The Sweetest Mistake

by Layla Valentine

  When the figure broke the surface of the water just a few feet away from her, it was all she could do not to scream. As it was, a choked sound broke from her throat as she tried to move backward. It wasn’t a shark, but in her panicked state that was about all she could tell for sure.

  “Holy shit, Juliette,” Dominic said.

  Rather than respond to him, she simply let herself sink down in a combination of relief and humiliation. He hauled her up again.

  “What made you decide to come for a swim?” she asked, more calmly than she felt.

  He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t decide to come for a swim,” he said. “I came for a walk. Then I saw a person floating out here and thought that it might be a good idea to check if they were okay!”

  Juliette couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face. She turned and began to swim back toward the shoreline.

  “Aw, my would-be rescuer!” she teased.

  “Hey, I didn’t even know it was you,” Dominic protested as he followed her in. “I would have rescued whoever was out here.”

  She glanced over at him as he caught up to her. “That’s not the way to win a girl’s heart.”

  “I don’t seem to be having much luck with that anyway,” he said.

  Juliette turned to face him once her feet made contact with the sandy bottom. The water still came up to her shoulders. It lapped at his chest, reminding her again of the difference in their height. She loved the way it felt when he held her. Like he was caging her in, protecting her.

  “I wouldn’t say that, Dominic,” she said softly. She’d left it up to fate and fate had practically gift-wrapped him for her. It was time to stop fighting it.

  His dark eyes seemed to light up. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Slowly, giving her plenty of time to back away if she wanted to, Dominic reached for Juliette. She had tried; God knew she had. But how was she supposed to resist someone that made her feel the way he did? Contract be damned, she wanted him.

  She went into his arms, allowing him to pick her up to kiss her. Juliette returned the kiss, tasting the salt of the ocean water on his lips as they parted for her tongue. His teeth grazed her lower lip when she pulled back.

  “I’ve been thinking about the way you kiss every damn night,” Dominic growled. “Wanting you after every scene.”

  “What do you do when you want me?” she asked, feeling more wicked than she ever had now that she was out here under the moonlight with him.

  “What do you think?” he asked roughly. “But it’s never enough.”

  “I’m more than happy to help with that,” she said.

  “Out here?”

  She stretched up and kissed him again. “I need you,” she said when their lips parted once more. “Please don’t make me wait any longer.”

  “I’ll never make you wait again,” he promised.

  In a few quick movements, he’d pulled down his shorts and pushed her bikini bottom aside. She felt his cock nudge her entrance, and even though she’d asked him not to make her wait, she couldn’t resist teasing him. She gripped the base of him and dragged the head up the very center of her.

  She rubbed his length around her clit, making herself gasp at the contact. Dominic bucked forward, clearly trying to push inside her, but she only tilted him upward again. He gave a groan as she continued to tease herself with his cock.

  She wrapped her legs more tightly around his waist and let her head fall to his shoulder as she realized that she was close to coming just from that. She gripped him more tightly, stroking him even as she rubbed her stiff and swollen clit with his throbbing cock. She began to tremble as the orgasm built.

  “Let me inside you,” he said in a low, husky voice. “God, I need to feel you, baby girl.”

  She needed to feel him too, but she wanted this. She wanted to come.

  She rubbed more firmly, circling her aching clit with him, the same way that she’d used her fingers so often since meeting him. She moved faster, making him hiss in a pleasured breath at the stimulation.

  The orgasm broke over her as suddenly as a wave and that was when she pushed down on his cock and took him into her. She felt all nine inches of him slide deep in one swift thrust and bit back a cry of satisfaction. Her pussy clenched around his thick heat as she came, and his hands tightened on her ass. He could finally thrust into her as he’d been dying to do.

  “I can feel you shaking,” he said, his voice sounding almost awed. “Baby, keep coming for me, okay?”

  She wasn’t sure that she had a choice. The first climax hadn’t ended, but she was pretty sure that he was already pushing her on toward another one. Her head fell back as her back arched. Her stiff nipples pointed up to the sky, inviting his kiss.

  Dominic was more than happy to answer the invitation. He licked the salty water droplets off of the peaks and then sucked one of them into his mouth. She lifted her hand, pinching the other one and rolling the hard nipple between her fingers.

  Once he saw how rough she was with herself, he decided that it was safe to suck a little harder. Her cry of pleasure told him that he’d made the right call.

  He brushed her hand away after a few moments and switched sides, teasing that nipple as well. All the while, he pumped his hips, thrusting as deeply as he could into her sweet pussy.

  “I can’t take much more,” she gasped raggedly as she writhed on him. “Make me come again, please! I need to come again.”

  Dominic remembered how much she’d loved being rubbed, so he dipped one hand between her legs. Her clit was so swollen that she gasped at the first brush of his fingers. One day, he’d have to taste her there too, but he knew there wouldn't be time tonight.

  He rubbed two fingers up the sides of her pussy, where she was stretched tight around him. It was hard to believe this was happening again. He’d wanted this since the moment she left his penthouse in that pretty silk sundress.

