Chapter 23 - Dominic
Seeing the smile light up Mara’s face feels like a healing balm on my heart. My lip is throbbing, but I don’t feel any pain. She’s smiling at me and running her fingers along the side of my head. I groan before dipping my head down to lay a soft kiss on her lips.
It feels right to be here with her. It feels good. I know that Aiden disapproves. I know her parents wouldn’t approve if they knew we were seeing each other. I know Ethan might not understand, but I can’t help it. After Aiden left, all I wanted to do was make sure she was okay.
I’m lying on top of her on the bed, framing her face with my forearms as I lean on my elbows. She smiles at me and I shake my head.
“You’re so beautiful, Mara. You know that?”
“Stop it,” she says. Her cheeks redden the tiniest bit, and my smile widens. My lip aches as the swollen skin stretches, but it doesn’t stop me from smiling.
“I mean it.” I take a deep breath and stare into her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, back there – when Aiden showed up. It caught me by surprise and I didn’t know how to react.”
She tilts her head to the side and runs her fingers up the side of my body. “I get it,” she responds. “I didn’t know how to react either.”
I press my lips against hers as she lifts my shirt up and runs her hands along the skin on my back. I groan and press my body into hers. When I pull away, I can already see the question in her eyes.
“Dominic,” she starts. She stares at me for a second before continuing: “What are we doing? What is this? Where does it go from here?”
“Why does it need to go anywhere?” I ask, and I immediately know it was the wrong thing to say. She looks at me and frowns. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean…” My voice trails off.
“You mean that this is as far as it can go between us.” she finishes softly. Her voice is calm. I force myself to look at her again and see the hurt in her eyes. My voice is gone and I don’t know how to respond. I shake my head.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“So what did you mean?”
I take a deep breath and roll onto my back. My legs are hanging off the edge of the bed, and Mara turns towards me. She rests her head on her hand as she lies on her side, waiting for me to answer.
“I don’t know how this is going to work between us, Mara. You make me feel…” I pause. “I don’t know. You make me feel alive. It’s like I’ve been in a daze for years. The past couple of weeks I’ve actually been seeing clearly.”
I look at her but she doesn’t respond, so I take a deep breath and keep going.
“I just…” I shake my head. “I don’t know how Aiden would ever come to terms with it.”
“‘It’ being us?”
“Yeah.”
She nods, staring off at a point behind me. Her eyes look like they’re glazed over, and I run my fingers along her jaw to pull her back to me.
“I’ll figure it out, Mara,” I whisper. “I came here, didn’t I? I came straight to you once he left.”
I can see her swallow as she nods. I pull her down towards me and she melts into me, pressing her lips against mine.
This time, when we make love, I’m gentle with her. She’s trembling and she feels as fragile as a porcelain doll. I run my hands over her body and kiss her with soft lips. I kiss her until her body relaxes into the bed and then I kiss her some more. I hold her against me, wrapping my arms around her body and keeping her close. Her heart beats against my chest and I catch her lips between mine once more.
She gives herself to me, and I give myself to her. Our bodies meld together until the passion consumes us and she finally relaxes. I kiss her again and again, hoping that she can feel what I feel for her. When she comes, she puts her hands on either side of my face and looks into my eyes. I can see her passion, her desire, her affection.
When we’re both spent and panting, I run my fingers up and down her spine. She shivers and moans gently before turning her head towards me on the pillow.
“I don’t want to stop seeing you,” she says. Her voice is so soft and quiet, but it rings in my ears. I nod as my heart grows in my chest. I bring my forehead to hers and kiss her tenderly.
“I don’t want to stop seeing you either, Mara. Not even a little bit.”
The corners of her mouth lift ever so slightly and I kiss her again. My heart is thumping, and I feel like something between us has changed. It’s almost like the spell we’ve been under for the past two weeks is starting to crack. I don’t know if it’s the start of something special, or the beginning of the end.
I hope it’s the start of something special. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into me. She rests her head against my chest and sighs as I keep running my fingers up and down her spine. I’m only just getting to know her, and I’m not ready to let her go.
As she curls her fingers and presses herself into me, I know that I can’t let her go. It doesn’t matter what my brothers think, or what the town thinks, or what her parents think. She’s shown me more affection and passion and laughter in the past few weeks than I’ve known for the past ten years. She’s showing me a new side of myself that I didn’t even know existed.
No, I’m not ready to let her go. I’ll take a thousand swollen lips from Aiden and a million disapproving stares just to lie next to her at night, and wake up next to her in the morning.