“And told you an origin story.” His mouth twisted. “It’s one Lucas is very fond of telling.”
“So you tell it,” she invited softly, running her tongue across her lips in nervous habit. “What Lucas said—”
“Bears no relevance to our contract, therefore, it is not your concern,” he said flatly, his stony expression putting an end to her line of questioning. The limo came to a stop at exactly that moment, and he descended without a word. That he could dismiss her so abruptly, so callously and reduce her to nothing more than the contract that they’d both signed was telling of the endless dynamic of their relationship. In a sense, it was sobering for him to do this, to keep her at arm’s length, so that she remembered exactly where she fit in his life and what role she was designated to play. And she’d forgotten that, hadn’t she? For one ephemeral moment she’d wanted to know a little bit about the manshe had married, the man who had fathered her child. She’d felt moved to feel something for him, and he’d ungraciously tossed it back in her face. Well, now that Eden was cured of her momentary lapse of insanity, she was once again focused on her goal: the divorce.
Once she’d showered and dressed, she set Liam inside his crib and returned to her bed, collapsing on the yielding mattress with a big sigh. It didn’t take long for sleep to weigh her eyes down and slacken her body, and while she tried not to think about Dominic and the shadowy details of his past, Eden slept fitfully while plagued with dreams of a little boy who looked like her Liam and some unknown specter trying to take him from her.
* * *
It was odd that they would both come to the same unspoken truce in the ensuing weeks, where they tried not to antagonize each other, yet worked seamlessly towards a mutual purpose: Liam. Liam was their common ground, and Dominic demanded to be involved in every aspect of Liam’s life. From mundane monthly doctor appointments to giving, sometimes unwelcomed input, as to what his child would be wearing. If Eden was annoyed by his highhanded intrusiveness, she kept it to herself. She did however execute his requirements of her with quiet resolve, playing the hostess to his rare and illustrious parties, where she laughed easily and charmed his guests into enjoying themselves.
The parties were very exclusive, very private, attended solely by the city’s elite and held almost always on Dominic’s yacht. They were daunting of course, and faced with these affluent people who were worldlier and far more educated than she could be, Eden relied solely on her intuition and charm to get her through it. It wasn’t anything new to her. She’d done this before, had been paraded around these people more times than she could count. But there was a glaring difference now than before—Dominic’s attentiveness—his undeniable presence by her side when they attended these events. For one thing, he’d called her “his wife” more times than she could ever remember him saying. There was not only a quiet possession there, but it was said with the authority of a man who understood the significance of the word. There were no piercing glances of reproach or even a hint of that air of entitlement when he introduced her to his guests. For once, Dominic Armstrong did not outright demean his wife or make her feel completely inferior to him. And for all of Eden’s confidence and façade of indifference, Dominic’s mannerisms disconcerted her. She didn’t know what to think or how to react to this side of him, so she said nothing, choosing to ignore the conflicting emotions this sudden change produced.
With sleep eluding him and a stack of neglected work clamoring for attention on his desk, Dominic made his way to his home office to attempt to get some work done. Finding that he did his best work with a little incentive, he ambled to his liquor cabinet to pour himself a glass of his best scotch and that was when he heard it. It was faint, barely discernable at such a distance, so he paused for a moment, thinking he’d imagined it. Standing at the threshold of his office door, he strained to listen from where the sound was coming from. It was louder in the hallway and grew louder as he followed it, drawn like an ill-fated sailor to the siren’s call that compelled him closer, lured him until all that mattered, all that existed for him was that sound.
Up the stairs, around the corner, until finally he stood outside the closed doors from where the sound originated. He drew it open with one smooth yet forceful tug and was instantly besieged with the strains of piano chords, ascending and descending, skimming effortlessly over complex intervals with dexterity. The melody was a soft one, sad, and her voice accompanied it, fused so perfectly with her playing that Dominic stood arrested. God, she could sing. He’d forgotten she held this pure and natural talent. There was a soulful quality to her voice, one that she possessed with brilliant control, and while the song emphasized the warmth and resonance of her voice, it also stirred something in Dominic, reaching down to the center of him, touching his core, and providing a glimmer of warmth to his otherwise bleak and dark soul.
Breath left his lungs and he felt like he was being choked as memories from his childhood flashed through his mind, where pain, violence, and fear from so long ago contested with the crushing warmth and tenderness that her voice evoked. He must’ve done something, probably made a noise that put an immediate stop to the song, to her voice, to the torturous memories that left him hating the world. She turned to look at him. He looked at her and then was in front of her. Lightning fast reflexes kept her from leaving; he trapped her, cornered her against the baby grand and his large body. He fisted his hands into her unbound hair, his fingers gripping the silken mass to bring her to him even as his mouth found hers with scorching urgency.
