Promises After Dark (After Dark Book 3)

by Sadie Matthews

  ‘You have an infinite capacity to surprise me,’ he says tenderly, dropping a kiss on my head. ‘Just when I think I’ve lost you, fate brings you back to me.’ He pulls back so he can gaze down into my face. ‘But what on earth are you doing here?’

  ‘Wait a second!’ It’s Georgie, who’s standing with her hands on her hips, looking completely bewildered. ‘Are you telling me this is Beth? Your Beth, who you were going to meet tonight?’

  Dominic turns to smile at her, his eyes sparkling. ‘The very same. She wasn’t at her hotel when I got there – serves me right for thinking a surprise would be a good idea. How did you find her?’

  Georgie looks worried and says, ‘Dom, can I have a word please?’ as she beckons him out into the hall.

  He’s reluctant to let me go, I can feel that, but he says, ‘Sure.’ He follows her out. I stand in the sitting room, elated and excited, but I can hear what they’re saying out there.

  ‘Dom, this girl is involved with Andrei Dubrovski!’ Georgie is hissing. ‘I found her weeping in a restaurant bathroom because he’s trying to make her commit to him! Do you know how incredibly dangerous this is? Your history with him is hardly sweetness and light – he’s not going to take kindly to you stealing his girlfriend!’

  ‘I’m not stealing anything or anyone,’ Dominic returns calmly. ‘Beth and I have been together since before she met Andrei.’

  ‘What? How?’

  ‘It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it one day.’

  ‘But Dubrovski has Beth’s stuff. I was going to send you round to get it, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea now.’

  ‘He thinks he can have her if he wants. Beth isn’t going to let that happen and neither am I. Now – let’s go back and involve her, I don’t like talking about her like this.’

  They come back into the room, Georgie looking embarrassed and anxious, while Dominic appears strong and happy. He comes right over and puts his arm around me.

  ‘It sounds like some crazy stuff has been happening. Is Andrei up to his old tricks?’

  I nod, feeling like the terrible weight that’s been oppressing me is lifting from my shoulders. ‘He’s worse than ever.’

  ‘I want to hear all about it.’ He smiles down at me, his dark brown eyes warm and loving. ‘But first, let’s sit down and catch up a little. I was going to surprise you tonight but, as usual, your surprise is bigger and better. Georgie, how about some tea for me? I’ve missed the way you make it.’ He turns his smile on her.

  Georgie shakes her head at him and sighs, as though he’s a hopeless case, but she can’t resist his charm. ‘Okay, Dom. Tea on its way.’

  As soon as we’re alone Dominic pulls me to him. ‘Oh God, it’s good to have you back,’ he says throatily, and then he kisses me, his lips tender at first but quickly becoming passionate as my mouth opens under his. When at last we part reluctantly, he says, ‘Thank God you’re all right. I’ve been pretty damn worried since I arrived at the hotel to hear you’d left.’

  ‘Andrei’s been tailing me,’ I explain as Dominic leads me over to the sofa and we sit down together, our hands clasped, ‘and he’s putting on pressure like never before. He’s making threats, against you and Mark, and he’s made it clear he wants me to be with him.’

  Dominic’s eyes sparkle dangerously and he says in a low voice, ‘Does he, now? Well, he’s going to have to learn that he can’t get what he wants with bully-boy tactics or threats. Bring it on, I say. If he wants a fight, he can have one.’

  I put my other hand on his knee and say fearfully, ‘Please, Dominic, you don’t know what he’s like . . . the things he’s said . . . I couldn’t bear it if he hurt you.’

  ‘On the contrary,’ Dominic replies, ‘I know exactly what he’s like. That’s why he’s being like this. He wants to shut me down because I know all his weaknesses. I was prepared to deal honourably with him and keep the secrets he entrusted me with when I worked for him. But he’s made it plain how he wants to proceed, and that’s fine with me. He’s going to regret taking me on.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’ I’m frightened at the prospect of Dominic facing down someone of Andrei’s power and might, but Dominic seems stronger and more confident than ever.

  ‘I have an idea or two,’ he says mysteriously. ‘But let’s not talk about him now. Wait until we get to my place.’

  ‘Your place?’ I echo, puzzled.

