by Abby Brooks
“I love it when you touch me.”
“Do you? Good. Because I love touching you.” He slides his hand up further, tracing the edge of my panties. “And I love making you feel good.”
“Then don’t stop.” What I wanted to say was that he makes me feel better than anyone I’ve ever met, but that seems a little intense for a guy I’ve only known a week and who will be leaving any day now.
Dominic takes me at my word and slides his fingers past my panties, dips a finger between my slick folds. “You get so wet for me, Dakota.”
“Only for you.” That might have been too much information, but it’s out there now. “I’ve never gotten this wet before.” Never ever. In fact, I’ve gotten in the habit of going down on a guy before sex, leaving him all wet so he can slide into me and never know that I’m not.
“You mean this is just for me?” He dips a finger inside me as I flip on my turn signal. This is hard, concentrating on the road while he’s doing what he’s doing to me.
“All for you.” I lean my head back against my seat and sigh.
Dominic pulls his hand back and leaves it resting on my thigh. “Then get us home. Now. So I can take what’s mine.” I drive the rest of the way home, chest heaving, aware of the wet mark on my thigh from his finger.
We get into my apartment in a flurry of energy, his hands on my body, my eyes on his. I barely get the door shut before Dominic slides his hands under my ass and picks me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and clutch at his strong back, marveling as he takes the stairs without even grunting under my weight. He puts me down in my bedroom and I feel naked the moment he lets go of me.
I need his arms around me. I need his heat. I need him to fill me and make me feel whole. To cover my body with his and make me feel safe. To look at me like I’m the only woman in the entire world.
He lifts my shirt over my head and his mouth falls open. I look down and find a long scrape extending down my ribcage and disappearing into my skirt, red and angry, already starting to bruise. Dominic trails his fingers down it, a scowl darkening his eyes.
“I’m okay,” I say.
“No. You’re not.” He tugs at my skirt, dropping it to the floor so I’m standing in front of him in my bra and panties. The mark extends down to my hipbone where a purple bruise has blossomed. Dominic runs a finger down the edge of the mark. “That asshole hurt you.”
“But you saved me.” I capture his eyes with mine. “I’m okay because of you.”
“But what if I hadn’t been there?” There’s something behind his question. Something I’m afraid to put my finger on because what I think he’s saying is that he’s leaving soon and won’t be there next time.
“But you were.” I say. “And you’re here now. And I’m safe. And I’m with you. And I need you to take me right now because I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
Dominic’s eyes hit mine, dark and hungry, hooded with lust.
“Take care of me, Dominic.”
He lifts me up, gently this time and puts me down on my bed. Pulls off my panties and drops them onto the floor before kissing his way back up my legs. I lift my head from the pillow and spread my thighs. It’s been a long time since anyone’s been down there like that and seeing him smile up at me makes me combust.
He drags his tongue up my slit and I drop my head with a groan. When he adds his fingers, first one, then two working inside me in a rhythm I can’t resist, my hips start to rock, my back arching, my chest heaving. I bring my hands to my chest, squeezing my breasts and rolling my nipples through the fabric of my bra.
“Does that feel good?” he asks, his fingers still moving inside me. He sucks on my clit, licks it, and then sucks on it again and I can’t find it in me to answer him. I think I’ve lost the ability to make words that make sense. I writhe with my growing orgasm, the sounds I try to form into words escaping my lips in hitching gasps.
“Lose control. Give it to me. Trust me to take care of you the way you deserve.” Dominic speaks in between licking and sucking, all the while his fingers working inside me and my inner muscles begin to clench. “That’s it, Dakota. Give in.”
And I do. The power of hearing my name in his voice sending me over the edge. I come loudly. Screaming his name. Turning my head and biting my shoulder and screaming some more. As my orgasm subsides, Dominic sits up and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Pulls his shirt over his head and slides out of his pants.
