Page 52 of Where We Began

I say nothing and stare at the space just over Mellie’s head.

“I guess she doesn't need to tell me that though, you already did. Right?”

I bite down on my tongue so hard my eyes water.

“You look great, too,” he says gently. His tone gets raspier. “But you looked better yesterday in the mirror, with my hand owning your pussy.”

My body responds, reliving the memory of how he stroked my swollen clit until I came in his arms. “Stop it,” I hiss at him.

“You're thinking about it right now, aren't you? Remembering how good it felt, how nice it was to let go and let me take over, make your pussy sing for me. I can't stop thinking about it either, Laiken. Last night, God, I was so damn hard. I lay in bed jerking myself off three times before I finally fell asleep.”

Now I'm really thinking about it. His fist on his cock, a piece of him I still haven't seen. I have a vivid imagination and even though I can't picture it in detail, the idea of him touching himself while he thinks about me makes me breathe faster. I can taste the steam in the air around us.

“Focus,” I say seriously. “I'm trying to get work done here.”

“So am I.”

He's playing with me, and even if my body likes it, I need him to understand how much is riding on this party. “Dominic, you should leave. It was supposed to be just Mellie and me in here, anyway.”

“Am I distracting you?” he asks, though he already knows the answer.

Shaking my head, I walk away from him, quickly heading back towards Mellie. “All set?” I ask, unable to handle standing so close to that tempting man anymore.

She pulls out a notebook, writing something down. “I think so. I need to get this vest tailored to the right size, so we might as well end now. This is shaping up nicely though, it'll be the biggest event we've had in some time.”

Her eyes are sparkling. That makes me feel good, knowing that my plan to keep Annie off my back is having the side effect of making other people happy. “Do you need me to work on anything else?”

“Well, I was going to ask you to do one thing. I've seen you spending time down at the animal preserve, you're pretty close with Wyatt Jones, right?”

“Yeah, what would you need?”

“It was just an idea I had, one I wanted to run by you. Wecouldbuy some pinecones for rustic decorations to touch up this place, really add to the winter feel that your color scheme seems to be going for. But I know the preserve has a whole bunch of them on the ground by now. I wanted to ask Wyatt to give me some, but he already went home and the sky is looking a little cloudy. We can't use them if they're wet.”

“Say no more. Wyatt won't mind if I go in and gather some. How many do you need?”

She lights up with relief. “I think 50 should do it. You can probably fill up a plastic garbage bag and that would be perfect. Then I can have the staff glitter them up, then arrange them into centerpieces.”

“I can help,” Dominic says sidling up next to me.

“No.” I eye him nervously. “I can do this alone.”

Mellie squints at me. “Don't turn down an extra set of hands, let him help you gather pinecones. It'll be faster this way, we really don't have time to waste.”

My arguments go out the window. Next to me, Dominic reaches up like he's going to smooth his hair. Instead he rubs his thumb over his bottom lip. The thumb that drew obscene moans from my throat.

I know Mellie means well.

It's not her fault she has no idea she's sabotaging me.

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