Chapter 25 Briar
Briar
“Are you sure about this? I understand that you have a game tomorrow,” I tell Dominic as he closes the door behind Griffin and Penny. They’re headed back to the team hotel for the night, but we’ve had a great evening of talking and laughing.
I was nervous about meeting Penny and downright terrified of meeting Griffin Mahoney given his reputation, but they were both welcoming and friendly and had made it easy and comfortable. I think seeing them was also good for Dominic. He seems more relaxed, steadier somehow.
“I’m sure,” Dominic says quietly. He’s watching me, though, checking if I’m okay.
I have never spent the night at a man’s house before.
I’ve certainly never tucked Harley into bed in a guest room and then gone to sleep with the guy I’m dating in another room.
But I’m doing it tonight. It’s probably a minor thing to most people, but to me, it feels like a huge step.
Especially after meeting Dominic’s family.
“Okay, I’m gonna check on Harley one more time, then I’m ready.”
Ready for bed. Ready to see where this all goes. Tonight and beyond.
I peek through a crack in the door and see Harley curled up in the bed, snoring lightly.
He’s a good sleeper. He never even stirred when Dominic carried him in here, though my ovaries were stirring enough for us both.
I will never forget the image of Harley’s head on Dominic’s shoulder and him laid out across his arms like a sleeping prince.
I blow a kiss Harley’s way with a happy smile.
Back in the living room, Dominic is folding the blankets Penny and I used, dropping them into their basket home.
“Think that’ll be enough light?” Dom gestures to a dim lamp.
“Just in case he wakes up and doesn’t remember where he’s at.
The guest bathroom has a nightlight too.
” That he’s aware and cares that a young boy might wake up in the middle of the night and need a light to safely find his way in a sleep-addled state is downright sexy to me.
“It’s perfect,” I assure him.
With a sexy smirk, he takes my hand, guiding me to his bedroom.
I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much.
He’s had an exhausting day, both physically and mentally, and has to do it all again tomorrow.
He needs rest, needs to fall into bed and sleep soundly.
But the idea of curling up with his hard body, constant heat, and gentle heart is such a turn-on, so while my mind is saying let the man rest, Briar, my body is saying something completely different.
I glance at the bedroom, getting a sense of bland luxury, with everything white and wood, before he directs me to the bathroom.
I find that he’s already set my overnight bag on the counter, and make quick work of washing my face and changing into my pajamas, which I chose very intentionally.
As I enter the bedroom, Dom is leaning back against the headboard, propped against a stack of pillows, waiting for me.
When he sees me, he pauses for a split second and then busts out laughing. “Oh my god, that is just as fucking hot as I knew it’d be.”
I strike a pose in the nightshirt I rush-ordered to be here for tonight.
It has a giraffe printed on it, the neck ending right below my own neck, and also came with knee-high giraffe leg socks.
“So sexy, right?” I point my toes, putting one hoof forward and then the other in a little giraffe ballet.
Dom is nearly crying with laughter. “The sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
His laughter stops instantly when I do a pirouette that sends the short gown twirling out slightly.
“Oh shit, do that again,” he growls, his mood changing in a blink.
With a teasing glance, I spin. I know what he’s seeing .
. . the tiniest hint of what I’m not wearing beneath the silly pajamas—panties. “Come here.”
I step closer and he throws the blanket back, revealing that he’s wearing only black boxer briefs. I can see the thick ridge of his erection through the fabric. “Giraffes, huh?” I purr teasingly.
“You,” he answers, pulling me into his lap to straddle him. I shift, settling my core right over his hardness, and he makes a rumbling sound deep in his chest. “We have to be quiet so we don’t wake up Harley.”
It’s not a question. He’s telling me that he understands that even here, in this private moment between us, he knows my son is my first priority. Always.
I nod. “He’s a deep sleeper, but yeah.”
A wicked grin steals across his lips. “Challenge accepted. Be quiet for me, Briar. No matter what, ’kay?” Before I can answer, he cups my jaw and covers my mouth with his, the kiss instantly heated.
