Cowardly. But I've always been good at self-preservation, especially when it comes to my heart.
My stomach knots. I really don't want to see him today.
"You have to face him sometime." Xander says.
"I was planning like a year from now," I say grimly. "Maybe a decade or two."
He laughs. "Welcome to my world. Just remember, he's all bark and no bite."
Bite.
I flash back to Dom biting down gently on my shoulder, locking me tightly in his arms as he moved deep inside.
Oh God.
I roll up the drafts and gather the swatches. "Wish me luck."
Dom's office door is shut and his secretary is nowhere to be seen. I tentatively knock. My heart is racing and the knock goes over too lightly. I can barely hear it.
Crap.
I knock again. Harder. And think about all the natural disasters that could conveniently occur right now. Earthquake. Tornado. Zombie apocalypse.
"Come in."
I turn the handle and step into the room.
Dom is at his desk with a ton of paperwork in front of him. When he sees me, his expression goes hard. It's like an invisible door closing between us, and I know I can't get through it.
"Get out."
I find my voice. "I need to show you something."
"Then send someone else."
Don't let him crush you.
I force myself not to wilt under his angry glare. Instead, I pull myself up to my full height and stare straight back. "I'm doing my job here. You may not agree, but at least you can be professional."
Dom blinks, almost like he's surprised. Then he gives me a curt nod. "Very well."
I walk over to his desk and lay out the new plans. His cologne hits me, familiar and sexy as hell, but I fight to keep my head. This is no time for hormones to get the better of me.
I lay out the new plans. "There," I tell him. "I know you didn't want a redesign, so I've done my best to keep a sense of the Rexford's original look."
Silence.
When I look up, he's studying me with an unreadable look. "Was this your plan all along?"
"This?" I motion to the drawing. "It's close to what I had in-"
"No." Dom interrupts, taking a step closer to me. "Conspiring with Lillian to steal hotel away from me. That first night, you dug your claws into me and I fell for it."
I tense. "You keep acting like this was a big conspiracy, but I'm telling you, I didn't know who you were that night. You didn't say your real name."
"Bullshit!"
I snap. I'm sick of him treating me like I'm the enemy. I never meant for any of this to happen, and no matter how angry and betrayed he's feeling, he doesn't get to push me around. "You want to know the real story?" I demand. "Or would you prefer to just keep hating me? You haven't given me a chance to explain. You just jumped to conclusions and never backed down."
"I saw the explanation. Those photos were clear enough."
"For God's sake, Dom, listen to me! My friend is a decoy for a private investigator. I was a stand-in for her that night, that's all. I had no idea who you were, or why someone wanted pictures of us together. I was just supposed to flirt, maybe kiss you a little. That's it!"
Dom hesitates, just for a moment. "I don't believe you."
"I left, remember?" I exclaim angrily. "You came after me. You were the one who wanted to go upstairs. You wouldn't let me go."
Dominic takes another step closer, and my skin lights up with awareness. I should step away, but I'm not going to back down.
"Why did you go upstairs with me?" Dom demands, just inches away. I can feel the heat from his body, that overwhelming physicality taking hold of me like a drug. "If fucking me wasn't the job, then why didn't you get in the cab and leave?"
"Because that part wasn't on the books." I tell him. "I wanted you."
"Me or my money?"
"Fuck you, Dominic." I start to turn away. "Not every girl you meet is a gold-digger. Some of us don't need six figures to screw you."
He catches my wrist before I can leave, and pulls me back against his body. For a moment I'm crushed there, feeling the heat, his powerful muscles tightly coiled and ready for release.
Lust slams through me, clenching between my thighs as his lips graze my earlobe. "You're right," he murmurs, sexy and raw. "If I recall, you needed much, much less."
He trails his fingertips down my collarbone, to the first button on my silk blouse. I freeze, paralyzed with a sudden need that burns every inch of me.
