by Fiona Murphy
The sob rips through me without permission, Dominic’s hand is on my arm. No, I don’t want him to touch me. I pull away. “You lied to me. And you were going to keep lying to me.” I have no idea how the words get past the lump in my throat.
This time he doesn’t meet my eyes. All he does is nod.
“And that’s why I needed some air.” Before I break down, I flee into my room, slamming the door behind me.
17
Regina
I wake up to Mary bringing in a tray for breakfast. All I want to do is pull the covers over me and pretend that this day is over already.
“Sonya is at the church, then will move on to the hotel to confirm everything is as it should be. Your dress will be here in a half hour along with Alicia, Bethany, and Chloe, who will all help you get dressed and will get ready here. There is a hair stylist and a makeup artist coming to take care of everyone within the hour. The hair stylist asks you wash and condition, do not dry, just wrap it up in a towel and she’ll take it from there when she gets here. Is there anything else you need?”
Studying the tray, filled with eggs, bacon, and a croissant as well as a small carafe of coffee, I shake my head. Once she’s gone I lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling, hoping it will give me the answers I need. Am I really going to go through with this? Marry a man who doesn’t love me, has lied to me, and wants me to take him on his terms and his terms alone?
Am I stupid or desperate? This can’t be love. It has to be lust. If I ran far, far away eventually this would fade, right? Only if I ran Dominic would find me. And god I am stupid because as much as I hate him, I don’t want to run. It’s no longer me not having anywhere to go, it’s that I want to stay with him.
I’ll take anything he’s willing to give. He promised he would work on this, on us. If Dominic at fifteen years old could take a crumbling, unsteady business and not just build it back up, but make it better through sheer will, I believe he’ll do whatever it takes for us to succeed.
***
Dominic
I’m standing at the altar refusing to allow the sweat to appear on my forehead the way it wants to. Regina is coming. She has to. I trust her. I believe her. She’s pissed. I get it. She has every right to be. I will make it up to her. Everything I have will be hers; she won’t have to ask. Anything she wants in the world, I’ll give it to her, except the kids and letting her go.
The music begins, I exhale in relief. Pop nudges me. Yes, even though he’s pissed me off, he’s standing up as my best man. Vincent and Enzo round out the groomsmen so it’s even.
“There was no doubt she was coming, mimmo. I told you, she is in love with you. You treat her well and there’s no end to what she will do and put up with. As long as you don’t take her for granted,” Pop whispers in my ear.
My first sight of Regina coming down the aisle, it’s that first time I saw her all over again. Gorgeous, stunning, and she’s mine. A weird twisting happens in my chest. No, it can’t be. I don’t believe in it. It’s this moment, the white dress fitting her to perfection that I’m about to promise before god and everyone that matters in my life I’ll take care of her forever for as long as there is air in my lungs.
It’s normal for emotion to get out of control. It’s not that word, not that emotion. Down that road is nothing more than pain. We can have a good marriage, a happy marriage without it.
Johnny raises her veil, kissing her on her cheek, then gives me her hand. Her hand is cold, trembling. My hand swallows hers entirely, I do my best to temper the squeeze to make it gentle and reassuring. When she returns it with a small smile, the tension in me fades to nothing.
The ceremony takes forever before I’m finally given permission to kiss Regina. It isn’t easy not to give in to the hunger mounting within me. Her eyes open in surprise. “No, sweetness, it’s not the kiss I want to give you. I’ll do that when there aren’t almost four hundred eyes on us.”
A blush washes over her. Damn, she’s so fucking beautiful. Now she’s mine; she knows it, and everyone else knows it too.
***
Regina
Only minutes after we’re announced, Dominic is guiding me toward the back of the enormous ballroom to two women, oh my god. It’s Mother Superior and Sister Giulia. They tell me they are my wedding present from my wonderful husband. Dominic stands by, giving me time with them. It’s the best wedding present I could have ever asked for.
The day passes in a blur. I’m only allowed to dance with Dominic, Tony, and Johnny. Johnny spends the father-and-daughter dance lecturing me on how to be a good wife. Tony spends the two dances telling me how happy and grateful he is. Dominic’s patience is dwindling with every hour. Johnny keeps trying to keep him at the table, Tony teases him, urging him to stay for another toast. Finally, with a growl, Dominic just picks me up and walks me out of the ballroom.
