Page 148 of Monster

He got a tattoo.

On his left rib, amid all the other colorful ink, was the wordWildcat, written in the same cursive letters as mine.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

The soft look was back in his eyes.

I didn’t mistake that.

He was really there.

I slowed my movements. “D-Dominic?”

He cupped my cheek. “Yeah, wildcat?”

“Why?” I croaked.

“Don’t you already know? Can’t you fucking see how badly I fucking love you?”

Seeing my nickname permanently tattooed on his skin was something else entirely.

Tears fell, and I leaned forward and kissed him.

I picked up the speed as I rode him harder. I wanted us to come at the same time.

“Dominic,” I whispered against his soft lips.

He groaned in response.

“I love you, too,” I whispered.

And that was all it took. I felt him swell inside me before he reached up and gripped my shoulder.

I kept up the tempo, and it wasn’t long before I came as well. I fused our lips together and let Dominic swallow any noise I might have made.

And we lost ourselves to each other.

21

DOMINIC

It wasn’tuntil after we went to bed that night that Emmy discovered the second tattoo I’d had Edger come over and do for me.

Right underneath my right collarbone was her name.

Emmy

She cried when she saw it, though I was told they were happy tears.

I didn’t deal well with tears.

Sure, my kids cried when they were little, but those tears were easy to deal with. I could almost always fix what was wrong, and when I couldn’t, I would bribe them to stop crying.

That usually worked.

Emmy’s tears were something else entirely.

I didn’t know how to deal with her crying, and I doubted bribing her with mind-blowing orgasms would get her to stop.

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