Chapter Eleven

Dominic’s apartment took up the entire floor above the restaurant. The furniture was black leather and rich cherrywood.  There were framed watercolors of Nevada landscapes on the walls.   She recognized some of them; they were by a well-known local artist.  The bookshelf against the wall was beautifully arranged, with hardcover art and photography books, and bronze sculptures of wolves.

She never would have guessed that his apartment would look so warm and homey.  She’d pictured something sterile and straight out of a catalog.  What else didn’t she know about him?

“You support the arts,” she murmured, pausing to look at a watercolor, admiring the luscious jewel tones of a desert sunset.

As he shed his suit jacket, he gave her a wry smile, with an oddly wistful undertone.  Now what was that all about?  “Does that get me points?”

“It doesn’t detract any,” she said grudgingly.

“Wow.  Tough room.”  He took off his tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt, but he didn’t move closer to her – yet. 

“More wine?” he said, as he headed to the kitchen.  She followed him in.  The kitchen was decorated in bright reds, yellows and blues, in a modern art deco style, and there were even more paintings on the walls in there. Absentmindedly, she stroked a drooping basil plant, letting her earth energy flow into it, and it sprang back to life.

“I’m fine, thanks.  Oh, and thank you for an amazing dinner. I loved that restaurant,” she said.  “I’m curious, though.  Your pack owns a restaurant at the Arena.  Why didn’t you take me there?”

“I thought it was too flashy for you.  I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

“That’s surprisingly thoughtful of you.”

“I’m full of surprises.  Some of them are even good ones. Like this tira misu.”  He pulled open the refrigerator door.

Zoey was sure that she was too full for dessert, but when he served her up a plate of the creamy chocolate confection, she suddenly found room.

He only had one rule: he had to feed it to her.  She should have said no, but then she wouldn’t get any tira misu.  And she really wanted the tira misu.

He moved the kitchen chairs so he was sitting next to her, and spoon fed her bite after bite of the meltingly sweet dessert until the bowl was empty.

“Seconds?” he offered.

“You know what I want more than dessert? Information. About you.” 

He frowned, setting down the fork in her empty bowl.  “What kind of things did you want to know?” he said.

“Why are you so reluctant to share anything about yourself with me?”

Dominic stood up, grabbing her empty bowl, and carried it to the sink before he answered.

“I’m a private kind of person.”

“Why would you think I’d want to share my life with someone who won’t share anything of himself with me? You know all about me, and I know nothing about you.  It hardly seems fair.”

His lip curled up in that cruel smile of his. “I never fight fair.”

Usually, she found that smile terrifying and sexy in equal measure.  Right now, she found it infuriating.  She shoved back her chair and stood up abruptly, her eyes flashing with anger.

“All right! I’m sorry,” Dominic said, leaning against the sink. “I know, I can be kind of defensive. Ask me something. One question.  I’ll answer, whatever it is.”

She sat back down.  Only one question? There were so many things she wanted to know about him. “Why did you decide to get bitten by a warrior class wolf? What made it worth the risk?” she blurted out, then bit her lip.  There were a million other things she could have asked.

His gaze took on a faraway look.  “What risk? I didn’t have anyone who’d miss me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.  Perhaps she had asked the right question after all. That gave her surprising insight into his life, but raised a million more questions.

“No reason to be.” He grabbed a bottle from the wine rack on the kitchen counter.  As he poured, the phone rang with her mother’s ring tone.  She quickly silenced it.

He snapped to attention. “Who’s that?”

“Nobody.”

He set down a glass of wine on the table.  “Nobody, like some guy who wants to take you out on a date?” His voice went dark and dangerous.

“It’s my mom, okay?” she said, exasperated.  “Nobody wants to take me out on a date.  Except some crazy wolf who won’t take no for an answer and who expects me to marry him without knowing a damned thing about him!”

“If it’s your mom, why wouldn’t you answer?”

The phone started ringing again, and he lunged for it.  She shoved it down the front of her dress.  He threw back his head and roared with laughter.

“Oh, Zoey, of all the places for you to hide it…thank you for that.”

She stood up and leaped back, but he was on her in a flash, pinning her up against the wall.  When the phone rang again, he grabbed the front of her dress and ripped it open as easily as if it were wet tissue paper.  Before she could stop him, he had the phone in his hands – and he answered.

“Hello, Zoey’s mother? Lucinda, is that right?”

She didn’t even have more than a micro-second to freak out about the fact that he knew her mother’s name – because he was talking to her mother!

“Who is this?” she heard her mother’s voice.  She lunged for the phone, but he danced back, holding it tauntingly over his head.  Then he whirled around, his back to her, and said, “Oh, Zoey didn’t tell you about me? My name is Dominic Lombardi.”

