And didn't that justify the life changing realisation I'd just had.
I still had misgivings about Dominic, I couldn't prevent that. I had no idea how they would affect my future, but I was also sure I didn't want to dwell on them too closely right now. Not when Dominic had wrapped his lips around a nipple and was tugging and sucking and nibbling it erect. I would bury my head in the sand for the two days I had Dominic, then I would concentrate on licking my wounds and running the hell away from here. I'd be busy, no doubt, licking the wounds of losing my dream as well, so I was pretty sure the heartache I'd be feeling would be consumed by the end of my world.
So no, right now, it didn't warrant my attention. Not when I had Dominic to myself. Maybe it was short-sighted, maybe it was selfish, maybe I was mental to delay the inevitable and allow myself to fall further into his clutches right now, when I knew how it would all end. I didn't know the answer to that, I just knew that a man like Dominic Anscombe came along only once in a lifetime and even if he couldn't be mine forever, he was mine right now. His cellphone was off, she couldn't phone him. The door was locked and we were hidden away from the rest of the world.
I'd take what I could get.
"I want to taste you now," I murmured to his bent head.
He tipped his face up to me, a smile spreading across his lips.
"That can be arranged, lovely," he husked above me and then proceeded to shift us back into our original positions and back on target for the original plan.
Maybe I liked to stick to my word too. So, I spent the next hour proving just that.
Chapter 24
Don't Rock The Boat
"Oh Christ!" Dominic groaned as he slammed into me one final time, finding his release and pressing my body deep into the couch in a delicious display of hard and fast.
Both of my legs were up and over his shoulders, so he could go deep as he'd said and he hadn't been wrong. I'd felt every delightful inch of him. The more I felt, the more I wanted. I was already, despite having just experienced another three orgasms, ready for more. I couldn't get enough of this man.
Dominic went to pull out but I clamped my legs around his neck making retreat impossible.
"Not yet," I murmured in a lazy, way-too-much-sex, voice. He chuckled above me and shifted my legs down to around his waist in a more comfortable position, but didn't lose any contact through the movement. Then he settled himself flush against me, most of his weight still being held aloft by his elbows at either side of my head.
"We were made to be doing this," he commented, nuzzling his nose into my hair at the side of my neck. "Made for each other." I think that's what he said but I couldn't be sure, he was muffled against my skin.
I decided I must have been mistaken.
So, I just answered with a non-committal, "Mm-hmm."
"I could do this all night," he continued to share. "Think up more and more inventive ways to make you come. I think it could become my sole focus in life, making you say my name that way."
Oh wow. I sucked in a breath at his words. How could he be so open about this? How could he be so sure? I'd never met anyone like Dominic Anscombe. Someone so willing to show this side of themselves, greedy for more of the woman in their arms, entirely too lust-filled to act appropriately, so confident their admissions wouldn't be rejected. It was astounding to be with someone so liberated they had no issues at all about baring themselves so obviously to someone who could let them down.
I was in awe of him and slightly puzzled by him, because I had never met anyone like him before, nor could I match the ferocity with which he grasped life in his hands and simply wouldn't let go. I wanted to, God I wanted to so very much. But life, in my experience, had a habit of spitting in your face. To take that leap of faith and open yourself up so completely to another, and then have it thrown back at you. I just couldn't do it.
Perhaps, once upon a time, I'd been as carefree and hopeful as Dominic appeared to be, but I'd had that beaten out of me. Not literally, I'd never been hit by a boyfriend or anything as horrendous as that, but I had been let down. Brett wasn't the first guy to break my heart. But that's life, isn't it? Everyone gets their heart broken at one stage in their life, I'd just had mine trampled on to such a degree by Brett, that it had been flattened, almost destroyed.