I want him inside me. I want it now. I need him to fill me up the way only he has ever been able to do. Hit that spot that only he has ever been able to find. I ache for him.
Instead, he kneels on the bed near the pillows, stroking his thick cock. “Suck me off. Let me feel that pretty mouth.”
Good God, he doesn’t have to tell me twice. I sit up and take him between my lips, swirling my tongue around his tip. He drops his head back and groans when I take him all the way to the back of my throat. Stares down at me when I pull back and alternate between sucking and licking him with just the lightest of touches, teasing him. He groans.
“Take it, Dakota. All the way.”
I open my mouth and he slides himself in while I tighten my lips around him. His hand goes to my hair and he rocks his hips and holy shit do I ever love the way it feels. He pulls away and I drop back on the bed, panting. Arms over head, hair flung out around me.
Dominic smiles down at me. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he says as he climbs off the bed and pulls a condom out of his pants.
“I could say the same thing about you.” I can’t take my eyes off his dick.
“You just like my magic penis.” He strokes himself and I bite my lip.
“You do have a magic penis. Does things to me I never knew were even possible.”
Dominic rolls on the condom. “I’m going to do those things to you now.”
“Dominic?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop talking and come fuck me.”
“Are you feeling tough now? You get in one bar fight and suddenly you’re tough as nails?” Dominic crawls onto the bed, kissing his way up my body. He hovers near my face, supporting himself with his arms. Kisses me and I taste myself while he slides inside. “Is this what you want?” He takes my bottom lip between his teeth and gives his hips a firm thrust.
I whimper and manage to make an affirmative sound. Dominic thrusts into me again. “I can’t hear you.” He rolls his hips. “Speak up.”
“Can’t talk,” I manage. “Magic penis.”
Dominic begins to move in earnest, hitting that spot, that wonderful spot that takes me to places I’ve never been before. “Is this what you want, Dakota?”
He pushes into me again and again and I moan, barely able to process his question.
“Answer me.” He picks up speed. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” I blurt out as an orgasm overtakes me. “God yes!” My breath hitches. “I want you! Fuck! I want you!” I grip his arms and dig in with my fingers as I lose all ability to communicate. Dominic moves faster, his hips rolling, his cock sliding in and out of me, pushing me further and further over the edge until I’m screaming his name. I bite my pillow to help keep myself quiet and let myself ride the waves of ecstasy until Dominic shudders and comes with long groan.
Chapter Fifteen
I collapse on the bed next to Dakota and pull her in close. She wraps an arm around me and lays her head on my chest. When I walked into The Bad Apple tonight and saw her struggling with that asshole my stomach dropped and my heart stopped and I had that guy in my hands before I even knew what was going on. And when her boss came lumbering up to us, giving her a hard time about sitting with me, I felt an echo of that same urge to keep her safe. I was threatening the man before I even had a chance to think about how big he is.
But when I took her shirt off and saw that long scrape marring her perfect body, welting up and threatening to bruise in ways that would make a boxer cringe, I lost myself to the desir
e to protect her. I know now that I can’t leave her here. I can’t go off to Vegas with her here and people trying to take advantage of her like that all because of the video I posted of us at the bar.
She hasn’t asked me when I’m leaving, but I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t care. I think it’s because she cares too much. It’s such a shame that we had to meet like this, with her here and me everywhere else. It would almost be better if we had never met, so she could keep living her life and I could keep living mine and no one would have to worry about being hurt when I leave.
Because I have to leave. I don’t have a choice.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, propping herself up on an elbow so she can see my face.
I take a long breath. “Leaving.” Pain shoots through her face and I hate myself a little. “I have to leave soon.”
Dakota sighs and drops down onto the bed. Stares up at the ceiling. “I know.”
I don’t know what to say to make this any easier. Don’t know why I had to bring it up now. Couldn’t I have just kept my mouth shut and let us enjoy laying here together a little longer? “I don’t want to. I need you to know that. It’s the first time since I started traveling that I actually wanted to stay where I was a little longer.”
