Chapter 46
ATHENA
“I still can’t believe that happened,” I muttered, sliding into the driver’s seat of Dominic’s black Benz. The leather was cool against my thighs, the car humming with quiet menace. “You had a conversation with my father and neither of you ended up bleeding.”
Dominic slid into the passenger seat beside me, wearing a grin that made my stomach tighten. He looked unfairly good, even while recovering. The bruises and fresh scars didn’t take away from his beauty—if anything, they added to it. Made him more real.
“Surprised, dollface?” he said, voice low and teasing.
He hadn’t argued when I took the keys earlier. Just handed them over like he knew I’d look good behind the wheel. And now that smirk of his told me he was enjoying the view.
The engine purred to life beneath my touch, and I eased the car out of my parents’ driveway, leaving the mansion.
“You look so hot driving my car,” he drawled, the words sinful, aimed low. My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. I forced my gaze to stay on the road, but my pulse betrayed me.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, but even to my own ears, it sounded breathless.
Dominic chuckled. I could feel his eyes on me.
He knew what he was doing. I hated how easy it was for him.
Twenty years untouched, perfectly self-controlled until him.
Until that first kiss. That first graze of his fingers against my skin.
Now, all I wanted was more of this, more of him.
He shifted beside me like he wasn’t undoing me with every glance.
“Take the turn up ahead,” he said.
“Alec’s waiting for us at the hotel.” I frowned.
“He’ll live. I want to show you something.”
I hesitated, but it wasn’t really a question. His tone left no room for argument, and despite myself, I wanted to follow, so I did. We climbed into the hills, the city fell away behind us, replaced by dark hills and silence. We drove ten more minutes before he spoke again.
“Stop here.’
I pulled into the overlook and killed the engine. The town glittered below us, a blanket of lights scattered across the valley. Peaceful and distant like a dream from another life.
“How do you know about this place?” I turned toward him, but his eyes were already on me like they had been the whole ride.
“This is where Mason and I used to come,” I admitted.
He smirked, and then it hit me. That night.
The shadow I’d seen in the mirror, watching us. My stomach dropped.
“It was you.”
Dominic’s smile turned wicked.
“Do you expect me to deny it?”
“You were watching me?” My voice broke, caught between disbelief and heat. “Watching me… kiss him?”
“Yeah,” he said, calm as sin. “That’s exactly what I did.”
My breath caught. His words were too calm.
“Dominic, that’s—” I shook my head. “That’s wrong. You can’t just—”
“Oh yeah?” he cut me off as he leaned in. “Then why’d you stop?”
I froze.
“What?”
“That night you saw me and you stopped kissing him. ‘‘ he said. ‘‘Don’t lie, Athena. You knew I was there.”
The car filled with suffocating heat.
“You scared me,” I whispered. He leaned in closer, close enough that our breath mingled in the small space.
“No, it thrilled you.”
I couldn’t look away. My body was on fire. His presence was like gravity, and I was powerless to escape it.
“You like being watched,” he murmured. “You like knowing eyes are on you.”
I hated how true it was. How much I ached at the idea. His hand lifted, fingers ghosting along my jaw without touching. I pulled back, abruptly, the air between us too charged and thick to breathe. My hands locked around the steering wheel like it was the only thing anchoring me.
“That’s why you came so hard around my cock that night in my club,” he continued, voice dragging over my skin.““You liked them watching, didn’t you?’’
His fingers found my chin, tilting my face to his. His grip was gentle, but unyielding.
“You liked it when I showed them what you look like when you belong to someone. When I made sure every single one of those fuckers knew you were mine.”
“Yes,” I whispered, my voice catching as my gaze dropped to his mouth. “But this… this is different. Watching from the shadows? While I was with Mason?”
His fingers slid higher, pinching my cheeks just enough to silence me. I gasped softly at the contact.
“You’re right,” he said, voice rough, real. “It is different. Because back then, you thought you had a choice. You thought he was meant to be, but you were never his, Athena.”
His eyes locked on mine. There was no amusement in them now—just raw heat, possessive and primal.
“You’ve always been mine. Even when you kissed him. Even when you pretended you wanted someone else. You were waiting for me, searching for something only I could give you.”
My heart pounded like a war drum in my chest.
“And I waited too,” he added, softer now, slower. “I never belonged to anyone else. Not even for a second. That’s the fucking difference. Now be a good girl and do as I say, yeah?”
I nodded before I could think, something deep in me responding to his command.
“Get out and put that sweet ass on the hood of my car.”
My body moved on instinct. I stepped out of the car, the wind brushing against my heated skin. I climbed onto the glossy black hood, the engine’s fading warmth seeping into my thighs. He was in front of me in seconds. Silent and watching.
“Why are we here?” I breathed.
“Because I wanted to rewrite the memory.” His gaze dropped to my jeans. “Take them off.”
I hesitated for only a second before obeying, unbuttoning my jeans with trembling fingers.
They were tight enough to make it a challenge, but I peeled them off, the cool air licking at my thighs as I tossed them onto the ground.
My legs parted without thinking. He smiled, dark and triumphant as he stepped into the space between them.
