Chapter 9 #2
Then the world spun, and she found herself hauled effortlessly downwards. The pallet mattress bounced underneath her, and before Paisley could even register that he'd pulled her towards him, she found herself tucked back against Dominic's hard, warm body, her nose pressing against his collarbone.
Quite frankly, Paisley did not know what to do with this situation.
While it was clear that the rules between men and women were very different here – back home she would have been ruined forever if she had spent a minute alone with a man, unchaperoned, out on a balcony at a party – this certainly didn't seem to be the norm.
Needless to say, Paisley had not been this close to a man before. The closest she had ever gotten to a man were the sweet hugs and familial kisses from her father and brother.
This was something very different.
"D-Dominic?" Paisley managed, not daring to raise her voice above a whisper. She couldn't see Dominic's face, tucked against him as she was.
She shifted her position so that her cheek rested against his shoulder, but otherwise there was no moving away. Dominic had her pinned against him, his arm looping around the middle of her back. He wasn't crushing her against him, but neither was there any wiggle room.
She could feel his palm, firm, splayed open and pressed against her shoulder blade. She could feel the way his chest, firm and delightfully warm, rose and fell with his breaths, slow with sleep.
She could feel the way her own heart sped up, the way that odd feeling swirled and throbbed in her gut, that sweetly pleasant ache which made her restless for some reason.
It didn't take a genius to work out that being pressing so firmly up against Dominic was making the ache worse.
"Dominic, I really think..." she began again, her voice hushed.
"Stay still, damn ye." he replied, voice low and heavy with sleep. He was no more than a third awake, she guessed. "Daenae wriggle so much."
Paisley had the strangest feeling that if she wriggled more, if she tried more firmly to get away, Dominic would release her immediately. She wasn't crushed or breathless. Dominic made no move, lying as if he were asleep again already.
This, Paisley thought to herself, is something different, all right.
This thought was rapidly followed by another.
It's probably a good thing that no one from my past can see me now.
She winced at that thought, and shifted, trying to free her arm, which was trapped underneath herself.
Dominic growled low in his throat.
"Paisley..."
There was something lovely about her name coming from his mouth, for a reason that Paisley couldn't quite fathom. She shifted again, this time trying to avoid something firm and uncomfortable digging into her stomach.
What was that? It was trapped between them, and no matter how much she wriggled, it only pressed harder...
It hit her with a rush, and Paisley's eyes widened, color rushing to her cheeks.
Of course, she only knew about this sort of thing thanks to her old nursemaid, who had sat Paisley down at the age of fourteen and given her a long, detailed, matter-of-fact explanation about the facts of life, the differences between men and women, and what a person could expect upon getting married.
She'd also offered advice as to how a lady could avoid a baby, if she so wished, and what she could do to make a baby more likely to come along.
The poor woman would likely have been dismissed on the spot if Paisley's Mama and Papa had learned of the conversation, but Paisley was grateful for it. She'd had too many friends who had been shocked, disgusted, and miserable upon their marriages.
But enough of that. Paisley had a more pressing problem which would be harder to deal with.
No pun intended, she thought, a trifle hysterical. She shifted again and cleared her throat.
"Um, Dominic..."
He swore under his breath, and the world shifted again.
Paisley found herself swept up from the bed and deposited on her feet. Dominic towered over her as usual, his head rather too close to the office ceiling.
His eyes were wide, and she realized that he really had been half-asleep when he pulled her down to him.
That should have been a relief, but instead disappointment pooled in her stomach.
"I..." Paisley began, trying to formulate some sort of apology.
Well, really, they both needed to apologize. She might have walked into his office without warning, but he had pulled her into bed with him when he was half-asleep, which was equally bad, really.
"I knew I shouldnae have hired ye." Dominic rasped, his pupils pinprick small and fixed firmly on her.
Paisley opened her mouth to protest, to point out her decently impressive track record to date, or perhaps to make some sort of apology or explanation.
Before she could speak, she found herself pushed back against the wall, a pair of large, warm hands curling over her shoulders.
And then Dominic kissed her.
Needless to say, Paisley had never been kissed. English ladies simply were not kissed before marriage, and usually not very frequently after marriage, either. She'd never thought it looked particularly enjoyable.
