“Yes. I trust you,” I said, and I meant it.
When he finished, he pulled free from my body and collapsed onto the mattress by my side. It wasn’t until then that I noticed he’d gotten a new tattoo since the last time I’d seen him without his shirt. “Jenny & Dom. Love at first sight.”
I ran my fingers over the fresh ink. “Shouldn’t you have this bandaged?” I asked.
He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I wanted you to see it first.”
The black ink stretched from one side of his chest to the other, directly beneath his pectoralis muscles.
“I think I have some ointment in my medicine cabinet,” I said, concerned about preserving the perfection of his olive skin.
“You’re going to make a great wife,” Dom said. “Can we lie here just a little while longer before we take care of my tattoo?”
We lay together after it was over, holding hands and waiting for our vital signs to return to normal. “I’m glad we found each other,” I whispered.
“Me, too,” Dom said. “Me, too.”
“How did you know that I would say yes?” I asked.
“It was a lucky guess.”
“The luck is all mine,” I said. Then we fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter Twelve
The days and weeks passed quickly, and I started to get that same feeling I used to get in my stomach when I knew that summer vacation was coming to an end. Dom and I had spent nearly every waking moment together, holing up in my humble abode like hibernating bears with supersonic sex drives.
Dom smiled. “Do you want me to shut the light?”
I winked. “No way. I want to see every inch of that rock star body of yours. If you’re going away on tour in a couple of days, I’m going to need to rely on my memory to get me through until you get back. Why? Do you want the light off?” I hoped that he would say no.
“Are you kidding me? You’re not the only one who needs to make memories to get through my European tour.” As he spoke, he gently unbuttoned my shirt from my collar to my waist. “I think I’ll start here,” he said, kissing me on my collarbone.
I shivered with delight and anticipation. It took all my willpower not to grab immediately for his pants. I figured he already knew that I was eager, but I didn’t want to let him know exactly how eager.
Dom pushed the fabric of my shirt backwards toward my shoulders, sliding it over and down my arms until I could wriggle free. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. With strong hands, he stroked my back until he found the clasp of my bra. It was funny when he fumbled as he released the hooks.
Somehow, with all his experience with groupies, I had thought he would be more experienced with bra hooks, but I decided not to mention it. His past was a bit of a sore spot with me even though I knew I would have to accept it if I wanted to be a part of this happy-ever-after ending. The thought that he was used to women stripping for him themselves popped unbidden into my mind, but I pushed it away as best as I could. He was mine now. Mine.
I had the engagement ring to prove it.
His lips on my breast helped to refocus my thoughts.
I shuddered, still resisting the urge to tear his clothes off with my teeth. My knees were shaking, but I let him help me stand and tug my skirt down over my hips.
When he pulled down my skirt, he pulled my panties off right along with it. It wasn’t clear whether it was by accident or by design, but I was glad that I had left my shoes in the kitchen as usual. Otherwise, I might have kicked them across the room and broken a mirror.
“I’m naked, and you’re not,” I whispered. “That seems terribly unfair.”
“You’re not totally naked,” Dom said. “You still have that massive rock on your finger.”
I held up the ring and admired it in the light, turning it back and forth and staring at it for so long that I nearly forgot I was naked.
“Hey,” Dom said.
“Hey,” I replied. “I never get tired of looking at this thing.” I wiggled my finger in his face.
“Very nice,” he said. “I picked it out. Remember? Lie back. I want to hear you scream my name before I take off my clothes.” He pushed me back onto the bed.
My knees were bent, and my feet were on the floor. Dom got into position between my knees and worshipped my body with his tongue in ways that I had heard about but never quite experienced. I reached down and grabbed a fistful of his hair, unsure whether I wanted to pull him closer or push him away. I decided to pull him closer.
Without meaning to do it, I clamped my knees against the sides of his head so hard that I could feel my inner thighs press against his ears. Hoping I wouldn’t crack his head open like a walnut, I panted and tried to focus on dropping my legs apart.
My entire body tensed up, and I used my free hand to clutch at the comforter beneath me like I was afraid of falling off the bed, which wasn’t far from the truth. I was bucking on the bed by this time, and I marveled at the way Dom managed to keep his tongue glued to the most sensitive place on my body even though I was flopping like a fish out of water.
Finally, the sensations became so strong that I couldn’t take it anymore. “Dom,” I screamed. “Dom. Dom. Dom.” That’s when he slipped a finger inside me, and my body launched into millions of spasms that centered on my core and spread outward and onward like the ripples in a pond when you toss in a stone.
When he pulled away, I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. No longer did I care whether tearing off his clothes made me seem overeager or even desperate. I sat up on the bed and tore at his clothes like he was on fire. Tossing his shirt to one side and his pants to the other, I had him laid bare faster than I would have imagined possible.
We lay together on the bed, changing places as we rolled. “I still have my socks on,” Dom said as I straddled him and centered myself on my prize.
“I don’t care,” I moaned. “If I don’t have you inside me by the count of three, I’m going to explode.”