“A little longer.” She sighs again. “That’s all I was ever going to get with you. I knew it. I just kept thinking if I didn’t bring it up, I might get just a little more time. That the day you had to leave would keep on not coming.”
We lay like that for a while, side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Both of us lost in our thoughts, separated by the truth of our reality. I hate it. I really do. And then a thought sneaks into my head. A crazy thought. One that’s totally off the wall. Ridiculous.
I prop myself up and look at her. “Come with me.”
Her eyes go wide and she looks at me in shock. “What?”
“I’m going to Arizona. First the Grand Canyon, then Vegas. Come with me.” My heart is beating faster and I can’t stop smiling at the thought of having Dakota by my side for a little longer.
“I can’t just leave,” she says, although the look on her face is begging me to tell her otherwise. “I’ll get fired.”
“No, you won’t.” I sit all the way up, too excited to stay still. “We pretty much told your boss you wouldn’t be in for a while and that if he got any crazy ideas to fire you that we’d go to the police about the assault.”
“Yeah,” Dakota says, pulling herself up to a sitting position, not bothering to clutch the bed sheet to her chest. “But he’s not going to take that seriously.”
“I bet he will. That kind of bad publicity? He’s not looking for that. I promise you.”
“But my apartment? What about it?”
“I’m not asking you to travel the world with me.” Yet, I add in my head. “You’ll be gone a week or two and then come back. It’s a vacation.” I shrug. “Everyone takes vacations.”
She’s nodding now and I can tell she’s all about this idea. “Everyone takes vacations. And I’ve always wanted to go out west. Well, hell. I’ve always wanted to go everywhere. See everything.” Her smile lights up her eyes and I love it. “Are you serious? You want me to come with you?”
“Serious as I’ve ever been. But listen. We’d be staying in a resort in Vegas, but I don’t have a hotel for the Grand Canyon. I’m just going to camp at the campgrounds. Are you up for that?”
“You want me to fly to Arizona with you, where you have no place to stay? Just pitch a tent somewhere and call it good?”
“Yep. That’s just the way I live. What better way to experience life than to just get down and dirty and in it, you know?”
She nods. “Yeah. I think I do know.”
“So you’ll come?” Holy shit, this is so fucking crazy.
“Yeah,” she says tentatively and then takes a breath and unleashes that beautiful smile. “Yes. I will totally fly across the country with you on a moment’s notice without a guaranteed place to stay.” She laughs. “Is it crazy that I’m so excited about this?”
“Maybe a little.” I kiss her. “But I’m excited too.”
“Good. Then we can be crazy together.”
Chapter Sixteen
“But what happened to you making positive decisions about men?” Chelsea is perched on the edge of my bed, an untouched glass of wine in her hand.
I grab another handful of panties out of my drawer and put them in my suitcase. “This is a positive decision about men.”
“No. This is impulsive. It’s rash. It’s…” Chelsea shakes her head and looks to Maya for help. “It’s crazy. That’s what it is.”
I beam. I can’t help it. “You’re right. It’s totally crazy. And that’s why it’s a good decision.” I have no idea how long I’ll be gone. Dominic said we’ll be at the Grand Canyon for a day or two and then Vegas for a few days. That’s about as specific as he got. Since we we’ll be camping when we first get to Arizona, I’m packing small. The less bags the better, right?
Chelsea finally takes a drink of her wine and boy, is it a long one. “I think you’re making a terrible decision. What about your job? What if this guy is a weirdo? You’ve only known him for what? A week?” She looks at me and I see the tension knitting her eyebrows together. “I’m worried about you, Ko.”
Oh, hell. She’s pulling out childhood nicknames and everything. I sit down next to her on the bed and lean my head on her shoulder. “I get it. But you don’t have to worry. Even if he turns out to be a total weirdo, I’ll be okay.”
