“And that’s it?” Dom asked, eyebrows raised. “You don’t have any other aspirations?”
A piece of blue sea glass that hung from a leather cord slipped through the gap in his shirt. It was a cheap trinket I’d bought him on our first holiday together. Even if he was wearing expensive designer suits, he always had it on. Like my grandfather’s cufflinks, it was something he was never without.
It usually filled me with a certain warmth seeing it, but, with him drawing closer, it only made me more tense.
“What do you mean?” I held back my sigh.
“Well,” Dom hummed as he leaned further forwards, dropping his bottle onto the coffee table with a hollow clink as he stretched his other arm along the back of the sofa, widening his chest. “Harry, what do you love about her?”
I shrugged him off, turning my head away from him, realising my mistake instantly.
His hand crept up my shoulder, a finger finding the birthmark just under my collar line that he loved to stroke. Some days I let him play, but it wasn’t the time for it.
I lifted my hand to brush him away, ignoring the way my heart picked up at his touch. It had been fickle since I first met him. Just because his touch brought me a special kind of peace didn’t mean I would let him lavish me, especially now.
Moving away from him, I made sure he didn’t catch me with that serious look in his eye. I hated that more than his cunning smile.
“I can be myself with her,” I replied. “I don’t have to worry about gossip or saying the right thing or any other social etiquette. I don’t have to explain myself. Because she knows me.”
I glared at him pointedly as he let his head fall, briefly dipping his gaze to his knees to blow a strong breath before resting his ear on his shoulder. He was always more flexible when he’d been drinking. Or rather, he was much freer with his body, flopping around, and flirting harder. And not once had Ieverthought it was adorable for him to act like that, especially when I knew how ruthless he could be if the situation called for it.
“Okay, fine.” He shrugged as he pitched forwards. “If this is what you really want, I’ll drop it. I promise I won’t mention it again,” he said as he moved closer, his hand finding my shoulder again, his fingers pressing into the soft cotton of my shirt, dangerously near my neck.
I wanted to sigh into him, to let him take care of me like he always did, but I was meant to be taking a stand. I wouldn’t let him massage me until I agreed with whatever he wanted, like usual.
“But I see the way you and Molly are together. I know what you’re like.”
All he was doing was bending towards me, his eyes heavy, his shirt strained against his chest. It meant nothing. It was Dom being Dom, getting close, making contact.
I held myself, watching intently, ignoring the slight tremor in my stomach in favour of the tight line of his lips.
I was used to this behaviour by now. He was like this with everyone. It was all about managing my expectations.
“Harry?” he murmured. I didn’t even realise I’d frozen. I was too absorbed in him. Dom didn’t wait for me to reply to the question I’d nearly forgotten.
He was near enough now that his thumb had returned to my birthmark, and he gently pressed, stroking me, softening me up so he could bring himself closer.
I could have shifted back, but I was already pressed into the corner. There was nowhere else I could go.
Dom took a deep breath, his voice lowering a pitch. “Are you telling me you’re satisfied every night when you lie in bed? That every day with her is something to be treasured?”
That dark churning in my gut hit me as I thought about how rare it was for Molly and I to sit together and talk like we used to—before The Foundation, before I pulled us apart bychoosing to leave the hospital where we could be together every day. Even though our arguments could be intense, we always reached a place where we resolved it.
All I could feel was Dom looming over me. I rarely felt small, despite my height, but he always wrapped his presence around me.
“She makes me feel at home, relaxed, and safe,” I said. Which was the opposite of Dom at that moment.
“And that’s enough for you?” he asked, fixing me with his penetrating stare.
How had he grown even closer? His knee had moved up the cushion to press against my thigh, my heart beating louder as the tension heightened. I swear I could feel his breath on my cheek. I hated how weak he made me when he looked at me with that fierce look in his eyes. It was why I enjoyed being with Molly; she was more predictable and easier to read.
Dom’s gaze bore down on me, but I met him with one of my own. “Isn’t that what everyone wants?” I asked. “Someone to love, to trust. Someone to spend your life with.”
Another dark smile spread across his face as I drew in a slow breath. He was too close now, setting off too much inside me.
My fingers tapped again to find some sense of control.
I knew he wouldn’t go too far, but it was the potential that got to me. Another reason it was easy to be with Molly: she was straightforward about what she wanted.