  Juliette arched further, pressing herself into his hand. Her body had begun to tremble again. She was building up to an even stronger release. He wanted to go over the edge with her this time.

  Dominic began to thrust more quickly, building the friction that he needed. As he fucked her, he rubbed that sensitive little clit at the same pace. She grabbed his shoulders for support, her lips parting on a moan.

  “Oh, Dominic, that’s it. Oh…” she moaned again, her eyes closing. “Oh, I’m going to come for you.”

  “I know, baby girl,” he said. She was shaking in earnest now, her body writhing against his as her legs clamped tighter around his waist. “Let it happen. Come for me. I’ve got you.”

  It was only once he’d spoken those words that Juliette was able to truly let go. She came all around him, her body nearly convulsing as it clenched.

  She could feel the heat of him spill into her and that only ramped up the sensations. They came together so fiercely in the next few thrusts that water splashed up all around them, washing over her breasts and leaving sparkling droplets on his shoulders.

  Once her body let her, Juliette rested her head on Dominic’s shoulder and felt him press a kiss to her neck. True to his word, he had her. He didn’t let go even as his own body shivered in the aftershocks of his mind-bending release. Eventually, when he knew that she could stand, he let go of her. She sank back into the water on shaky legs.

  “Wow. That was—” Juliette broke off when she heard a rustling noise.

  Jackson, the graying, bearded boom operator, was walking down the beach.

  Dominic froze like a deer in the headlights. Instinctively, Juliette pushed him down under the water and waved at Jackson. He waved back.

  “Good night for a swim,” he called, softly so that he didn’t wake up the people sleeping in the villas behind them. “I should have done that myself.”

  “It’s a good night for a walk too,” she reassured him, hoping desperately that he’d head on down the beach before Dominic came bursting to the surface.

  To her
intense relief, Jackson walked on after giving her a brief wave.

  Juliette sighed in relief as Dominic came back up, spluttering and wiping water off his face.

  “You could have warned me, you know,” he said with a grin.

  “And we could have been more careful,” Juliette replied, worry filling her voice as she bit down on her thumbnail.

  He cupped her face and brushed a kiss over her lips. “We will be, next time,” he promised her. “As it happens, I have a few places in mind.”

  Chapter 15

  They tested out Dominic’s rendezvous locations in earnest over the course of the next two weeks of filming. They made love on her chaise lounge in the middle of the day, her on top with her hand over her mouth so they didn’t draw any attention. He joined her in that deep stone bath one night, washing her until she squirmed and begged for him inside her—then fucking her so hard that water sloshed over the rim of the tub. The ocean was a favorite spot as well.

  Juliette had never been as satisfied by a partner as she was by him. She’d always sort of believed that multiple orgasms were a myth. She now knew they definitely were not.

  It was more than just the sex, though. She loved the way he held her afterward, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her in against him as if he still hadn’t gotten enough of feeling her skin against his. There was also the way that he smiled when he saw her—like she was always the best part of his day.

  Then there was the way that he said her name. She melted every single time she heard it. She couldn’t explain why, there was just something about the way his voice lingered over the syllables that made her weak in the knees.

  Maybe he really did feel something deeper for her. She had no choice but to wait and see.

  She pulled a wrap on over her bathing suit and stepped outside into the warm late-morning air. They weren’t filming today. It was the first time in two weeks that they had managed to get a full day off.

  She planned to spend some time in those lounge chairs she’d been eyeing for the last two weeks. All she wanted to do for the next few hours was read and listen to the waves crash onto the shore. She wanted to be mindless. Maybe even take a nap. They were simple goals, but after two weeks of nonstop work, they were incredibly important.

  When she walked down closer to the water, she saw Dominic standing in the shallow surf. He was wearing board shorts, and she wondered if he was about to go out snorkeling again. He’d taken her a few nights ago, and he’d been right: it had been much better at night.

  Then she noticed that he was holding his phone up in front of him—an observation that really surprised her. Dominic really wasn’t much of a selfie guy. In fact, his fans complained routinely about his lack of a personal social media presence. Maybe he’d finally given in.

  As she moved closer and saw his lips moving, she realized that wasn’t the case. He was talking on the phone. She started to step back, not wanting to encroach, but he’d already seen her approaching. He waved her over, and she went curiously. Maybe it was something to do with work.

  “This is Juliette,” he said when she got closer. He reached out an arm and pulled her quickly into the frame.

  To her horror, Juliette found herself practically face to face with a woman that could only be Dominic’s mother. She had lighter hair and green eyes, but something about her expression was very much like Dominic’s. Maybe it was the amusement Juliette saw in her eyes.

  “Hello,” the woman said cheerfully. “I’m Lorna, Dominic’s mom. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Juliette moved to tuck her hair behind her ear and then remembered that she’d worn her hair up in case she decided to go swimming. After that, she didn’t really know what to do with her hand, which was sort of just flitting around in the camera view. Finally, she settled for putting it behind her back as she gave the woman an awkward smile.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” she said.

  “Dominic says that this is your first big movie,” Lorna continued, seeming content to ignore the fact that Juliette had no clue what to do with her hands sometimes. Thank God. “How do you like filming so far?”

