Determination fills me on the way out of the cab and up the front walk. I wrench the door open and hear giggling. Kennedy meets me as I walk in the foyer. “Elle! Oh my god, are you okay?”
Oh, right. My puffy eyes. “Yeah. No. Marie left today.”
“Oh, I forgot. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
“Want a hoot?” Nick offers from the couch.
I shake my head. Another lie. Nick and Kennedy think I’m only taking a break from smoking, unaware that I had to quit because it was so unhealthy for me. It’s tempting to have a toke and not feel anything, but I want to be completely sober for my talk with Dominic. I’ll just have time to sober up from the residual buzz from my drink by the time he gets here.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve got to go get ready.”
I walk to the bathroom to splash cold water on my cheeks and scrub the tears from my face. I’m not as blotchy as I thought I’d be which is nice. After that I go make a sandwich to help soak up the rest of the alcohol. After a nap and a shower, I’m stone cold sober by the time Dominic pulls up to the house a few hours later.
I get into his car before he can get out to open the door for me.
“Hey.” Obvious pleasure is written all over his face. He’s happy to see me.
“Hi.” I shut the door, but don’t put my seatbelt on.
“Ready for tonight?”
“Not really.”
“Do you need more time to get ready?” He looks confused.
“No.”
“Then I’m lost.”
“Why do you keep doing it?” I cross my arms.
“Doing what?”
“Taking me on all these insanely cool dates?”
“You think they’re insanely cool?” He smiles, pleased, and then sees my serious expression. “Oh, you’re serious.” He shrugs. “Because I want to.”
“Well, you don’t have to, you know. You don’t have to try to impress me. I’m cool with just hanging out and doing low-key things.”
“I know that.” His voice is soft, eyes serious.
“I just feel like it’s a waste.”
“Of what?”
“Effort. Money. I’m not worth the trouble.” And soon you’ll realize that and leave me too. Just like Marie. Just like Jason.
“This isn’t you, Elle. What’s going on?”
I open my mouth to tell him a lie. “Marie left today.” Damn it, Truth! Get out of my mouth. I want to be alone and miserable and smoke myself into a state of oblivion with a nice cocoon of smoke protecting my heart from further pain.
“I know. That’s why I wanted to see you instead of just calling like I’d said I would. I thought you might appreciate the company.”
“And I do. It’s just, I don’t know.”
“Feels like everyone’s leaving you, so you thought you’d push me away first?”
My eyes boggle. He totally gets it.
He leans closer. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.” His hand slips into my hair, caressing my jaw. Without meaning to, I lean into his touch and close my eyes. I so want to believe him. Marie’s words come flooding back. Tomorrow never comes, there’s only today. Why am I waiting, denying myself a chance at happiness with someone who obviously cares about me? He pays attention to what I say, not just the way I look.
He brushes a thumb against my cheekbone. “And I like taking you places that don’t aggravate your condition. Places that aren’t boring, that you haven’t been to a thousand times. I love seeing the light in your eyes, and that sexy smile.”
“I have a sexy smile?” That he thinks my smile is sexy pleases me.
His eyes darken, and he leans in close. “That smile makes me want to take you behind closed doors, and do things that make you scream with pleasure, and forget every word in your vocabulary except for my name, and ‘yes.’”
Holy shit. Sitting forward until our mouths almost touch, I smile. “How quickly can you get us to your place?”
“Thirty-seven minutes.”
“Drive carefully. And pray for all green lights.”
Chapter Seventeen
Dominic was wrong; it only takes twenty-eight torturous minutes. I think he may have sped a little, but it still wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of him the entire drive. If we would have hit a red light, I would have pounced, but of course, when you want one to happen, it doesn’t, and all of a sudden we’re parked inside a garage and he shuts the car off. His house. I never even saw the outside of it.
Who cares?
Straining toward Dominic, I release my seatbelt and spring forward. His mouth eagerly meets mine, and I press the back of his neck, pulling him toward me, deepening the kiss, so hungry for him I can’t breathe. His hand trails up my arm to my shoulder, and down along my side, caressing my ribs, landing on my hip, gripping it tightly, making me gasp.
