Chapter 8
DOMINIC
Iknew this was madness. If I knew what was good for me, I’d run in the opposite direction and keep going until I stopped wanting Rose Murphy. But going by how much I wanted her and how long I’d wanted her, I had a feeling I’d be running for the rest of my life.
I could withstand a lot of things, but I wasn’t made of stone.
And when Rose looked at me with fire and need in her eyes, like she wanted to lick me up and down like an ice cream, there was only one thing I could do.
I wasn’t a fool. I wasn’t going to touch her because that would mean going down the path of no return.
But I sure as hell was going to stand still and let her touch me all she liked. Just this once.
I took another step closer until our toes were almost touching and nodded at her.
“Go ahead, Rosie Posie,” I dared her.
I was so sure she was going to back out at the last minute. I wanted her to back out. But even more than that, I wanted to feel her tongue on my skin. More than anything in the world.
She hesitated for a minute, and her pupils dilated as she stared into my eyes.
Her nostrils flared, and her breath came faster as her lips parted and her tongue crept out to moisten her dry lips.
Then she bent her head slightly and ran her nose along my sternum gently until she reached my collar bones, sending a shudder through my body.
She tilted her head and held my gaze as she parted her lips, and her tongue darted out to lick the droplets of water off my chest.
The gentle touch felt like a searing brand against my skin, and it was all I could do to keep my hands off her. She trailed the droplets down my chest until she reached my nipple. My cock was rock hard and straining against the towel. I knew she could feel the hardness against her belly.
I held my breath as she ran her tongue firmly over my nipple, making me almost jump out of my skin.
She raised her eyes to mine again before she dropped them to stare at my erection that was still thankfully covered by the towel.
She took another step closer until it was plush against her belly.
She moaned softly at the feel of it, and I knew I couldn’t keep my hands off her anymore.
“What do you want?” I asked, and her wavy hair danced deliciously around her face as she looked up at me, her face tormented with desire.
“I want…I need your hands on me,” she whispered, and that’s all I needed to hear.
I placed my hands around her waist and pulled her even closer. She went up on her toes and wound her arms around my neck, and she let out a little hiss when I ran my palms firmly up and down her sides. I ran them down to grip her curvy ass and rocked her over my hardness.
Her long lashes swept closed over her gorgeous eyes as I dipped my head to claim her lips. And then, there was a loud knock on my door.
“Boss! You might want to see this,” called Trevor.
I rested my head against Rose’s and cursed under my breath. Could a guy not catch a break?
“Don’t you dare answer him right now,” she muttered against my lips, winding a leg around my hip.
In reply, I ground my hardness against her, and she whimpered with need.
“Mr Carlisle, this is important,” cried Trevore, and the note of panic in his voice made us both freeze and turn to the door as one.
Rose unwound her arms from around my neck and stepped away, her eyes darkening with worry.
I grabbed a bathrobe and wrapped it around myself before I opened the door. Trevor’s eyes widened when he saw Rose in my room, and widened further when he clocked the fact that I was in a bathrobe.
“Sorry to interrupt, guys, but there was an attempted break-in at Rose’s cottage,” he announced.
Rose gasped in horror.
“Who was it?” she asked.
“Joe Cheney,” he replied, looking at her sympathetically.
“Why would he try to break into my house?”
“Maybe to express his displeasure at how the relationship ended,” I suggested. “We’ll call the cops, Rose.”
“Already done, boss,” said Trevor. “Logan’s guys had just installed the burglar alarm and were still on the property when it went off.”
“Who’s Logan? And what burglar alarm?” asked Rose shrilly.
“Logan is my chief of security. I asked him to install a security system at your place because you cannot rely on your faith in the goodness of people, Rose. Not with creeps like Joe Cheney around,” I replied, and she glared at me.
“I know you like to think I’m a flake, Dom, but I’m not,” she snapped. “If I could afford a security system, I would have installed one ages ago. But the truth is that I cannot, so there!”
“Guys, can you squabble later? There’s some more stuff you need to know,” broke in Trevor impatiently.
“Like what?” I demanded.
“The burglar alarm went off when Joe tried to jimmy the lock on your front door, and it spooked him. He bounced before the guys from the security team could come around the house and grab him.”
“Can’t Logan have him tracked down? When did this happen?” I asked.
“It happened around twenty minutes ago. And as soon as the burglar alarm went off, Joe jumped into his car and sped out of there like a bat out of hell. Logan’s team tracked his car, but he drove out of the town limits five minutes ago and disappeared down Interstate 89.
