Page 87 of Dominate Me

My hand holding a glass under the running tap froze.

What? I couldn’t. I couldn’t love her. Not yet.

I couldn’t deny that she was all I thought about. All I wanted. And it wasn’t only in the bedroom. It was her laugh and her teasing smiles. It was her winks and the way she ran her hand through her hair, not caring if it ever got mussed. She was unintentionally, beautifully perfect. She was incognizant of all of it.

She simply lived her life unashamedly going after what she wanted—happiness, her career, her personal life.

She was uninhibited in everything she did and had brought life back to my deadened and cold heart with a mere glimpse of her.

Not because she was beautiful. Because she was herself, unapologetically real.

The ice-cold water splashed over the glass and snapped me back to the present. I turned off the water and reached for a towel to dry my wet wrist and the glass before I grabbed the pills and went back to Courtney.

“Hey,” I whispered. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled drunkenly. I handed her the meds and waited until she took them, handing me back the emptied glass. “Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got someone I can call if things get bad, but I think what I need tonight is to be alone with my friend Chardonnay and a good cry-fest.”

She looked healthy. Sad and drunk, but she still had a healthier glow to her, an honesty in her eyes that had always been sheltered before.

I stepped back. “Okay. But if you need something—”

“I’m not calling you.”

I smirked. “I was going to suggest Dylan. He’d help you. Gabby, too, if you need it.”

She pushed to her feet and blew her blond hair out of her eyes. “Thanks. Have a good night.”

I lifted my hand in a wave goodbye and shut her door behind me.

There was no reason to stay. I had to trust Courtney that for once, she knew what was best, and seeing her drunkenly upset was better than depressingly ruined.

She’d be fine, I hoped.

To make sure, I’d still have Dylan check on her.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, called the guy who had by now dropped Haley off at her house and told him where to come pick me up. I walked through Courtney’s townhouse complex to the main street, and waited.

And while I waited, I planned.

Dylan had been right. I’d never once officially punished Haley for her disobedience.

I let her get away with too much.

If she wanted more, I’d give it to her. And it wouldn’t just be my hand or a crop, but it’d be my heart as well.

Then we’d have a serious talk about not only where we were headed, but where I was now certain we’d end up.

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