He pulled his pants up and with little adjusting managed to make his suit looked neatly pressed as if he’d just put it on. Even his hair looked freshly combed and smooth, not a hair out of place. She had no doubt how she looked though—like she’d just been fucked against a door.
He knew how she felt and even against her wishes he did it. He touched her. A tear she couldn’t contain slid down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb, his face softening.
“Don’t cry, sweets.”
She couldn’t stand the endearment. Not now, not when her whole heart was breaking.
The footsteps came closer for which she thanked the stars. It helped her to get her bearings and move, no easy feat after feeling him inside her for the first time.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” she said. She meant it and she knew he heard the conviction in her voice. He’d never touch her again after that. She was done.
Quickly, she slipped behind the garage door. She knew she should flee but some masochistic part of her made her pause outside the door. She stayed and listened.
“Ah, there you are. I didn’t know if you were here still,” a warm, feminine voice said.
“Julianna, you’re back early.” She could hear the smile in Dom’s voice and knew it was forced. The sound of him kissing Julianna hit her heart like a lethal blow. She staggered back a step as her heart stopped beating for one agonizing moment.
She’d bet money that Julianna didn’t know that his smile was forced, the kiss not real. She probably didn’t know anything about him and, if she did, it didn’t matter because no one loved Dom like she did. No one. Not even Julianna, the woman he was to mate with.
Not me, Felicity thought.
Another tear slid down her cheek. She wanted to sob but first she had to escape. She could never be around Dom again, no matter how much she loved him or what he promised. A part of her couldn’t help but think how fruitless her efforts would be. He would never leave her alone. He’d find her. It was his nature.
He didn’t love her. He couldn’t and still be with another woman.
And he was mating with her in only a few days.
Felicity raced to his SUV and shoved the valet about to get into the car. She pushed the young man away and growled. “Don’t!”
Then she got into the car and drove fast.
Chapter 18
Dom laid a kiss on Julianna’s pale cheek.
“I hope you had a nice trip out.” Dom stiffened as he strained, listening for Felicity. Where had she gone? She couldn’t leave him now, not with unfinished business standing between them.
“It was fine.”
Dom gave Julianna a stiff smile then took a step towards the garage door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.”
“Business with Felicity Shaw?”
Dom froze, then slowly faced the woman he had to mate with. “What of her?”
“I can smell you both in the air. Just a few minutes ago you were inside her body.”
A flush marked his face. “That is very inappropriate to speak about.” For someone like Julianna, Dom thought.
She shrugged, her face still unreadable but pleasant to look upon. “I’m afraid I have a problem.”
“And what might that be?” His fists clenched. Felicity was getting away!
Her clear blue eyes flew to his. “I don’t want to mate with you.”
A heavy silence filled the room. Dom sucked in a slow breath as he processed this. “Excuse me?”
“I said I don’t wish to mate with you.”
“Yes, I heard that,” he snapped. Dom ran a hand through his hair. His body had sweat from taking Felicity and drops of perspiration licked at his skin. In jerky movements, he whipped off his suit jacket and gripped it in a fist lest he do something childish like tear it in half. “Why?”
She lifted a honey colored eyebrow. “You have no feelings for me. You have not attempted whatsoever to endear yourself to me. You have ignored me from the moment our engagement was announced. You care for another woman. Even after I tried to end the engagement by simply leaving, you didn’t fetch me yourself but sent your brother. You care nothing for me and I care nothing for you. Let’s end this amicably, Mr. Blackmoore.”
“Call me Dominic,” he said automatically.
“I do not feel comfortable speaking to you so familiarly, Mr. Blackmoore.”
Dom reeled back in shock. Then, slowly, he laughed. The heavy weight that had been crushing his chest and shoulders lifted. He couldn’t mate with this woman. She couldn’t even call him by his first name. She was too traditional, too proper, too prim. Simply put, she was not Felicity Shaw. A strange, overwhelming joy grew inside him. Nothing would stand in his way of her now. Nothing. He would have Felicity Shaw. She would be his.
“I am sorry,” he found himself saying.
She nodded. “I will break off the engagement publicly.”
Dom frowned. “Your father will not like this.” Mr. Greenwich had been looking forward to the union of the two families with more gusto than anyone else. “If you break the engagement, there will be consequences to your reputation. I’ll do it and spare you. I will speak with your father.”
Julianna smiled a soft, pretty smile and nodded. “Perfect, but he must truly believe that we will not suit and it cannot be made my fault. If it is then I’ll tell people the truth. I’ll hold no blame for this.”
If she told people the truth then her father could take Dom to the council and force the marriage on him.
Dom laughed. “You have some guts, Julianna.”
Her smile grew into something that resembled a grin. “I will pack my belongings and leave. Goodbye, Mr. Blackmoore.”
As soon as Julianna left the room, Dom had his phone out and Vas on the other line. “Yeah?” his brother said.
“The engagement’s off. Get word out that Felicity Shaw will be my bruid. She’s young, smart, and fresh. Make sure everyone sees that pure innocence. I want everyone to know that she comes from a poor background and that she represents the average woman whether vampire or were. You got that?”
Dominic could hear Vas take a long drag on a cigarette. “Yeah, you know this might work.”
“Yeah, I know. She’s been the answer all along. Run it to every magazine, newspaper, and spread the word to every bigwig we know and do it now. I want everyone who can vote to have heard of her before morning. I expect to see that fifteen per cent gap closed by tomorrow night.”
Dominic hung up as he stepped outside. Immediately he noticed his SUV was gone. Yussef, the young valet, sprinted from the side entrance. “My apologies sir, she took the vehicle. What would you like me to do about it?”
Dom didn’t hesitate to answer. “Get me a car. I’m going after her.”
Felicity sat on a cozy suede sofa in Beth’s house. She was tired down to her bones. She tried to think back to when she ever had a day such as this one and couldn’t think of one. It was quite unique by her standards. Yet as she sat in Beth’s house, she found she didn’t want to talk about herself—at all—she wanted to talk about Beth.
Beth whose concert posters of LBB no longer hung on the walls, who CD of LBB didn’t play on the stereo, and who had a hardness to her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Even her limp looked exaggerated as if stress weighed her down.
“Tell me what happened,” she told Beth.
Beth finished pouring a cup of tea then limped into the living room and took a seat across from Felicity. She curled her legs under her, stirring her tea in idle circles and watching the swirling brown liquid. “He asked me out. I went with him.”