But, I'm not so self-centred to believe I'm the only one to have a loser boyfriend like Brett, and quite frankly it could have been worse. Like I said, he never hit me, or cheated on me, he just stole my money, emotionally blackmailed me and constantly put me down. The first was a huge hit, the second was just what I had come to expect of Brett and by the end I thought it was normal. And the third was the one that did the most damage. Because I began to believe his nasty words.
That I wasn't going to get another chance at my dream, that he was my only hope in love and if I lost him, I'd be all alone. That I couldn't fight my own battles without a strong, controlling male in my life. That without him, I was nothing.
That's why I took him back all those times, because the carefully worded threats, which he'd placed over an extended period of time, wore me down to such a degree that I believed.
And here I was with a man like Dominic Anscombe; handsome, sexy, accomplished, powerful, take-no-prisoners and knows-what-he-wants, and I couldn't even allow myself to believe it was possible, it was true. Because Brett had done a number on me, and my self-confidence had taken a hit.
I still wasn't sure who cellphone woman was, but I had heard everything Dominic had said. There was no one else but me right now, he had something he needed to sort out and Nick was helping him - a mistake, he had admitted, that had no bearing on us, which could be cellphone woman I supposed - and then there was all the lovely things he kept saying. About how he loved the way my mouth ran-away on me and let him see inside my mind, the way I cleaned my store in socks, singing at the top of my voice, the way I made him so turned on, all he wanted to do was make me come for the rest of his life. It was getting through, if I was honest about that. He was cracking that shell more and more each day.
But still, there was a part of me that couldn't accept it on faith. Accept that a man like Dominic Anscombe could want me and no one else.
Katie had said he needed a challenge, he had admitted he bored easily in everything in life. He'd said at the beginning, that he thought I'd be a simple distraction, but wouldn't hold his attention for long. The more I thought about it, mulled it over in my mind, the more Brett's words mixed with my doubts made it hard for me to believe.
If I didn't think, but simply responded to him, things would be entirely different. But I'm a thinker, a doubter, a product of my experiences, and although he's breaking through my walls, Dominic hadn't reached the other side. Yet.
The rest of the night we talked. It was nice. Better than nice, it was natural, comforting and little by little, my mind released its hold again on the doubts. By the time he took me to bed - late into the night as I'd slept most of the day - and made love to me; slowly, carefully, even lovingly if I allowed myself that thought, I was content and happy and, dare I say it, carefree. He didn't fuck me, he loved me. There was absolutely no doubt about that, because afterwards he told me so.
"That, sweetheart," he whispered into my hair as he curved my body into his under the bed covers, "was the most exquisite love-making I have ever experienced in my life. You are most definitely paradise, do you know that? My paradise."
I couldn't answer him, I could only squeeze my arms tightly around his waist to let him know I had heard, but inside my heart was singing, even as the tears rolled down my cheeks at what I could still possibly lose. And it was so much more than I had anticipated, it hurt so much more to know this perfection was never again to be mine. Because Dominic wasn't wrong, this was paradise. And he was my paradise as well.
I woke to loud voices coming from outside the room. The sun was up, but only barely, my head was a little foggy from both lack of sleep and the wine I'd consumed last night. And Dominic
wasn't in the bed at my side. I rolled over and groaned at the interruption to my sleep and the ache that the loud voices were stirring in my head. Hungover and sleep deprived, not a happy mix.
Realising I wasn't going to get back to sleep with that racket and also beginning to feel unease, because who would be here arguing with Dominic, when we'd told everyone who mattered we were locking the doors and disappearing inside his house for two days? And it had only been one day, we still had today to create memories to last us the rest of our lives, but from the sound coming from outside the bedroom, that was no longer going to be the case.
I slipped on some underwear, jeans and one of Dominic's T-shirts, not bothering with a bra, then ran fingers through my hair and went in search of the drama. I found it in the lounge, their voices raised so much that the sound had floated up the stairs to Dominic's bedroom.
"You can't possibly put someone you met only five days ago ahead of your own sister!" Nick was shouting into Dominic's stone hard, angry face.
