Page 94 of For the Love of the Gods

“Good.” My voice clinked over the glasses, harsh and deadly.

Dominic barked a laugh. “Jealous?”

“More than I thought,” I said, then looked at my food. It didn’t look like the delicious ministrations of Maria’s kitchen anymore. Now, it just looked like nondescript faces of Dominic’s former lovers. I pushed the plate away from me. “I’m finished with this.”

Dominic laughed loud enough to turn the head of the person behind him, then settled with a pride so bright it colored my nose pink.

We talked through the rest of dinner, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what either of us said. The warmth elicited by his possessiveness spread through my neck, chest, and lower, taking rational thought with it. Maybe we were playing the part of a married couple to mask our observations of the crowd around us, or maybe the mission just gave us a reason to act differently around each other. Whatever it was, I wasn’t sure I wanted it to end.

Dominic started shifting in his chair and after a stare down that lasted a second too long and conjured too many memories of his hands on my body, he flagged the waiter to clear the dishes.

After a short argument about skipping dessert—during which Dominic said that he had no plans to skip dessert, he would just be eating it later—and Maria screaming at me like a banshee when I tried to leave money at the table, she shooed us out of there.

Apparently we were distracting her staff.

Dominic walked us out of the restaurant, his hand resting low enough on my back that his intentions were crystal clear. If they weren’t already. He pushed me out of the restaurant and then to the right, instead of left towards the alley we arrived in. Settling me in the space between his body and the buildings, away from the bustling street, he grabbed my hand and started down the street.

“Where are we going?” I asked, picking up my pace to keep next to him.

He looked at me, fire in his eyes. “The beach.”

Chapter 25

Rose

The water was stunning tonight.

Lapping against the shore in onyx swells, reflecting the silver of the moonlight with the brilliance of a diamond. The moon was a half crescent, not at all special to someone who lived in the Upperworld and could feel the cold light on their face every night.

But for two people who were used to a dimmed down, dying version of the night’s sun, it was almost blinding.

I thought the Underworld was beautiful—the feeling a combination of nostalgia for the place I was raised, protectiveness for the realm that was fueled by the power in my blood, and genuine awe at the way flowers had managed to find a way to live when they were surrounded by so much death.

But the Upperworld carried a more striking, forceful beauty. One that stole your attention, made me feel less important, like I could escape my reputation for a moment.

Be anyone.

Enjoy the simple pleasure of silence and a man as they walked together toward the ocean. So I didn’t ruin it, just let my hand settle into Dominic’s palm a little deeper.

Dominic led me to the beach, holding my hand all the way from Maria’s restaurant, down the worn staircase, and onto the rough sand. It was only then, that we stood here, watching the waves hit the shoreline, that he let go.

I had to physically restrain myself from protesting. I wasn’t done with this illusion yet. There were questions I wanted to ask—did we come down here because it required us to walk along the main street, scanning for glaring humans or outright aggression, or did he just want to? I needed to know what the hell went on in his head.

Dominic bent down, slipping off his shoes and rolling his slacks up, cuffing them high enough that the water wouldn’t damage his pants.

The move was clean, sterile even, and yet somehow the glimpse it gave me of his ankle bone felt lewd. I reached down to take off my own sandals, resting a hand casually on Dominic’s shoulder to steady myself, but his hand wrapped around my ankle before I could do it myself.

Purposefully, Dominic unzipped the high back of my ropey sandals, then lifted my right foot to peel off the shoe. The feel of the leather dragging against my skin along with the scrape of his calloused hands sent heat pooling in my core.

Dominic repeated the move with my left foot, sending a twin flash of heat down. When he was done, gathering both my shoes in one hand, he looked up at me under his thick, light brown lashes.

He looked good on his knees, and I told him so. The towering, imposing Dominic, finally submissive. Although somehow, he made it look like a choice. That he was on his knees, but only because it was the position necessary to dominate me completely.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Dominic responded, his tone eliciting a very clear picture in my head of his tongue at my core.

“Guilty,” I breathed. I’d be an idiot not to salivate at that image. And salivating I was, my mouth watering at the sight of his broad shoulders from above.

Dominic chuckled and I could feel the scrape of his hot breath through the thin fabric of my dress. He stood, shamelessly pressing a kiss to my stomach and dragging the hand still wrapped around my left ankle all the way up my body, bypassing my core by an inch.

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