Page 148 of Love Among the Ruins
He did it again, pressed his lips together, his nostrils flaring. “I want to stomp all over that man’s face each time I remember what he did to you, before and now. I can’t get it out of my head.”
“Then don’t think about it.” She paused. “Whyareyou still thinking about it?” A muscle jumping in his jaw was her answer. “You can’t even bring yourself to tell me the truth,” she whispered softly, then squeezed her eyes shut. She’d managed to hold it all in, the way she felt about him, but the weariness of keeping it to herself was too hard.
The summer would soon be over and they would go their separate ways. She wanted to tell him how she felt. Love ... lust ... longing ... whatever it was ... he needed to know. She ventured a glance at his face. “You make me feel special, Dominic—”
“Because you are.”
“You make me feel it in a way no one ever has.”
“No one?” He looked at her as if he was completely clueless. He looked puzzled. Completely bewildered. What did he not understand?
Her heart had started to feel again, after a long time. It had taken a while to warm up to this uptight, miserable, and moody man. He had managed to make her put Jonas behind her, to feel something new, and she was left with a bittersweet infusion of guilt and longing.
“A woman like you should be cherished. I would cherish you …the way you deserve to be cherished.”
“You?” she asked, the need desperate in her voice. After all this time together, she wasn’t sure, but this, this was a flicker of hope.
“You see yourself as your mother sees you. Maybe being abandoned by your father has left you with scars. How can it not? But I see a woman who is beautiful, and smart and funny and who has a heart of gold. You deserve so much, and I want to give you everything.”
She tilted her head, trying to understand. “Why would you want to give me everything?”
His eyes dropped to her chest before zipping back up to her face again. She stepped closer to him, lifting a hand to his face, her thumb sliding across his damp cheek. “You can’t even answer that, can you?” The bitterness in her voice was a contrast to the heat and longing she felt inside. It dawned on her that he wanted to be a friend. Nothing more.
“Why would I want to give you everything?” he echoed. “Because I can.”
“Then give me something now,” she dared him.
His eyes widened, and she thought they were going to come out of their sockets. “W-what ...” He cleared his throat. “What do you need?” He reached out and tucked a damp lock of hair behind her ear, his hand lowering to her neck, making all her cells tingle
Her heart was full and warm and fuzzy whenever he was around. Just being near Dominic made her happy. “I want tofeel, Dominic,” she whispered. “It’s been so long ...” She leaned her face into his palm, which now splayed out against her cheek, but instead of returning the gesture, he seemed to freeze. She glimpsed hesitation in his eyes. He cared for her, but not likethis.
It was like dying a slow torturous death, to discover that this was one sided. Her hopes shattered like confetti bombs.
Maybe this was a language not understood in words. Dominic had his fill of women, but after Jonas, she’d only met the worst of men. There was a world of difference between them and in their life experiences.
This was her chance, and she was going to take it. She tiptoed up and leaned in, pressing her lips against his. No sooner had her lips touched his, than his hand slipped like shackles around her waist, pressing her to him, her body flush with his, no room for escape. His tongue swept into her mouth, taking possession, owning, tasting, commanding, and that was when she felt it, a sharp poke, hard-as-steel against her belly. She had excited him.
They kissed as if they were drinking from one another, tongues dueling and tasting, appreciating. She had often wondered what it might be like to kiss Dominic, and now that she finally had the chance to find out, to experience it … it was like receiving a hard-earned reward. In the deep, distant edges of her mind, she became aware that he was hungry, and hard, and in this moment, he wanted her.
She clung to him harder when his hands skimmed over her tiny panties, over the round of her bottom then lower to her thighs. In the next breath he scooped her up in one easy sweep. She wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding into him, trying to feel the friction against the hardness of his cock. Still joined at the lips, they kissed hard. All she could feel was his mouth on hers, and she ground against him lower down. So much feeling concentrated in such small areas. She closed her eyes, savoring him.
He walked into her room, with her legs still wrapped around him, his mouth suctioned to hers. Bending down, he placed her carefully on the bed, before joining her again. Their frenzied kisses filled the air filled with groans and sighs; she didn’t know if they were hers or his.
“Dominic,” she murmured, as he propped himself up on his elbows on top of her. He stared at her lips as if he wasn’t done.
Reaching down between them, she found him, hard and wet and gloriously thick. Lust licked her heated core, the idea that she could have him making her reckless and bold. She rubbed him over the fabric of his swim shorts, appreciating the groan that fell from his lips. “You’re so hard.”
His lips curled up at the corners. “It’s your fault.”
She stared at him, dazed and hopeful.
“Why do you think I jumped into the water?” he rasped.
Her smile spread from ear to ear, the understanding unleashing joy inside her. She licked her lips, needing him inside her. “You’re also very big.”
His lips turned up even more. “Yes.”
She hungered for his touch, for his cock, for all of him. There had been no one since Jonas, and no one before. She hadn’t thought of intimacy ever since Jonas had passed. She could have become a nun, but then this man had crossed her path.