The rough denim of his jeans pressed against the soaked fabric of my thong.
I couldn’t stop the moan that slipped out.
“Good fucking girl,” he rasped, dragging his knuckles down the line of my jaw. “Should I reward you?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
“Then show me what you want,” he said. “Lead me.”
A shiver went down my spine. Dominic Stone, the man who commanded empires, was letting me take control.
It was intoxicating. I reached for him, pulling his mouth to mine with desperation.
We didn’t kiss; we consumed. Our lips crashed together, tongues tangling, teeth scraping.
There was nothing soft about it. Just heat, hunger, and need.
My fingers threaded through his hair, tugging hard.
I pushed him down, and he didn’t resist. Not even a little. That wicked grin curled across his face as he dropped to his knees between my legs. He kissed the inside of my thigh, then again higher, through the fabric of my soaked underwear. I whimpered, hips jerking.
“Impatient, baby?” he teased.
“Shut up,” I hissed. “And put your mouth to better use.”
His eyes gleamed with something feral. “Yes, ma’am.”
He hooked a finger under my thong and dragged it aside with agonizing slowness.
Then his mouth was on me, and I shattered.
The first lick was slow. The second sent my head falling back onto the car’s hood, a helpless cry torn from my throat.
His tongue traced lazy circles around my clit, then flattened and dragged down to my entrance.
I arched against him, desperate for more.
He groaned like he’d been starving, and I was the first taste.
“You taste like sin,” he murmured, voice muffled against me.
His hands gripped my thighs, keeping me open, holding me down as he devoured me with brutal, practiced hunger. He alternated between gentle flicks and deep sucks, between worship and torment. I rocked against his mouth, breath ragged, unable to stop myself.
“Oh, Dominic,” I gasped. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”
I didn’t miss the small smirk on his face, even with his mouth on me.
His tongue moved with that familiar confidence, skilled and relentless, teasing circles around my clit until my hips rocked in sync with every flick and suck.
My legs trembled beneath the weight of the pleasure, and I was so close I could barely hold myself upright.
“Just like that, dollface,” he murmured against me. He gripped my hips tighter, anchoring me in place. “Make yourself come for me. Let them hear who owns you.”
With one hand braced against the car and the other tangled in his hair, I let go.
I chased the edge like an addict, grinding into his mouth shamelessly, my breath catching as he curled his tongue just right.
When I shattered, it was loud, raw, and all-consuming.
My thighs locked around his head as I came, wave after wave crashing through me, and he didn’t stop—he drank every sound, every shudder like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
“Such a good girl,” he rasped, rising slowly, lips glistening, eyes dark and electric. He kissed me, and I moaned into his mouth, tasting myself on his lips. It only deepened the high, but then he pulled back, just slightly, his hand twisting in my hair to tilt my head.
“That was cute,” he smirked, voice dropping to something dangerous. “Now it’s my turn.”
He spun me around, pressing my chest to the hood. The metal was warm under my skin, but his body, his heat was scorching. I gasped as he spread my legs, holding me in place like only he could. His belt hit the ground, and I held my breath.
“You want this?” he growled against my ear, his hard length rubbing against my entrance. “Say it.”
“I want you,” I breathed, arching into him, shameless. “I want all of you.”
He slammed into me, and I cried out—pain and pleasure colliding.
“Fuck, it’s like your body was made to take me,” he groaned, his fingers digging into my hips. “So tight and perfect.”
“Harder,” I whimpered, clutching the edge of the car. “Please.”
“That’s my little rebel,” he growled. He pounded into me, each thrust deeper, rougher, more possessive than the last. My cries filled the air, echoing in the open space as he claimed me with every stroke. His hand fisted in my hair, pulling my head back so my cries had nowhere to hide.
“Quiet,” he warned, voice low and wicked, but there was a smile in it. “Can’t have the whole city knowing you are getting fucked on the hood of my car, right, dollface?’’
I moaned in response. Then his hands slid over my body, one gripping my hip, the other sneaking between my legs, rubbing slow, devastating circles over my clit until I was writhing under him.
“You gonna come for me again, baby?” he whispered, his voice ragged. “While I’m buried deep inside you?”
I couldn’t answer. My body did it for me. I broke apart a second time, my release crashing into me like a violent tide. My legs shook, my breath stuttered, and I came so hard I almost collapsed.
“Goddamn,” he hissed. He held me steady, slammed once, twice, then cursed as he spilled inside me, gripping my throat and holding me to his chest as he claimed every last inch. He leaned down, lips brushing my shoulder, possessive and tender.
“Now every time you come up here, you’ll remember me and how I made you mine. Not .”
I turned my head just enough to smirk. “Who’s jealous now?”
His fingers curled around my chin, turning my face toward him, eyes locked on mine-dark, wild, burning.
“I’m beyond jealous when it comes to you, Athena. Let another man breathe near you and I’ll kill him and fuck you with his blood still warm on my skin.”
A shiver tore through me, not from fear, but from being wanted like this.
“I need to tell you something,” I whispered. “About Mason—”
“I know.” His jaw clenched. “Alec told me.”
I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.
“And believe me, Athena, he will pay the price for what he did.”