“Fifteen seconds, baby.”
Two thick fingers slip inside of me, driving into me with shallow thrusts that graze my G-spot lightly with every glide. I’m so wet there’s no resistance at all, and the elevator car is filled with the sounds of his fingers invading my body, stroking pleasure into my core.
Dominic’s thumbs are busy. One pressing into my clit with a delicious, almost torturous friction, the other joining with his index finger to pinch my nipples. And it’s that bit of pain that sends me tumbling over a cliff with a scream that sounds a lot like Dominic’s name before it turns into an endless moan when he keeps working me over. Using his hands to draw out every second of my pleasure even though he said we were short on time. When the last tremble has subsided, my body goes limp in his arms. I sag against his body, and he holds me up, gently fixing my clothes and raining kisses from my temple to my jawline until I catch my breath.
Another ding sounds, and I see we’ve only got two more floors to go before we hit the rooftop. It’ll be filled with people eating, drinking, and having a good time with no clue what we’ve just done in the elevator.Behind me, Dominic is adjusting himself in his pants, seemingly unfazed by his neglected, but very impressive, erection.
I bite my lip, keeping my eyes on the elevator doors to give him some privacy. “That can’t be comfortable.”
“It’s not,” he admits, stepping forward to place a kiss on the top of my head. “But I’ll live. You need more time to adjust, and I’m going to give it to you whether you want it or not.”
My body stiffens.Now that just makes me want to scream.While I appreciate his thoughtfulness, I’m over being treated like a ticking time bomb. A girl has one breakdown after an orgasm, and suddenly she’s unable to handle the intricacies of a…whatever the hell this is?! He hardly seems concerned when he’s using every part of his body but his dick to whip me into a frenzy, so why is this so different?
“Dominic. You can’t go from having what I assume was regular sex with your ex to abstaining completely.”
“And yet, here I am doing exactly that,” he reminds me coarsely, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me closer to him. “Don’t argue with me on this, Sloane. We’re going to take this slow.”
His tone brooks no argument, and I don’t push him. All I’ve wanted to do since he left my house this morning is be with him, and I don’t want to ruin it by arguing about something he’s determined not to budge on. It shouldn’t even bother me. I should be delighted that the man I spent so many years calling my enemy cares enough about me to take things slow.
Except, I’ve never known him to be the take-it-slow type. When we were in college, Eric would spend the night in my room just to get away from Dominic and his ever-growing harem that consisted of girls he met at parties, girls he sat beside in class, girls who came up to him in the library asking for a “study date,” multiple girls from the cheerleading squad, and, if Mal is to be believed, one very young adjunct professor. In all that time, I never heard of him saying no to any one of them.
Hell, I’m certain he didn’t, because if he had, Eric wouldn’t have practically lived with me freshman year.
Don’t get me wrong, the orgasms are nice, but it’s hard to feel like this waiting period isonlyabout me adjusting. Maybe he’s delaying things because deep down he wants to renege on the offer he begged me to accept just last night. Maybe this morning made him realize being with me isn’t worth the trouble. The guilt. The lying. The sneaking around and hiding from the world. The potential to ruin relationships with people he’s known and loved all his life.
Since this whole thing started, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how this thing could impact my life, but I’d be lying if I said I thought about what it would mean for his. Probably because I know any fallout from this will have a longer and more lasting effect on me. If anyone finds out about us, at best I’ll be the lying whore who spent her whole marriage lusting after her husband’s best friend and finally seduced him. At worst, I’ll be the shameless slut who fucked her husband’s best friend while he was still alive and kept up the affair after he was gone.
But Dominic?
He’ll just be the best friend who got caught in my web. A helpless man who couldn’t do anything to protect himself against my feminine wiles. He’ll be forgiven by Mama and Mal, revered by all the men in the Kent family for getting me to open my legs for him, and repeatedly propositioned by the younger female relatives who will be desperate to have a taste of what I got to experience before he dropped me like a bad habit.
Suddenly, I’m thankful we’re going to dinner to talk things through, because I know the first thing I want to discuss: an end date for our arrangement. A twinge of sadness goes through me at the thought of ending things before we’ve even really begun, but I know I have to do it. It doesn’t matter how good it feels right now, or how excited I am about getting a handle on my skin hunger issue, I can’t lie and sneak around withDominic forever. The risk is too great, and my heart can’t take too many more situations like the one we had this morning.
Plus, knowing there’s a time limit on us might be exactly what Dominic needs to quit being so stubborn about this whole sex thing.
I square my shoulders, prepared to have one hard talk for a few weeks of Dominic in my bed and between my legs. I smile to myself as the elevator dings one final time. The doors slide open, and Dominic gestures for me to go first. His hand goes to my back as we leave the car and step out into a short hallway with walls covered in greenery and the hotel’s logo shining from a lit sign nestled in the vines on both walls. There’s a hostess standing at a booth to our right, a young white girl with long red hair and a bright smile who grabs two menus as soon as she sees us coming.
“Welcome to Cerros! My name is Sarah, and I’ll be your server for the evening. Please follow me to your table.” She saunters down the hall without even asking us what name our reservation is under.
My eyebrows fall together as I look up at Dominic. His features are schooled into a mask of indifference as we move down the uncharacteristically empty hallway. I’ve only been here once before, with a client who insisted on treating me and my team to dinner after a project wrapped, but it shouldn’t be so quiet on a Saturday night, even if we are here earlier than most people.
“Dominic, why didn’t she ask for your…”
The rest of my question dies on my tongue as we come out on the other side of the hallway and step right into the empty dining area. My mouth falls open, and I gaze up at Dominic with obvious and questioning wonder. This is why he wasn’t worried about anyone seeing us tonight.
“You rented out the entire rooftop just to have dinner with me?”
I can’t keep the disbelief out of my voice. Just last night I was surprised that Ash made reservations at Hill House, but now I’m stunned. I couldn’thave ever dreamed someone, let alone Dominic, would do something like this for me.
Dominic gives me a long and heavy look, and I swear I see something—some emotion I can’t name—moving behind his eyes like shadows I can’t pin down no matter how badly I want to.
His hands come up to cradle my face. He rubs small circles on both of my cheeks before leaning down and brushing his nose across mine three times. Then his eyes are locked on mine, burning into me with a seriousness I can’t bear.
“Let’s take a seat, angel. I want to spend the entire evening staring at your lovely face and enjoying being in your presence without having to pretend like I don’t know what you sound like when you come.”
Chapter 20
Sloane