He tasted her, her sweetness his undoing as he groaned, the sound rumbling through his chest. He claimed her, forgoing tender kisses for plunging his tongue into her, angling her head to gain better access. Dominic wanted more, he wanted it all, needed her like he needed his next breath. He nipped at her lips, at her chin, and drew her head back to gain access to her delicate neck, grazing his teeth and licking until he left marks. She was braless, her nipples hardening as he cupped a hand around the shape of her breast. She gasped as Dominic clamped down over that pert little nub between his teeth. She released a sweet little sound that was between whimper and mewl as her back arched reflexively, her chest rising to meet the unarguably arousing heat of his persistent mouth that suckled her breast through the thin layer of her shirt. He couldn’t get enough, ravenous, Dominic wanted to consume her. In the silence, there was nothing but his harsh breaths coming short and fast as he quickly lost his grip on control. His searching hands slid up her smooth legs and as he eased between her parted thighs, he gripped her hips and impaled her on his cock.
Eden choked on a gasp, her eyes wide she stared into the unfathomable vortex of his green gaze and found herself desperate to jump. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, needing to keep the moan she knew he yearned to hear to herself as he moved against her. It was appallingly erotic, devastatingly sensual, and as he moved, sensually thrusting his hips forward, making sure that she felt his length stroking right down the center of her, the disjointed sound of the piano keys punctuated every stroke. God… she felt every single velvet steel inch of him through the layers of the clothes that separated them. And just because he knew she refused to share the symphony of pleasure he so easily evoked, he gripped her jaw, inserting just the right bit of pressure to have her mouth fall open and release that whimper that was music to his soul. She needed him to stop. She needed to push him away. But he deprived her of speech, impeded her actions as he threaded a hand through her hair and took possession of her, filling her mouth in the same manner he wanted to fill her cunt.
“If you won’t let me fuck you, then let me taste you.” The primitive growl of his voice was unrecognizable as he breathed against her mouth only to astonish her when he lowered himself before her. “Just a taste…” He sounded tortured, agonized, like life in that moment was contingent on her acquiescence. It shouldn’t have been a very difficult choice at all, and any other woman, a stronger, saner woman, would’ve denied him this request, yet Eden found that she could not lie to herself in that instant, not when every atom in her body strained for his touch. In his all-consuming gaze, she saw her own weakness. Fascination and fear ceaselessly warred inside her, and Eden knew just as much as she hated him, she yearned for him with a raw, unfettered intensity that threatened to burn her from the inside out. But she couldn’t say the words, she couldn’t give her consent because to do so was to openly admit this weakness to him, to give him access to hurt her again.
Dominic however didn’t need her spoken assent as he spied it in her luminous golden eyes, and he relished the small tremor that shot through her when he pressed his mouth to her inner thighs. With all the expertise of an experienced lover, he stripped her of the shorts while the piano keys provided a soundtrack. With the barrier of her shorts gone, his lustful gaze feasted on her with such gluttonous avarice, Eden flushed. Instinct impelled her to close her legs to him, but he put a stop that action instantly with one strong sturdy hand to her thigh. “No...don’t…”
When he slipped a middle finger down her slick center, Eden tensed, biting down on her bottom lip she watched him through shuttered eyes, while her heart raced erratically in her chest and every single fiber of her being paused in bated anticipation. He nipped and indolently licked the soft, tender skin of her inner thighs, until he was poised at the apex of her sex, sensuous mouth to wet pink lips. He hovered, the warmth of his breath melting her further as he wrapped his arms around her quivering thighs, anchoring her in place, and then finally, in one long, indolent stroke of his broad tongue, he tasted her, from the bottom of her slit up to her clit. Eden’s breath hitched in her lungs, and if it wasn’t for his unyielding grip on her, she would’ve slid off the piano. He did it again and again, the impossibly slow drag on his tongue was sheer torment, but Eden did not want mercy, playing the budding masochist to his delicious sadism, she relished his torment, setting her legs on his shoulders to gain better purchase, she rode the indescribable riptide of passion rampaging through her. Every sensory nerve clustered and pulsated between her legs, her ability to think was wiped clean making it impossible for Eden to do anything else but writhe wantonly against his face, offering herself up to be devoured like a maenad at his alter. And he worshiped her like a god, licking her with fiendish delight, devouring her like she was the cure to his infinite sweet tooth. Hefrenched her cunt, fucked her with his tongue, and just when Eden thought she could take no more, he did it again, possessing her so completely that she thought she was going to burn in his consuming inferno.
She threw her head back, her short nails dug into her balled fists, her eyes drew tightly closed as she felt her muscles tightening,“Dom…” she moaned his name, her voice no longer recognizable as the building force of her orgasm tore through her. When it was over and she was a boneless heap in his arms, he rose to full height and captured her lips in raw masculine claim, cupping her ass to draw her to the hard angles of his body so that she could feel the length of his arousal for her. She clung to him, whimpering helplessly as he impaled his tongue deeper into her, making Eden taste herself, taste him, the heady combination a sinful intoxication that made her feel lightheaded. As if he knew that she was near fainting, he jerked back but did not release her. He set his forehead against hers and cupped her face with one hand, his thumb tracing indolently across her bottom lip. “You can’t even begin to understand how badly I want to bury my cock into your sweet little pussy and fuck you until you can’t move,” he said gravely against her mouth. “But I refuse to take what you aren’t willing to give me. So I’m going to let you leave before I do something I will regret.”
