Page 59 of Prince of Malice

Luckily, though, even after a few of my missteps, we both manage to make it to the end of the upper hallway and duck into a small, dark room. Flipping on the light switch, Dominic reveals his home bedroom to me and drops quickly down onto his bed.

“Come sit down,” he urges, beckoning me over with his hands outstretched. “You need to rest.”

Moving closer to him, he takes hold of me and pulls me toward him and down beside himself on the bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asks earnestly, looking over each and every one of my assortment of bruises and injuries. “You handled yourself well.”

“Thank you.” I blush, not wanting him to know just how much pain I am in. “But you took some pretty bad hits, especially with finding out about?—”

“Can we not? Just for tonight, at least,” he interrupts. “I just want to be with you and forget about it all for now.”

“Okay, I like that.” I smile at him. “Tonight, it’s just us.”

He pulls me in close to him, wrapping his arms around me as we both lie down beside each other in the bed. As my body touches and rubs against Dominic’s, we both recoil slightly as our many pains and bruises press into each other’s, but soon we accept the aching and soreness. We still want to move closer again.

Lying with him, I feel safe in his arms, despite the intense agony and suffering I’ve been put through tonight. Even with the aftershock of everything that’s happened,—not just within the last few hours with the Grecos, but this whole rollercoaster of a week—I feel pure bliss wash over me.

Soon enough, I both drift off to sleep, sharing a night of peace with Dominic for a second night in a row. I forget all about our pain and problems for now, letting there just be me and him. For tonight, there will be only us.

19

DOMINIC

Iwake peacefully in my old bed. I haven’t slept here in almost a year, and the whole place feels so foreign to me. Luckily, I have the familiar feeling of having Luca lying beside me, wrapped tightly in my arms. Somehow, I’ve already grown so used to this—the calm, quiet morning in bed; the sun hiding behind the closed curtains; and the calming knowledge that we don’t care about what might happen next.

Letting out a long, relaxed breath, I nestle myself closer into his neck, feeling the warmth of his smooth skin against my face. The searing pains of my injuries have settledslightly and left a constant soreness in its place. Despite my entire body hurting, I still feel so calm and relaxed while beside him.

I gaze down at Luca as his eyes start to flutter open, sluggishly trying their best to stay open as he begins to wake up.

“Morning,” he whispers, his voice not quite warmed up yet.

“Morning,” I speak softly. “You sleep okay?”

Luca nods to me, resting his head on my chest and somehow bringing us even closer together than before.

“What do we do now?” I ask him. “I mean, do we celebrate? Do we just wait?”

Gradually running his hand over my chest, Luca leans closely into my ear. “Well, I think I know a way that we can do both.” “Oh, is that right? What do you have in mind?”

He smiles, deliberately gliding his hand back down my chest and to my crotch, rubbing back and forth.

“Luca,” I moan gently.

“Yes?” he asks, his bratty expression getting even worse.

“After everything we’ve done,” I utter, still feeling the soft touch of his hand against my trapped bulge, “I’ve been waiting for this.”

Grabbing hold of his wrist, I pin it behind his head as I roll on top of him completely holding him down. Beneath my weight, Luca wriggles playfully to get free.

“You wanted this,” I say to him with a wink. “So you’re going to take it.”

His pointless attempts to escape end quickly when I rest my knee gently against his groin, rubbing it gently as I do and making sure to find the perfect line between pain and pleasure. He whimpers slightly at the sensation, fully letting go of any control he had left and waiting for me to do whatever I want to him.

“Do you like that?” I ask him, as I start to apply more and more pressure.

He doesn’t say a word, only leaning his head back into the pillow behind him, presenting his quivering lip to me, and closing his eyes, waiting for more.

I lay a passionate kiss on his mouth, feeling the warm, shaking touch of his lips against mine as he kisses me back. Freeinghis hands, I take off his shirt, giving me a better look at each and every one of his injuries from last night. I trail my hand across them, feeling each bruise and bump with my fingertips, and he recoils.

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