“He is?”
“Yes.” I hold his gaze as I speak. “I felt trapped with him, like there was no way out, and I wasn’t stupid enough to bring a baby into that shitshow. He often talked about starting a family, like it would fix things. As if it was the answer to all our prayers, so I took the necessary precautions to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“Devious,” he replies with a smirk.
“That man should never be allowed to reproduce.”
I’m taken by surprise when he barks out a laugh. It’s rare to see this growly man let anything slip through the cracks. “I agree,” he says, but then his expression turns deadly serious. “What if the pill fails and I knock you up?”
I reach up, brushing my fingers over the scar on his cheek. “I think Lil’ Peach would make a great big sister.” His brows shoot up, and when he buries his head in the crook of my neck with a low groan, the regret instantly hits. “Too much, too soon,” I murmur as heat creeps up my neck.
He lifts his face, and smiles. Not the usual restrained version, but a rare, full, unguarded grin. “Having a family of my own is not something I ever thought I’d want, but with you, Emily … I find myself wanting it all.”
This time when he slips inside me, there’s no urgency, no raw, unrestrained need. His movements are slow and meticulous. His kisses are soft, deep and sweet. And if I’m not mistaken, this doesn’t feel like sex. It feels like he’s making love to me.
The sun is beginning to rise as the first light slips through Dominic’s bedroom window. Neither of us have slept.
I’m lying in his arms, wishing the world would pause for a few more hours so I can stay right here, with him.
Even though we’ve taken things to the next level, I still don’t know what awaits us when we leave this room. Are we something now? Or does it all fall away the second we step back into reality, like it did the first night in his kitchen when he had me coming apart with his hand?
The thought stings because there’s something real happening between us. I can feel it building. Maybe he doesn’t see it yet, but I certainly do. He admitted he hasn’t done relationships in the past, but I have. I know a connection when I see it, and this is something I can’t ignore.
It’s like I’ve been waiting my whole life for him. As if he and Lil’ Peach are somehow tied to my happiness. It’s crazy to feel it this fast, but from the moment Dominic brought me into his home, it was like I belonged.
“Have you ever wished for something?” I ask, letting my words drift around us as the tips of his fingers gently massage circles in my scalp.
“What do you mean?”
“If you could have anything, anything in the world, what would it be?”
I’ve spent countless hours getting to know his body, but the man himself is still a mystery. I know what I see on a daily basis, but there’s so much I don’t. I want to know what makes him tick. What makes him … him.
He’s usually a closed book, so I’m honestly not expecting anything profound, but then he surprises me by saying, “I wish that my mum hadn’t died the way she did when I was a kid.” His fingers pause in my hair, but his gazeremains fixated on the ceiling. “I wish that my dad would face retribution for everything he’s done, and I wish my sister would get her fucking shit together.”
“You said the day your dad left, you found your mum floating face down in the pool. Do you think your dad had something to do with that?”
“I know he did.”
“And he was never convicted for it?”
“He disappeared like a damn coward.”
“Oh,” I whisper, because I’ve got nothing else to add. I thought my family was messed up, but my parents’ dysfunction doesn’t even come close to his. My chest aches for what he and his little sister went through. It also helps me understand why Dominic cared so much about my relationship with Mick, and how he saw it for what it was, even when I didn’t. “I can’t believe he’s gotten away with it for all these years.”
“His time will come,” Dominic growls.
I lift my face from his chest and meet his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly that. I hired a private detective years ago to track him down.”
My eyes widen. “You know where he is?” He grunts in reply. “Why hasn’t he been arrested? Have you told the police?”
“He’s not in Australia anymore, Emily. He ran off to Italy not long after he ended my mother’s life and abandoned my sister and myself.”
“Oh, Dom,” I say, tightening my grip on his waist. “I’m sorry for what he did to your mum and everything you and Violet have suffered through.”
When I sniffle, Dominic lifts his head off the pillow and places his lips on my hair. “Don’t cry for me, Em. Every dog has their day, and his time is running out. If I didn’t have theresponsibility of caring for my niece, I would’ve ended him a long time ago.”
