Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“We’re going to fix this. It’s going to be okay.” Sylvie was trying to reassure herself as much as Dominic.
He didn’t answer, just sat on his bed, staring into the half-packed suitcase at his feet.
She and Tanner had already made secure phone calls to Max and the rest of the Bennett Security bodyguard team. Of course, Max had agreed to set up Dominic, Maureen, and Raymond in one of his safe houses.
Tanner had made some very good points to their boss.
They couldn’t count on the bureaucracy suddenly becoming efficient.
This had to happen fast. If Dominic raised the alarm right now, the entire police department would hear about it, and somebody might leak it to the L.A.
police, too. The more people who knew he was going into hiding, the more likely the news would get back to the Syndicate.
None of them knew what the DA’s office would have to say about the arrangement. Max hadn’t told Lana because he didn’t want her to know Dominic was going to break his bail conditions. We’ll have to ask for forgiveness instead of permission, her boss had said.
If the Feds or the DA didn’t like the plan, they could point fingers after Sylvie and her friends got Dominic to safety.
His burner phone rang on the dresser. He jumped up and grabbed it. Sylvie stood beside him.
“It’s Raymond. Thank god.” He answered.
“Nic? I got your message. What’s going on?”
“Ray, I’ve got you on speaker. Sylvie is here with me.” Dominic smiled at her shyly. “The one I mentioned?”
“Hey, it’s nice to meet you,” she said.
“Oh, Sylvie. Hi.” Raymond’s voice was as calming as his brother’s. “Is that why you wanted to talk, Nic? To introduce her?“
Dominic’s eyes closed. “I wish that was all. Turns out we need to make that move I was talking about sooner, rather than later.”
“How much sooner? I already told you, I don’t want people hanging around here, watching me. That creeps me out.”
“I know. And I called off the bodyguards when you asked. But now, I’m not just talking about precautions. This is serious. We have to leave tomorrow morning. Before dawn.”
Raymond cursed. “I can’t just pick up and leave. I have class in the morning. I have a test.”
“If there was any other way, I’d do it. But they’re coming for me tomorrow. And that means they might come for you.”
There was a pause. “There’s something you’re not telling me. I want to know what’s really going on. Why is this all happening now?”
Dominic exhaled, glancing at Sylvie. She nodded her permission. If Raymond needed this information to get onboard, she had no problem sharing it.
As she listened, Dominic told his brother everything—the cyberattack on her computer, the orders from their uncle to install the malware, and the plan to infiltrate the Syndicate’s hackers.
Raymond kept making choked sounds of dismay. “This is just nuts. All of it.” But Sylvie could already tell he was giving in.
“Please,” Dominic said. “Sylvie’s friends are going to get me out of here, but I can’t go without you. We’ll come pick you up on the way. Be ready to go by four.”
“Four in the morning? That’s when you’ll be here?”
“Or a little after. Just watch from your window. Wait for my call. Then come downstairs. Don’t come out for anyone else.”
“Damn, Nic. I don’t want to do this.”
“But we don’t have any other choice.”
“I get that. So, I guess we’ll just do what we have to.”
Dominic had lowered the phone when Ray said, “Wait. Nic, I love you. Okay? I’m sorry…about all this.”
“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. I love you, too. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah.”
Sylvie thought of Ethan back home. The Syndicate knew who she was, even if they didn’t know she’d modified their code and used it against them. They knew she was here right now and that she and Dominic were sleeping together.
Sandford had threatened her. Did that mean they might go after her cousin, too? Maybe she should tell Ethan to stay at Luis’s for a few days.
For the first time, Sylvie had fully come out from behind her computer screens. She didn’t have her anonymity to protect her. She’d never had to worry before about her loved ones being hurt because of her work. But it was something Max had been through. She didn’t know how he could stand it.
She was afraid of what might be coming. But she also knew Dominic was worth it.
He set the phone back on the dresser.
Sylvie glanced at the time. It was nearing eleven o’clock now. Only a handful of hours left. “We should get some sleep.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Just pack enough for a few days. I’m sure someone can come get the rest later.”
“I’m not worried about clothes. I’m not ready to leave you. I don’t know when I’ll see you again.” He sat on the edge of the bed. Dominic circled his arms around her waist, pulling her closer until she stood between his knees. “Or when I’ll be able to touch you.”
“Probably not for a while. You’ll be surrounded by Bennett Security bodyguards.”
“Then we’d better make tonight count.”
They undressed each other, one piece of clothing at a time.
Sylvie ran her hands over his smooth chest, the defined ridges of his abs.
But Dominic seemed just as enthralled with her body as she was with his.
He picked her up and laid her on the mattress, touching and kissing and licking her everywhere.
Under her breasts, just above her hipbones, the inner hinge of her elbow.
Like every part of her was worth cherishing.
