Page 39 of Loss and Damages
I change out of the sundress I wore all day into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. While I brush my teeth, I straighten the living room and get the coffeemaker ready to brew in the morning.
The couch calls to me and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve fallen asleep in the living room rather than stumbling half-awake to my bed, but if Dominic caught me sleeping out here, he’d accuse me of lying. I don’t mind sharing my bed and I wouldn’t have offered if I did.
I turn the lights off and crawl into bed. We fit easily on my queen mattress, but one wrong (or right) move on my part will put us closer than we need to be. Dominic’s stuck on his back. Because of his injured arm, I doubt he could tolerate rolling over, even if he wanted to cuddle.
Get a hold of yourself and fall asleep, I tell myself, lying on my side and keeping as much space between us as possible. It’ll be fine. He’s out cold. I have other things to worry about. Like what Gloria will do if she stops by in the morning. She always does on Sundays, and if she tells my mom that Dominic was here, my brother will find out before lunchtime.
Jeremy can’t fault me for being nice. What was I going to do? Tell him to go home? I couldn’t do that, no matter who it was.
I turn over to my other side. The moonlight streaming through the window highlights his face and I give in, lightly skimming my fingers over his jaw.
He’s gorgeous, and his features that are so like Leo’s tug at my heart. I’d like to talk to Athena again. I want to know why she loved Leo and not his brother. She told me only half the story and I want to know all of it. Something happened that made her love Leo more. Something that Dominic shouldn’t have to pay for. But he did, with his childhood, with his trust in people.
He’s had his heart broken, that much is true, but it wasn’t broken by a lover, his mother had broken it the second he realized she would never love him.
I rub my thumb over his bottom lip.
This is exactly why I shouldn’t sleep with him.
I roll off the edge of the bed and pad into the living room. It doesn’t matter what Dominic thinks of me or my decisions. It’s not a good idea to share parts of my life, no matter how small, the way I did with Leo. In the year we were friends, Leo didn’t introduce me to his family. There was a reason for that. A reason I don’t know, but he didn’t do anything without a good explanation and I should respect that.
Lying on the couch, I try to get comfortable, wiggling a pillow under my head, but I feel too guilty to fall asleep. I don’t owe Dominic anything. I don’t owe him a place to recuperate, or a glass of wine, even if he bought it. Hell, I don’t even owe him breakfast in the morning or a cup of coffee. I don’t owe him a single thing, and I hold firm with that belief until he looks at me with those dark, wounded eyes and I give in like I would if I saw a starving dog sitting on the side of the road.
I can’t get comfortable on the couch, and I toss the throw blanket off and crawl back into my bed. Dominic hasn’t moved, but this time I refrain from caressing his face. I turn away and too tired to be angry, about what, I don’t even know, let his gentle snores lull me to sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Dominic
The annoying sound of birds singing wakes me, as does the slash of sunlight hitting me just so in the face. Sometime in the middle of the night I’d taken the sling off, but I don’t remember doing so, nor do I remember downing the water and swallowing the pain pill Jemma so thoughtfully left on the nightstand before she went to bed.
I hadn’t wanted to come, but it was a good choice.
She’s lying on her back, wearing a cotton pajama set I’ve never seen a woman wear before. When I share a bed with a woman, she’s either wrapped in silk or she’s naked. Her face is turned toward me, and her breasts gently rise and fall in time to her breathing.
How can she sleep through that incessant noise?
I trace the lines on the palm of her hand, and her fingers twitch.
Intrigued, I do it again. I want her to open her eyes. I want to see the expression on her face when she sees me in her bed. She didn’t turn me away last night out of kindness. Kindness shefelt she owed Leo because I’m his brother. Would she ever spend time with me willingly?
The pain pill I took in the early hours of the morning is still working and it allows me to roll onto my side, closer to her.
My nose picks up her delicate scent and my cock throbs. No woman has enticed me like she does. The want to skim my fingers up her thigh, part her legs, and find out how wet she is. If she’s not, I can arouse her in a few seconds. She responds to me, even if she doesn’t want to.
My brother never fucked her.
How could he lie in her bed, right where I am, and deny himself the pleasure of pushing inside her, listening to her gasp as he filled her? Yet, when she says they weren’t intimate, I believe her. I can tell a liar no matter how practiced he is, and when she tells me repeatedly that she and Leo didn’t have that kind of relationship, I believe her.
Her eyes flutter open and I’m lost in the deep blue framed by long, dark lashes. Her hair is a tangled mess on her pillow, but it’s sexy, earthy, and I brush a few strands out of her face. She doesn’t flinch. I have to give her credit for that.
She swallows and licks her lips. “How are you feeling?”
I’d feel a lot better if you pushed me onto my back, undid my belt buckle and the button of my pants, and rode me. I want to pinch your nipples and watch you come on my cock while you play with your clit.“Not terrible, but I suspect it has something to do with the pain pill you left on the nightstand. At some point I roused myself awake enough to take it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Leo never woke up to you like this.”