“I need to talk to Zoey, please. I’ve been trying to reach her and she hasn’t answered.” Her mother sounded irritated and worried. Damn it.  That was last thing Zoey needed.

“Of course, ma’am, just one minute and I’ll get her.”  Oh, ma’am, was it now? Suddenly he was mister polite, respectful, choirboy.

He covered the phone with his hand.

“What will you give me not to tell her I mate-bit your ass?” he whispered.

“I won’t kill you!” she hissed furiously.

A chortle rumbled up from deep inside.  “Yeah, that’s kind of a given. So? What do I get?”

“You bastard!” She grabbed at the phone, and he danced back out of her reach again.

“Zoey?” her mother called out.

“One kiss!” she whispered desperately.

And he smiled in triumph and handed her the phone.  She was so going to murder him.  He was going to be very, very dead. 

“Mother!” she said brightly. “I’m fine!”

“Why weren’t you answering the phone? I was worried!”

“I was in the restroom.”

“Are you on a date? Who is that man?”

“He’s a businessman.  He works in security. We’ve, ah, been out a few times.”

“You’re not at his house, are you?”

Dominic was listening to every word, with his hand pressed over his mouth, his shoulders shaking from quiet laughter.  Zoey’s face flushed red and she glared bloody murder at him.

“Mother! Of course not. I’m at a restaurant.”

Her mother’s voice was suspicious. “It’s very quiet.”

“They’re about to close,” Zoey said desperately. “He’s going to give me a ride home.  You don’t have to worry, he always walks me to the door and makes sure I make it inside safely.”

“Well, he does sound like a gentleman.  And the fact that you told him my name must mean that this is something serious.” Her mother’s tone of voice suddenly was warm with approval.  What had just happened?

Dominic smirked, and Zoey gave him the finger.  “Well, it’s early days,” she said brightly.

“My intentions for your daughter are entirely honorable!” Dominic called out.  “I look forward to meeting your family next time you visit, she’s told me so much about you! Congratulations on that tournament, by the way.  Go Tigers!” The Tigers were the mascot for her brother’s middle school. How the hell did he know about that?

“Mother, we do need to go now, I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Do actually call me,” her mother said severely.

“Mrs. Eastgate, I will make sure of it!” Dominic called out, just before Zoey hung up.  And Zoey had the feeling that he actually would.

“You!” she yelled at him. She dropped her phone into her purse on the kitchen table, and then pummeled his chest with her fists.  It hurt her hands, so she stopped.  He was laughing so hard that he had to wipe tears from the cheeks.

“Oh, my God. Wow.  That was the best-timed phone call ever.”

She put her hands on her hips.  “Just go ahead and kiss me so I can go home already.”

“I get to pick where I kiss you.”

“For heaven’s sakes!” He must mean the bedroom, she thought with exasperation.  She stalked into the bedroom, the front of her dress hanging open where he’d ripped it. 

The bed had a chrome steel framework and silky black and silver pillows piled on a silvery comforter.  Moody black and white photographs of modern architecture adorned the walls.

He walked in behind her, and he was still smirking.

“Now what’s funny?” she demanded.

“I didn’t mean what room I kiss you in.  I meant that I get to pick where on your body I kiss you.  And for how long.”

“What?” she took a step backwards. “That’s not fair!”

“I believe we’ve established that I never fight fair. Now, are you going to keep your word?”

No. “Yes,” she breathed.

He knelt down on the ground and lifted up her gown, revealing her pale pink cotton underwear.  He pressed his lips against them, slowly, with reverence, and breathed in as if she smelled like a field of roses.

And then, to her shock, he stood up and looped his arms around her waist.

“How are you doing, Zoey Eastgate?”

“I…I’m all right.”

“You miss your parents, don’t you? You should let them come visit you more often.”

A sudden flood of emotion washed over her.  “It can be dangerous here.  I’d rather they stay where it’s safe.”

“Always taking care of other people’s needs, aren’t you?” His voice had gone quiet and serious.

“I…” Her face flushed.  Just when she’d managed to convince herself that he was an insensitive jerk, he had to go and say something like that.  Like he really cared about her, on a very deep level.

She cleared her throat.  “I mean…it makes me happy to help other people.  I want to see the people that I care about do well.”

“Nothing wrong with that.  But if they have needs, can’t you have them too? Who takes care of your needs, Zoey?”

The words dried up in her throat.

“What do you need right now?” 

“I don’t know,” she confessed.  She could have said something snarky, like she needed to go home, but she couldn’t bring herself to lash out at Dominic when he exposed his tender side. 

And she really didn’t know what she needed any more.  Once upon a time she’d thought she needed to leave Encantado, but she had good friends there, and they couldn’t leave, so even if she could, she wouldn’t leave them behind – and she didn’t hate it here all the time.  It was scary, it could be frustrating and challenging to navigate life in a portal city, but it was also magical and fascinating.

