Page 77 of Dominate Me

His eyes narrowed and examined me, assessed me, and by the way his lips curved at the edges, he liked what he saw.

His gaze dipped to my mouth.

“I’m making sure you’ll never want to leave me,” he whispered, bringing his lips down to brush against mine. My heart immediately flip-flopped. His words, his touch, his scent—it was all so much, too much. Maybe perfect.

He was already right. I never wanted to leave him.

Licking my lips, I tasted him on my mouth and grinned. Heat bloomed on my cheeks, and I lost awareness we were surrounded by four of his friends until someone cleared their throat.

Loudly.

I pulled my head back and rolled my eyes when I caught Gabby’s gaze. She was grinning at both of us. “You need to go, Jensen. Leave the woman alone.”

He gave me one last questioning look. “You’ll be okay?”

“Yes, of course. I just need to use the restroom but I’ll be back before you go on stage.”

“Don’t take your eyes off her,” he said, pointing at Gabby.

“I’m not going to watch her pee.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, now go. We’ll be fine without you.”

He walked away after giving me another kiss on my lips, one that was hard, gone before it started yet still chilled my skin when we separated.

His body was perfect. A work of art as he made his way through the crowd, pausing once to shake hands and say hello before he gestured toward the stage at the far end of the room. I didn’t take my eyes off him for a single moment, not when he stopped next to a woman dressed in a beautiful, pale blue dress. It fell around her matured curves perfectly. Was elegant without being showy. And the way she grinned, pressed her hands to his cheek and looked back in our direction before her eyebrows shot up her forehead, made my feet glue to the floor.

Her dark hair, her tanned skin, the way she touched him with such familiarity. The way he leaned down and held her tight, pressed his lips to hers before pulling away...

It was his mom.

I knew it before he let go and squeezed her hand. When he walked away, she didn’t watch him.

No, her eyes were fixed on me and a smile that was kind, a bit tentative, grew on her lips before she turned back to the crowd of other elderly couples she’d been speaking with prior.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, desperately searching for the servers with trays of champagne. “His mom is here.”

“Helen?” Gabby asked and turned around. “Of course she is. Didn’t he tell you? She always comes back for this.”

“No.” I spied the server with a large, round tray braced on his shoulder heading in our direction and practically waved him down like an airplane traffic controller. “I assumed, maybe, but he hadn’t said.”

My frantic, wild eyes flashed to her. “I need a moment. I have to pee, and suddenly I’m nervous. It’s his mom, Gabby.” I leaned in, showing her how desperate I was. “How can he? How could he not give me a warning? Time to prepare myself?”

“Um.” She waved her hand over my body and grinned. “Perhaps because he thought knowing beforehand would make you act like a lunatic?”

“I’m not.” I was. I totally was. “Excuse me, I really need to use the restroom.”

“Not without me you’re not.”

She turned and handed her glass of champagne to Dylan who had never removed his eyes from her. Always watching, always waiting, as if she could evaporate into the air if he didn’t keep a close watch.

“Thank you, Master,” she said.

My body shivered. In public, they looked like any typical couple, but it was that word, that reminder, that pulled everything back into place, righted itself at the same time it tilted me off-balance.

Except in the bedroom, Jensen hadn’t given me any of that since he said he wanted a relationship with me.

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