Rock My Body

by Lee Piper

  I winced, hoping our new housekeeper wasn’t going to get into trouble because of me.

  “Come on.” She held out her hand to me. “Let’s go look.”

  My smile was wide as I clasped her fingers, babbling excitedly. “Once we’ve tidied up, do you wanna time my lap? Reckon I’ll be able to go really fast.”

  Annabelle’s enthusiastic rendition of Happy Birthday—I think it was directed at the cushion—brought me back from my thoughts. I shook my head and a short while later, Mae and I were comfortably seated on the couch, cradling our cups of tea.

  “So what happened when you saw him?”

  I took a small sip, desperately trying to tame the blush that threatened to flood my cheeks. “We, ah, bumped into each other by accident.”

  My friend nodded encouragingly.

  “And…”

  Mae placed her cup down on the coffee table with a decided thump.

  “Relax, it was just a kiss.” I tried to push away the memory of Dominic’s fingers branding my skin, of his tongue stroking mine, of his hard, pulsing, throbbing—

  “Riley.”

  “Sorry.” I internally slapped my own face. There was no stopping the scorching burn which worked its way across my cheeks that time. After taking a deep breath, I continued. “Anyway, nothing much happened because his date interrupted us.”

  Mae’s mouth actually dropped open. “His date?”

  I nodded, hoping her verbal lashing would be somewhat subdued on account of her daughter playing nearby and all.

  “He was on a date with another woman when he kissed you?” The girl looked beyond incredulous. “Are you begucking serious right now?”

  “Well, I guess when you say it like that—you know, all shocked and everything—it sounds pretty bad.”

  “You think?”

  I sighed and took another sip of tea.

  Mae leaned forward and picked up her cup before taking a mouthful, only to spit it back out again, exclaiming, “Oh, my God, that stuff’s awful.” Her horrified expression was hilarious. “It tastes like a tree just threw up in my mouth.”

  “Want me to make you a coffee?”

  She nodded.

  By the time I sat back down again, handing Mae a double strength coffee that even Grace would have been proud of, I noticed she was looking at me strangely. “What?”

  “I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “The fascination with Dominic. I mean, the guy’s sex on legs, he’s in a rock band, he clearly knows his way around women and he’s not afraid to go after what he wants. So I get it.” Her eyes gentled. “The only problem is, I don’t think you do.” She shook her head sadly. “He’s gonna tear you apart, love.”

  I suddenly found my fingernails incredibly interesting.

  After a minute, she murmured, “Is he good to you?”

  My gaze flicked to hers. I wanted to tell Mae that yes, Dominic was very good to me, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I mean, in part he was good to me, there was no denying it. However, in other ways… Well. He warned me I was going to get hurt, and last night he followed through on that threat. Dominic walked away with another woman despite knowing in his heart our shared connection was pretty damn phenomenal. He left me feeling vulnerable, exposed and, well … used.

  Therein lay the answer.

  So, shaking my head, I mumbled, “No, he’s not good for me.”

  “Right. So, when you see him next what are you going to say?”

  “I don’t think I will see him again.”

  She snorted.

  “Seriously, Mae, I won’t.”

  “Amuse me, Riley. Let’s say you hypothetically bump into him at the beach or The Hole, what do you tell him?”

  I glanced briefly at Annabelle before replying. “I tell him to leave me the beguck alone.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  As soon as Mae and Annabelle left, I quickly changed into some running gear, grabbed my water bottle and froze. “Crap.”

  Dominic still had my car keys.

  Despite ceremoniously handing over the set for my apartment last night, he refused to give back those for my convertible. I wanted to feel angry with him, but in truth he made a mature decision, despite it being an inconvenient one. The only problem was, now I had no mode of transportation. Just as I was about to scroll through my contacts list and give him one heck of a grumpy phone call, I heard that familiar faint rumble in the distance. I locked up the apartment and raced down the stairs, water bottle in hand. By the time I made it to the communal car park at the base of the building, Dominic had already pulled up.

