Page 72 of No Sweet Goodbyes

“I wanted to get my mother’s ring for you,” Dom says quietly when I look up from the letter. “That’s why I was later than I wanted to be. She read me the riot act, and then she chased me around the house and tried to beat my ass with her chancla.” He wipes his forehead. “I want to give you something grand and romantic and beautiful if you’ll just give me another chance.”

My heart starts beating erratically, making it hard to take a breath, but I don’t interrupt him. Why don’t I interrupt him?

He’s talking crazy.

“I don’t like to talk, Emma. I hate it more than anything else in the entire world. From the minute I started talking to you, I couldn’t stop. I still can’t.” He swallows loudly. “I love you. Have from the moment you flipped up your skirt and offered me your booze. You’re perfect and fierce and everything I’ve ever thought about in my life. And if you’ll marry me, Mama will give you the ring I want you to wear for the rest of your life.” He flushes and offers me a half smile. “She wouldn’t give it to me, though, because she said she’s still mad at me for taking you away from them.”

“Dom.” I hesitate. My heart still races in my chest, and I can feel the blood pumping through my veins, pounding behind my eyes. “You left me.”

How can he sit here and ask me this?

How can he be perfect when he left?

“I know, Emma.” He pulls my hand into his. “I know. And I know I’m an idiot for asking. But I’m not going to hide anything from you anymore. You don’t have to give me an answer right now. Or ever, if you don’t want to. But I’m here. And you’re it for me.”

“What?” He’s lost his fuckin’ mind is what has happened.

I must have given him a concussion when we were fighting.

“Emma, I love you.” He repeats his earlier confession. “I’m not going to just stop because I overwhelmed you right off the bat when I came home. I didn’t plan on asking. Not right away. I wanted to do it the right way. But with you, I’m never doing things the way they should be. I’m here. And I’m going to do whatever I need to in order to prove that I’m not going anywhere.” He lifts my hand and kisses my fingers. “But you need to know that I’m in this for the long haul and that when you’re ready, I will be putting my ring on your finger.”

Panty-melting.

The man has words that are absolutely panty-melting.

“I’m going to get naked now,” I tell him bluntly. “You can get naked with me, or you can leave. Those are the only two things we’re going to discuss.” Because I don’t have the brainpower to talk about anything else, and honestly, I’m a little bit concerned that he’s going to wake up in the morning and regret his declaration.

Dom doesn’t give me a verbal answer. His eyes are pools of fire, devouring everything in their path as he watches me for a few heavy seconds.

He gets up, taking me with him, and then he tosses me over his shoulder just like he did the night in the cemetery that feels like a different lifetime.

“Good plan,” he mutters.

I snicker while he carries me through the house to my bedroom, laughing out loud when he kicks my bedroom door closed and drops me on the bed in the same breath.

“Off,” he orders while stripping out of his own clothes. “It’s been a hundred and thirty days since I’ve had you, Emma.”

I pause with my shirt almost all the way off my head and catch my breath when Dom rips it the rest of the way off.

“You know how many days it’s been?”

He nods, staring down at my body with a feral gleam in his eyes. “I do. Just like I know it’s been over three thousand hours. I told you. I know where I went wrong, down to the minute, and I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

Dom kisses me, making it impossible to ask him anything else, and I let him. I’ve gone the same amount of time without him, and I crave the way my body responds to him.

Only him.

When he lets go and pushes me back onto the bed, I land on my pillow and laugh. His fingers splay over my thigh, moving up until he reaches my core. “Mine.”

I can’t give him the intensity that he’s giving me. Not yet. “Now, Dom.”

Nothing else exists when he moves over my body. His beard tickles my skin just before his lips kiss a path between my neck and my ear.

“I can take it slow,” he whispers against my skin. “I can give you anything you want. Tell me what you want, Emma.”

“I want everything.” Dom’s hard length slides into me in the next breath. “All of it.” I’m gasping at the way he fills my body.

He gives me everything, not wasting a single moment. And then he gives me more when I think I can’t take it. Every move and thrust brings me close to the edge and closer to him.

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