“That’s the thing, sweetheart. Youteaseme just by existing. You know I want you.”
Well…maybe she knew? It had been hard to miss thethingshe’d said to her over the years. Or the way he watched her. The thingsotherpeople had said about them. “Dom…I think…total reset here. Fast.”
Before she got in his truck with him and headed back to her itty-bitty apartment with just Missy the Cat as a chaperone.
“Why? You afraid?” He stalked closer.
Only thing she could really do—she held her hands up. In surrender. “I give up. Don’t eat me…”
His eyes darkened again.
Well. Yikes.
Probably not what she should have said. Now that she thought about it. Especially when he let out a wild animal sound under his breath.
Then she was legit off her feet and her back was against the silk-papered wall and he was pressed against her and she could smell the perfectmalescent of him. Oh,yikes.
His hands were hot, hard—they were perfect. She wrapped her fingers over his broad, broad shoulders. What else was a girl supposed to do? A wild animal held her. She wasn’t going to escape.
Did she evenwantto escape?
That was another question she just couldn’t answer.
Dominic Vincent Acardi. Her nemesis. Somehow they werealonein Hope’s kitchen—a mansion where two dozen peoplelived—and Dom had his hands on her. This wasdanger.She should run for the hills.
Shelby didn’t live that far from here. Madison could sprint. She used to be able to run fast and everything. That might be her only option.
“Damn it, I am just a man. What in the hell am I supposed to do, be made of stone? Damn my soul to hell for this.”
Well, for him that was a bit on the poetic side, wasn’t it?
Madison couldn’t breathe here. She didn’t think it was because of how tightly they were pressed together, either. One of her hands had a will of its own—it crept up, tangled in his hair. Dom used to have militarily short hair—but he hadn’t had it cut in a long time. She liked it like this. It was soft, softer than she would have expected.
Nothingabout Dominic Acardi was soft. That was…evident…in how he felt against her. The man was built like a god. No denying that.
Probably a dark god, actually. One who would cause mayhem everywhere he went. Just to get what he wanted.
Madison was pretty clear here—he wantedher.Kind of hard to deny that.
Then, in a matter of a single breath—he was kissing her. His mouth pressed to hers…and the man just stole her soul or something.
Definitely stole her common sense.
Her will to resist.
Then he just kept kissing her—stealing conscious thought, even.
She had never been kissed likethisbefore.
Finally, finally, after a lifetime, he pulled back. “It’s not Bonnie Coleson I have acrushon, honey. Probably better remember that.”
Remember that? She couldn’t even breathe, let alone think enough torememberanything.
Then…Hope was calling her name from the other room. And Madison was escaping. As fast as she possibly could.
53
Hope knewsomething major had just happened when she stepped back into the kitchen to get Madison. For one thing, Dom had the look of like intense hunger on his face that had her goingwhoa!And Madison looked rattled. Like seriously. Norm looked at Marcia like that, and Nick had definitely looked at Joy like that. She didn’t know why Madison didn’t just go for it. Dom was one of the good guys.