  Peeking behind me, I noticed the telltale movement of Mrs. Jenkinson’s lavender curtains. She was going to have a field day gossiping about this—well-behaved Riley Sears jumping into a beast of a car with a Herculean-sized man. It would get her through the next three days for sure. Oh, well, at least the sprint upstairs to old Mrs. Theolara’s front door would increase her heart rate. In fact, if I thought about it from that perspective, I was actually giving the woman an impressive cardio workout. I smiled, no longer feeling the suffocating weight of her prying eyes and instead commending myself on my good deed for the day.

  After slipping into the passenger seat, I took a deep breath and glanced across at Dominic.

  Yikes.

  He looked good, insanely good, like, I’m-going-to-have-you-every-which-way good.

  If only.

  I swallowed.

  With a cerulean blue t-shirt stretched tightly across an obscenely broad frame, black basketball shorts outlining his strong, muscular legs and a dark cap facing backward, I had to consciously tell my brain to function. For real. Which probably accounted for why I had to clear my throat a few times before any noise came out. Eventually, I managed to squeak, “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  I’m embarrassed to admit the brief sound of his deep, gravelly voice made me literally squirm in my seat. A sudden ball of tension materialized at the base of my stomach and I knew exactly what it would take to rid me of it.

  Dominic. Naked. Fucking me senseless.

  Oh. God.

  I took another deep breath, forcing all the sexy thoughts to the back of my mind. With superhuman will, I held out my hand, gesturing with my fingers for him to hand me back the keys.

  Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “You need to promise me never to pull that shit again, Riley. Wanting to get behind the wheel drunk? What the fuck were you thinking?

  Okay, so scolding me like a two-year-old worked brilliantly at diffusing my raging hormones. I glared at him, refusing to answer.

  “I’m not bullshitting when I say I’ll impound your car if it happens again.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You can’t confiscate my car, Dominic.”

  “The hell I can.”

  The tight clench of his jaw and pointed stare told me he was serious, deadly serious. I looked away, my heart pounding. “Fine.”

  “Fine, what?”

  Turning back, I snapped, “I promise never to get behind the wheel after I’ve been drinking. Happy?”

  “No.” But he dropped the keys into my outstretched palm anyway.

  “Thank you,” I murmured.

  We drove to The Hole—you guessed it—in silence and after quickly changing vehicles, I gave a long sigh of relief. While speeding along the coastal highway, I made a conscious effort to ignore the fact that Dominic had refused to utter another word to me after his verbal reprimand, yet waited until my car safely pulled out of the parking lot before accelerating toward the beach himself. It wasn’t easy; I mean, the man was a walking contradiction for God’s sake. He was both sunshine and storm clouds, flame and frost, kind and cruel—it was confusing as hell.

  Which was why I had to stop seeing him. The whole conflicting emotions thing had officially run its course and it was time to move on. So, in my head I repeated over and over again the phrase I had given Mae.

  He’s not good for me. He’s not good for me.
He’s—

  If only my body would listen.

  When I eventually made my way down the wooden stairs leading onto the sand, Dominic was already there, waiting. He stood facing the water, which today appeared grey and wild. Dark clouds hovered menacingly above and I rubbed my arms as a salty wind whipped the ocean spray across my exposed skin, stinging me.

  Just get it over with, Riley. Pull up your big girl panties and tell him it’s over.

  I moved to where he stood and gazed up at his closed profile.

  So complicated, so beautiful. Why do you have to be so beautifully complicated?

  Steeling myself, I murmured, “We need to end this charade, Dominic.” He blinked. Honestly, it was the only sign which proved he heard me at all. “We can’t just be friends, you know it and I know it.”

  He turned to me, his blue eyes mirroring the tempestuous sky above.

  “And we can’t be more than friends either. I mean, I don’t want a casual hookup and you don’t want a committed relationship.”

  “You’re right, I don’t.”

  Why? For the love of God, why? What the hell caused you to feel this way?