  “I’m having fun,” she said honestly. “The days are pretty long, but it doesn’t really feel like work. I think that it’s probably because of the location and the crew. They’re both fantastic.”

  Juliette glanced up at Dominic, and he grinned down at her. “Damn right,” he said. “And you’re a natural anyway.”

  “Dominic hated his first big movie,” Lorna said.

  Dominic looked back at the camera. “I didn’t hate it.”

  “Is that why you called me to complain about it every single night?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.

  Juliette covered her mouth to stifle her giggle.

  On the screen, Lorna smiled conspiratorially and went on. “He really did. It was too cold. Too wet. It was taking forever…”

  “I was in Canada crawling through the mud all day,” Dominic protested. “It was freezing!”

  “And look where it got you,” Lorna said, her teasing glance softening into a look of pride that made Juliette feel warm all over. “Now you’re getting paid to get a tan on a private island in Mexico.”

  “I’ll bring you out here anytime you want,” he offered, and Juliette could tell that he was perfectly sincere. “We could bring everybody. Maybe we could do Thanksgiving out here.”

  Lorna sighed, the humor fading from her eyes. “You don’t want to open that can of worms right now,” she said. “Everybody has gotten a little more complicated lately.”

  “Is Ashley back with Paul?” Dominic asked, his blue eyes narrowing.

  “Not officially,” Lorna said, shaking her head. “But there is an awful lot of talking and texting for a couple that aren’t seeing each other.”

  Dominic’s jaw went tight and a muscle ticked in his cheek. Juliette stepped slightly to the side when she felt the tension begin to radiate off of him. He glanced down at her.

  “I don’t want to intrude,” she said softly, giving him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. “I’ll be over on the lounge chair if you need to talk to me later, okay?”

  Dominic nodded and went back to the conversation, switching from video chat to hold the phone to his ear. He walked off down the beach quickly. His posture was so tense that she was afraid he’d pull a muscle. Admittedly, she had no idea what was really going on, but she could infer.

  He’d mentioned a sister a few times before. Apparently, the sister was dating someone that he really did not approve of. She would have wondered if it was just him being an overprotective brother if his mother hadn’t seemed to feel the same way.

  Juliette stretched out on the lounge chair and picked up her book. When she realized that she’d read the same sentence three times in a row, she put it down again. It had been a while since she’d called home herself. Dominic wasn’t the only one who had reason to be concerned about a sibling.

  She picked up her phone and dialed her mother’s number. Carol always worked the night shift on Tuesdays so she should still be at home.

  Her mother answered on the second ring.

  “Juliette!” she said, her warm voice ringing through the line. “How are you doing, honey?”

  Juliette realized that Tami had a point. They really did have a relaxing accent. She felt her whole body warm up at hearing the affection in her mother’s voice. They’d been emailing and texting almost daily, but she hadn’t made time for a real conversation in over a month.

  She’d have to start doing better about that. She and her parents had always been close, and she didn't want to lose that bond just because she lived on the other side of the country now.

  “I’m doing pretty well,” she said. “I’m lying on the beach right now, just soaking up the sun.”

  “Did you put sunblock on?” her mom asked automatically.

  “I did,” Juliette replied.

  “Remember to reapply it every so often, especially if you�
��re out there in the water. You know it washes off.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  She grinned. It might have bothered some people to be so consistently mothered, even into her twenties, but Juliette knew it was just her mother’s way of showing that she loved her.

  The thought sent a sudden surge of homesickness right into the pit of her stomach. Maybe once filming wrapped up, she could go back home for a while. She hadn’t thought about that possibility until just now, but she liked the sound of it a lot.

  “Tell me everything you’ve been up to,” her mother said excitedly.

  Juliette paused; she couldn’t exactly do that. Not without getting into some very awkward territory.

  “It’s going really well,” she said. “Edward is great to work with.”

  He really was. She honestly did not think that she could have had a better experience on her first film with any other director. He corrected her quietly and didn’t mind answering her questions.

  “What about the producer? That Price man?”

  Juliette chewed on her thumbnail, trying to figure out how to explain her issue without telling her mother about the contract she’d been forced to sign. She never outright lied to anyone, especially not her mother, so she’d just have to use her typical mode of operation and equivocate.

  “He’s pretty strict,” she said with a sigh. “He really didn’t want to bring me on for this project—since I don’t have any experience.”

  It was more than that, though. He watched her so closely when she was with Dominic that she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Edward had picked up on that and had scheduled the more romantic scenes to happen when Albert was off the island. It happened frequently—he was always running back to Horizon Studios to deal with one crisis or another. It was a huge relief that Edward did that, because whenever Albert was on location, he always seemed to be trying to catch Juliette and Dominic in the act.

  Even though Albert’s suspicions were grounded in fact—she was breaking the contract, and had been for weeks now—the assumption that she and Dominic were lying annoyed her. Maybe it wouldn’t have if things hadn’t been working out so well, but everything had been perfect so far. The movie was going according to schedule, which meant that it was on track with the budget, too. What did Albert have to be so ticked off about?