I bury my face in his neck, embarrassed at the cheers that go up around us. “I can’t believe you,” I mutter as the electricity is back as strong as ever, searing through every cell in my body at being back in his arms.
“You believe, two weeks is too damn long. Another hour was too damn long.” He looks at the elevator attendant and gives him our floor. The man presses the button with a smile.
I’m too embarrassed to remove my face from Dominic’s neck. He smells so good. I love the way he’s carrying me as if I weigh nothing, the growly way he’s acting as if he can’t wait for me. Then it’s happening: we’re in the suite, Dominic moves so fast I barely have time to take it all in before we’re in the bedroom.
Slowly, he lowers my legs to the floor. “You are so beautiful. It was hell to hold you close without touching you the way I wanted to.”
I get lost in turbulent blue. “You even got me a tiara. Please tell me it’s fake and didn’t really need a security guard to deliver it?”
Dominic simply smiles as he takes off the delicate gold and diamond tiara stunning in its simplicity, secured with a dozen bobby pins. “A queen needs her crown.”
He sets it on the dresser across the room then he’s behind me, his nimble fingers making quick work of the buttons, then the zipper of the dress. A press of his lips to the back of my neck has me shivering. This time, the shock is so strong it verges on pain.
The beautiful dress falls to the floor; he picks me up again, then lays me down on the bed. It’s hard to get air in my lungs at the way he doesn’t take his eyes off me as he undresses. He moves much faster on his own clothes, until he’s standing only in black silk boxers.
One knee goes down on the bed at my side. I tremble as his eyes darken with pleasure as he unclips the white silk stockings, then rolls them down my legs, taking his time to run his fingertips down the skin of my legs. Before I can blink he’s removed the garter belt, leaving me in my white lace bra and panties. The bra’s catch is between my breasts. With a simple flick of his wrists the bra is open, yet he doesn’t remove it, allowing it to lay against my skin. My panties don’t receive the same treatment. A finger hooks at each hip, then he whips them off me with a speed that has me shivering all over again.
Closing his eyes, his breath shudders out of him. He is beautiful. Even with the scar from the gunshot he is a work of art, from the tattoos etched into him in Latin across his heart, then above each hip. A fine layer of hair covers his chest, yet it’s not so thick it hides the way muscle and sinew flex beneath glowing caramel skin. The need to touch him is building until I’m desperate for him.
His eyes open and oh god, all the air flees my body. It can’t be, I don’t believe it. I reach out to touch him, then he blinks, shaking his head. This time when he opens them, it’s gone. I fight the tears at the loss—oh, his mouth is on mine. Savage, hungry, delving deep, demanding everything from me, my fucking soul. I deny him nothing, give him everything I am.
My lungs are screaming for air, yet when Dominic tears his mouth from mine I gasp in agony from the loss of him. Fingers stroke over the skin of my cheek. “I’m going
to try really hard not to mess this up, Regina. I know the first time will probably hurt. I promise you I will do everything in my power to make it up to you.”
His thumb plays over my lips. “This first time, it’s all for you. I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Regina?”
With everything but my heart. Only I don’t dare say it, I simply nod as I catch his wrist. A thrill goes through me at the way his eyes glitter at my touch. “I trust you.”
A gentle press of his lips against mine has me blinking back tears. Sweeping his lips across my cheek, I moan at the teasing, needing more. Then his tongue is tasting the skin of my neck below my ear. Sucking lightly, his teeth teasing where my shoulder meets my neck. A light sting then more, he is sucking harder and harder. I moan his name with no thought in my mind of what I’m asking for. Only it’s too late—his mouth moves lower, tongue teasing, lips grazing, driving me out of my mind until he draws the lace away from my breasts.
He licks his lips, ocean blue churns as he studies me. I thought this moment would be scary, filled with embarrassment; instead I glory in the way he stares at me with awe in his eyes and desire in every inch of his hard body.