“But how?” Chelsea looks forlorn. She’s taking this way worse than I thought she would.
“Because Dakota can take care of herself,” says Maya from her place in my favorite chair in the whole world. “If things go wrong, she’ll come home.”
I nod my head emphatically. “Bingo.”
“But—” Chelsea’s still shaking her head and I’m afraid we’re just going to have to end up agreeing to disagree.
I get up and kneel on the floor in front of her, put my hands on her knees. “Your perfect life isn’t my perfect life. I know you want to find a great guy who is stable. You’ll date for a while and then after the perfect socially acceptable amount of time, he’ll get down on one knee and propose. You’ll move into your house in the suburbs. Raise a few kids who color inside the lines and play varsity and get scholarships to the college of their choice. The whole American Dream wrapped up in a white picket fence. But that’s not me.”
“It’s really not,” Maya chimes in and tucks her legs up underneath her. “When has Dakota ever colored inside the lines?”
Chelsea laughs. “Never.” She turns to me. “You aren’t a color inside the lines kind of girl.”
“I’m really not. And if I’m honest? That life I described makes me feel like I might curl up and die.”
Chelsea scrunches up her face. “Really? How?”
“Oh come on, Chels.” Maya unfolds herself from my chair and goes to my closet, picking through the stuff hanging there. “Can you really see our little sister enjoying any of that?”
“No. But that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try.”
I stand up and plant a kiss on Chelsea’s cheek. She’s pouting right now, but by the time we get through the night, I think she’s going to understand. Especially because it looks like I’ve got Maya on my side. For our entire lives, this is how things have worked. Me on one end, Chelsea on the other, and Maya in the middle. Whichever of us has Maya on our side wins.
Maya helps me pack, plucking a wide range of outfits out of my closet and drawers and helping me narrow them down. While Chelsea pouts, we choose jeans and shorts. Tank tops and jackets. All kinds of good mix and match outfits that will be perfect for hiking in the Grand Canyon. I start to fold things up, like any good packer will do and Maya shoos me off.
“Watch this,” she says and stacks my t-shirts together and rolls them up into one tight little cotton cylinder. “It’s called a ran
ger roll. Takes up a lot less space so you have room for options.”
“Yeah.” Chelsea pivots on the bed, her face lighting up. “Like better shoes.”
“But I’ve got good shoes,” I say, pointing to the sensible ones I wore the day Dominic and I went hiking.
“And you’re telling me you’re going to wear those things while you’re holed up in one of the hottest new resorts in Vegas?” She makes a face at my sensible shoes. “And nothing but jeans and t-shirts? You’re going to Vegas! You need at least one decent set of shoes and several dresses.” Chelsea springs from her place on my bed and pulls a few of my favorite dresses off the hangers. Digs through my shoes and finds a pair that will match them all. Grabs my curling iron and a few essential bits and throws them in. By the time we’re done, the bag closes. Kind of. It’s heavy as all hell, but I think I can manage it.
We head downstairs and I pour everyone drinks and turn on some music. I’m in the mood to celebrate; I’m so excited about finally getting to leave Townsbury. And you know the best way to celebrate anything? By getting my sisters drunk.
“Are you in love with this guy?” asks Maya as she begins on her second lemon drop martini.
“Me? In love with Dominic?” I take a drink of my own and shake my head. “God no. As Chelsea so kindly pointed out, I’ve only known him a week.” But even as I say it, I’m not sure I believe it. And even as I’m not sure I believe it, I’m not sure about that. Because who falls in love in a week? With a complete stranger nonetheless? I don’t know anything about Dominic other than we have a lot of fun together.
“Well at least you’ve got your head on a little straight.” Chelsea smiles at me over her martini and I know for sure I’ve totally won her over. “But do tell. What is it about this guy that makes you want to just pick up and leave with him?”
“Have you seen him?” asks Maya.
“There is that.” Chelsea flares her hands. “The guy is definitely easy on the eyes.”
