lips.
“Are you sure about this, Tim? So much construction – and right before our busiest time of the year!”
My father looks through the drawings one more time and glances at me. “You think you can get us recognized by the Parks?”
I gulp. Not only would this be the biggest job I’ve ever designed, but it’s for my parents. There won’t be the regular client-designer relationship. My heart thumps when I think of last night and all the trouble I could get myself into.
I nod my head. “We can. With these updates, we’ll be in the boutique hotel category, and we’ll have enough heritage elements to get certified. There’s no reason not to go for it.”
My father nods and shifts his eyes back to the papers.
“All this furniture – is this custom made?”
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