Chapter 36 #2
“Are you Chiara?” he asks as he palms the door handle, pushing it open.
“Yes, I am.”
“Go right in, ma’am.”
The entryway greets me, and I thank him before stepping inside. The door shuts as my eyes adjust to the narrow, empty hallway. There’s a window to my left with a sign that reads “coat check,” but no one is there.
I keep walking, not sure where he is.
“Hey,” he greets me from behind.
I gasp, my body hyperaware to the undercurrent of his power. His energy is all around me, his deep, raspy voice flipping my stomach erratically.
My heart races as I remain still, unable to look back, afraid I’ll want to jump into his arms and feel them around me, keeping all the bad away.
But he was the one who was bad. He’s the one who hurt me when I never thought he could.
“Why am I here?” I ask, my voice surer than my heart.
I whirl, gradually facing him, and my eyes widen just as my heart beats faster. It feels like I’m looking at him for the first time.
He’s all grown up. Hard muscle and sharp, masculine edges have replaced the lanky boy I once knew. He’s all man now.
My body grows warm as I take in his black shirt, the buttons practically popping off at the chest. I know what lies beneath his clothes, but at the time, I didn’t know who it belonged to. Now that I do, I want to taste him as though for the very first time. And for me, I guess it would be.
He moves a step until only a slice of a hand separates our beating hearts. His eyes turn hooded, and his Adam’s apple bobs as he gazes down at me, his tongue darting out, licking between his lips. It’s as though we’re thinking similar dirty thoughts.
“You’re here because I missed you.” His brows bend so hard, I can feel his anguish vibrating through my body. “And you being here tells me you missed me too.”
He takes my hand, and I let him hold it. Let him feel my tingly skin, even if he can’t feel the way he makes it come alive.
“I need you, Chiara.” His eyes deepen into mine. “Please stay. Not just right now, but forever.”
He lowers his mouth to my forehead, his lips leaving a kiss. My skin prickles in the wake of his affection, my heart hammering for a man it wants.
“I know we may not know each other anymore. Not like we used to.” His soft words glide over my lips as his nose feathers over mine. “But I still feel you everywhere. Your laughter, our inside jokes, the way you’d lay your head on my shoulder when you were sad. Those memories…they’re ours, Chiara.”
Blinking back tears, I pull away enough to find his eyes staring back at me.
“I wish you would’ve talked to me.” My voice seeps with emotion, the words tearing me apart.
His hands cup each side of my face. “I’m sorry, baby. For all of it.” His eyes turn hazy, my words tearing him up too. “Forgive me.”
“Dom.” The word is a plea. For something I hope we can find, keep, and treasure for infinity.
“Chiara…” His gaze swims between my eyes and my lips.
My breaths fall faster, my chest falling in and out with the fastened beats of my heart. My eyes find his mouth, and as they do, his lips collide with mine. The feel of them, now knowing they belong to the boy I loved, makes this kiss different than any others we’ve shared.
This kiss, it’s gripped from the ashes of our past and from the roots of our future.
My hand clutches the back of his neck, his clasped to my face, his thumbs rubbing over my damp cheeks. His lips move slowly, passionately, over mine, as though he wants to memorize every motion, every breath.
And knowing all the wild things his mouth can do, it’s nice to know he can do this too: show me what I mean to him.
He drags his face away, his forehead slanting over mine, both of us panting.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he says, swallowing harshly, his arms circling around the small of my back.
“That’s too bad, because I wanted you to,” I confess in a whisper as I move an inch.
My hands come around his neck, and as I stare at Dom, I realize I can’t allow my father to take another thing away from me. My future is mine to create, and I want that future with this man right here.
“Does this mean you forgive me?” he asks, the depthless pools of his eyes searching mine.
My lips part as I gaze back at him, my heart swelling with so much of everything, it’s hard to contain it all.
“I think I can try.”
A heavy exhale slips out of his chest before reaching into his pocket, removing a black wallet.