We’ve wanted this. For too long.
God, I went years without sex, so busy and distracted by my life that I didn’t even masturbate for months at a time. But one time with Dominic and I’m a sex-starved lunatic for him. I want to feel what he does to me. I want to make him crazy for me. I want us both to experience that rush again.
My hands find his chest, where I trace the hard planes of his muscles before moving lower, over the solid expanse of his abdomen.
Dom’s body is made for violent power, and I love the feel of him beneath my fingertips, especially the way he clenches in response to my touch.
Despite the intense, barely restrained need I sense in him, his touch is pure, gentle reverence as he runs his hands over me, exploring my curves and leaving heat in his wake.
He snakes his hands under the gown to find my breasts and massages them, plucking at my hardened nipples. Wanting to be helpful, I move to take the shirt off but he stops me. The devil in his eyes, he shakes his head. “I’m gonna fuck you with it on.”
Uhm, what?
But the playful look he gives me has me nodding like a robot. “Oh, okay.”
With a dark chuckle, he lifts his hips and sends me flying. I land on the bed on my back with my legs askew. He catches one calf, holding it in the air and tells me, “The socks too.”
I giggle, thinking he can’t be serious. But he is. So very serious.
He presses kisses up my leg, the first one on top of the socks, but very quickly finding my bare skin.
Who knew kisses on the inner bit of my knees could be so hot?
Not me, obviously. But then his mouth moves higher .
. . making his way up my thigh, moving from one leg to the other while pressing them open, wider and wider to make space for his broad shoulders between them.
The room’s cool air blows over my bare, wet center, chilling me, and goose bumps break out over my flesh.
“Cold?” Dom murmurs.
Yes, but also no. I’m cold and hot. Every sensation feels overwhelming in the best way. I shake my head. “Just need . . .”
I don’t want to say it. I’ve never once asked for anything in the bedroom.
Ever. In my life. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had asked.
But now, everything is different. Dom will care.
He’ll want to give me what I want. I writhe unconsciously, unable to stop it even if I wanted to.
My body is searching for Dom’s—his fingers, his mouth, his dick.
Anything to relieve this ache at my core.
“Yes?”
Hesitantly, I whisper, “You. Touch me, please.”
“It’d be a damn honor,” he replies before his hands splay me open even more, exposing my most vulnerable of parts to his gaze.
He groans quietly before laying a soft kiss right over my clit.
It feels like a greeting of sorts, a promise to take care of me, a vow to give me pleasure, but it’s not enough. I’m so aroused, I need more . . . now.
I whimper, my hips lifting of their own volition, searching .
. . searching. After a yearning, torturous trio of heartbeats, Dominic finally licks my clit with a long, slow stroke that drags the full length of his tongue.
I cry out as a shudder works through my whole body from just the singular lick.
“Shh,” Dominic reminds me.
Was I loud? I glance at the closed door, but hear nothing outside.
When I look back at Dominic, he has hunger in his eyes and, keeping them locked on me, he licks me again.
Okay, feeling him do that is one thing. Watching him, watch me while he does it?
Another thing entirely. It’s a different type of vulnerability. A different type of sexy.
I let my head fall back to the bed, my eyes fluttering closed as he overwhelms my entire being with the magic he’s doing.
His mouth and tongue worship my clit, one finger and then two sliding inside me, petting that spot he found, and his other hand works its way up to my breast, where he plucks at my nipple.
The pulsing, throbbing pleasure coursing through my body is immense and all-encompassing.
I lose all sanity. All respect for what is polite and proper flies out the window.
I grip Dominic’s head, my fingers threaded into his hair, and I hold him to me.
Not that he’s trying to get away. In fact, he’s pinned one of my legs beneath his arm, not letting me move except to buck my hips against his evil tongue.
But I’m chasing the release he promised with that first sweet kiss.
I want it. I want him. I want this.
I feel it building inside me, like I’m pulling the entirety of the universe to a pinpoint somewhere inside my body right behind my clit, holding every bit of the cosmos tight for one . . . more . . . second.