He kisses a trail down my jaw and neck. “I thought that drive was going to kill me,” he whispers the words against my skin between kisses. The desire in his voice hits me straight between the legs.
“Bedroom,” I reply. “Now.”
We part and fumble with handles to get out of the car. We meet at the hood, and he turns to enter a security code on the keypad by the door. Pressed to his back, I reach around and run my hands up his chest and down his abs, standing on tiptoes to kiss the back of his neck. As my hands dip lower, I’m rewarded when the keypad buzzes that he’s entered an incorrect code. Twice.
Then it beeps and the door unlocks, and he turns, and I pounce, but he lifts me like I’m weightless. I wrap every limb around him, clinging like a tight shirt, and he walks us through the house, kissing me the whole time. His hands move up my thighs and slip beneath my shirt, and run up and down my back, finally moving back down to squeeze my ass.
He walks us through a door, kicks it closed behind us, and lays me on a bed. His bed. The room smells of him, and I breathe in the dark, fresh scent as he kneels on the edge of the bed and removes my shoes and socks. Arching my back to strip out of my shirt, I toss it to the floor and reach up for him.
“Lights on, or off?” He slides his hands up my calves and pauses on my thighs.
I’m flying on sensory overload right now—until I’ve already had him, I don’t think my brain could handle seeing everything as well. Not for our first time. I’ve barely had sex with the lights on, always feeling too shy and self-conscious. It’s easier to be uninhibited in the dark.
“Lights off.”
He moves up my body, achingly slowly, fingers brushing my bare belly. “Your skin is gorgeous,” he sighs, kissing his way up my torso, and up my collarbone, as his hands caress my breasts through my bra.
I grab at his sweater, pulling the hem up, freeing his body from its cloth prison. He helps remove it and tosses it away. Then he lowers himself onto me, kissing my neck, and I’m lost in the perfect texture of him. He’s not soft. Dominic’s body is built, but lean, and defined. He’s hard, and impossibly smooth, like warm, living marble. Running my hands over his arms and back, I swoon, drunk on the feeling of his skin.
“You feel so good.” My voice is practically a purr.
Moving up, his lips brush the sensitive skin by my ear, unleashing a parade of shivers across my body. I tangle my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling his mouth to mine for a frenzied kiss. He trails skilful hands down my body and pauses at the button of my jeans, tugging the fly open.
He grips the top of my jeans, and moving away from me, drags them slowly down my hips and legs. They hit the floor in a denim pile, and a similar sound follows a few seconds later when he removes his own.
The thin fabric of our underwear and the cover of darkness are the only things between us now. Dominic’s hands land on my upper thighs, coaxing me toward him, my butt hitting the edge of the bed. I’m as pliable as warm caramel.
“It’s not too late to stop.” He brushes his fingertips from my hips to my knees.
“It w
as too late to stop the minute I got in your car.” I can barely breathe the words. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you right now.”
He replies with kisses, burning a trail up my inner thigh, skipping to just below my bellybutton. I arch up to allow his hands better access to the back of my bra, which is unhooked and removed in record time. He palms one of my breasts, the nipple tightening when he trails the pad of his thumb back and forth across the tip. I gasp as he takes the other in his mouth, licking and sucking, drawing a moan from my throat as the sensations pull from deep within my belly. Wrapping my legs around him, I flex, pulling him closer, and he shifts up, kissing away the sound of my cry, as he rocks his hips against mine, rubbing his hard length against me in just the right spot.
I cling to him, trying to pull him even closer, but he pulls back.
“No,” I moan, poutiness clouding my voice. “Come back.”
Soft laughter patters across me. “You’re so perfect, Elle.” And he kisses down between my breasts, past my solar plexus, moving slower the lower he gets, gently stroking me through my panties. My hips rock up and down, mirroring his fingers, and I get why he moved me closer to the edge of the bed as the mattress shifts when he leaves it to kneel on the floor.
