1606011189-Menagerie-Santiago.doc

by Menagerie (lit)

  “I disagree.” His grin was infectious. “I’d say that we know each other completely, deeply. Intimately.”

  “But not on Earth.” Valerie flashed to the memories of her existence before unexpected space travel. She led a very quiet, lonely life. Certainly not one filled with guns, criminals, motorcycles or sexy undercover men. Not to mention her love life was a non-existent entity.

  “So?” He brought her hand to his lips. “What difference does that make?”

  “It’s a huge difference.”

  “No. It’s not. Why are you balking?”

  Valerie expelled a long sigh. “There were things I did in that extended dream-like existence that I’ve never done here.”

  His eyebrows went straight up. “Like what?”

  “Like,” she paused and glanced at the door. “Allowing you to tie me up and blindfold me before you tortured me senseless with unseen tactile stimulation until I climaxed harder than I thought physically possible. Twice.”

  He laughed. “Well, that experience was new and different for me also. But so what, we’ll just make new memories here.”

  Valerie got to the heart of the problem she wrestled with and whispered, “What if I don’t measure up to all the other women you’ve had before?”

  “Not possible.” He grabbed one hand, kissed her fingers gently and added, “Babe. Contrary to your belief of what my sexual proclivities included here on Earth, I’ve never done that sort of thing with anyone else.”

  Her mouth fell open. “I don’t believe it.”

  Dominick laughed and shrugged. “It’s true. I’ve never shared those particular desires with anyone before. Only you.”

  “Well then, why did you share them with me?”

  “As I recall, you goaded me into it.”

  Valerie’s cheeks heated in memory. She had practically coerced him into the mild bondage games they’d played. She was afraid to admit she wanted more. Did he?

  “Right. Well, like I said, I wanted to measure up.”

  “And instead you set the bar.” He kissed her knuckles. “I won’t lie to you. Now that we’ve crossed that line, I’ll want to continue. Will that be a problem?”

  Valerie lifted her shoulders, but with it came a relieved grin. “I don’t know exactly what I want, but I have to admit that I’d miss that particular activity.”

  “You want me.” He leaned in and kissed the tender spot on her neck beneath her jaw.

  Time to change the subject before she lost her head and let him talk her into ruining the hospital corners. “I was told you’re in law enforcement. Sorry that I thought you were a criminal yesterday.”

  “Technically, I was a criminal yesterday.” He grinned engagingly. “It’s all a part of the undercover work that I do.”

  She glanced at his gold hoop earring. “Right. Well, I’m an accounting analyst for the very stodgy law firm of Barrington, Wells and Hartford. Under rigidly conservative in the dictionary, I believe they’re pictured.”

  “And?”

  “And with your gun-toting undercover work, I simply mean that we live in different worlds. Regardless of our time in the dreamworld of space, I’m not sure if we fit together in this one.”

  “How will you know if you don’t give us a chance?”

  She shrugged. The motion of moving her shoulders made a spike-like pain thrust into her head. She put a hand to her forehead to keep her brain from trying to exit.

  “All you have to do is tell me that you don’t love me and you’ll never see me again.”

  Valerie lifted her gaze to meet his. A tear slipped out before she could stop it. “You know I can’t lie to you, Dominick. Just smelling you overwhelms my senses to the point that I can’t think straight. I do love you.” Another tear slid down her face.

  “Then what’s the holdup?” He wiped her tears away with gentle strokes of his thumb.

  “How can you still love me after you shared me with four other men?”

  “Because all of those men were me.”

  “That’s what the Others told me right before they sent me on my merry way, but I just can’t believe it. I saw you as five different personalities. Each of you looked completely different. Golden told me that because I picked your true personality that they’d give us a chance to find each other. Still, you must think I’m a whore to be willing and eager to service so many men, whatever the reason.” A sharp sniff escaped to accompany the persistent runnels of moisture from her eyes. She was weak from pain and hated the tears which wouldn’t stop in her fragile condition.

