Page 171 of The Scandal You Started
For maybe a few seconds, a minute, or longer, she stared at him, and he stared back. They probably would have stayed there all night, unwilling to set each other free from their scrutiny, like they were afraid the other would disappear.
But then Dominic’s face crumpled on a gritted sound of pain. A stuttered exhale slipped between Rayna’s lips. He turned fully to face her, edged forward, arms reaching for her. And Rayna staggered towards him with urgency.
She collided into him, his arms bounding around her waist as hers went around his neck. He lifted her off the floor, and she kissed him.
She ravaged his mouth as he drank from her like an animal, both of them needing each other beyond finesse and civility.Because it wasn’t passion that had Rayna scoring Dominic’s scalp and nape with her nails, or him bruising her waist and hips with the imprint of his fingers.
It was desperation.
A desperate need to feel each other one last time, so they never forget what they had.
They didn’t make it to their bedroom.
Dominic dropped to his knees and laid Rayna down on the carpeted corridor at the top of the stairs. They licked at throats and lips and tongues, grunting and panting, as they pulled at zips and strings and buttons. Until he dragged her cotton trousers and underwear off her feet along with her slippers, and she’d pulled his boxers and chinos to the bottoms of his thighs.
Without a care for the rest of their clothes, she wrapped her hand around the thick root of his cock, and he hooked one of her legs high around his waist. He dropped over her on his forearms, his kiss-stung lips hovering over hers, as she pressed his tip to her sex.
He was too big, and she wasn’t wet enough. But she welcomed the slight discomfort, encouraged it by locking her limbs around him as he kept pushing into her. Until he filled her completely, and they were anchored to each other in the most intimate way possible.
That was when the weight of reality crashed down on Rayna’s chest, suffocating her on a sob. Her eyes swam and lips trembled, but she felt too vulnerable being so close to him. She didn’t want him to see her crying. Shehatedthat she was crying again, so she screwed her lashes together and ducked her head.
But Dominic clamped her jaw between his thumb and fingers, forcing her face back up. “Open your eyes,” he croaked as he pulled his hips back.
She shook her head against his hand and mewled as he sank back into her. She couldn’t tell if she felt more pleasure than she did pain in her chest.
“Please, my love.” He dragged out. “Open your eyes.” He thrust in. “Look at me.”Drag. “Rayna.”Thrust. “Dammit, Rayna, open your eyes.”
He pumped his hips through his growled words, and she cried out, her wet lashes flying apart. And the way he was looking at her, his expression twisted, a pinch of despair between his brows, liquid brimming in his narrowed eyes, crushed her heart.
“Dominic,” she wretched, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes and vanishing into her hair.
“I love you,” he rasped, thrusting hard. “I love you.”
A harsh sob clambered out of her. “No, please. Don’t.”
She tried to cover his mouth, but he caught her wrist and pinned it to the carpet, his pelvis slapping against hers.
“I love you.”
“Dominic, please.”
“I love you, Rayna.” Tears dripped off his wet lashes and splashed against her cheeks as he let out a gritted sound. “I love you.”
“Dominic.” She wept harder as he pumped faster.
“I love you,” he ground out. “You may never forget that.”Thrust. “You are forbidden from forgetting me.”Thrust. “Promise me you won’t.”
“Please,” she begged.
But he didn’t stop. He kept her breathless on his thrusts between quiet sobs of his name as his tears dripped off her cheeks and intertwined with her own.
“You cannot forget me,” he pleaded. “You cannot, Rayna. Please.Please. Promise me you won’t. Promise you will always remember how I love you. Promise not to forget me.”
“I promise,” she cried out in wrenching mix of agony and pleasure. “I promise. Dominic, I—”
He captured her lips on a guttural sound, branding her own promise into her with his mouth and dick. And Rayna clung to him, vowing with her submission, with her every touch, claiming his tongue with her own, taking his rough pounding, catching his tears on her thumbs.
She told him with her body how much she would always love him.
