Chapter 15 - Dominic
I wake up to the grey light of dawn streaming through the open blinds. I don’t recognize anything around me. My heartbeat immediately starts to race as I look around the room through my bleary eyes. Finally, I see Mara sleeping beside me and the memories of last night flood my mind.
“Shit,” I say under my breath. I crane my ears to try to hear any noise in the hotel. Everything is dead quiet. Mara stirs beside me and her eyes flutter open.
“Hey,” she mutters, seeing me awake. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I answer, running a finger along her cheek. “I should go.”
“So soon?” She asks, opening her eyes a bit wider. She lifts her head to look at me and then at the window. “Stay.”
I smile. “I wish I could. You know what kind of drama that would cause.”
Mara snorts and closes her eyes again. “Five minutes,” she says as she throws her arm over me.
“Fine,” I whisper, happy to let myself be convinced. She rests her head on my shoulder and nuzzles into me. I run my fingers through her soft brown hair and kiss the top of her forehead. She murmurs in response. I lay back and stare at the ceiling of Mara’s bedroom.
How did I get here?
This wasn’t what I was expecting when I came here last night. I was going to tell her that the deal was off. I was going to tell her that no matter what she offered me, I couldn’t do business with her. I was going to ask her to not come back to the workshop.
And now?
Now I’m in her bed. I had the most amazing sex of my life. Calling it just ‘sex’ feels wrong – it was so much more than that. It was like we’d known each other our whole lives. I mean, we have known each other our whole lives. But it was like we’ve known each other our whole lives. Like I’d spent the last three decades getting to know her body as well as I did my own.
She sighs, draping her arm across my chest and moving her fingers ever so slightly back and forth along my collarbone. I catch her fingers in my hand and press my lips to them.
I don’t know how this happened, and I don’t know what it means, or where it will go. What I do know is that right now, with Mara in my arms, I feel good. I feel good for the first time in years. I feel like I belong here – or like she belongs with me.
A noise makes me turn my head towards the door. It sounds like someone in the restaurant kitchen. I take a deep breath and lift Mara’s arm off me. She opens her eyes again and groans.
“Fine,” she sighs.
“I’d stay if I could,” I say, kissing her lips. I slip out of bed and pull my clothes on as the chill in the air hits my skin. Mara lifts her head onto her palm and watches me as I get dressed. She smiles, and shakes her head.
“I’m not sure what just happened, but I can’t say I’m upset about it.”
A smile breaks across my face and a chuckle starts to bubble up inside me. “I feel the same way.”
I hop on one foot to get my shoe on, and my bum hits her desk. Pens and pencils start rolling off onto the ground. “Shit,” I say under my breath, trying to catch them. I catch two before they fall, but most of them fall onto the ground. Mara laughs.
“Sorry,” she says. “I should really get a pencil holder.”
“Why do you need so many?” I ask with a grin as I lean over to pick them up. “There’s got to be two dozen pens and pencils here.”
“I like to have options,” she says. I glance over at her and see her laughing. I chuckle as I hold up two fistfuls of pencils, shaking my head and putting them back on the desk.
She shrugs. “Just a little quirk you’re going to have to put up with,” she says.
I lean down and place another kiss on her lips. “I can deal with a few pencils if it means I get to spend another night like that,” I say. Her eyes shine and her cheeks blush. I kiss her again. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay,” she answers with a soft smile. With one more look at the beautiful woman before me, I turn to the back door and slip outside.
The air is brisk, and I bury my chin in my chest as I make my way towards the nearby trees. I’ll circle back towards my cabin through the woods, where there’s less chance I’ll be seen. The last thing I want to do is start rumors – especially if I’ll be taking this contract with the McCoys. I may be conflicted about all this, but I do know one thing: I know exactly what my brothers and the townspeople will think if they find out Mara and I slept together.
By the time I’m in the trees, my shoulders start to relax and I take a deep breath. A hint of a smile plays on my lips and I inhale the fresh morning air.
I wasn’t expecting this. There’s a tendril of guilt inside me – the McCoys are basically our sworn enemies, after all. Aiden dated Mara when they were teenagers. She was the reason Dad got pneumonia and died. Her parents tricked us into signing over the family trucking business. I burned down their new hotel.
There are so many things telling me to leave Mara alone – to run as far away as possible and to keep my quiet life on the edge of town. There are so many things telling me this is a bad idea. How will my brothers react? How will the town react? How will Mara’s parents react?
But then I think about Mara’s smile when she woke up, and the way her dark hair looked against the white pillows. I think of her face when I made her come for the first time, and the way her fingers dug into my back last night. I think of how good it felt to wake up next to her, and the guilt starts to go away.
Our families have been at odds for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. Maybe this contract is an opportunity to mend things – and even though Aiden dated Mara when they were teenagers, it doesn’t mean she’s off limits. He’s married now! He wouldn’t mind me being with her now, over a decade later.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I know it’s not true. Aiden took our father’s death the hardest. He always blamed Mara for the accident, and still hasn’t forgiven her. I don’t think so, anyway. Any time her name is mentioned, a cloud passes over his face.
Does that mean I shouldn’t get involved with her?
I take another deep breath and wind my way along the path through the trees until I start to recognize the forest around my cabin. Even though summer is coming, the early morning is still quite chilly. The tips of the tree branches are covered in frost, and I take another deep breath as the thoughts swirl around in my head.
I don’t know what I should do. I don’t know how Aiden or Ethan would react to all this.
All I know is that by the end of today, I’ll be out of work. Mara is offering me the biggest contract of my life to redo the McCoy hotel furniture. I have to separate that from last night. Even if I can’t get involved with her, I still need to consider this job.
Something stirs in my chest, and I know that I won’t be able to separate the two so easily. I know that next time I see her, I won’t be able to resist putting my hand around her waist. I know that her lips will call out to be kissed, and my body will be drawn to hers like a magnet.
I know all these things, but I tell myself I just need the work. That I’m just taking this job because I need the money. The fact that Mara and I slept together last night is irrelevant.
… right?