Law sighed and looked down at Kinley. He smiled, an open expression of pure joy that Dominic had never seen his friend give to anyone but her. It made Law look younger, freer, than he'd ever seemed.
Maybe in her heart, she belonged to Law alone. Dominic wondered if he was making too much of taking Kinley to bed. The woman already had a forever sort of man that she was clearly half in love with. If Dominic really wanted to, he could just have sex with her. Law would take care of her and be her Master, leaving Dominic to be her occasional Sir. He could simply visit and spice up their sex life. No fuss. No muss. No worry if he was shitting on Carrie's memory. Just hot sex with a beautiful woman.
Kinley turned her face up to him, her smile both a glow from the inside and pure invitation. Dominic nearly stopped breathing.
He'd heard men describe their wives as the most beautiful women in the world. He'd never been able to see it or understand. But Kinley lit up from the inside, and it wasn't just for Law. She gave that to him, for him. No doubt in his mind that right now she was more beautiful than every other woman on the planet, at least in his eyes. When she was old and gray with a load of grandchildren around her, he would still see her like this, in a golden aura of passion he couldn't resist. For him, she would always be the sun.
Was he willing to walk away because the timing was terrible, because he worried what Carrie would have thought? She'd been the one who told him that love was all that mattered. She would weep at the thought of him choosing revenge over joy. She would be disappointed in him if he chose punishment over love.
Carrie would have wanted his happiness more than anything.
Was he willing for Kinley's grandchildren to belong exclusively to Law? Did he want to be the footnote in their relationship, the perverted little secret from their past?
"Kiss me," he commanded almost involuntarily, as though his body knew what he needed more than his mind. But he wouldn't take the words back.
Law chuckled and rolled off her. "Kiss Dominic, baby. He needs it."
She tilted her head back onto his chest and lifted her face up for his kiss. She reached over her head to cup his cheek with her palm, and he could have sworn a jolt of electricity charged his body the moment she touched him. Her lips were still warm from Law's, but that was fine with Dominic. That meant she'd been recently loved and by someone he considered a partner. A friend. Law backed him up. They shared a brotherly rapport. Law was his family.
He remembered that moment so long ago when Law had risked everything for him, protecting him, though they'd had nothing in common. Dominic had been afraid. He was the poor little rich boy who had no friends, and he'd realized even at a young age that caring about a person was a choice that required courage. They could leave him. They could stop caring about him. They could use his affection against him. They could trap him in something loveless and bland like his parents' marriage.
Or they could support him, give him roots yet set him free. They could make life richer. They could surround him in so much peace he would never want to leave.
Kinley could be family, too. She could add light and love to his life. If he just let her.
He didn't restrain his urge to kiss her again. Instead, he sank his fingers into her silky hair and tangled his tongue around hers.
Dominic was done questioning everything. The future wasn't certain. God, Carrie had taught him that. But the very thing he'd thought had wrecked his life had led him to Kinley. In one moment, he felt his sister's love, her caring spirit. She'd been snuffed out by a monster, but it had all led him here, to his salvation from a life of hatred and vengeance. Now, he had a shot at saving Kinley, the woman he was pretty sure was meant to be his. He would only dishonor Carrie by rejecting Kinley for stubborn reasons.
She separated from him, dragging in oxygen with a shuddering breath. "I should go and clean up."
Oh, she had so much to learn about the way this worked. He put his hand under her chin and pulled her up to his lips again. "You're not dirty, pet. I want you now."
He wanted her in every way. The fact that Law had just taken her didn't make her dirty. It made her theirs. It made her the center of their circle.
Kinley turned in his arms until they rested chest to chest. Her breasts were crushed against him. She lay between his legs and his cock surged with need. He'd barely managed not to come when he'd heard her cries, felt her move against him as Law had taken her virginity. But in so many ways, she was still innocent. No one could take that from her. She was simply one of those souls who would be innocent until the day she died.
And when he left this earth, he wanted to be holding Kinley's hand.
Why this woman?
He kissed her again and realized it was a combination of fate and his own needs. Everything about her seemed to align just right with him. With her sweetness, she balanced his cynicism. With her femininity, she tempered his sometimes too-aggressive nature. With her love, she would lift the darkness from his heart. She would always stand beside him.