I’m breathless and almost can’t believe this is happening, but it feels so right. Then my panties are sliding a satiny journey down my legs, and I tense a bit, unused to this. Jason was never really into giving oral. But then Dominic’s impossibly hot mouth is locked against me, and it’s all I can do not to pass out. He moves my legs over his shoulders so my heels rest against his back and does things with his tongue that should be patented and banned.
I’m shaking, and moaning, writhing around, and then he slides a finger inside me, and I feel it so deeply I swear he’s inside my mind, playing with the pleasure centres of my brain. God, I’ve never felt this before, I can’t take it anymore, I just want him, all of him inside me, and I can’t wait.
“Dominic,” I gasp. “I can’t—please.”
“Yes, you can,” he says against me, and the vibration of his voice pushes me over the edge. Spasms shudder through me, and I arch my back so hard I sit up without realizing it, making incoherent sounds of pleasure, but he doesn’t stop until I lie back down, spent. He scoops me up, lays me on the bed properly with my head on a pillow, and I’m still dizzy from how hard I’ve just come.
His hand runs up the outside of my thigh, past the curve of my hip, all the way up my side to my breast. His other hand gently brushes down my belly.
“Dominic.” My tone is both a warning and a plea.
“I want you so much. But I don’t want to rush.”
“It’s not rushing. We’ve got all night. Please.” No one’s ever paid this much attention to my body before, and as much as I love it, I need him inside me.
His weight shifts away from me. I hear the unmistakable sound of a drawer opening and closing, and the crinkle of a foil packet. Reaching toward the sound, I stroke his back, feeling like he’s been gone for too long, like he’s too far away. Strong fingers capture my hand, and he turns and presses a kiss to the inside of my wrist.
Maybe it’s the endorphins, maybe it’s the lust. But suddenly I’m not scared of him seeing me. I need to see him. “I changed my mind,” I whisper. “I want to see you.”
There are some fumbling sounds, and a click, and a gentle pinkish-orange glow radiates from the nightstand. The rock-salt lamp doesn’t illuminate the room, but its soft light washes over us on the bed. I sit up to get a closer look. My god, he’s beautiful. Lips slightly swollen from our kisses, hair sexily tousled. And his body is just—
Thoughts are cut off by Dominic’s lips claiming mine again, tongue stroking mine as he lays me back down, positioning himself over me. I can faintly taste myself on his tongue, and it turns me on tasting the pleasure he gave me only a moment ago. I open my eyes and see his are open, which makes me smile into the kiss and pull him closer.
He nudges my legs open wider with his knees, hands running all over me until I’m arching, and panting. Needing again.
He pauses and kisses me once more, deeply, like we’ve got all the time in the world.
Then he pulls back from the kiss and looks into my eyes as he pushes slowly inside me. Seeing the look of pure pleasure on his face, the bare openness in his eyes is so intimate, and fucking hot, that all I can do is moan and smile up at him.
My smile unleashes something in him. He grits his teeth and grabs my hips, and still moving slowly, thrusts harder, deeper. We fit together like we were created for each other. Every time he pulls out, the sheer need for him overwhelms me from inside the sudden emptiness, from his absence.
And every time he pushes back inside me, I feel like my very being is expanding, and he’s merging with me, pleasure making us more than what we are. Together.
I grab at his ass, trying to pull him even closer, deeper, and he starts circling his hips as he moves in and out, rubbing me in the sweetest spot that curls my toes, and makes me scratch down his back, but it won’t hurt because the sheer pleasure he gives me steals my strength.
He moves faster, and faster, and pleasure swirls me higher and higher, and if he stops right now I might die.
“Yes!” I say, or maybe scream.
Without stopping, he reaches down and lightly rubs my clit, and I start to shake, hips bucking wildly against him. Oh God, I’m going to come again. How? Jason never made me come twice in one night, I can’t believe this is happening, but the pleasure, the pressure is building in me, and how is he doing this, touching me there—
“Dominic,” I cry, as an orgasm slams through me, muscles inside me clenching so hard Dominic cries out, and pauses his thrusting, rhythm thrown off by my tightness.