She was wrong.
Dominic's lips were soft and hard, firm but not too firm. He smelled of grass after rain, of whiskey, of sleep. His stubble scratched her skin, but pleasantly so. She felt his fingers trail against the soft skin of her neck, leaving goosebumps in her wake.
Paisley did nothing. She knew, in a vague, half-conscious sort of way, that she couldn't simply lean up against the wall like a plank of wood while she was being kissed, and yet she couldn't make her hands move, couldn't touch Dominic the way she longed to do.
He was wearing a thin linen shirt, open several inches at the neck, and she imagined drawing her fingers down the warm, exposed skin there.
The ache inside Paisley throbbed demandingly, making her gasp.
The gasp was swallowed up between them, lost in the intoxicating heat of Dominic's mouth.
It was the most shocking, thrilling, delightful thing that had ever happened to her, and she could think of nothing but the join of their lips and the heat of Dominic's body against hers.
Her knees sagged a little, threatening to deposit her on the ground, but Dominic's arms were tight and sturdy around her, and she clutched at his upper arms desperately, fingers digging into the smoothly muscled skin.
The kiss was over before she could snap out of it. Dominic ended the kiss, stepping abruptly back. Paisley sucked in a breath, suddenly aware that she hadn't breathed for a while now.
"Some doors should be left unopened." Dominic said shortly. "Ye shouldnae have come in here. Daenae come in here again."
With that, he yanked open the door – which had drifted closed at some point – and pushed Paisley out into the hallway.
The door closed behind her with a slam, and she stood there for a few moments, gathering her thoughts.
Well, Paisley thought dizzily. Well, that was unexpected.
Dominic closed the door behind Paisley and turned the lock with a shaking hand.
He paused, leaning forward to rest his forehead against the wood, and listened.
After a pause of a minute or two, he heard her footsteps retreat down the hallway.
Was it his imagination, or were her footsteps shaky and uneven?
He swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes closed. Moving woodenly and gracelessly, like a drunk man, Dominic turned his back to the door and slid roughly down to sit on the ground with a thump.
What was he thinking? What had he done?
Sure, he had acted out of reflex at first when he pulled Paisley down. Any movement around him when he was asleep meant danger. At least that’s what it meant back in his guard years.
It wasn't much different this time. If anything, it was far more dangerous now.
Dominic had never, ever put one of his hirelings in such a predicament.
Astrid, the traitorous previous barmaid, was possibly one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the Highlands, and Dominic had never felt even the slightest pull of attraction towards her.
There'd been times when he was sure she would have happily agreed to go to bed with him – before her obsession with Thomas and hatred of Emma began to take root – but he'd never considered taking her up on it, not even for a moment.
And now he'd dragged poor Paisley into his bed, held her tight to him, and kissed her as if his life depended on it. He could still taste the sweet flavor of her lips, tinged with the honey-ale she and Brodie must have drunk earlier, tinged with sweat.
He closed his eyes, remembering how her hair had tickled his nose, dappled with dust and smelling of fresh green and wet earth.
She'd frozen with shock, he was sure of it, but then he had felt her fingers slide up his arms, fingertips digging into the muscle, and she'd gasped into his mouth as it was all too much, and her feelings were rendering her almost helpless.
It was the most intoxicating kiss he'd ever had.
Dominic groaned out loud, cursing himself for a fool. His blood was still sluggish in his veins, heavy with sleep, and his mind was clouded. His chest pulled tight, making it hard to breathe, and the insistent curl of arousal in his gut meant that he wouldn't be sleeping again anytime soon.
To compound his mortification, Paisley would almost certainly have noticed his arousal.
I should never have put her in this position, Dominic thought despairingly. I wouldnae blame her for leaving, this very hour, and never coming back.
The idea of never seeing Paisley again filled him with a desperate panic, the likes of which Dominic wasn't used to grappling with.
The arousal in his gut did not go away, either.
He hauled himself to his feet with a groan and marched determinedly over to his desk. He wouldn't sleep much anymore, so he might as well get busy. Work, that was what he needed. Work would chase away these feelings and make him feel like himself again.
I hope so, anyway, Dominic thought grimly.