  But I remained mute on that subject and instead continued with, “So, we need to make a mature decision and do what’s best for both of us.”

  Dominic’s gaze morphed from stoic to predatory as he stepped closer, crowding my personal space. I really didn’t mind. In fact, my heartbeat loved it a heck of a lot and it took everything I had not to throw myself at the man and rip his t-shirt off with my teeth.

  “What’s best for us, angel?” Dominic’s low voice spoke directly to my pussy.

  “I…” I swallowed, clenching my thighs together. “I think we should stop … ah, hanging out.”

  “Do you?” He bent his head, his nose skimming down my neck and across my collarbone, inhaling deeply. “Are you sure about that?”

  I reached out, grasping his biceps—man, they were huge—as my head rolled back and sensation overtook common sense. “Not really.”

  Dominic gave a low chuckle before nipping my flesh—I gasped. “Didn’t think so. You sure you can handle not seeing me anymore?”

  I nodded, I think. It was hard to tell with my breasts crushed against his chest.

  “Seems to me, your head is saying one thing but your body is saying another.” His tongue lapped the spot which only moments ago stung from his teeth and my grip on his arms tightened.

  “I’m not sure of anything anymore,” I whispered. “I can’t think when you’re this close to me.”

  There was a brief pause. Dominic swore under his breath before releasing me from his hold. After taking a deliberate step back, he turned away, raking tense fingers through unruly hair, studying the turbulent ocean.

  “Dominic?”

  Nothing.

  I moved closer, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  When he turned back to me, his face wore a mask of indifference. I swear, a bowling ball to the stomach couldn’t have done a better job at stealing my breath. “You know what? You’re right. We need to stop this.”

  It took me a minute to pull myself together and then another few to gather my confused thoughts, but when I did, I muttered, “It doesn’t matter anyway, I’m on an afternoon roster for the next two weeks so it’s unlikely we’ll see each other again.”

  Piercing blue eyes burned my skin. “When are you running?”

  “Early morning.”

  “What time?”

  I told him and he nodded, his jaw working hard. We were quiet for a moment longer and both of us watched as a gull swooped from the stormy sky above down to the wild ocean. It dived for a fish but seconds later struggled its way back into the air again with nothing in its beak. Entranced, we watched it. Over and over again it plummeted, over and over again it rose unsuccessful. The continual failure broke my heart.

  Turning my back on the bird, I murmured, “Ready?”

  “Yep.”

  And we took off down the beach.

  Over an hour later, Dominic and I were back where we started. Panting, we trudged our way off the sand and up the stairs. It had been an intense workout. We each pushed the other harder than we had before and even stayed longer in the secluded cove completing challenging strength exercises despite the crazy weather. I for one dragged my feet with each step, though not from exhaustion, I just didn’t want to say goodbye.

  Fool that I was.

  When we reached our vehicles, I grabbed my water bottle and took a sip. Dominic looked at me as though he was dying of thirst, so I offered my drink to him. With a half-smile, he took it, but not before our fingers touched. Whether it was on purpose or accidental, I couldn’t be sure. What I could be sure of, however, was the way my skin hummed at the contact. Yes, hummed. A thrilling tingle wound its way up my arm like a vine slowly unraveling and I determinedly stared down at my running shoes so as not to give away how much his touch affected me.

  Shit timing.

  “Thanks.”

  My head shot up and Dominic grinned at me—at least the exercise helped improve his mood. His eyes were clear and his lips quirked up in the corners. My female parts swooned.

  I mumbled something similar to, “No problem,” put the bottle back in my car, and then stood there, awkward.

  Well, this sucks.

  Taking a deep breath, I murmured, “Guess I’ll see you around then.” My attempt at a genuine smile was pathetic by any standards but I found it impossible to feel pleased when my heart hurt.