Dom was more than happy to comply, holding my hips and pushing upward until we were one. It was hard to believe that he was a stranger a little less than one month ago. He was my future husband, and he was inside me.
I felt the growing tension inside me again with every stroke, and this time I climaxed while I was wrapped tightly around him.
“You make it hard to last,” Dom said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I groaned. “I just want to make you feel the way that you make me feel.”
“Way ahead of you,” he grunted. He grabbed my waist and rolled us both over until we had changed positions. Once he was on top, he sped up his movements, crashing into me with all the urgency of the waves crashing into the shore during a storm.
“I love you, Jenny,” he said. “I was made for loving you.”
“I think that’s the name of a song,” I whispered, “and it isn’t by Angelchance.”
He kissed my nose. “It’s still a great song.”
I had to agree. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons knew a thing or two about love.
Chapter Thirteen
Dom spent the night with me, and we woke up together late in the morning. We showered together, giggled together and even ate breakfast together. Just before noon, he called Roscoe and asked him to come pick him up. The sound of his voice was like a dagger in my heart.
I was a little disappointed. It would have been fine with me if he had spent the entire day making love to me. That voice should be whispering sweet nothings in my ear, not ordering his driver to take him away from me.
By the time Roscoe arrived, I was approaching panic. “Do you have to go?” I asked. We had only been engaged for a short time, and I wasn’t ready to let him out of my sight just yet. He would be gone on tour soon enough.
“I wish I could stay, but I have a business meeting this afternoon,” he said. “I planned it before we even met. Please don’t take it personally.” He kissed me on the nose. “I have to go. Maybe you coul
d visit with your sister and break the news to her that Dominic Angelchance needs another wedding cake.”
“I don’t even know the date,” I said. “What should I tell her?” I fidgeted from side to side, trying to think up a reason why he should stay. Be reasonable, I told myself. He had a life before he met you.
“Tell her she’ll be the first to know the moment we set a date. Can I pick you up at seven tonight?” He saw the look on my face and enveloped me in a soft, warm hug.
I shook my head. “No.”
“No?” His eyebrows rose, and he leaned back to get a better look at my face.
“I don’t want you to pick me up. Let’s get takeout and spend the night here.” I gestured around the room like it was a mansion. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you.”
“I’ll take you out for dinner, and then we can come back here for dessert. How does that sound?”
“Okay,” I agreed.
He released me and slid his feet into his black leather boots; he was really leaving. “Where would you like to go?”
“Surprise me,” I said. If I couldn’t stand the thought of being away from him for six hours, how was I going to handle it when he was in Europe for six months?
“I think I can manage that.” Dom kissed me until I was breathless, and then he was gone.
I stood in the window and stared until I couldn’t see the limo anymore. Once it had disappeared around the corner, I went back to bed. If I was going to talk to Beth about my upcoming nuptials, I was going to need my strength. With the baby growing inside me, I tired easily. Everything would seem better after a nap.
Barely five minutes after I buried myself beneath the covers, there was a knock at the door. I sighed and grudgingly got out of bed, grabbing my old bathrobe on my way to the door.
I made sure to peek out the window before unlocking the door. “Beth,” I shouted happily. I opened the door. She was the last person I expected to see despite the fact that she had lived here until she was eighteen years old. I jumped up and down like a child.
“Beth,” I said again. I grabbed her and hugged her. “You’re not going to believe what a time I’ve had since I saw you last. Just wait until you hear what happened.”
My sister closed the door behind us and locked it. “I think I might have some idea,” she said. She handed me a stack of slippery tabloid magazines. Dom’s picture was on all of them. My picture was on half of them. There was even a picture of his limousine parked in my driveway and another showing him with his hands behind his back, being led from the house in handcuffs.
“What’s going on, Jenny?” Beth asked. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” She glared at me. “If it wasn’t for the paparazzi, I wouldn’t even know you were still alive.”
“I am so sorry. Let’s have a cup of tea.” I put on water for tea and busied myself getting out two teacups. My mother had always made us a cup of tea when things got tense.
“You can’t hide your face in the cupboard forever, Jenny,” Beth scolded. She pulled a chair away from the table and sat down. “Leave the water to boil, and come talk to me before I throttle you.”
“Obviously, you remember that I met Dominic Angelchance after the concert, and he sent those flowers to me at the bakery” I began. “After I left Sweets for the Sweet the last time I saw you, my car wouldn’t start. Dom came by looking for me, and he gave me a ride in his limousine. That’s kind of how it started.”
“Where’s your car, Jenny?” Beth must have noticed that it was missing from my driveway.
I blushed. “It got towed when I left it on the street overnight, but I haven’t had the money to get it out of impound.”
Beth shook her head. “I would ask how you’ve been getting around, but I think I have some idea.” She flipped through the magazines, stopping at glossy photos of me getting into Dom’s limo, kissing him on my doorstep and holding hands under the table at a restaurant. “Does he know you’re pregnant with another man’s baby?”
The water came to a boil, and I poured it into two tea cups and added a tea bag to each. “Do you want sugar?” I asked sweetly. “Milk?”