"There has to be another way to get Katie, I will not allow Genevieve to be put in harm's way," Dominic said in a voice laden with frost.
"She is your sister!" Nick spat back at him. "Katie, for God's sake. What is wrong with you?" he demanded.
"What is wrong with you?" Dominic shot back. "You know you don't sacrifice one innocent for another, you find a different way to bend things to your will."
I stood frozen at the doorway, neither man realising I was there, too wrapped up in their battle of wills to notice me cowering in the shadows and listening to every pain-filled word. Something was wrong and it involved dear, sweet Katie, but I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what would make these two men fight in such an ugly way. I'd only ever seen comradery between them, two brothers who seemed to have a healthy respect and love for each other.
"There was blood at the scene, Dom," Nick said and my stomach clenched as I watched Dominic's jaw tighten with something akin to acute pain. "Katie's blood. By now she could be hurt even worse, we don't have time to find another way. Genevieve is our only hope."
"I won't allow it," Dominic persisted stubbornly.
"Then our sister's death will be on your head," Nick said, a look of pure hatred crossing his face. Nick was a handsome man, almost as good looking as his brother, I didn't like that hatred on his features. It was wrong to spoil such beauty with something so nasty.
"There has to be another way," Dominic began, but Nick interrupted, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.
"There isn't! Genevieve for Katie, that's what the note said. And if you think I'd send Genevieve in there blind and alone, then you obviously have forgotten who I am. She'll be wired, tracked and shadowed. You know we're the best at what we do. But time is running out. Go wake her up."
"Mistakes always happen and I am not going to risk Genevieve on a weak plan like this."
"Who the hell is this woman to you, that you wouldn't move heaven and earth to save your sister?" Nick demanded and I thought it might be time to intervene, before Dominic said something he regretted. Or that would make it even harder to let him go in the end.
"I'll do it," I said, my voice only slightly shaking. "Whatever is required, I'll do it. For Katie."
Both sets of eyes latched onto me. Dominic's narrowing in anger, Nick's in thankful relief.
"Like hell you will," Dominic said in a low voice.
I stepped toward him, he stiffened as though my proximity would shatter his resolve. I kept going until I was flush against him. His arms still crossed his chest, he didn't offer me an in, so I wrapped mine around his waist, resting my head over his arms, forcing him to accept me. After a few moments of this uncomfortable one-sided embrace, he sighed and untangled his arms, wrapping them around my frame in return.
"Tell me what's happened," I instructed Nick, with a turn of my head to watch his face. He was looking at us both with an unusual expression. I couldn’t work it out, but he was no longer angry, or relieved for that matter. He looked confused and in a little doubt.
"Someone broke into Katie's house last night and took her. They left a note saying they'd exchange her for you."
I felt my stomach roll inside me. I'd suspected, from what I'd overheard, that this would be the case. But I'd hoped it wasn't, even though deep down I'd already known it wasn't to be, a small part of me couldn't comprehend anyone doing that to Katie - to get to me.
Oh God, this was all my fault. Beautiful, glamorous, lovely Katie was hurt and scared and in danger because of my fucked up world.
"Brett?" I asked and my voice wavered significantly. Dominic squeezed my body, pulling me tighter into his embrace.
"We suspect so," Nick answered. "It could be King, to get to Brett as he hasn't been able to get to you, but it's a bit too convoluted to be the case. My bet is it's Elliott."
Yeah, I agreed. I didn't know this King person, but from the side of Brett I was coming to see, this would be his sort of play. A direct hit to me, to force me out of hiding. How could I not do what he demanded when Katie was at risk?
"So, what's the plan?" I asked Nick and Dominic actually growled out loud at my words. Nick flicked a concerned look at Dominic, then returned his steady gaze to me.