  “Babe. It wasn’t like that. I don’t remember that time as sharing you with four other guys. Those men were all me and on some level I knew it even when we were there. Just as I know that you loved me and took care of me. All of me. In every possible mood and temperament and personality and not a bunch of strange guys. I wasn’t even able to hide my darkest side from you. The fact that you loved my dark side best of all is why we’re even here together.”

  Valerie’s mouth opened to argue, but he stopped her with a soft kiss and whispered, “I’ll tell you what. At least spend time with me here on Earth before you make up your mind.”

  “Okay.” Valerie nodded, but the movement made her head ache worse.

  “Sorry your head hurts, babe.”

  Valerie narrowed her eyes. “How sorry are you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, are you sorry enough to help me get rid of it?”

  “Of course.”

  She glanced over his shoulder at the open door to assure that they were alone. “I need.”

  His brows furrowed in confusion. “You need what?”

  “Sex.” Whispering the word made heat sting her cheeks. “I ache like you can’t even believe.”

  “Don’t you think we should wait—”

  Valerie grabbed his hand and pressed it to her breast. “No. I don’t think we should wait a moment longer.”

  As a barrier, the thin brushed cotton of the hospital gown was no match for his warm palm. The heat seared one nipple and it hardened beneath the fabric. She moaned, but he snatched his hand away as if he’d been scalded. Dominick stood, quickly abandoned her bedside and headed for the exit. She almost screamed in frustration until he swooshed her door closed and promptly locked it.

  The feral grin shaping his lips when he turned back almost made her come.

  “You should know by now that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, babe. Think your hospital bed is sturdy enough to hold both of us?”

  Valerie shifted to the left and flipped her covers to one side to make room for him. “Guess we’re about to find out.”

  Dominick climbed gingerly onto the bed and pulled her hospital gown all the way to her neck one-handed. His gaze lingered on the white gauze bandage marking the place where the bullet had pierced her flesh.

  She covered it with her hand. “It’s ugly now, but it’ll heal and the scar will eventually fade.”

  He sighed. “It’s not ugly, but I see this injury and I want to shoot Regina all over again. I wasn’t prepared to let her murder me after my cover was blown, but I took particular exception to her taking aim at you once I’d escaped as far as the park. Once she recovers she’ll go to prison for the rest of her life. I’ll see to it.”

  “Shh. She’s gone and we don’t ever have to worry about her again. Make love to me. Help me forget. Make my head stop hurting.”

  Dominick settled onto the narrow bed. “Close your eyes.” Once her eyes were shut, he stroked her breasts and thumbed her nipples until they peaked and then sucked on one tip until she moaned in pleasure.

  One hand trailed down the center of her body until he dipped to stroke her clit and she fairly burst with an intense bolt of frenzied arousal. Still stroking her clitoris, he slid his fingers inside her slick pussy, pumping in and out several times.

  Heart pounding wildly in her chest, and with an unbelievably rapid climb in arousal geared to her imminent a very d
esired orgasm, Valerie sucked in a sudden breath, and plummeted over the edge of a blinding climax in record time.

  She stiffened and moaned deeply, trying to keep her vocal appreciation to a minimum.

  “God, you’re sexy when you come,” he murmured a few minutes later.

  Valerie opened her eyes slowly. “Do you think the nurses’ station heard me?”

  “We’ll know in the next minute or so if they start beating on the door. How do you feel?”

  “I can’t believe it, but my headache isn’t as bad.”

  “Good to know.” He brushed his lips across her cheek and nuzzled her neck. “I do love you, Valerie.”

  “So why don’t you unzip your pants and give me what I really want?”

  He kissed her lips instead. “Because I forgot my handcuffs and blindfold.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “Yes. I prefer to use soft silky scarves to bind you. Unless you want to be cuffed?”

  “Well, I don’t want to take any possible sexual aids off the table.”

  He laughed out loud. “No problem, but I’ll look around for a specialized set that won’t chafe your lovely wrists.”

  “You don’t think that once we completely forget about our time in space that we’ll wake up one day and wonder why we’re together, do you?”

  “No. What we feel for each other is way deep inside and embedded permanently in our hearts and souls.”

  “Poetic. Makes me think of Johnny.”

  “Ah. My rarely used creative side.”