He still hates me. I know, he doesn't believe a word I say, but somehow, that doesn't matter. All I want is to feel his hand on me, and his body taking me, hard and fast.
His fingers close around my breast. A moan slips from my lips, and it's like the signal he's been waiting for. In one swift move, Dom spins me around and shoves me over his desk. My hands go down on the surface to brace myself, my ass pressing into him automatically. I grind back against the hardness in his pants until Dom yanks my skirt up over my hips and my panties down around my thighs.
Cool air hits my naked skin, and a moment later, a stinging slap rains down on my ass. I yelp in surprise and pain.
"That's right," Dom growls. He wraps one hand in my French braid, using it to arch my body back as he spanks me again. "You deserve to be punished for what you've done."
Another slap rains down on my naked ass. The sting slams through me, but it's oh so sweet. I grip on to the edge of the desk, feeling a wild heat like nothing before. Fuck, I've missed him so much, this dominant power that makes me lose all control.
Dom presses me back down onto the desk, then slowly circles it, watching me from all angles. "This is where I pictured fucking you, that first night we met." He casually unbuckles his belt and opens his pants. "Did you know? I wanted to bring you back here, and make you beg, naked and spread for me. Screaming my name."
"Dom … " I whisper, already needing his dick buried deep inside.
He smirks. "Not loud enough. Not even close. But I promise, once you've got every last inch of my cock grinding that G-spot til you break, you'll be screaming the whole fucking hotel down."
Yes!
I know better than to break position, but I thrust my ass back, wanting his touch again. He moves behind me again, and suddenly forces my legs wider apart. Then his hands are on me: grabbing, stroking, kneading my ass. His fingers zero in on my clit and rub in a punishingly pleasurable burst of friction. Fuck! I moan into the desk, grinding back. He thrusts two fingers into my wetness and my moans get louder. It's the middle of the day, there could be people right outside the door, but I don't care. My whole body is wound so fucking tight, I need him, and I need him hard.
"Please, Dominic!" The words tear from my mouth as he finger-fucks me from behind. I ride him hard, chasing the climax, but two fingers are nothing compared to the goods I know he's got waiting for me.
"Fuck me," I demand through gritted teeth. I don't want to beg. I'm going to make it an order. "Fuck me hard, right now."
Dom growls, pulling his hand away. I collapse, panting and needy on the desk. No! For a moment, I wonder if he's going to leave me here, so close, but then I hear the yank of his zipper.
He enters me hard, thrusting deep, all the way to the hilt.
"Yes!" I scream, slammed into the desk with the impact of his thrust. Dom grabs my hair, and pistons into me again.
"You feel that?" He demands, his cock filling me all the way up. "You belong to me. This sweet cunt is all mine. And I'll take it whenever I damn please."
He grips my hips, his fingernails digging into my flesh as he fucks me hard and fast, just the way I need it.
"You can lie to me all you want, but your body can't pretend." Dom reaches to grab my breast, squeezing at my stiff nipples until I want to sob with the pleasure. "It knows who the boss is. And I'm not going to stop until I've claimed every inch of you from the inside out."
He thrusts so deep, so goddamn deep I could lose my mind. I want it to last, to feel him inside me all day, but I'm close again, my climax rising up in an unstoppable surge of heat. I grind back against him, meeting every stroke, loving how deep his cock drives, how the friction sets me on fire. He spanks my ass again, just the right side of pain, grinding up inside me in a harsh, angry rhythm. Our grunts fill the room, animal and raw.
"Say it," he demands. "Say you belong to me!"
I clench my jaw. I won't give in. But then Dom slows his pace. Oh God. Now he's thrusting slow and deep, gripping me against his body so I can't escape, can't push back, can't do anything but take his cock one mind-blowing, meaty inch at a time.
"Dom … " I moan, struggling in his arms. But his cock is unstoppable, and I'm close. So close!
"Say. It." Dom growls. I can hear the tension in his voice, feel the rigid drive of his body. I want to disobey but fuck, I can't resist him, not like this.