“Yes and yes.” Beth said. “And don’t change the subject. I want answers.”
I nodded my head and avoided her eyes. “Dom knows, and he doesn’t care. He asked me to marry him, and he wants to take care of the baby.” I patted my stomach with my hand and smiled.
Beth set down her teacup. “Are you keeping the baby?” she asked. Hope shone in her eyes.
I nodded my head again. “We’re keeping the baby. Dom wants to be a father.”
Tears welled up in Beth’s eyes. “I’m going to be an aunt.” She clapped her hands. “I was so afraid of the answer.”
“You’re going to be an aunt,” I confirmed. “You don’t have to be afraid of the answer anymore.”
She caught sight of the sparkler on my finger and gasped. “That’s your engagement ring?” she asked, taking my hand in hers. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m surprised you can even lift your hand with that rock weighing you down.”
“Come on. It’s not that big,” I said. Even I knew it wasn’t true. The diamond was massive. It was just as wide as my finger and surrounded by smaller gems that encircled the band in three glittering rows.
“Even for a rock star, it seems excessive,” Beth said. “This thing must have cost a million dollars.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Beth. It’s nice, but it’s not that nice.” I giggled happily. “I would love it no matter how large or small it was just because it came from Dom.”
“It’s large,” Beth said. “Definitely large. Have you thought about having it appraised?”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t even had it on my finger for a month yet, and you already want me to get it appraised?” I loved Beth, but she really had some crazy ideas sometimes. “Besides, it’s like I told you. I would love this ring at any size. It wouldn’t matter if it was nothing more than a diamond chip or a cubic zirconia.”
“I’m no expert, but that’s not a cubic zirconia.” She tilted my hand back and forth under the kitchen overhead light. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Stop teasing,” I said, swatting her hand playfully. “You almost made me forget. I’m supposed to ask you to bake the wedding cake. Dom promised he won’t tell you to eat it yourself this time.”
“It would be my honor. How long before the wedding? Two years? Three?”
“We haven’t really set a date, but I think we’re aiming for when he gets back from Europe.”
“He’s going to Europe?” Beth asked. Her eyes clouded over with concern, and I hoped she wasn’t imagining him in the clutches of some European groupie like I was.
I pushed the glossy tabloid magazines with Dom’s picture on the covers closer to her. “In all these magazines, there’s nothing about Angelchance’s European tour?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She opened the top magazine on the pile. “I mostly only looked at the pictures.” She was like a crow with a shiny object. “Ooh, I love that dress on you,” she said, pointing to a picture of me and Dom at the opera.
That was just like Beth. After buying every magazine with Dom’s picture on the cover, she hadn’t even bothered to read the articles. I wondered why she had even bothered to buy the magazines when she probably could have looked at the same pictures online. Maybe she thought showing up with an armful of magazines with my picture on the cover would be more dramatic. She was probably right.
“Did you know that the paparazzi was following you around?” Beth asked. “I’ve never seen so many pictures of you in my life.”
“No, I didn’t. I suppose I should have known. Then again, I’m surprised Dom didn’t notice or mention it.” I sighed. “Maybe it’s such a regular part of life for a rock star that he doesn’t even pay attention to it anymore.”
“Can you imagine what’s going to happen when the paparazzi finds out he’s marrying someone he
just met?” Beth asked.
“With any luck, they won’t find out,” I said hopefully. “I want a wedding, not a media circus.”
“Wait a second,” Beth said. “I think I saw something in one of these magazines.” She flipped through each one quickly until she found what she was looking for. “Take a look,” she said.
I took the magazine from her hands. There was a picture of my engagement ring lying on a bed of velvet. “Who’s the lucky girl?” the headline read. “All the details about Dominic Angelchance’s million dollar engagement ring purchase.”
“No.” I let the magazine fall from my hands. It slithered to the table before falling to the cracked and broken linoleum of my kitchen floor. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m wearing a million dollar engagement ring.”
“And you can’t even afford to get your car out of the impound lot,” Beth added helpfully. “What a world we live in.” She sipped her tea. “Do you have any names picked out for the baby? I was thinking you might name it Elizabeth if it’s a girl.”
I glared at her, but she seemed oblivious to my death stare. She was probably too caught up in the idea of having a niece or nephew to play with.
“This might sound silly, but I don’t have the money to get the car out of the impound lot, and I don’t feel comfortable asking Dom to loan me the money. He does so much for me already, and I don’t want him to think I’m attracted to him for his money or his rock star status. I’d love him just as much if he was broke.”
“He’s not broke,” Beth said. “Anyone who can afford a diamond ring like that can afford to help his fiancée get her car back.”
“To be honest with you, I have a feeling that it never even crossed his mind. Knowing Dom the way that I do—and I do even though we’ve known each other such a short time—I know he would take care of it on his own if he thought of it.”
“You’re probably right,” Beth said. “He doesn’t seem cheap. Then again, he doesn’t have to be. It must be nice to be engaged to someone that wealthy.”
Rock Me: A Billionaire Romance (Billionaires, Brides and Babies Book 1) Page 8
