“Then we talk about this right now. I said I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t sound like much and now I’m getting all worked up but I really am sorry, baby. I know I hurt you but it was all an accident. Just let me explain my side of the story, please?”
The hand around her arm curled tighter, enough to worry her, and then he jerked her into the room. The door slammed with a loud bang behind them. They were close now, his eyes were locked on hers; their chests close to touching.
“You want to talk about this right now?”
Felicity paused. At the scary look in his eyes she began rethinking her decision. “Okay, maybe it’s best if we wait until there’s been a little more time for everyone to cool off.”
“Oh, no, sweets. You want to do this now, let’s do this now.”
Why did he have to sound so scary?
“Here I was standing proud in front of my people, my family, my friends waiting for this one woman who’s ensnared me and she doesn’t show. Not only that, I get to stand there in front of all these people worrying about Helena, about the election, about Grayson’s health and a hundred other things that won’t leave me be no matter how hard I try, and then I hear a commotion.” He came towards her, bringing their bodies closer. “Right then, like a gunshot had just gone off, I knew. I knew you were running like a scared little mouse seeing a big hungry cat.”
“I don’t know about that description,” Felicity muttered.
“Oh, yeah, like a little frightened mouse. So I run after you. There’s Helena looking smug and righteous and you, the most beautiful woman in my world, climbing into his fucking car.”
He managed to compliment her and make her blood run cold all in the same sentence. “Dom, I’m sorry. I was scared.”
“You were scared,” he said flatly. “I get scared too. Felicity, doesn’t mean you can run away from it.”
Anger came to a slow boil. “Not everyone is like you, and I’m certainly not like you. Not everyone is as strong as you are. I was scared shitless. I had no one in that room but you. Not even my mother was there, was she? You know what, I don’t talk to her but it would have been nice to have my only family at my mating ceremony. How could I even been excited about the greatest day in my life when I knew I’d be fighting a battle the moment I stepped into that room?”
“Is that what this is about? Helena?” He slowly turned his head to look away, those big hands curling into tight fists, and then he turned back to her with that same level of patience. “I had her taken care of.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I had a financial trap set up for her. If she dared to try to challenge you, I’d ruin her. I know Helena and she loves nothing more than money. She wouldn’t have touched a hair on your head. I never would have let her touch you. How do you not know that?”
Felicity reeled, started pacing around the room as her voice grew louder. “What? But that’s illegal. If someone wants to challenge then they have the right to do that. You couldn’t threaten her like that.”
His eyes flared. “I can do anything I want and if it means protecting what’s mine then I’ll do anything.”
The fight went out of her, or at least, most of it. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what exactly? I didn’t have a lot of time from the campaign ball, to dealing with the mess there, then work, and the ceremony the next night.”
“You could have found a minute to tell me your little plan! I wouldn’t have been worried that I was going to get my ass kicked in front of all your family and peers and be the biggest embarrassment of the century, Dominic!” She was breathing hard now, chest rising and falling.
“Maybe I should have and maybe you shouldn’t have run from me. We could have talked about it.”
“You never even came back to me that night. Just patted me on the head and shooed me off to bed. What, I wasn’t supposed to worry about being challenged over you? I’m sorry I wasn’t privy to all this ‘financial ruin’ information so naturally I was a bit worried that I’d lose you to that red-headed bitch with claws.”
Dominic took a hard step towards her and then stopped as if physically trying to hold himself back. His own breaths deepened, eyes grew liquid. “Your fangs,” was all he said.
Confused, Felicity parted her lips and touched the tips with her tongue, just as surprised as he was. She’d grown so angry her fangs had dropped without her knowing it. That meant her eyes were glowing too. Suddenly her eyes shot straight to the pulse thudding at his thick neck. Her mouth watered. She loved the tan skin there, the strong neck with healthy tendons and concave crevasses. She wanted to dip her tongue there to taste him
“Felicity.” A warning, something close to a growl in his voice.
“What?” she said, already walking towards him.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m pissed at you.”
“I’m mad at you too but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you, baby.”
She was close now and he the one backing up. “Don’t,” he said, voice a growl.
“Why not?”
His chest hammered with breaths, beating them out into the air. His legs hit a table with a lamp making him stop his retreat. She followed him, pressing her body into his as she slowly melted.
“I need time to think about this, Felicity.”
“Baby, I love you and I’m sorry. We’re going to get mated but we’re going to do it right. I’m gonna bring my mom and her little boyfriend, we won’t have the worry of the election standing over our heads, and it’ll just be me and you. Now, why don’t you come here so I can get a taste of that vein, baby.”
He groaned, she sighed, and then they were in each other’s arms as if they’d been aching to be there from the start. Her arms wrapped around his neck, mouth nuzzled the pulsating veins as he swept her up, arms tight around her waist, lifting her off the ground, and planting her back against the door he’d slammed into her face. She licked the pulse, held her tongue against it feeling it bounce against her before she struck. He didn’t jerk but growled, digging his erection between her legs.
“Felicity...”
Their bodies wrapped around each other, legs around tight hips, groin to groin, chest to chest. They moved together like a piece of beautiful music with Dominic taking the lead. He directed everything and she didn’t care because nothing felt more right than having him in her arms, holding her, loving her, once again.
She drank him, sweet, warm mouthfuls feeding her, pumping her heart to beat faster, wetting her between her legs. The gown came up. No longer was the dress an elegant gorgeous thing but was covered in splotches of mud, torn at the hem and along the bodice, but she didn’t care. He was lifting it, touching her bare legs and making her shiver. His hot breath panted against her bare shoulder as he kissed her, licked her skin.
She broke away from the bite as he cupped her between her legs. A wild, incoherent moan bubbled out from her lips and he caught sound, thrusting his tongue deep and kissing her. He shoved yards of material up between their hungry bodies. The metal of a belt clinked as it opened; a zipper hissed as it was shoved down, and material ripped that covered her between her legs.
Then he was hot, round, and hard at her entrance, slipping along her folds getting wet along her seam. He caught her moan with his kiss as he fitted himself to her then pushed inside slow and hard, pressing and filling.
It was perfect. They were one again. Perfect.
She broke away from the kiss to breathe. “Dom!”
He grunted as he filled her to the brink then started moving. Only his strong grip at her hips kept her up against the wall, kept their bodies angled the right way as he moved.