Chapter Fourteen
Drawn despite herself because she knew she shouldn’t tempt her best friend’s husband, Jenna checked to make sure the top half of her two-piece was on properly before hastening onto the stamped concrete of the pool deck. The amazingly lush landscape of shrubbery and blooming flowers made the pool feel like an oasis, but even that wasn’t enough to combat the oppressing mid-August heat that instantly drew sweat to the surface of her skin. Though tempted to turn and head back to the air conditioning of the mansion, Jenna continued her journey, finally coming to a stop at one of the lounge chairs around the pool. She took a seat, setting her bottle of sunscreen on the ground. Although the crystal blue water of the pool was temptation enough, something far more interesting caught Jenna’s eye. She slipped her sunglasses in place concealing her watchful stare. Naked except for the swimming trunks he wore, Dominic was utterly exposed to her, and Jenna sat back to enjoy the view.
It was extraordinary the effect children could have on people, and it was clear that Dominic was incredibly influenced by his son. Jenna had noticed a change in him the last two months since they’d all come to live in the mansion, and it awed her to see him so uninhibited when he believed no one was watching. There was a slight softening to his typically granite features, and smiles that were rarely seen made frequent appearances, changing the cruel twist of his mouth to something altogether pleasing. Only when in the presence of his child did Dominic display any form of genuine human emotion. It was quite riveting to watch, and Jenna found herself fascinated, reflecting that maybe Eden had been wrong about him. There was definitely more to Dominic than he chose to reveal, and Eden had certainly missed out on it. But that certainly wasn’t to say that he had abandoned his aloofness; he was still just as reserved as the day Jenna had met him, keeping mostly to himself and making very little effort to befriend her. Maybe friendship was a stretch, but at the very least, he could be kind enough to acknowledge her presence. It was in that effort that Jenna made up her mind to approach him.
Dominic noticed her the moment she stepped outside, but then it was impossible to miss her with what she was wearing. There was also the rather tantalizing performance she was putting on in applying sunscreen to her body. Any red-blooded male would’ve been instantly aroused by the display, and it wasn’t to say that Dominic was immune to the subtle game of seduction she was employing, but his mind was consumed by another woman who had eyes like citrine and a body capable of hardening his cock at just the thought of her. A woman who could evoke the most explosive reactions from him, be it anger or the dark desire that nearly always tempted him to drag her off to their bedroom and perform acts on her that some would consider highly unconventional. There was nothing else and no one else that compared to her, every other woman paled in comparison, and that included Jenna Mills.
“Mind if I join you guys?”
“By all means.” He returned his hold on Liam, remaining in the cool water of the pool. The late afternoon had dulled the stifling heat of the scorching August sun, making it much easier and comfortable for Dominic to enjoy swimming lessons with his fast growing son. Two months had already gone by in which he’d learned an overwhelming amount of information about this child who continued to worm his way into the empty hollow of Dominic’s chest, the ruins of a secret dark place that had not seen light in a very long time. Yet every moment he spent in Liam’s company was a moment Dominic wanted to prolong, a moment he found himself cherishing because he knew how fleeting they were. Affection however did not come easily, having it stripped from him at such a young age it evaded him now, remaining ever elusive, even in his anguish to grasp it. There was nothing, no source of love from which Dominic could draw from to bestow upon his son, and it seemed that his failure was imminent, yet with every toothless smile he received and every milestone he saw Liam through, Dominic understood that, if nothing else, his son needed him in his life. It was that one fact, that one assurance that kept him battling the part of himself that wanted to withdraw, to keep his son at distance and guard that which had been so severely damaged. Damaged beyond repair he feared.
“Dominic?” the soft call of his name drew Dominic from his internal reflection to find Jenna peering reservedly at him. She was at the shallow end of the pool, not too far from where he stood. The water lapped rhythmically at her waist as she slowly moved, and while he said nothing, she continued, finding that she now had his attention. “I just want to thank you for letting me stay here and for giving me the job as Liam’s nanny. I really appreciate you doing that for me.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” he imparted laconically, his perforating stare prompting Jenna to look away in embarrassment.
Unaccustomed to his candor, she sank beneath the water for a moment trying to recover her bruised pride. Of course Jenna knew he hadn’t done it for her, but was he so jaded that he couldn’t even accept her simple gratitude? “I know…I know you did it for Eden, but I’m still grateful. It’s not every day your boss treats you to a spa and day of shopping.”
Dominic eyed her curiously and though he did not display his confusion, he did angle an inquisitive brow. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you are talking about,” he replied flatly. “I have never treated you to anything.”
Jenna frowned now, wondering if he was playing with her. “But I…Eden told me…”
“She told you what?”
Jenna shook her head, knowing that she probably put her foot in her mouth. “Nothing…she didn’t say anything,” she said weakly. He had her in his line of vision, and as skewered as she was by the intensity in his green gaze, Jenna could do nothing but simply stand there.
“I am not partial to people lying to me, Jenna, and I despise the trait even less in my employees,” he asserted calmly, placing Liam in the bright yellow inflated duck that had been among the many toys Dominic had purchased for him. “If you are to remain in my employ, I would strongly suggest you learn to be honest. Now, would be a perfect time to start.”
