Page 28 of Where He Ended

“Dominic,” I whisper plaintively.

Bit by bit, the light returns to his eyes. He blinks, gaping down at me with as much confusion as my own. His chest rises in rapid waves. I can almost see his heart ramming against his ribs, eager to jump out of his skin. “Laiken . . . what . . .?” He sees his hands coiled on my wrists, pressing me flat under him in his bed.

He's awake, but the dream is still clinging to him. It makes his brow lower, his lips moving into a painful frown. Quickly he releases me, throwing the blankets aside so he can get free. He's wearing nothing but a pair of tight black boxers. Facing away on the bed, he plants his feet on the floor. He braces his face in his hands with his elbows resting on his thighs. They're the only things keeping him from collapsing forward. “I'm sorry,” he whispers. “I didn't know it was you. Did I hurt you?”

Sitting up, I draw my knees under me. I'm close enough to touch him. I'm worried what will happen if I do. The urge is strong, though. I have to grip the hem of my pajama shirt to keep myself under control. “No, I'm fine. Areyouokay?”

I can't see his face well. I watch his hands sweep up and through his hair. “It was just a nightmare.”

My wrists still tingle from his powerful grip. “You sounded so scared. I've never seen—”

“Why are you here?” he asks, cutting me off. He twists around to stare at me. Moonlight glows along his naked torso, tracing all the parts of him that I want to. I've never been jealous of the moon before.

“I was bringing you your jacket.” Looking around, I see it on the floor. I dropped it when I ran inside. I climb off the bed, grabbing it, circling around to where he is. He's sitting, and it makes his eyes level with my chest.

He glances at the jacket. “You thought I needed this right now? It's got to be after midnight.”

I don't know what I expected from him, but it's not this cool attitude. Lowering the jacket, I let it dangle. My eyes move to the door; it's partly open. “You're right. This was stupid. I'll go, sorry.”

Dominic captures my upper arm as I start to move. “Wait.” It's comes out harsh. Like his mouth is full of sharp stones. He's staring at the jacket still. Carefully, he tugs it from my grip. Then he throws it across the room and pulls me into his lap. “I didn't say I wanted you to leave.”

The solid wall of his chest muffles my gasp. His skin is scalding hot, still slick from his nightmare fueled sweat. I'm perched on his thick thigh with my legs hooked over his other one. Dominic has always been bigger than me, but being curled on his lap, he's become larger than life. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you,” he says, draping his heavy arms around my shoulders. With a firm, unrelenting pressure, he hugs me until I relax against him. It's a welcome embrace, stealing pound after pound of tension from my body.

With my ear on his chest, I listen to his heartbeat. It's consistent in its drumming. As if he didn't just wake up from a terrifying dream. “Why?” I ask softly. “You're the one who had the nightmare.”

His arms tighten. “I told you, it was nothing.”

“What was it about?”

“Nothing.”

Racking my brain, I realize why this feels familiar. “In the preserve,” I say, trying to look up at him, “you had a nightmare then, too. I wasn't sure. It woke me up. You were thrashing around next to me.” His arms constrict me, keeping me in place.

“That's not what you should be remembering about that encounter,” he whispers. His fingers glide down the outside of my arm. He goes past my elbow, the flannel making his touch harder to sense. When he reaches my cuff, he tucks his fingers inside, lightly brushing the underside of my wrist.

Shivering, I try to move my hand away. Dominic locks his fingers with mine, as if we're dancers on a stage. Scooping my hair off my neck with his other hand, he tips my chin up, rubbing his lips over mine in a whisper of a tease. Pleasure blooms between my legs.

“This is what you should be thinking about,” he says, staring into my eyes. “Focus on how wonderful I can make you feel. I want it in your mind all the damn time. I want to be the only thing you can think about.”

I swallow loudly. “I do think about you. That's why I'm asking—ah!” His thumb flicks lightly over my pointed nipple through my shirt. I shift on his lap—he turns me on too damn easily.

“That's better,” he purrs. He circles my nipple, talking in a soft rumble that infects my brain. “Just think about this. It's why you really came to my room, isn't it? Not to give me a useless jacket.” Letting my hand go, he uses both of his to tease my breasts. The pleasure shocks me into an open-mouth gasp. “Next time, just ask me to fuck you. I'll never deny you, Laiken. Never.”

His words are dirty. They thrill me. He makes it so easy to forget every problem that exists between us. He pinches my nipples, tugging them towards him. I arch my back, whimpering helplessly. His grip through the material is firm as he twists his thumb and forefinger, playing with me expertly. I feel something move against me in his lap. It's his cock coming to life.

He sweeps his tongue over my lips, kissing me softly. His mouth moves away from mine, grazing my jaw, then my throat, until he reaches the collar of my pajamas. He gives my breasts a quick squeeze before he undoes the first button on my pajamas. It gives me enough of a break that my thoughts clear and I can finally speak again. “Wait,” I say breathlessly. “I didn't come in here for this.”

“Bullshit,” he laughs. He shoots me a wicked look, his lips a jagged smirk. “You knew exactly what you were doing coming to my room in the middle of the night.”

“I wasn't coming here for sex,” I argue, shivering as he undoes a second button. “Wouldn't I have worn something sexier? These pajamas are the frumpiest things I own.”

Gripping the split-apart sides of my top, he halts his undressing of me. My cleavage peeks between his fingers; I breathe faster because of how close he is. “Are you joking?” he asks. Grabbing my middle, he spins me on his lap, hooking my legs on the outside of his knees. He spreads his thighs, forcing mine wide. Dominic's erection rubs against my ass. “Don't you understand yet? It doesn't matter what you wear, Laiken. To me, you're the most impossible to resist creature on this fucking earth.”

His beard scrapes on the back of my neck as he sets his chin on my shoulder. With two fingers he traces me from my collarbone, down my sternum, between my breasts until he hits the final button; he undoes it with a flick of his fingers.

Using his teeth, he slides my top down my shoulder, baring it to the air. I shudder, overcome by a wave of desire. My thighs strain as I try to close my legs but his knees block me. “Hold still,” he hisses.

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