I look at him, confused, and before I have a chance to ask him what he’s doing, he removes something from inside. My eyes widen, and I let out a gasp as I see what’s in his hand.
“You really kept it?” I ask through the blanket of tears now covering my vision.
“Of course I did.” Half of the friendship necklace I gave him the day of his mom’s funeral dangles from his hand. “I kept everything about us right here.” He palms his chest. “I've never forgotten a single thing, even when it hurt to remember.”
I reach a hand for the necklace, running a finger over the soft angles.
“I really can’t believe you still have that. I know you said you did in the letter, but seeing it…” My voice cracks with a raw edge, tears drifting like the years we lost.
“I swore I’d never take it off,” he says, his arm curving over my back, pulling me in. “It’s with me everywhere I go. Reminding me of you.”
“I wish I had mine,” I confess.
He smiles, and it catches my breath. “You do.”
“What? No.” I shake my head, my brows bowing. “It’s still at my house, in the—”
“Bowl by the picture of you and me,” he finishes.
He drops his hand from around me, reaching into his pocket for the second time, pulling out the other half of my heart.
My trembling hand slowly nears my mouth. “You took it?”
“Yeah.” He smirks. “Your panties weren’t the only thing I stole.”
I let out a laugh, remembering how pissed I was.
“I didn’t want anything to happen to it in case your father went to the house,” he explains.
“Put it on me,” I tell him tenderly, smiling with happiness for the first time in a long time.
“I have a better idea.” His face lights up, his dimple deepening with the curve of his lips. “Turn around.”
When he fastens the necklace around my neck, I notice it isn’t mine. It’s his. Dom is written on the back of the pendant. As I face him again, I find him placing my half around his neck.
“Now you have a piece of my heart and I have yours,” he says, his knuckles rolling down my cheek.
My heart lurches with a beat, waves of emotions settling into the center of my chest.
I reach for my pendant, running my fingers over it as his gaze captures mine. “I’ll never take it off.”
“Me neither,” he swears.
“We probably look so childish,” I laugh, biting the edge of my lower lip.
His palm fits over my cheek, the intensity in his gaze—gentle, yet hungry—pulling me in, owning my every breath.
“We probably do,” he rasps, so deep I can practically feel it.
My pulse yanks at my heart; my stomach drops.
“Do you care, baby? Because I sure as fuck don’t.”
Then his lips crash to mine, taking me with a searing kiss. It’s harsher, more demanding, this time. As though he wants to devour my lips, taking my body with them.
I’m lost to everything but the feel of his mouth moving with the flow of mine. His hand slides into my hair, the pads of his fingers rough against my scalp, his other hand grabbing my hip sharply into its palm.
Angling his face, he circles his tongue over mine, kissing me until it consumes us, while pushing me up against the wall with the strength of his body.
With his fingers woven through my hair, he pulls my head back, tracing his lips over my jaw, his teeth raking my skin before his tongue glides down my neck. His mouth skims past my shoulder, his finger slipping into the thin strap of my blue tank top, dragging it past my arm.
“Dom,” I groan, unable to control the lust-induced ache between my legs.
“Fuck,” he growls, his eyes pinning me with a fiery gaze. “I’ve been waiting for you to call me that. And now, hearing it…”
He tips up my chin with his thumb, his lips landing slowly over mine. Once. Twice. He grunts as he backs away, as though fighting the same desire I feel.
“I want you, Chiara. I want it all. But I don’t want to fuck this up. I think we should go slow, even if it’s the last thing I want.”
His palm reaches for the back of my neck, holding on to me as he dips his mouth close to mine, making me crazy for another taste of him.
“I want to know you,” he says, his breath flirting with mine. “All of you.”
“I want to know you too.” My reply comes with a hush, softly resonating between us.
“Then let’s start right now.” He moves back, giving me his hand, asking for mine. “This moment can be our new beginning.”
“New beginnings,” I say, twining my fingers with his as he leads me deeper into the club.