  Dominic nods. ‘Things are changing, Beth. The work I’ve done over the last few weeks is paying off. I have some big investors coming on board with me and my company is about to become a major player in the mining and commodities world. I’m setting up an office here in New York as well as in London. Dubrovski isn’t going to like it when he hears who my new partners are – mostly because they’re people he’s wooed and failed to win in the past.’ He pulls me tight to him. ‘My assistant here has leased me an apartment until I can find something I want to buy in the new year.’

  I stare at Dominic. He’s his own boss now and it suits him. I realise that he’s been hungry for this ever since I’ve known him and now he’s like a panther that’s been asleep but is stretching its limbs and rippling its muscles, preparing to exert its power in the hunt.

  Georgie comes back into the room carrying two more cups of tea, puts them on the table and sits down in the armchair. She looks a little happier now.

  ‘I can’t get over it,’ she says, shaking her head and looking from me to Dominic. ‘When you told me your name was Beth, I thought it was strange because Dom was going off to meet a Beth, but it never occurred to me it might be the same one!’

  ‘It is weird,’ I agree, smiling at her, my hand still tightly in Dominic’s. I shoot him a look. ‘He’s never even told me he has a sister!’

  Dominic frowns and says vaguely, ‘Haven’t I?’

  ‘No, you haven’t!’

  Georgie hands him a cup of steaming tea. ‘That doesn’t surprise me in the least, I’m afraid, Beth. I had no idea you existed either, until today.’ She gives her brother a gently rebuking look. ‘You’ve really got to learn to share a little more, Dom.’

  ‘I’ll try,’ he says with a smile, taking the cup. ‘Thanks for the tea.’

  ‘You’ve got to make him change his ways, Beth,’ Georgie says to me as she sits down.

  I smile at her. I’m loving seeing Dominic in this family environment. I feel more connected to him than ever now I’m accepted by his sister. She just assumes we’re together like a normal boyfriend and girlfriend. The thought fills me with happy warmth.

  ‘By the way, Georgie,’ says Dominic, ‘I’m afraid it’s going to be a slightly shorter visit than planned. I’m taking Beth away.’

  ‘I thought you were going to say that,’ Georgie says but without rancour. ‘Well, it’s a treat to see you, no matter how fleeting the visit.’

  ‘I’ll be around a lot more in the future,’ Dominic says. ‘I’ll be working here for about half the year.’

  ‘Oh good,’ Georgie says brightly, looking happier. ‘I’ve missed my baby brother, I want to see more of you!’ She turns to me. ‘And what about you, Beth, where do you live?’

  ‘London,’ I say, suddenly feeling bleak as I realise that for at least six months of the year I’m going to be without Dominic. Then I feel his hand tighten around mine.

  ‘For now,’ he says softly, and a burst of happiness radiates through me as he smiles down at me.

  Half an hour later we are zooming through the streets of New York in a steel-grey sports car.

  ‘Your sister was very kind; she was going to let me stay at her house. I hope she doesn’t think I’m rude.’

  ‘I’m sure she doesn’t,’ Dominic says, his eyes on the road.

  I pause and then say, ‘You know, you’ve never told me much about yourself. Not about Georgie, and not about your parents either. I was sorry to hear that they’ve both passed away.’

  There’s a silence while Dominic stares at the road ahead
and then he says softly, ‘You know I’ve always found it hard to open up about things like that. But I’m glad you’ve meet Georgie, I really am. And I will share more with you, I promise.’

  I’m so glad to hear that, but I don’t want to push it any more, not right now, so I say, ‘It would have been nice to stay a bit longer with Georgie and get to know her.’

  ‘Mmm.’ Dominic shoots me a meaningful glance. ‘And I hope you understand, but I can’t do all the things I want to do to you in the spare room of my sister’s house. It isn’t really my style.’

  I feel a shiver of delicious anticipation. Tonight promises to end in a way I couldn’t possibly have imagined when I was sobbing in the ladies’ room earlier.

  Dominic drives us expertly through the Manhattan traffic, and takes us suddenly off the road and down into an underground car park. He brings the car to a stop and looks at me, his face shrouded in shadow. ‘Here we are,’ he says softly.