“I’ve been dying to know, jacked my cock until I was raw fantasizing about your breasts. All of those fantasies pale in comparison to you in reality.” One large hand cups me, his thumb teasing an already tight nipple until he’s stolen all the air from my lungs.
“The one thing I needed to know, was desperate for, was if the color of your nipples would match your perfect pouting lips or the shade of your cheeks when I make you blush.” His tongue slides out to coat his lower lip. “They match your lips. Now I’m fucked because every time your lips are wet, I’ll be thinking of wanting to suck your nipples until they match your lips.”
I gasp as he lowers his head. Oh, a swipe of his velvet tongue tastes me once, twice then his tongue swirls around my nipple before he finally, finally sucks me deep into his hot mouth. He teases my other breast with fingers far too adept at torture.
The combination of his mouth and fingers on my other breast is turning me inside out. With a wet pop he lets me go only to take me back in again, sucking furiously now, deeper and deeper, drawing on me, sending me out of my mind. Only to pinch my other nipple between his fingers until I’m begging him to stop, yet when he does I cry at the loss of what he’s doing to me.
No! His mouth is gone, yes, please. He’s moved to my other breast and the torture begins anew. Teasing, sweet torture; that tongue, how can it be so soft and cruel at the same time? Deeper, deeper, more, oh god. I can’t take it, then he’s teasing me with the tip of a finger before pinching lightly, increasing the pressure until it’s pain. Pain that feels so fucking good I’m begging for more. And oh god, he sucks harder, harder... Oh my god, a wave of pleasure washes over me.
My eyes go wide in shock and wonder. Dominic chuckles. “It’s not uncommon, it also doesn’t happen to everyone.”
I sigh into his mouth as he licks across my lips before taking my mouth in a deep, seeking kiss that ends far too soon. Slowly, too damn slowly, he is kissing and licking his way down my body. I open my legs to him as he presses a kiss to my mound.
“Damn, Regina, I hadn’t wanted you to be bare. Was afraid it would make me feel like a dirty old man. Yet the better to see your pretty pussy, to eat you. Every inch of you bare, soaking wet for me.”
The blush I expect never appears. Instead I open my legs wider, proud of how my need pleases him. That time in the library I had been so high and out of my mind with pleasure at what he was doing to me, it felt like a fever dream. This moment is richly vivid, infinitely sweeter somehow. Then all thought evaporates under the heat of his mouth.
He licks along the seam of me all the way down, then up before moving down again until I’m whimpering my plea to him to— Yes, yes. Big, thick fingers tease me before opening me wide to his tongue. That beautiful, strong, velvet tongue is diving in deep, again and again. As his thumb finds my clitoris, stroking lightly in time with his tongue pushing into me. Fuck, fuck, Dominic sucks on my outer lips harder and harder. It’s too much, I plead, until his tongue runs over my lips as he sucks me deep into his scalding mouth. I’m lost in what he’s doing to me, incoherent in need. My hips jolt off the bed when his tongue swipes over my clitoris.
More, please, no teasing, only he doesn’t hear me or he’s not listening, because he’s driving me out of my mind. Yes! Hot, so fucking hot, he sucks harder again and again on my clitoris, and my body splinters and breaks apart with a scream.
My lungs ache as I try to take in air. It isn’t easy when Dominic isn’t done tearing off every inch of my skin, leaving me raw to him. I’m still trembling as he finally frees my clitoris from his mouth, only to lick lightly all along my outer lips. I’m too weak to even move, or at least I thought I was until Dominic pushes one thick finger inside me. I gasp, my legs twitch in response to his finger sinking deeper into my swollen, sensitive body.
A soft, gentle sucking of the skin of my mons is taking my attention away from the second finger slipping into me. Oh, thick, how can his fingers feel so thick? I know his cock is much bigger than his fingers. Then they move into me, gently yet with firm intention.
I go still in anticipation, only to forget them as Dominic pulls back the skin and teases my clitoris with his tongue. Pressure is all that flashes in the back of my mind. Then oh, ow. Dominic curses against the skin of me. Yet those fingers keep pressing deeper, his tongue is back on my clitoris before he suckles gently.
