Page 59 of Where We Began

- Chapter 24 -

Dominic

Acough ruins the raresweetness of my dream. That noise comes again, making my heart thud. Familiar, sour fear fills my mouth. Halfway between slumber and reality I can't move. I'm paralyzed.Run! Get away!I demand escape but my body doesn't listen.

Please.

Let me go.

Don't come in here.

Don't do this again.

“Dominic?” Laiken whispers. I open my eyes, my ears ringing with the memory of that wet, awful cough. The sky above is sprawling with pinpricks of light that watch us from between the tree branches. The clouds have cleared, the storm gone for the moment. “We fell asleep,” she says, touching my arm.

I sit up, brushing dirt from my hair. The dream is a hazy memory. It fades entirely when I look at Laiken next to me. She's smiling like a conspirator. Leaning towards me with the kind of sly pride a lion wields after a successful hunt.

If I was worried at all that she'd regret having sex with me, I'm not now.

Leaning forward, I put my hand possessively on her knee. My lips graze hers; she sighs happily. “We should go inside.”

“I like being out here,” she replies, coming in for a second kiss. “The world tastes brighter after what we did. Reminds me of swimming across a big lake, racing a hundred people, and then winning.”

“Are you sore?” I ask, tracing her cheek.

She shakes her head. “Yes, and no. It's more than that.” Putting her hand to her chest, she exhales. “I can't explain.”

I don't need her to. I know exactly what she's talking about, because I feel it. Standing, I help her to her feet. The remnants of her yoga pants dangle from her hips, exposing all the places I tore through the fabric. There are scrapes on her knees, old blood drying on her inner thighs from taking her virginity. It fills me with guilt... and a shameful rush of filthy lust.

“Fuck, I'm sorry,” I say. “I meant to be more careful.”

She glances down, stretching a leg. She sees the blood and shrugs. “It's nothing.” But now that we're standing, and I can see all the damage clearly, I disagree. Between the ripped clothing, mud stains, and the foliage in her hair, Laiken looks a mess - an oddly sexy mess.

Her shirt barely hides her naked ass if she stands too straight. She takes a single step, grabbing up the bag of pinecones, and I glimpse her gorgeous pussy. My erection is instant—the rush of blood makes me dizzy.

Oblivious to my response, she climbs over a log, walking to a small shed by the fence's gate. She's inside briefly, and when she appears again, she's wearing an over-sized gray smock that hides her down to her calves. “This will have to do,” she says. “I don't want the staff seeing me naked.”

I cover my mouth with a fist, struggling not to laugh.

Tilting her head, she squints. “Oh, so you think I look funny?”

I'm about to tell her yes. Then she turns to me, taking long steps over the night-blue grass. I see how precisely she places her heels down; like a great cat on the prowl. I catch a glimpse of her scraped knee when she rocks her hips. She holds my gaze the whole time; serene eyes a glorious shade of blue that makes her swollen lips redder.

My feet move, I meet her there in front of the exit. “Well?” she asks, dark brows creasing. “Am I funny looking?”

“No,” I whisper. “Laiken, you're the most beautiful person I've ever met.”

The flush of pink that blossoms in her cheeks is enough to heat me up again. Her lips part and silently beg me to kiss them. Before I can, a dog barks. “Shit,” she whispers, glancing at the house. “We need to go back, before the security guards can't find me inside and assume I bolted again. They'll lose their minds.”

She slips away from me. I know she's not gone, but the empty-ache she leaves in my chest is concerning. I dreamed of this moment. Making this woman mine was a craving I was worried to fulfill, then afraid of abandoning. But now that I've slipped around her body, buried myself in all that she has to offer, I expect to feel... happy, relieved, something other than this sensation of foreboding. It's like my heart is trembling behind my ribs, afraid of a thing that hasn't happened yet.

I don't know how that can be. Laiken ismine,in every sense of the word. I've taken her first kiss, her cherry, broken down every barrier of hers—and some of my own—to reach this moment. Even if our desires are growing inside this walled-in excuse for a home, a place not fit for happiness of any kind, this is all we have. This is all we need.Thisis our ending.

---