The two of us were so calm, so confident as the embers brewed inside of me. Heat rolled between us and caught like a flame, burning for more, with each kiss.
Hands skimmed down to my sides from where he cupped my cheeks. His large hand held on to my waist so I couldn’t escape, but I didn’t want to. He leaned further into me, and I realized that maybe he was holding on to me to keep himself steady. Right here. Right now.
There was no running away anymore.
20
Dom’s mouth collided with mine, and I felt the flush of heat take over my body from the tips of my toes all the way to my head, which cheered,Yes, yes, yes.
He tasted like spice and memories. He tasted like the first time we had kissed and the last, all in this apartment, not far from where we were standing. He tasted like the rain that had drenched us before we made it home one day. He tasted like the summer sun we had picnicked under before he rolled on top of me and took his own taste.
We grasped on to each other, as if we were afraid something or someone would pull us back apart to the memories that haunted us more than glorified.
I tasted him, just like he had said, like I was going to devour him whole and come back for seconds.
How could I have ever thought I could go the rest of my life without knowing this sort of kiss again? It was the passion they talked about in romance novels. It was the strength that somehow, after all the years of having to do everything by myself and taking care of me and only me, made me feel small. It made me feel cared for.
It made me feel as if I was everything. All the nights I spent fantasizing and wishing for my one specific person in this world to love couldn’t compare to this moment.
I melted into him.
I gave everything I had with the force of each kiss and let him take it.
Dom’s mouth parted from mine with a gasp as I crawled onto his lap. His lips skimmed down my cheek toward my throat, nibbling small bites on my collarbone. Hands splaying over my rib cage, he made his way toward my back. It might not have been ripping my dress off, but I was unleashed as the zipper slipped down, and I shoved my arms out of the straps.
His mouth pulsed with heat at my chest as the dress slipped past my shoulders to pool at my waist. I hadn’t worn a bra with it—the cups were padded, and there wasn’t enough room. There also appeared to be another reason when I heard the groan Dom made before cupping my breasts in his hands. He felt the weight of them before he dipped his head down to lick the heavy swell.
I nipped at his ear, making his hips jolt toward me.
I could feel the hard curve of him rubbing against me through his jeans as his one hand reached back around me and pulled me into his pelvis. He rocked hard enough to make me let out a high-pitched grunt.
He rasped, “God, Ana.”
All of them. Every god, every piece of magic I’d ever felt like I ever called on before waited with bated breath as we moved against each other. We shimmied and ground as the dress fell off between us. He lifted me up from his lap, and I stepped out from the pink puddle of fabric made and quickly pulled him up with me.
I threw his shirt up and away. I pressed my tongue against the firm center of him, which I had stared at for weeks. We were flesh and gasps and groans as we took from the other.
How could it be, after all this time, there was still this between us? The feeling. Energy pulsated like we could start our own universe.
After all this time, Dom wanted me just like I had wanted him from the moment he stood at my door, glaring at me like I had done the worst thing in the entire world to him.
But we were done pretending.
I pulled in another breath of air, reminding my brain to think and understand exactly what was happening.
I was kissing Dominic Rovnik. I was touching Dominic Rovnik. And I didn’t want to stop. Neither did he, clearly.
We had been here before after all. We knew just where to touch and hold and the words that would drive the other far past the point of no return, and we both flew past it.
“You’re gorgeous,” Dom murmured. His hands roamed and grabbed at me, as if afraid I would disappear on him.
We stumbled backward and onto the bed. I cried as I tripped over one of the pillows. He laughed as he caught me and laid me down, his weight pressing into me.
“So freaking stunning.”
He sucked a hard nipple between his lips, and I cried out. His other fingers drifted low and pushed my panties to the side. He moaned against my skin, and I moaned right back in symphony, not caring how loud he was as his fingers smoothed against the slickness that had pooled between my legs.
“You really did want me, huh? How long have you been like this, waiting for me to find you?”