He turned her over and ran his finger across her back. “I haven’t spent nearly enough time studying your tattoos.”
The ink spanned the top half of her back, spilling across her shoulders and down her arms to her elbows.
She wasn’t sure how many more she wanted to get.
When she looked in the mirror, she still saw an unfinished project, slowly being filled in toward the edges.
Someday, she figured she’d be done, but she also didn’t know what that would feel like.
“You said this was your newest one, right?” He pointed at the heron on her left shoulder. “When did you get it?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“Before the first time we met? Or was it after?”
“I think…after.” Definitely after.
He put his lips against her ear and whispered, “See how its neck is outstretched? That’s not a heron. It’s a crane.”
“Is not.”
“Maybe you didn’t like me then, but your subconscious did.”
“How conceited are you?” She tried to turn over, but he wouldn’t let her.
Instead, Dominic spread his body over hers until he was completely covering her.
His warm weight pressed her into the mattress, and his erection lay snug against her rear.
She had her head turned to the side, just able to see his face in her peripheral vision as he kissed her neck.
The feeling of him was extravagant, over the top.
She didn’t ever want to move from this spot, yet she also wanted even more of him. All of him she could get.
“I need you.”
“I need you, too.”
“I mean, I need you inside me.” He’d told her before he’d been tested. “We’re both clean, and I’m on the pill. You don’t have to use a condom.”
He kissed the heron tattoo. Okay, the crane tattoo. “You’re sure?”
“Very.”
He reached down to grip one of her thighs, spreading her wider, then did the same on the other side. His fingers stroked between her legs. She tilted her pelvis to give him better access, though his body still held her down.
He lifted off her a bit and slid his hand beneath her stomach to raise her higher. She felt his tip against her entrance, and he pushed his way in. The sounds she made were needy and desperate.
“Nic, yes.”
His hips drew back and flicked forward again as he buried his shaft to the hilt.
His body was everywhere, sheltering hers, pinning her into place.
His cock rubbed against the inside of her channel as he withdrew.
Every sensation was exquisite, the pleasure acute.
She felt herself stretching anew as he filled her over and over.
“Sylvie. No one’s ever felt as good as this.”
She moaned in response.
“I’m going to turn you over. I want to see your face.
” He pulled out to roll her over, then plunged inside of her again.
She loved how easily his cock glided in and out of her, their bodies so wet and eager.
Their breathing grew ragged. She dug her fingers into his hair.
They were both sweating. She pulled him down and licked his neck, tasting salt.
“Can you grab the lube?” he asked. The bottle was sitting right beside them on the nightstand.
“I don’t think we need it.”
“For my fingers. I want to make you feel even better.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.”
He grinned wolfishly. “Humor me.”
She grabbed the bottle and popped it open, though it was hard to focus on even this simple task with his dick sliding into her like that. He propped up on one elbow, holding out his other hand. Sylvie tipped the bottle and lube poured onto his fingertips.
Dominic brought his hand down to where their bodies were joined. He pressed his slicked fingers to her clit. Sylvie gasped.
While his fingers worked at her most sensitive spot, Dominic pushed his tongue into her mouth. His hips drove his cock between her legs. There was just so much—almost too much—all of him overwhelming her senses.
She felt the change in her body. It was small at first. The pleasure was already so intense.
But then the tension that had been coiling inside her suddenly ratcheted up by a thousand, and she was coming apart, shuddering.
The power of it shocked her. Her body was convulsing completely out of her control.
How could anyone bear so much pleasure at once?
She cried out, and if Dominic’s mouth hadn’t been fixed to hers the whole house would’ve heard.
He kept pumping into her, and wave after wave of sensation kept crashing through her. She felt him start to shake too, his cock throbbing and somehow drawing even more indulgent pleasure out of her body. He growled against her mouth as he came.
Dominic collapsed on top of her, both of them panting. She was trapped beneath his weight, his cock still pulsing every few seconds inside of her. Every last bit of energy had left her body. She couldn’t imagine how she’d stand up again. Her joints all felt detached.
Their breathing slowed, and Dominic drew up onto his elbows to look down her.
“Hi.”
“I came.” She could hardly believe the words.
“I know.”
“It was…”
He nodded. “Yeah. It was.” He kissed her lips gently. Sylvie wrapped her legs around his waist, not wanting him to leave her yet. She didn’t want any of this to end.
His cheek nuzzled against her. “I want to keep seeing you.” His eyes met hers, his gaze hesitant. As if he could have a doubt about what she’d say.
“I’d like that. And not just because you gave me my first orgasm. Though it helps.”
“Yeah, I even impressed myself.” His grin flashed, then faded. “I just wish I knew when that would happen. Or even…where I’ll be.”
She tucked his hair behind his ear. “I’ll chase you down if I have to.”
“Then I’ll be waiting.”