Page 133 of The Scandal You Started
“Good night, Rayna.”
The pounding of her heart punched through her pulse as she stared at him, unable to say it back, suddenly tongue-tied.
He began heading for the door. She lifted herself up on her palms.
Rayna? Hello?
He’s leaving, dammit! What the fuck are you doing? Say something!
But her damned mouth wasn’t cooperating. It’d completely forgotten how to shape any words, and no matter how much she willed herself to speak, the sounds weren’t coming together.
Just as he reached for the handle—
“Dominic.”
He paused and rotated halfway. “Yes, sweetheart?”
Oh, thank Neves!
She was relieved she’d managed to stop him. But it was daunting realising she actually had to say something now. Worse yet, she actually had to face her feelings.
Exhaling a deep breath, she anchored her fingers into the thin blanket under her. “Stay.”
Maybe it was a trick of the dim lighting, but she thought she saw his body flinch.
The long seconds that followed wound a blush up her face, and she fought hard not to take back what she’d said.
“For tonight, you mean?” he finally croaked.
It took a moment, but she shook her head. “Not just tonight but…with me. After the project. Here and in the past. Some balance that might…make it possible to stay together.”
Silence.
Dominic didn’t move. His expression didn’t change. She was convinced he hadn’t heard her.
Then with a quick flicker of his shadow, he was stalking towards her, unforgiving purpose and possession and determination burning in his amber-ringed stare.
Her heart skedaddled like a frightened cat on ice, and Rayna scrambled on the bed.
“Wait. Wait, wait, wait.” Her back hit the cold, painted wall, and she held her hands up. “Dominic, wait.”
He stopped short of the side of the fabric-framed bed, and she panted, her pitched shoulders dropping as if she’d only just narrowly escaped the jaws of a predator.
Her fingers trembled before her eyes, and she buried them in the blanket again. Embarrassment taunted her pride, pokingand pinching her skin like a school bully. Gosh, was it frustrating, but she could do nothing to stop it.
The only option was to conquer it, because running wasn’t a choice anymore.
She gulped. “I’ve…I’ve never done this before.”
Fucking Neves, she hated how pathetic she sounded. It almost made her stop entirely, but Dominic’s presence remained steady and without judgement, so she carried on.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not even sure I know what I actually want. But every time I think about you leaving…I hate the way it feels. I don’t—I don’t think I could do it. Just watch you leave. Not without trying at least. Maybe not even then.”
She pushed even further back against the wall as the bed dipped under the weight of his palms and one knee, bringing him eye-level. “Rayna—”
“I still don’t believe in love,” she said with a rapid shake of her head. “I don’t know how to trust that it lasts or that it’s real. I’m still not sure about marriage either. I can’t just change how I’ve always felt about them overnight.”
“Darling, that is not what I want from you,” he assured her with an almost pained smile. “I love you as you are. With all your repulsed opinions of love and marriage. You do not have to change that.” His smile angled a little more playfully. “And if I may be so honest, it is a relief to know I likely will not have to worry about another man convincing you that being married to him would be better than being married to me.”