  Valerie thought about the other personalities and Mark popped into her mind. “So, do you wear a nipple ring?”

  He chuckled. “Not anymore. I did once or twice in the past for an undercover assignment.”

  “Too bad. I liked it.”

  “Are you going to ditch me because I’m not the merciless bad boy you think you’ve come to know?”

  “I think I need some time to adjust to you being one person and not five.”

  “I’ve been many personalities. I’m happy to resurrect the nipple ring if you liked it, but it’s a real pain in the ass at airports.”

  “Do you remember what Hauser told me regarding why he didn’t like to screw skinny women?

  He laughed. “Yes.”

  “Prove it. Tell me.”

  “Because I don’t like picking bones out of my dick the next day.”

  Valerie giggled. “I thought that was the funniest thing I’d ever heard.”

  “Yeah, that’s me, a laugh a minute.”

  “What about Frasier? He seems like the most different of your personalities compared to the others.”

  He ducked his head. “In addition to all my merciless bad boy traits, I’m pretty good with numbers.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s one-hundred and eighty-eight times three?”

  His gaze shifted from her face and he paused for only a second before responding with, “Five-hundred and sixty four.”

  “Is that right? Wow. My shy little accountant’s heart just went pitty pat.”

  A dark grin spread over his mouth. “What can I tell you, babe. I’m a multifaceted guy. Do you have any other questions?”

  “Is there anything you regret?”

  His brows furrowed. “I regret what happened at the park.”

  “No. I mean about what happened in space.”

  Dominick crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side. “Is there something I need to apologize for?”

  Valerie sighed. “No. I meant of all the times we were together. Is there anything that you regret.”

  “I wish we’d been able to come back together. I wish you hadn’t gotten shot and I wish I was certain that you would agree to spend the rest of your life with me.”

  “What you said to my mother about me being the only woman you’ve ever said ‘I love you’ to, is that true?”

  “Um. Hmm. Yes.”

  Valerie glared at him, trying to ascertain the truth.

  He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Okay, fine. I told Lisa Batterton that I loved her, but I was only trying to get her to give me a home-made chocolate chip cookie, and I was in the second grade. I don’t think it should count against me.”

  Valerie grinned. “I love you, Dominick. I really do.”

  He leaned in close. “The second you’re released from this hospital, we’re on a plane to Las Vegas to get married.”

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “What if I want a big church wedding?”

  He released a deep sigh. “Then a big church wedding is okay by me. You’ll see that we belong together, babe.”

  Valerie smiled and hugged him tight.

  “I told my mom that I’d met the perfect girl. She can’t wait to meet you.”

  “Looks like I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My mother-in-law will be much more accepting of our relationship than yours.”

  Dominick’s infectious grin made the corners of her mouth lift. “What?” she asked.

  Pulling her close, he whispered, “I’m definitely getting the better end of the deal, babe.”

  Before she could respond he cupped her face and kissed her mouth tenderly. “Big extravagant wedding or quickie Vegas wedding?”

  “What?”

  “You just agreed that my mom would be your mother-in-law. That means you’re marrying me. So your next choice is big or quick.”

  “What if I want huge, long and slow?”

  “The honeymoon is a whole separate issue, babe. Let’s finalize the wedding plans before we decide that.”

  She laughed, pleased that he could read her mind.

  “Fine. Let’s head for Vegas. And after we do the quick wedding, then I get the huge, long and slow honeymoon, right?”

  “It’s like you read my mind, babe.”

  MENAGERIE

  THE END

  WWW.LARASANTIAGO.COM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lara Santiago is the bestselling author of over twelve books. She's an Ecataromance award winner, a 2007 Passionate Plume finalist for The Lawman’s Wife, and has garnered a coveted four and half stars from Romantic Times Book Reviews for her novel, The Blonde Bomb Tech.

  From her futuristic novels to her contemporary romantic suspense, she's known for her independent heroines and those compelling alpha males we all adore.

  After turning in her twelfth manuscript, she came to the realization that this writing gig might just work out after all. She continues to dream up stories, keeping no less than ten story ideas circulating at any given time.

  Please visit Lara at

  www.larasantiago.com

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com