Page 40 of Monster
He understood a little more now the reason why he had never been able to cure himself of his obsession with her. Why he’d gone to such lengths to have her. That moment five years ago when he’d seen her on that stage, untouched by his sadism, ignorant to the predator that he’d been, there had been meaning in that moment. Meaning that he was only now beginning to understand. His darkness had been drawn to her light, enticed by that very thing he hadn’t known he’d been searching for until he found it in her. His Eden. In her, laid the garden of his peace. In her year long absence from his life, while she had thrived and lived to become this woman who challenged him in all things, Dominic had been aimless, prowling around restlessly like a beast without his trainer. And when she’d returned, he’d done the only thing he knew how to keep her at his side. His recent trip to Greece had been enlightening, his longing for her had been physically and mentally unbearable, so much so that he’d cut the two week long trip short; the private jet couldn’t have brought him back fast enough. Sliding back the French doors, he moved towards them. She had her dark head down, so absorbed in Liam’s antics, that she didn’t see him approaching until he stood only a few short feet away.
Eden’s skin prickled in that peculiar way it always did when he was near. She looked up and found him standing there clad in a pristine white shirt, sleeves appropriately rolled up, in a pair of tailored steel grey chinos and black loafers. Casual and sexy. His intrinsic magnetism instantly drawing her in. She focused her attention on Liam, scooping down to pick him up, she noticeably winced, her face crinkling in pain as her shoulder protested.
“What’s wrong?” He was there in an instant. Taking Liam in his arms, he trained his gaze back on her. “Are you hurt?” he urged impatiently, needing her to give him an immediate answer.
“It’s my shoulder,” she murmured, raising her hand to the site of her pain. “There was an incident at work last night.” Leveling him with stare, Eden asked, “Did you pay Jenna’s ex-boyfriend to do something for you?”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
“To find you,” he said concisely. “I was desperate enough to employ his help.”
She appreciated his honesty. “He came by my job last night, making threats and demanding more money from you. He caught me by surprise when I was leaving work, and I guess he sprained my shoulder when he had me against my car.”
A dark cloud of emotion shadowed his hard features for a moment, while his jaw clenched in an obvious bout to control whatever it was he was feeling. He managed the feat, but green eyes were unable to conceal the depth of his rage. A rage Eden was unsure was directed at her.
“Can I see?” The calm of his voice said otherwise.
So completely different than when Carver had asked, Eden silently remarked. For one thing, her heart hadn’t hammered this maddeningly in nervousness as she swept her hair to one side of her shoulder and allowed Dominic his perusal. She chewed anxiously on her lower lip as she quite literally felt the touch of his gaze on her skin. “I thought the pain would ease by now, but it hurts...a lot,” she admitted softly, “I think I need to go to the hospital. Jenna went out for a little while so I was going to wait until she came back so I could go. But if you could just watch Liam, I can go by myself and—”
“I’ll take you,” he said decisively, putting an immediate halt to her nervous rambling. “Jacqueline will watch Liam.”
“You don’t have to. Take me, I mean. I can go by myself.”
“I want to go with you. If you will allow me, that is.”
Eden did allow it. In fact she found it harder and harder to find reason why she should mind that Dominic was escorting her to the hospital. He declined the chauffeured services and instead they took a different car that got them to the hospital in less time than it would’ve normally taken. Of course that was also with Dominic driving like he was on a race track. Three hours later, they emerged from the emergency room. There was nothing broken, according to the doctor on duty, but it was a pulled muscle for which he prescribed a higher dose of painkillers and advised her to ice it to keep the swelling down. Nothing she hadn’t already been doing.
“Why are you so quiet?” she gently prodded in the silence of the car, knowing he’d taken to the caverns of his mind again.
“I’ll take care of him.”
Eden frowned. “That’s not what I want, Dominic,” she said carefully, needing him to understand. “I didn’t tell you so you could come to my rescue. I can handle this.”
“Handle it by further getting hurt?” he countered derisively, the condescending undertone she hated so much scraping against her skin like thorns. “He will not come near you again.” The finality of that statement was punctuated by him killing the ignition and stepping out of the car.
Eden ran after him, catching his arm before he could walk too far away “So that’s it? Whatever you say goes? I don’t get a say?”
“I will not compromise when it comes to your safety,” he grated, his lips compressing into a thin line of disapproval.
“I’m a big girl, Dominic, I can take care of myself. I spent an entire year away from you, and I was fine. Alex is in jail. He assaulted me and I’m pressing charges. He already has a rap sheet for what he did to Jenna. Getting him convicted shouldn’t be that difficult. It’s not your job to take care of me. At least it won’t be…” she trailed off, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she met his gaze.
“Right. The divorce.”
The inescapable death of this marriage hung over Dominic’s head like the blade of a guillotine. If he asked for more time, she would cry foul. Then there was the very real prospect of her suing him for breaching that damnable contract. The money wasn’t the problem. He had it in abundance and had always shared it with her regardless of the glaring fact that he’d used it to control her in the past. He drew in a deep breath still frustrated by what had happened to her. She had his hands tied in demanding that he not intervene on her behalf when he had the means to do exactly that. He now regretted the agreement they’d made in telling James not to tail her. If his security guard had been there, she certainly would not have gotten hurt.
“Yes, the divorce,” she reiterated. “Four more months.”
“You count the days so diligently.” There was hardly any bite to the soft delivery, nevertheless the statement spoke of his frustrations on the subject.
Eden’s brows drew together. “Aren’t you? I mean it’s what we both want.”
His lips curled up into a halfhearted smile as he stepped closer to her reaching out to gently brush a lock of hair behind her ear, his hand lingering on her cheek. “What I want is… not important.” He leaned in to brush a heart wrenchingly sweet kiss at the center of her forehead. “I’ve always cared about you, Eden,” he confided truthfully, pulling back, “I’ve just been horrible at showing it.”
She took a step back with a shuddering breath “Well, it doesn’t matter now.” The lies she told could fill a gorge. She lowered her gaze knowing his perceptiveness would glean the truth from that lie. And the truth was that a very large part of her reveled in his softly spoken words, the ill placed delight reaching down to stroke at her foolish heart.
“No,” he murmured, “I guess it doesn’t.” His long legs carried him away, leaving Eden standing in the wake of his uncharacteristic tenderness, her mind an utter mess of thoughts that did not make the slightest sense, all the while wishing he would return and explain himself.