  My heart begins to race, thudding hard in my chest as the adrenalin of excitement begins to course through me. He opens the door, gets out, comes around to my side and opens my door. He puts out a hand and I take it. As he helps me out of the low-slung seat, he gives a sudden pull so that I fly up and into his arms. He holds me tight, running one hand down my back and over my behind. I’m staring into his eyes, seeing the desire that’s burning there, and then he drops his mouth to mine and kisses me. I surrender to him completely, opening my mouth and letting his tongue take possession of me. He tastes glorious. I want to drink him down, absorb him into my very being, become one with him. I tilt my head back and sink into his arms. He’s pulling me to him and I feel the hard curve of the car’s roof against my back. He has one knee between my thighs, pushing my legs gently apart so that he can press in against me. I feel the hard bulge at his groin and sigh with the delight at the evidence of his lust.

  ‘I want you right here,’ he says in a low voice. ‘But . . .’ He looks up towards the CCTV camera that’s focused on us. ‘I don’t particularly want the guards getting their rocks off over us. Let’s go upstairs.’

  I have to swallow hard to try and regain my equilibrium. I was ready to let him fuck me right there, up against the car, or down on the oily floor of the car park. Instead he takes my hand and leads me over to the lift. Its doors slide open a moment later and we’re in the mirrored interior. I glance up, aware of the dark eye of the security camera.

  ‘Fuck them,’ Dominic says. ‘I want to kiss you.’

  As the lift soars upwards, he pulls me to him and kisses me hard, his tongue feverish in my mouth and mine in his. We’re insatiable for one another, my fingers in his hair, pulling his head to me, his arms tight around me, one hand at my neck stroking sensitive places under my ear and at my throat. I want to moan and beg, ask him to take me right now no matter who’s watching, but instead I revel in the passion of our kiss. I know I’ll get what I want before too long.

  Then the lift stops and the doors open. I blink, bewildered, as though I’ve just woken from an intense dream. ‘Come on,’ murmurs Dominic, taking my hand. He takes me down the hall to the door of an apartment which he opens with a code tapped onto a pad by the door.

  Inside, we are in a large apartment with a panoramic view of the city through its floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s bare and unlived-in, with only a minimum of furniture.

  ‘Rented,’ Dominic says as he closes the door behind us. ‘I won’t be here long but it will do for now.’

  I turn to him and let my coat fall open, standing before him in my red cocktail dress and high heels. His gaze rakes over me appreciatively.

  ‘You look stunning,’ he says. Then he notices the pearls at my neck. ‘Is that new?’

  I reach up and unclasp the necklace. I drop it into the pocket of my coat and then let the coat fall to the floor. ‘Borrowed finery,’ I reply. ‘I think it all disappears at midnight.’

  He glances at his watch. ‘It’s almost midnight now.’

  ‘That’s why it’s got to go,’ I say. I reach for the zip at the side of the dress and pull it down. Then, with a shimmy, I let the red silk slide down my body until it’s in a pool at my feet. I step out of it and stand before him in my bra and knickers. I let his gaze travel over me and then kick off the heels. ‘There,’ I say. ‘Now the spell is broken.’

  ‘You’re free of the enchantment,’ he says, staring at me intently.

  ‘I always was,’ I return. ‘He never managed to put me in the tower, no matter how much he wanted to.’

  Dominic takes a step towards me. ‘Beth . . .’

  My heart thrills to hear it. ‘Beth?’ I say gently. ‘Not . . . Rosa?’

  He smiles at me, a delicious lopsided smile that makes my stomach spin with delight at the sight. ‘I adore Rosa – she’s so sweet, so giving, so . . . submissive. It gives me great pleasure to help Rosa learn to be obedient and show her what she is capable of. I hope I’ll have that opportunity many times in the future.’ He takes another step towards me, his nearness sending my senses into a flat spin. ‘She’s also done something very important. She’s brought me back to you, Beth.’ Now he’s so close I can feel the warmth radiating off him, catch the gorgeous scent of him. It makes me giddy and liquid with desire in my depths. ‘Rosa is my playmate – but Beth . . . you are my love.’

  I draw in a sharp breath. It’s wonderful, amazing to hear him say it. He loves me! I knew it somehow but to hear it is enrapturing.

  ‘I love you,’ I whisper back.

