Chapter 12
Iwas tempted to keep Mari to myself, but the reminder of how easily Cash had gotten to her at a private, secured party at her own club overrode my wants. Greyson insisted on Moore and Tennessee, as usual, but agreed that a smaller guard was a better option. Easier to keep her under the radar. His only real caveat was we went to Wicked.
On a scale from dive bar to Gilded, Wicked sat somewhere on the dark side of the middle. Multilevel and massive, the club was all strobe lights, smoke shows, and cage dancers. Despite being a weeknight, it was packed with revelers ready to enjoy the night as the air reeked of booze and sex.
It was perfect.
“You come here often?” I asked Mari, noting the way she glanced over the dance floor, searching for something.
“She finds her dates here.” Greyson glanced at her and then away before their eyes could meet.
Ever since our little heart-to-heart in the car, I’d been paying attention to Greyson and Mari. The way they gravitated toward each other, even when they didn’t mean to. I could see the fractures my arrival had started, but I had a feeling time was the real culprit.
How long can you be without the person you’re in love with before that love turns to resentment?
I blamed observation on why it took my mind so long to catch up to what he said. “Dates?”
Mari sighed, running a hand through her hair. We’d stopped by the house to change, and she’d slicked it back before draping herself in a flowy black dress that gave peeks of long legs as she moved. She looked incredible, and I had a hard time not touching. “I don’t date, but when I’m interested in company, I come here.”
One-night stands. Wicked was where she found her one-night stands.
Suddenly, I didn’t like it as much.
“Are you looking for someone tonight?” I didn’t know why I asked. Masochism, maybe? The idea of her with anyone else ate at me. I was coming around to the idea of Greyson, but a stranger when we were so vulnerable as a family right now? I didn’t like that at all.
“I’m considering it,” she said.
A fierce possessiveness ran through me. No one else was touching her. Not some stranger on the dance floor or someone she already had on her roster. No one. If she wanted a dirty bathroom fuck, she could ask me.
Jesus, way to take it slow.
“What about you? Are you looking for a companion?” Mari asked. “I haven’t seen you with anyone since you came home.”
And she wouldn’t. “I’ve got all the company I want right here.”
Grey called the bartender over and ordered for all of us. When the glasses were passed out, he lifted his. “To a night out.”
“To a fucking break,” Mari breathed.
I grinned. “To kicking Cash’s ass.”
We clinked our glasses, and Grey downed his fast. “I’m heading upstairs.”
“He okay?” I wasn’t sure why I was asking, except wanting to understand. Mari waved me off.
“He goes to the VIP section and keeps an eye out for me.”
While she picked up other guys. Fuck, the more I stuck around, the more I felt for Grey and wanted to punch him in the dick. He’d gotten the short end of the stick, but it was mostly by his own making.
Mari downed her drink, waving off a second as she grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”
I set my glass down, not bothering to finish, and she towed me through the crowd. We stayed close enough to the edges that we weren’t boxed in by people. Had to be sure her shadows could get to her if needed.
I expected her to dance close to me, to stay in my orbit without touching. Instead, she wrapped herself around me like she had every right to be there. Her hips ground against mine, and our cheeks brushed. It was something similar to the way we danced at Gilded, but with far more innuendo.
“Dance with me, Dominic.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. I gripped her waist, pulling her in until I felt every minute move she made. For the longest time, we just moved together. She had no space, no air, no breath without me. My hands roamed her back, her hips, her ass—everything I could reach.
I hadn’t touched Mari since I was a teenager, and now that I had her in my arms again, I wanted her even more. Shallow breaths against my neck and soft groans she thought I didn’t hear told me she liked it as much as I did.
“Let me kiss you.” I didn’t mean to say it, but I wanted it.
She groaned again, her body pressed tight against mine. I didn’t know how many songs we’d danced through, but we were both soaked with sweat. “Dominic.”
Fuck, that voice. Soft and breathy, almost too quiet to hear over the noise of the club. “Say yes, Mari. Say yes.”
“Yes.”
Fuck yes.I tilted her chin up, ghosting my lips over hers once, twice, before?—
“You’re back.”
Mari and I whipped around. I didn’t recognize the guy in front of us, but Mari obviously did.
“Grant.”
Who the fuck is Grant?
“Hey, Mari girl. How are you?”
I looked at him again. He was handsome enough. Short curls around his head, skin so tanned it was nearly brown, and enough muscle to know he kept in shape, but it was the way he looked at Mari that struck me the most. His gaze ran over her like he knew what she was wearing under that dress.
“Fine.”
“You looking for someone tonight?” That he asked was confirmation enough.
He’s had her before. Tasted her. Heard her scream.
I hated him.
She didn’t answer as she pressed herself tighter into my arms, so I did. “She’s got me.”
Surprisingly, he backed down with nothing more than a wink and a Call me if you change your mind.
As soon as he was out of sight, I had her hair wrapped around my hand, head tipped back. I wanted her to look me in the eye as she told me all about Grant. “Was that one of your regular fuckboys, or was he a one-time deal?”
She licked her lips, eyes darting down to mine and up again. “One time.”
“Hmm. Did you have fun with him?”
A shrug. “Sure. He’s not what I’m interested in tonight.”
Tonight.She said it like she could change her mind about me at any time. It pissed me off. “Is that all you want? Tonight?”
“Yes.”
There was an edge of insanity in the way I kissed her neck, her shoulders. The way I nipped here and there. Marked her so everyone knew she was taken. Mari didn’t make a single complaint as I did it either. “Fucking perfect. My perfect fucking girl.”
