Page 51 of Dragon’s Ending

I actually went to lunch on time for once. Partly because I was restless, and partly because I thought Dominic would be there. But the dining room was almost empty, except for Dafydd and Rhys engaged in a noisy, endless argument about rugby teams, and Teddy sitting sideways on his chair, explaining something extremely important to his mother.

I tried not to be disappointed about Dominic’s absence. He was undoubtedly off doing head-of-family things with his father. And it was probably for the best, because I knew that if he walked in, the smile on my face would give us away to everyone. There was no particular reason to keep what was between us a secret, but it wasn’t anyone else’s business. Even though I wasn’t sure what was between us, I knew it was something.

Back in the records room, I lost myself properly in work. There were gaps in one of the family genealogies that became genuinely interesting once I started cross-referencing them against surviving court records, and I ended up surrounded by open folders and increasingly exasperated notes.

On the rare occasion I surfaced from the research, there was still no sign of Dominic, and by supper time, the anticipation had become almost unbearable. I’d never felt this absence of someone before in any of my relationships. Then, it had always been nice to see my partner again after a break, but I’d accepted they’d be off, doing their own thing while I did mine. But Dominic… I wanted him beside me again, to hear his voice. To feel his hand on the back of my neck as he walked past my chair.

He wasn’t at the supper table either. Rhodri was also missing, leading to a louder, more relaxed mealtime than usual, but I didn’t want to take advantage of it. I wanted to get back to my records, to work out this disparity I’d found, and to make headway so that when Dominic did return, I could leave with a clear conscience.

The records room was silent except for the soft hum of the heater and the rain rattling intermittently against the narrow windows. Darkness had long since swallowed the view outside.

At some point, I realised I was no longer really working. Just waiting.

And then the door opened softly behind me. Dominic leaned against the frame for a second, hair windswept and damp, cheeks cold-flushed from outside.

“There you are,” he said. And it sounded like a declaration.

I couldn’t control the smile on my face.

“You expected to find me anywhere else?” I asked him.

He huffed a laugh and unpeeled himself from the doorframe, prowling towards me in a distinctly predatory way.

“My bed, perhaps,” he said, and arousal shot through me at the way he said it, like that was where I belonged. “Though I did spend most of the drive back thinking about bending you over the table here, so…”

My entire nervous system short-circuited. Still, I tried to summon some of the outrage I knew I should be feeling. “These records are irreplaceable,” I protested, but it came out more like a question than anything else.

“Your point?”

His eyes were dark on mine, flicking from my eyes to my lips and then back again, but he wasn’t touching me. So I reached out and reeled him in, hands fisting in his jacket to pull him tight against me and kiss him.

Already there was something so intensely familiar about kissing Dominic. The way his hand cradled my head, holding me so he could explore every inch of my mouth, the way he made a little breathy sound as I hitched my hips against him, and the way his thigh pressed between mine.

“God,” I said, when I finally pulled back. “Your room. Now.”

I could see the laughter in his eyes at how demanding I was, but that was steadily being swallowed by his pupils. They were expanding ever wider and darker as I cupped him through his jeans. He felt so good, already hard for me.

“Good idea,” he said, and it came out strangled.

If his room had been anywhere else in the house, I knew I wouldn’t have made it. I’d have unzipped him here regardless of the priceless records. But with a big bed only yards away…

Once in his room there was none of the teasing undressing that I’d been imagining while waiting for him, revealing his body bit by perfect bit. Not now. Now, I wanted him naked, his weight pressing me into the bed. And I wanted his cock.

It seemed he was of the same mind, laying me out on the bed, tweaking my nipple as he swallowed me so deep that I arched helplessly off the mattress. God. I couldn’t think. Could barely breathe.

I finally managed to get control enough over my fingers, tangled in his hair, to draw him off me.

“I want you to fuck me,” I said. And then stared at him, suddenly uncertain. That had sounded suspiciously like an order. Apparently this was who I was now.

His expression left me breathless. He’d liked hearing that. A lot.

He dipped his head and mouthed at my neck. “If you insist, historian.”

And then he proceeded to take his own sweet time about it. I’d never known collarbones could be so fascinating. I’d never really thought about them before, but Dominic’s lips were changing all that. As he moved his mouth back to my neck, his hand drifting yet again along my side, I couldn’t take this teasing anymore.

“Dominic.” It didn’t come out quite as firmly as I’d wanted.

He drew back and raised an eyebrow at me. Damn him. He knew what that did to me. “Is there a problem, Benjamin?”