Sucking air in through gritted teeth, he pulls back and thrusts in a few more times before I feel him spasm inside of me. Then he’s gathering me in his arms, and carefully lowering himself to me, kissing my shoulder, careful not to crush me beneath him as we decorate the room with our heavy breathing.
He was wrong. I remember two other words from my vocabulary other than his name and yes.
“Holy shit.”
Chapter Eighteen
We lie intertwined for a few minutes, languid and satiated. Then we untangle our pleasure-heavy limbs.
“If you want to use the en suite bathroom, I’ll use the one in the hall.”
“Sounds good.”
He kisses me, lazily, sweetly, slowly. “It’s over there.” He points.
In the dim light, I watch his pale, perfect ass walk across the bedroom and out the door before wrapping the sheet around myself and heading toward the door he pointed to. What is it with men having that shameless nude pride? Pushing the door open, I shut the door behind me and fumble for the light. I never realized what a selfish lover Jason was until now. My body is humming; every cell feels alive like never before.
It’s incredible. Closing my eyes before I flick it on doesn’t make much of a difference; my eyelids still squeeze involuntarily at the sudden brightness.
Waiting for the blinking to pass, I pry open my eyes—and gape in shock.
This bathroom is bigger than my living room.
The floor and bottom third of the walls are covered in large, dark green marble tiles. Flawless horizontal wooden blinds, painted a brilliant white cover the windows. On the right there are double sinks in a dark green granite countertop, brushed chrome faucets. Across from the faucets, set up higher on a platform, is a huge bathtub. With jets. Past the sinks on the right, is a large steam shower that looks like it would comfortably fit six at a time. Since I can’t see it, the toilet must be past the steam shower. I walk past the sinks, trailing my hand over the impossibly fluffy white towels.
I could live in the luxury of this bathroom and be perfectly happy.
Finding the toilet, I do my business and make my way to the sink to wash my hands. I’m all flushed and dishevelled, so I finger comb my hair and spla
sh some cool water on my face. Lacking a toothbrush, I rinse my mouth and scrub at my teeth a bit with a fingertip. I debate having a peek in the medicine cabinet, but I’ve already lingered too long.
But what the hell does Dominic do for a living? This is serious wealth. Rewrapping the sheet around myself, I leave the bright lights of the bathroom. Dominic is sitting with his back against the headboard, knees pulled up. He’s put on a pair of pale grey pyjama bottoms. He points to a pile on the bed.
“Here, try these.”
Pyjamas for me. A pair of super soft cotton bottoms like he’s got on, and an equally soft tank top. I sit on the bed and, using the sheet as a cover, pull the pants on first. They’re big, but have a drawstring waist, so it works if I roll up the bottoms a bit. Keeping my back turned, I slip the tank top over my head, inhaling the scent of his laundry detergent.
Now that I’m not naked, it’s time for a chat.
“Dominic, what do you do for a living?”
Please don’t say drug dealer, mob hit man, or industrial spy.
“Ah.” His smile is small. “I usually don’t like telling people what I do right away.”
“Are you ashamed of it?”
“No.”
“Is it something frighteningly illegal?” I press on.
“No! Just the opposite, actually. I’m a lawyer.”
“Oh.” Yay! He’s not in the KGB! Thank God for that. “What’s bad about that?”
“Come on, you’ve heard all the lawyer jokes. How we’re soulless and slimy, ruthlessly screwing everyone over for as much money as we can get.”
“Well, at the risk of sounding like an asshole, it looks like you’ve done pretty well for yourself.” I jerk a thumb toward the bathroom. “Your bathroom is bigger than my living room!”
He shakes his head. “No, I’m just starting out, only graduated and passed the bar two years ago.”
“What kind of lawyer are you? Do you strut around the courtroom, making passionate speeches for a jury?”
He smiles. “No, I’m in litigation. I actually try to resolve issues between the parties so they don’t have to go to court.”
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