It’s going to take them time to track him down, but I wanted to give you guys a heads-up. ”
“Thanks. Keep me posted on his whereabouts,” I said.
“I’m…I need to check on Sweetpea,” said Rose, evading my gaze as she walked towards the door.
She was clearly having second thoughts about what we were doing earlier, and I didn’t blame her.
If Trevor hadn’t interrupted us, we would have messed up the fragile friendship we’d built up over the years.
Besides, Rose and I were tied together through so many other relationships that would go up in flames if we had a casual fling.
She was very close to my mother, who would disown me if I broke Rose’s heart.
Not to mention my grandmother, who was quite fond of Rose.
Or Trevor. I shuddered to think of what creative form of punishment he would inflict on me should I hurt his friend, which was inevitable since there was no happy-ever-after in my future.
And Rose was not the sort of woman who could handle a hookup.
She was more the fated mate, destined to be together type.
And I had no business giving in to the very inconvenient desire I felt for her. For her sake and mine.
Even if I was capable of loving a woman, Rose was the exact opposite of the kind of woman with whom I’d fall in love. I needed someone who was the mirror image of me. Calm, focused, and neat, as opposed to Rose, who attracted, created, and fostered chaos wherever she went.
But the main point was that I refused to have anything to do with love.
It was the greatest weakness in the history of humankind, and ought to have been eradicated around the same time that we found a vaccine for smallpox.
I couldn’t believe that despite all the advances made by modern medicine, we hadn’t found a cure for the delusion we called love.
Maybe a partial lobotomy? Or a twelve-step program, even, because in my opinion, love was even more dangerous than cocaine.
It destroyed lives. It brought down civilisations. It started wars. It brought nothing but misery to those afflicted by it. So if Rose wanted to act like nothing had happened between us, I was fine with it.
“There is one other thing,” said Trevor.
“Now what?” I asked wearily, and Rose turned at the door to shoot me a searching look. I looked away immediately, determined not to fall for the snare of her gorgeous blue eyes.
“Your grandmother’s invited you for breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“Make up some excuse, Trevor. Tell her I have an early morning conference call with Japan,” I said irritably.
“No can do, boss. She already knows Rosie’s staying with you. In fact, I’d go so far as to say she’s heard rumours about the two of you, and she’s on a fishing expedition.”
“What rumours?” cried Rose in alarm, and I didn’t blame her for panicking.
You didn’t want my grandmother to stick her nose in your personal life because she was the matchmaker from hell. Gran and her cronies weren’t content to just run this town. They even wanted to run the lives of everyone living here, and their favourite pastime was matchmaking.
If my grandmother was convinced two people should be together, it would take an act of God before she changed her mind.
Strangely, she’d had a hundred percent success rate until now.
Which meant we had to take care not to give her ideas about us.
I had too much on my plate already to waste time dodging the queenaged Cupids of Maplewood and their arrows.
“She has eyes and ears all over the town, babe,” replied Trevor.
“She knows something went down at your cottage, and that the boss came to your rescue. Also, Joe Cheney went straight to Hot Toddy’s after the scene at your place and spent some time grousing about the injustice of losing his girlfriend to the powerful billionaire who owns most of the town. ”
“Ohmigod,” groaned Rose. “Todd gossips like an old lady! No wonder your grandmother wants to know what’s happening. We need to fix this, Dom!”
“Trev, tell Gran I can’t make it to breakfast tomorrow. And that Rose is staying here only for a couple of days because her cottage is infested with fleas,” I said desperately, and Trevor shook his head.
“I’ve got my orders, Mr Carlisle. I need to deliver the two of you to her door at nine am tomorrow, or she’ll stick my head on a spike outside the town as a warning to people who think of defying her,” replied the coward. “Her words, not mine.”
“I’m moving back home,” said Rose desperately. “Right now.”
“Too late, bubs. Your dinner’s here. Spaghetti and meatballs from Mancini, as ordered,” said Trevor, with a grin.
“Ordered by whom?” she asked in confusion.
Trevor tilted his head towards me, and I felt a flush creeping up my cheekbones. Darn it! He wasn’t supposed to tell her it was me. I needed a new secretary, someone way more discreet than this one.
“I’ll eat in my study,” I said stiffly, and she walked out of the room without a word.
Trevor gave me a disappointed look, but I knew it was for the best. I couldn’t risk a repeat of the earlier incident.