Chapter 12 - Mara
For the second time this week, my whole body is buzzing when I make my way back to my parents’ hotel. I walk quickly without looking back – trying to make sense of the hurricane of thoughts going through my mind. I do my best to ignore the thumping of my heart and the wetness between my legs, but my body feels like it’s on fire.
He said yes!
I can’t believe it. I never thought he’d agree. He doesn’t want me to tell anyone, which is understandable, but I can still hardly believe he agreed to do it.
I can’t even think about the work or the furniture right now. As I walk back through the lush greenery on my way to Main Street, all I can think of is the way he was looking at me. One more second and I would have reached up and crushed my lips against his. I would have fallen into his arms and never let go.
I take a deep breath and glance at the sky above me. This is complicated enough without adding sex to the equation. I’m going to have to find a way to ignore this attraction.
I force myself to think about the hotel. I have a thousand and one things to do for tomorrow if I’m going to be ready to give him drawings. Judging on the quality of the headboard he made in less than a day, neither I or my parents will be disappointed.
My parents.
How am I supposed to tell them about this? They’ve given me carte blanche to do whatever I want with the hotel, but how will they react when they find out it’s Dominic Clarke who’s making the new furniture? He’s one of the people who burned down the new hotel!
The McCoy Hotel comes into view at the end of the road and I take a deep breath. I’ll figure it out. Right now, I have a full list to do, starting with finalizing the designs and starting procure materials and labor. I want to have the application in to the National Park by the end of the month, which means mockups and drawings of the renovations need to be done as soon as possible.
I spend the rest of the day working, only resting to have a quick bite to eat. I draw up a contract for Dominic, and start making proper sketches for him. I work on the rest of the designs – updating the lobby, the dining room, and the hotel bedrooms.
By the time I look up from my desk, the sun has gone down and the stars are out. I lean back in my chair and stretch my neck from side to side, groaning at the stiffness that has set into my body. I stand up and tiptoe to the back of the hotel, slipping into my bedroom and closing the door behind me. That’ll have to be enough work for today.
I sit on the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath and kicking off my shoes. I close my eyes and rub my temples when I hear a knock on the sliding glass door. I frown, looking out into the darkness. I see the unmistakable shape of Dominic’s huge, muscular body silhouetted in the window and my heart skips a beat.
Getting off the bed, I adjust my clothes and pat my hair back. I take a deep breath and slide open the door. Dominic steps in, and a wave of freshness and pine and sawdust fills my nose. That familiar heat starts growing between my legs and I do my best to ignore it.
His eyes sweep around my room at the messy desk and my childhood bed, and then they finally they rest on my face.
“Dominic,” I say, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”
“This is a bad idea,” he growls. I search his eyes and see a deep pain inside them. I take a deep breath and try to think of something to say. My fingers drift to his arm and I place them gently on his wrist.
“Dominic…” I breathe. He flinches at my touch and then relaxes, standing completely still in front of me. He seems so out of place in this room. He looks like he should be outside, or in his little cabin on the outskirts of town. It feels like even in a tiny town like Lang Creek, there are too many lights and too many people for him. He’s not made to be around other people.
He stares into my eyes and shakes his head from side to side. “My brother would kill me,” he finally says. I can hear the pain in his voice and my heart squeezes.
I nod my head slowly. “I understand,” I say. I lift my eyes up to his and take a step towards him. My heart is hammering against my ribcage and my mouth is suddenly dry. “Dominic,” I say again. “I’m so sorry. About your dad. About my parents. About everything… I….” My voice trails off and my eyes start to prickle. I wish I could make him understand that I’m not the person I was before. I wish I could make him understand that I’m not the person my parents want me to be.
A deep growl rumbles through his chest and Dominic stares deeply into my eyes. “Stop apologizing,” he says. His voice is gravelly and deep, and it sends a thrill through my whole body. “It was an accident. I forgave you for that a long time ago.”
“You did?” My voice is nothing more than a squeak. Dominic takes a step towards me, and my hand slides further up his arm. The tips of his fingers touch my waist and my whole body feels like it’s about to burst. The desire is overwhelming me. My centre is pulsing and the wetness is seeping into my panties as I stare into Dominic’s dark eyes. The heat of his body is intoxicating.
I lift my other hand and place it on his chest. His heartbeat pulses against my palm. I can’t tell where my heartbeat ends and his begins. We stand there, our fingers barely brushing against each other’s bodies, staring into each others eyes. There’s ten years of pain… Ten years of anger… Ten years of things unsaid between us.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he says. His voice is so low that I feel it more than I hear it. I slide my hand up his arm and brush my fingers along his neck. His chest rumbles and he wraps his arms around my waist, sliding his hand under my shirt so that I can feel the heat of his palm on the small of my back.
I’m melting into him, and I can’t do anything about it.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he says again.
“I’m glad you are,” I whisper back. In an instant, his lips crush against mine and his hands are pulling me into him. He slides his hand further up my back so that I can feel the warmth of his skin against me. My whole body is pulsing with desire as he presses his body against mine and kisses me like I’ve never been kissed before.
This is so wrong. It’s so wrong and my head is spinning, but somehow I can’t stop. I don’t want to stop. I slide my hands over his shoulders and tangle them into his hair, pulling Dominic in for a deeper kiss.
Our families have been at war for a decade. His brothers hate me. My parents used me. I don’t know why I’m here, or where I’m going. All I know is that right now, Dominic Clarke’s kiss tastes better than anything I’ve ever tasted before. His body feels like it’s made for me, and his hands feel like they know my body better than I know it myself.
My head is spinning, and my heart is hammering, and right now I don’t care about anything except Dominic’s kiss and the pulsing heat between my legs.