Page 56 of Where We Began

He moistens his lips. “You should be.” He looks away quickly. “But I'm glad you're not.”

I struggle to understand him all over again. He's so confusing, but am I any better? I'm weak to him in ways I didn't expect. Then, at times, I remember my goals and shake his claws from my skin.It got harder after he kissed me.Every sign of desire—every hint of affection—that he graces me with erodes another layer of my strength.

Dominic leans away from me. His expensive clothes are drenched. He shrugs out of the black jacket; it hits the ground with a wet slap. The gray dress shirt beneath clings to his chest, leaving nothing to my imagination. It's so shear I can see the ghostly shapes of his tattoos under the surface.

He's dressed so fine. I'm under-dressed in my tights and empire-waist top. Yet we're both soaked, laden with water and our invisible problems. The rain has unified us.

I lift my hands; they're trembling. “Right here, right now, let's have no secrets. Okay?”

“Laiken, I can't tell you anything about—”

“I'm not asking about your past,” I say. “Only new things.” Fascinated by the shape of his lips, I follow the contour with my thumb. His whole body tenses. “If we do this, I want it to be honest. I want to know what you're thinking all the way through.”

He pulls in a long, exerting breath. It's so compelling that I breathe in, too. “You don't know what you're getting into.”

“I can handle it.”

He searches my face and wraps my wrist in his hand. “Maybe, maybe not. There's no backing out now... for either of us.” His nose brushes mine. “I'll tell you every single thought in my head while I touch you, Laiken. I'll let you hear every single filthy word all in the name of truth. All for you.”

My mouth opens, but I'm wordless with anticipation. I'm vulnerable to his next kiss; he captures my mouth hard, his lips sealing us together. Fingers tangle in my hair then his other palm explores my hip. I shut my eyes, dropping my hands from his face to his chest. His firm muscles set my heart matching the rhythm of the storm above.

When the kiss ends, I gasp for air. Dominic's grip hasn't eased up. “I can't get enough of your mouth,” he says, watching me closely. He's looking for my reaction to his honesty. “I've never tasted something as divine as your lips. I—fuck.” He interrupts his own admission with another kiss.

I have to shove on him to get enough room to speak. “I want to undress you.”

The dazzling glow in his pupils encourages me. “Do it.”

We're shaking, but I can't tell if it's from the cold or our anxiousness. Both of us want this. Both of us are desperate for it. I can see it in how he fidgets when I struggle with the buttons on his shirt. I'm full to bursting, my limbs unable to work the hard discs with any skill. His chest flexes, stretching the materials; I see his skin through the gaps.

The first button splits away. His collarbone winks at me, then the deep groove between his pecs as I undo more of the shirt. Water has soaked through, making his lovely, inked skin slippery.

Grabbing his collar, I peel the shirt down his carved arms. He holds his hands out, helping me as he shrugs out of the clothing. The sight beneath makes me salivate. I try to look at all of him, all at once, but it's impossible.

I knew he was in amazing shape, yet witnessing it, touching it, is something else entirely. My fingertips skirt down his bare shoulder, exploring the curve of his deltoids, the ridges between each muscle. There's script on his skin here; it readsFaith.Outlining each letter makes my lower belly tighten.

Extraordinary feathered wings spread across his chest. I trace those next, following each individual feather. My eyes dart up; he's staring at me, his wonder matching mine. “You're beautiful,” I whisper. I think I should have said handsome, or sexy, but it doesn't sound right. Dominic is unquestionably masculine, but standing half-naked in the rain, huddled under the trees, he's something else. Beautiful is the closest word I can find.

His eyes widen. Then his lips part, and it sounds like all the air leaves his body. “Nothing about me is beautiful,” he whispers. “I don't need it to be. You're enough for both of us.”

I can't blush. I'm already as red as I can get.

Grabbing my shirt, he rips it over my head. It's so sudden I'm stunned. I stand there, my hands flying to my chest. It's automatic—a built in need to protect myself from being exposed. Dominic eyes my bra straps greedily, grabbing my arms, pulling them away to expose the rest. “Fuck,” he manages, swallowing the word. “I've seen your tits already, I thought that would make this mean less. But it doesn't. I'm more excited than ever, fucking hell.”

My nipples are hard from the temperature, and my arousal. They needle into the padding of my bra. Water drops onto the rounded tops of my breasts from the leaves, the perfectly clear droplets sliding over my skin, into my cleavage.

Dominic bends low, shoving his face between my breasts. I gasp out loud. He breathes in, then sucks, taking a drink of the raindrops pooling there. When he looks up at me, his hair sticking to his forehead, shadowing his eyes, he smirks. “Delicious,” he says. “Everything that touches you tastes better.”

I'm speechless. I watch as he reaches for his belt. I don't want to be a passive participant in this event; I want him, I truly do—even if my mind is slowing down my ability to stay in control.Be honest,I remind myself.Show him you're here with him, doing this WITH him.“Let me,” I say, reaching for his belt.

Dominic's grin is like a hungry wolf's. “Please,” he whispers, “it'd be my pleasure to let you undress me more.”

Grabbing the hard metal buckle, I slip the leather through the loops. I can't ignore the huge tent in his pants. Those slacks are as wet as the rest of him. And like his shirt, it clings to the length of his cock. I can see the shape of it—the girth. I stare, fixated, forgetting what I'm doing.

“The belt,” he says flatly.

Startling, I nod and pull the leather free. It drops to the forest floor, lost in the leaves. I go for the zipper but he beats me to it. Dominic fondles his entire shaft through his pants, breathing heavily as he undoes the metal zipper teeth. The noise is louder than the thunder.

His cock jumps free into the air, already halfway peeking from the top of his black boxers. The tip is maroon, the brightest spot of color in the overcast forest. I can't look away. Especially with how he's touching himself, jerking his own dick out of his boxers, gripping it erotically.

---