"We don't have much time before the deadline given passes, so we have to work fast. Get you to the ASI offices, wire you, place a tracking device or three on you and your clothes, and then drop you at the exchange. Ben will shadow you. This is what he does best. Elliott won't even know he's there, you'll appear as though alone, just as requested, but you will never be on your own. Understand?"
I nodded and Dominic turned me in his arms, separating our bodies enough for him to look down into my face. He looked to be in absolute torture, I'd never seen such devastation on a person before. This was tearing him apart. His reaction seemingly out of proportion to our relationship. Like Nick said, we'd known each other five days, it shouldn't have been cutting him up to this degree. So, I could only assume that most of that devastation, plastered on his face, was for his sister. That made complete and utter sense.
"You don't have to do this," he said softly. "We can find another way."
I shook my head. "There isn't time and you know it. And I'll not be alone." Maybe if I said those words enough, I'd believe them.
"I promise you that," Nick added from over my shoulder.
Dominic's lips pressed in a thin line as he focused on my face, his eyes searching as though trying to memorise my features. Did he think this was the last time we'd see each other? Not a pleasant thought. But rather now, than later, when I'd committed my entire heart to his.
This would work, I'd get Katie safe and what better note to end our encounter on, than that.
"Genevieve," he said, most definitely in that voice. I stopped him before he could say anything else. I wanted to hear what was on those beautiful lips, but I couldn't bear it.
"No," I whispered, my finger coming up and pressing against his. "It's decided. My decision. Me for Katie."
"It's a sacrifice I'm not prepared to make," he managed to say against my finger. I heard Nick suck in a harsh breath at our sides, but I had eyes only for Dominic.
"It's my sacrifice to make and it doesn't mean the end," I pointed out, even though I was quite prepared for the fact that it was.
Dominic stared at me for several seconds and then to my, and Nick's relief, he nodded. One short bob of his head in acquiesce.
I turned to Nick and pulled myself slowly from Dominic's relentless grasp.
"All right then, let's do this."
Nick nodded, flicked his gaze over Dominic and then turned towards the door out of the room.
I grabbed my shoes, slipped on a bra and then one of my T-shirts - it would do no good to rile Brett wearing Dominic's clothes - then tied my hair up in a ponytail on top of my head. I brushed my teeth quickly, splashed water on my face, and then, make-up free, I met Nick and Dominic at the front door.
There was a tense silence be
tween them, heavy with accusation, but at least they weren't fighting again. I couldn't stand that. Dominic meant the world to me and by extension his brother had a place somewhere in my heart. Watching them so angry with each other was torment, and I didn't have enough energy to combat that and the fear trickling up my spine at what Brett had done and would do once Katie and I were swapped.
The drive to the ASI offices seemed to take forever. I sat in the back of Nick's SUV, Dominic sat in the front passenger seat while Nick drove. No one talked. Finally we made it to their underground garage in Newmarket, the sound of the tyres on the smooth concrete grating on my nerves. My head was pounding; tension, lack of sleep and too much wine making me grumpy and jumpy in equal measures.
I cringed when the doors of the car slammed and echoed throughout the garage space. Dominic swiftly came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leaned down and whispered, "Does your head hurt?"
I flicked my gaze up to him, once again surprised at how much he noticed and how much notice of me he took, and smiled reassuringly back at him.
"It's OK, I'll grab some aspirin from somewhere, Nick's bound to have something."
He nodded and led me after his brother into a lift. We went up two floors and exited into a well appointed reception area. No one was manning the front desk, it was still too early. Nick took us through a key-card locked door and down a hallway, several closed doors on either side. Then through another key-card locked door into a room full of men.
I was so surprised to see others there, I actually made a small sound. All eyes turned to me. If Dominic hadn't been holding me tightly I think I would have turned tail and run. Even if I couldn't have got through those locked doors back to the reception area, I would have given it a good try. I was acutely aware that all these ASI men knew, and probably loved, Katie and that that they no doubt blamed me for her current unacceptable state.
Sweet Seduction Sacrifice Page 25