My hips buck up for more as the pressure of his fingers pull whimpers from my throat. The fingers disappear, no, not yet. The bastard chuckles, then they are back deeper, yes thank you, thank you. Another teasing stroke of my clitoris as those fingers move inside me. In and out in a gentle motion, drawing me deeper and deeper into a churning whirlpool of pleasure.
Oh, oh god. I’m coming again. It catches me by surprise, yanking me under the water, leaving me gasping for air. I never notice Dominic moving, lost in my orgasm until I realize his fingers are gone, replaced with hot, so fucking hot, silk-covered steel pressing into me. Yessss...oh yes. Ow, ouch, no I can’t it hurts, please stop only I can’t move to push him away. My bones are still liquid. The burning, tearing shocks me out of the pleasure.
Dominic’s mouth covers mine, stealing my air, swallowing me whole in a kiss bent on ravaging my soul. Everything disappears except his mouth on mine. When he lifts his head, our eyes meet, and it’s there again. Everything I never thought I could have, was afraid I would never see.
“Mine.” He whispers the word against my mouth.
I inhale the word. “Yours.”
He inhales the word. His forehead falls against mine. “I need to move, sweetness. Can you take more of me?”
It takes a heartbeat to realize the burning has stopped and he’s deep inside me. “Oh my, there’s more?”
A small smile. “A little more.” His hand goes down to my hip then draws my leg up higher around his waist. He slips deeper oh, I like that. No more pain, just a fullness that feels utterly perfect.
“Yes, please,” I whisper as I bring my other leg up high around his waist as he had done. My eyes slide closed as I take in the feel of him sinking into me, so fucking amazing. Hot, yes, hard, yes, thick, oh fuck yes. The burn now is sweet, he’s burning every inch, every vein and ridge of him into me, marking me as his. Too soon he’s moving now, out, no, no then gently back in, yes. I moan as my legs tighten around him, desperate to keep him inside me.
Except, I’m no match for the tight grip Dominic has on my hip, holding me in place as he moves out of me. No, I beg, then he sucks air out of me as he begins moving in faster, deeper, then out, and oh god. This is it, my head falls back as I give up and into Dominic as he moves in and out of me in a soul-stealing pace. Desperate, lost, I try to cling to him only for him to grab my hands, raising them above my head and holding me down.
Deeper, more, just like that yes, yes, oh my fuck
ing god. My throat aches from the scream he rips from my throat. This time my orgasm is painful, tearing me apart, piece by agonizing piece. Dominic is still moving, still reaching for his climax, and no, I can’t take it—oh oh, I come again with bone-shattering force. My breath is yanked out of my body at the feeling of him coming deep inside me, hotter than hot, leaving the very essence of him buried within me. As Dominic buries his head in my neck, exhaling my name, something about the moment gathers up all those pieces of me together and makes me whole in a new, infinitely precious way.
***
Dominic
I can’t move. I don’t want to move. My arm trembles, shit, I’m still holding her wrists tight, pressing them into the bed. I shift, careful not to allow my full weight to fall on Regina. She’s already deep in sleep. I give in to need and run my finger over her luscious swollen lips.
It happens again, that weird twisting thing in my chest. What is that? A sigh escapes between her parted lips. My cock jumps from deep inside her and I want her all over again. Only it’s selfish, she needs a minute. Yet I still can’t pull out, can’t leave the heaven I found inside her. It’s that thought that makes me move. No, back away slowly from that. Rein it in. Maintain control, for her and me.
Slowly, carefully I move, unwrapping her legs from around me, pulling out of her. She murmurs in her sleep as her body gives me up. The sight of the blood rocks me to my core. Breathe, it hurt her but in the end it wasn’t bad. She came twice when I was inside her. It doesn’t help—the idea of hurting her, of causing her pain has my cock limp as I go into the bathroom. I give in and jump into the shower for a quick wash. When I’m done I dry off then grab a washcloth, getting it nice and wet with hot water.
Back in the bedroom, I gently clean her up. Wincing at the blood on the sheets. Fuck. No wonder it hurt. Fucking Johnny. He can have the damn sheets, but Regina won’t be there to endure them being shown. It’s a stupid fucking tradition that should have died out a long time ago.