  He puts out a hand and runs it gently over my shoulder and down across my chest, his fingertips making a burning trail over the mounds of my breast that begin to rise and fall with the increased pace of my breath. His touch is setting me alight but there’s something different about this. I’m not Rosa tonight, and this man is not my master. We aren’t going to play at punishment, the kind designed to awaken my senses and send me into a frenzy of desire. Instead, with every touch of his hand I feel tenderness, as though he’s marvelling at the softness of my skin and the delicious feel of my breasts in the same way that I marvel at his beauty. He takes my hand and leads me through a doorway and into the next-door room, a smaller darker place without the floor-to-ceiling windows of the other one. It’s barely furnished, with only a bed, a chest of drawers and a lamp that glows against the wall, emitting a low golden light that leaves the room bathed in shadows.

  As we reach the bed, Dominic turns and takes me in his arms, pressing me to him and kissing me with infinite slowness and intensity. We are both lost in each other, absorbed by the movements of our lips and tongues, obsessed with tasting one another and letting the roiling excitement in our loins and bellies begin to build. I realise how much I love this moment, as the thrill of anticipation and mounting desire creates such a pleasurable sensation of soon-to-be-assuaged need. As our bodies respond, mine to his strong hard masculinity and his to the soft, yielding treasures of my breasts and the delectable heart of my sex, we both know that we each have the capability to give and receive the most intense delight. We can surrender to voluptuous pleasure, wallow in our lust for each other, do anything we want, because we’re of the same mind, the same desire – and, best of all, the same heart. Our pleasure in each other is so sweet because there’s no one else in the world we want to do these things with. When we’re together, and his body is joined to mine, moving inside me, our lips melded, then we don’t need anyone or anything else. Our whole world is ourselves and the joy of our union.

  And tonight, I remind myself, I’m not Rosa.

  I reach out and begin to unbutton his shirt, something Rosa would never do unless ordered. Dominic watches me as my fingers work downwards. His chest is rising and falling a little faster as I reach the end and slide the crisp cotton back over his muscled arms. I leave the shirt on his lower arms so that he is pinned lightly inside it, his arms behind him, then I run my hands over his chest and the soft covering of hair between his nipples. I tilt my head forward and put my mouth over one nipple, ta
king the small red bud into my mouth and rolling my tongue round it. I pull it gently between my teeth while I pinch the other between my thumb and forefinger, twisting it lightly. Dominic groans a little. He likes this, I can tell. After I’ve stimulated his nipples to hard points, my mouth leaves them and moves up his chest to his arm, where I breathe in his scent and nip lightly at his skin, my hands smoothing around his stomach and back, my nails dragging over the surface. I can sense his desire in the way he’s watching me as I pay homage to his body with my lips and tongue and fingertips, revelling in the feel of him and the sensations I know I’m creating in him. I stand on my tiptoes to kiss his neck, biting with the lightest of touches, licking him, tasting him as I work towards his mouth. He’s desperate for our kiss, I can sense that, but he’s still pinned inside the shirt that I haven’t yet allowed him to take off.

  I press against him, letting my breasts move against his bare chest, the fabric of my bra stimulating my own nipples as I brush it over his skin. Finally I tip my head to his and touch his lips very lightly with mine, pulling away before he can have the kiss he longs for. I return to move my lips across his, this time letting the tip of my tongue run over them. He opens his mouth slightly, his breath coming faster but I won’t let him speed things up this time. I want to revel in this exquisite anticipation, the way what I’m doing is revving us both up. I let my tongue move with more force, dipping it between his lips just long enough to make him think that he can have it completely before darting away again to leave my lips nudging and kissing that full pirate’s mouth that I love so much. Then, at last, I can’t wait any longer: I crave the dark, deep possession of his mouth. I press into his mouth, taking it for myself, drinking in his intoxicating taste and he responds powerfully, taking what he can from me. I pull his shirt off so that his hands are free and at once he has cupped my face with them, as though he wants me as close as it’s possible to be.

  I don’t know how long we kiss for, but our senses are roused almost beyond bearing by the darting play of our tongues and mouths. I’ve never luxuriated so long in a kiss before, or realised how desire grows stronger and harder the longer two mouths are entwined. I feel as though I’m soaring through sparkling space as our kiss grows deeper and all encompassing.