“For tonight.”
If she said it again, I was going to scream. Instead, I wrapped a hand around that pretty little neck and ghosted my lips over hers again. “I’ve been dreaming of your taste for years, mariposa. You going to let me have it now?”
“Please.”
Please.Did she beg so sweetly for assholes like Grant, or did she save it for me?
As I leaned down, I decided I didn’t care. For the first time in ages, Mari’s lips pressed to mine, and it felt like coming home. Like I finally had that piece of me back I hadn’t realized she’d held. She gripped my hair, keeping me close, and I stroked my tongue across the seam of her lips. When they parted? When she opened herself to me finally?
Heaven. Pure heaven.
I drank from her mouth, sipped and licked and soaked her in like I’d never get another chance. When we both needed a breath, I went back to her neck, her shoulders, her chest. Anything I could reach, I kissed.
“Precious little butterfly. How I’ve missed you,” I murmured against sweat-slick skin.
Mari pulled me up and nipped my bottom lip sharply, soothing the sting with the swipe of her tongue. “I’m not precious.”
“You are to me.”
She pulled away, the haze of lust disappearing under the weight of her uncertainty. Her mistrust. It killed me. “Dominic?—”
I shushed her, reeling her back into my body until we were dancing again. “What do you want, mariposa?”
“I want to feel. Just for tonight. No drama, no history, no fucking Cash. I just want to get lost in the music and the feel of someone’s hands.”
“My hands.”
Her eyes glimmered with humor as she taunted me. “Are you sure? I’m sure Grant’s free?—”
She gasped as I twisted her, yanking her back to my front. There was no room between us as I slid my fingers through that silky hair and tightened, baring her neck for my teeth. “Only me. Or Greyson.”
I wasn’t sure why I added him, but as soon as I did, it felt right.
“Greyson isn’t interested.”
I laughed, pressing a hot kiss against the junction of her neck and shoulder. “If you think that, you aren’t paying attention. That man would bleed if you asked him to.”
“That’s loyalty.”
Did she really think that, or was she too scared to see what was in front of her? I didn’t know, but some part of me wanted to show her. To remind her that he’d always been there when I hadn’t. To reward that for both of them. “That’s love, mariposa.”
She froze, and I pressed against her, leading as we wound our bodies to the music. It was simulated sex with clothes on, hot and sticky and so fucking sexy. I wanted more.
Mari melted into me. “Touch me. Just for tonight. Make me yours.”
I wanted to. I wanted to more than I’d wanted to do anything else in my life. But it didn’t feel right. Because she wanted a night, and I wanted forever.
“No.”
She stilled in my arms. “What?”
How could I explain it to her? I didn’t want a quick fuck. I wanted this, us, to last. I twisted her around so she could see me. See the truth. “I haven’t earned you yet.”
And I want more.
She scoffed, trying to pull away, and I tightened my grip. “If this is some edging thing, I’m not interested.”
“Good to know.”
She pulled again, and this time, I could feel her slipping away. “This doesn’t have to mean anything.”
But I wanted it to.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, Mari. I’ve been careless with you, and it’s one of my biggest regrets. I want to make it right. I need to make it right. So, I’m going to earn my way back into your heart. Because this?” I tightened my hand, pulling her head back so I could lay a soft kiss against her cheek. Mari shuddered against me, fingers clawing into my wrist as she felt that connection between us too. “This is next-level shit.”
Shit she wasn’t ready for. She relaxed into me, molded to my body. Ran her hands down my chest to the waistband of my jeans. “I thought you said you’d take care of me.”
“I will.” I pulled back enough to watch her face and stop those hands from moving. I had to know the truth. Was this just sex, or was it more? Could she trust me again, even after I’d walked away? “Do you trust me?”
Her nod was immediate, and relief flooded my body. I hadn’t fucked it up beyond repair. Not yet. You will if you don’t tell her.
I pressed another kiss against her lips. “If you want to be taken care of, go find Grey.”
She reared back, and I let her go. I’d said my piece. I wouldn’t hold her anymore. “What?”
“He wants you, probably more than his next breath. Are you telling me you don’t feel the same?”
She did. Her chest was absolutely heaving. “I can’t.”
“You can.” I was losing her, so I kept going. They needed this, and for whatever reason—penance or pain—I needed to be the one who gave it to them. “One night, Mari. That’s what you asked for. Let him give it to you. Let him put you both out of your misery.”
“You think he’ll be okay with that? With one night?”
Not a chance in hell. If Greyson walked away from her after one night, I’d give her my entire bank account, inheritance and all. “I don’t know, but I know it’s what you need. What you both need. The future can wait until tomorrow.”
She wanted to. The way she tightened her fists told me so. Clench, release. Clench, release. But could she push past decades of keeping him at arm’s length to take what they both wanted?
“Okay.”
The victory spreading through me was expected, but the relief was a surprise. Her giving in felt like she wasn’t just giving him a chance, but me too.
I wasn’t going to waste it.
“Good girl. Go have fun. I’ll keep an eye out.”
She darted in close, pressing a kiss to my cheek. Her fingers dug into my sides, nails sharp and a little painful, before whispering against my damp skin. “The next time you start something, you better be willing to finish it.”
I let her slide out of my embrace and move toward the stairs before I called for her. She twisted back, and I grinned at the pout on her lips. “The next time I fuck you, I’ll make sure you can’t see straight. But not until we’re both ready.”
I didn’t miss the flash of a grin on her face when she melted into the crowd.