“Hey.” I grab a fistful of his shirt. “Don’t beat yourself up. You’re nothing like your dad. You care about your little brother. You even care about the woman your dad cheated on your mother with. That’s you, Dom. You’ve got the biggest heart of any person I’ve ever met.”
“Sometimes, that feels like a liability,” he says.
“I’ll check on Grandma, then get changed,” I tell him.
He leans down and kisses me. “That sounds like a plan.”
I go back to the living room, stopping in the hallway when I hear Grandma’s voice raised in a song. I can’t hear the words, just her voice, far stronger than it was before. It’s not just the medicine that’s helping. It’s the fact that she has hope now. She knows there’s a way through.
I go to her bed, leaning down and kissing her cheek. “We’re heading out for a while. But Jackie will be here.” Jackie is her nurse, sitting on the couch with a paperback in her hand.
“I had a dream,” she whispers, smiling. “You and Dominic were getting married. Oh, it was so beautiful.”
“That’s alittletoo fast, Grandma,” I murmur. “It’s only been a few weeks. Maybe a month.”
“It was a glorious dream,” Grandma says. “And what did I tell you? When you know, you know. Andyouknow.”
Maybe I do. But we still have to live in the real world.
“We’re committed to making a relationship work,” I say. “Wherever it takes us, whatever shape it takes.”
“I know what shape it will take,” Grandma says, winking. “But I’ll be patient.”
I kiss her on the forehead. “I love that you’re well enough to play Cupid. It will all be over soon.”
Grandma goes stiff for a moment. “It’s not over now?”
“Sorry, I meant… the whole situation.Yoursituation is over. You never have to worry about your care again. But yeah, Aaron is still out there. And nobody knows what has happened to Sebastian.” I regret mentioning any of this. “Don’t worry about it. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she says.
Dom is tense as he drives, holding the steering wheel firmly, glaring at the road. The more time passes with Aaron and Sebastian still out there, the more anxious he becomes. It’s visible, making his muscular body taut, every inch of him on edge.
We’re driving down the quiet country road toward the suburbs. With just us on the road, it’s easy to imagine nothing else exists. None of our problems matter anymore. It’s just him, me, and the open road.
“What are you thinking?” He asks warmly, like he already suspects.
“What it’d be like to be alone and carefree out here, just me and you.”
He smiles, a faraway look in his eyes. “Carefree,” he repeats. “I’m not sure I’d recognize the feeling.”
I put my hand on his leg. “It will be over soon. Once Aaron and Sebastian are dealt with, we’re free.”
He grinds his teeth, nodding. “Hopefully, the police can do their damn jobs. If Sebastian was pulling Aaron’s strings with the blackmail, maybe he had a hand in the drugs too.”
We’re quiet for a while, turning onto another quiet road. I slide my hand a little higher up Dom’s leg, wanting to help him relax. I hate seeing him like this, wound tight, the invisible threat of my real uncle and his fake uncle hanging over us.
“You need to be careful, Songbird,” he murmurs huskily.
A flood of adrenaline and power rushes through me. I love this feeling, like a shot of lust straight to the pleasure center in my brain. I never thought I’d find a man who, when I gave him pleasure,Ifelt pleasure too. It’s the same with him. When he goes down on me, he moans and grunts like he’s feasting, like he’s getting as much from it as I am.
“Careful?” I murmur, acting innocent.
He gives me a savage look. “You know what I mean.”
“Maybe I just want to help you relax.”
Am I seriously going to do this? I’ve never even heard of anybody actually doing it before, only seen it in movies.