  Dominic’s look turned serious, he reached out and gently cupped the side of my face. Instinctively, I leaned into it, shutting my eyes and trying not to cry like an idiot. A calloused thumb running over my bottom lip forced my eyes open again, and I watched as his gaze roamed my face as though committing each feature to memory. He leaned forward, brushing feather-light kisses on my cheek, nose and eyelids, while I just gripped his t-shirt like it was my lifeline.

  God, even after a run he smelled amazing.

  It was true. The earthy, minty scent of Dominic had me inhaling him like a turbocharged vacuum cleaner and I bit my lip when he whispered in my ear, “See you around, angel.”

  Before I knew it, he broke from my grip, turned and climbed into his car. The engine roared and not long afterward, he sped away. I honestly couldn’t tell if he looked at me in his rearview mirror because my vision was blurred by tears.

  ****

  I chose not to sulk for the rest of Sunday. After all, if there was one thing my witch of a mother taught me it was self-pity wasn’t going to change anything. It certainly didn’t change her indifference to my unhappiness growing up, that’s for sure.

  Since the apartment was already the cleanest it had ever been thanks to yesterday’s distraction method, I decided on a different approach for the remainder of the afternoon—I was going to organize. Everything.

  And boy did I ever.

  Nothing was safe, not the cutlery drawer, the wardrobe, the linen cupboard, not even the black abyss under the laundry sink. By the time I was through, everything in the apartment had been systematically reordered, restructured, and redefined. I even color-coded random objects in case the size differentiation groupings were not obvious enough.

  So with heavy music blaring and my hands kept busy, I did an awesome job of not thinking about Dominic. I even went a whole fifteen minutes without picturing his ruggedly handsome face at one point.

  Awesome.

  Sadly, the same could not be said for when I closed my eyes that night. Apparently, my subconscious thought it a great idea to stream images of Dominic into a full-length feature film. Needless to say, sleep was impossible. Instead, I was tantalized with montages of Dominic laughing, scowling, staring, running—heck, even grinding himself up against me—it was torture of the worst kind.

  Yeah, trying to forget him sucked.

  When I finally rolled out of bed the next morning, I was groggy and irritated, ridiculously so
. The last thing I felt like doing was exercising but experience told me that this was when I needed it most. After pulling on my running gear and eating one-third of a banana—trust me, it makes all the difference—I drove to the beach.

  The previous day’s stormy weather had cleared, leaving the morning sky a textbook blue. There was not a cloud in sight, it was as though the harsh wind and raging waves were nothing more than a figment of my imagination. I took a deep breath. God, I loved the beach. It didn’t matter if I started from the same spot and religiously followed an identical route, each day looked and felt completely different. In fact, I was so caught up in my musings that I almost missed the red and white Thunderbird parked nearby.

  Almost.

  My steps faltered. Yep, that was definitely Dominic’s car all right. “What are you up to?” I mumbled to myself while making my way down to the sand.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask the man in question because he was nowhere to be seen. So I shrugged my shoulders, pushed all confusing thoughts aside and promised myself not to think about that human-sized paradox anymore.

  And surprise, surprise, it didn’t work.

  Not when I took off at an easy jog, not when I increased the tempo midway through my workout, and definitely not when I saw Dominic pumping out some push-ups in the secluded cove at the other end.

  Shit.

  Once I reached him, I tried ridiculously hard to appear nonchalant and when that didn’t work, I even attempted annoyed irritation. But it was impossible. His muscles were rippling in that hypnotic way of his, and those eyes… Well, let’s just say I had an itch only he could scratch. Oh, to hell with metaphors, I wanted to throw myself on top of the guy and fuck him senseless.

  Oh my God, what’s happening to me? I’m turning into a pervert of the worst kind.

  I took a deep, albeit ragged, breath. “What are you doing here, Dominic?”

  Good, just the right amount of suspicion but with no evidence of carnal lust. Totally nailed it.

  He grinned up at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes that I did not trust at all. My knees may or may not have wobbled. “What’s it look like? I’m exercising.” With that, he stood, winked, and headed back along the beach at a loping run. He even had the nerve to call over his shoulder, “Later,” three strides in.