“I don’t know any more,” she said again, a sudden weariness pressing down on her.

“You look tense.  I think what you need is a back-rub.”

His hands on her body, rubbing all the stress out? She shivered and hugged herself, and it took all of her strength to keep from squealing in excitement.  “Well.  I wouldn’t absolutely hate it.”

Dominic pretended to look hurt.  “In the past, such an offer was received with considerably more enthusiasm.”

She let him strip her clothing off and lay face down on his bed.  He straddled her, and rustled around in the night-stand, and a minute later, she felt him dripping oil onto her back. Then his huge, strong hands began kneading her, and she moaned in pleasure.  It went on and on, as he squeezed and rubbed the tension from her muscles.  She could feel her body melting into the mattress.  She couldn’t have moved if all the ghouls in Encantado were swarming into her room.

Finally, he slid off the bed. He took his clothes off, folding them neatly and setting them on top of his dresser, as she watched. And what a view.  Broad chest, a six pack that looked as if it had been carved in marble, a thick, dark thatch of pubic hair, and a thick erect cock that rested against his stomach as it pointed straight up at the ceiling.

 Dominic walked over to the bed…closer, closer…her breath caught in her throat…

And he lay down next to her, and…took her in his arms.

“Good night, Zoey,” he said, kissing her lips very lightly.  His erection pressed into her thigh, but he didn’t make a move.  She lay there, light headed with desire, feeling his chest rise and fall.

Finally, she cleared her throat. “That’s it?” she said.  “You could…I mean…” Damn it, was he going to make her beg?

“Nope,” he said stubbornly.  “I am going to show you that I want you for much more than your gorgeous body.  I wanted to spend time with you tonight.  Just to be with you.  And that’s what we’re going to do.   No matter how much pain I’m in from restraining myself.”

“And how much pain is that exactly?” She hoped it was a lot, because she ached so hard for him that she wanted to grab an ice pack and shove it between her legs.

“On a scale of one to infinity? Infinity, and beyond.” Then he grumbled.  “You don’t have to smile quite so loudly.”

“You can not hear me smile!” she protested.

“I have mad skillz, sweetheart. Over time, you will learn about all of them.”

They lay there like that for hours.  He was too stubborn to make the first move, and she was too proud to beg.

Finally she gave in. “Damn it, you stubborn son of a bitch, if you don’t have sex with me right now, I am going to make you regret it.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 “You thought I’d never – you bastard!”

In one swift move, he slid on top of her, his heavy weight pinning her to the mattress.  “True, but I’m the bastard who’s going to be your mate.”

He began feathering her with soft kisses, his lips brushing ever so lightly over her skin.

“I love your freckles,” he murmured, pressing his mouth against the dots.  She shivered in pleasure. 

He kissed her neck, working his way down to her breasts.  He cupped her breast in his hand and suckled the ruby tips, nipping at them just hard enough.

“Oh,” she gasped.  “That feels…oh.” 

“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” He kissed his way down her soft stomach and for the first time in her life she had no temptation whatsoever to suck it in.

He slid down so his face was between her thighs, and spread her legs apart roughly.  “Mine,” he growled into her pussy, and claimed it with a long, slow stroke of his tongue.  She sucked in a gasp of pleasure as he lapped at her, her thighs quivering under the strong grip of his hands.

Hot pleasure swirled through her body, filling her so that she felt light as air.  Was that her voice, urging him on, shamelessly? It must have been.  And he responded, thrusting his tongue right up inside her and fucking her with it as he moved one hand so that he could stroke her stiff, aching clitoris.

Her fingers tangled in his silky hair as he pleasured her, and sensation built inside her until she was ready to peak…and he slid away, all that heat and sweetness vanishing.

“Dominic!” she cried out.

“Are you my mate?”

“You bastard!”

“Are you?” he moved up, straddling her so she was trapped between his thighs and his cock rested on her pubic hair.

“Yes!” she choked out, and he grinned in triumph and moved his hips so the thick head of his cock nudged her entrance.  He rammed into her tight tunnel, and she cried out.  He was too big, he was stretching her, and she loved it.

He pumped into her hard, and fast, his breath harsh and guttural in her ear.  Several times he paused, and she grabbed his butt cheeks with her hands and urged him on.  He laughed quietly.

“Just need…oh God…to be sure that you want it as much as me…oh, you’re so fucking tight and wet for me, oh my God…”

And then the dam broke and the waves of pleasure washed over her in a tsunami of sensation, and she came hard, her muscles spasming and gripping his cock.  His answering cry of pleasure sent a jolt of triumph through her and they were so tightly wrapped up in each other as they came that it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.