23. Dominic #2
She cries out, hips stuttering, body shuddering as her orgasm takes over. She tightens around me, and I swear I see stars. I thrust up into her one last time, hard, deep, and explode inside her, thick and hot.
She collapses against my chest, both of us shaking, sweating, breathing like we’ve run a marathon. Neither of us speaks for a minute.
Then, her soft voice muffled against my skin: “Don’t pull out yet. I want to stay like this. Just a little longer.”
I wrap my arms around her and hold her there. Still joined. Still hers.
***
We’ve been lying here in silence for over half an hour.
Lena’s half draped across me, her legs tangled with mine, her head resting on my chest. It’s past midnight.
The city’s still humming outside—cars, distant sirens, horns.
The room is lit only by the moonlight and the soft glow of the city bleeding through the curtains.
I run my fingers through her hair, sometimes letting my hand trail down the length of her back, over the sheets.
She doesn’t flinch when I touch her. She melts into it, into me, like every part of her trusts this.
She’s so still, so close, it feels like she’s part of me.
It’s a strangely peaceful ending to a brutal day, one that nearly destroyed us.
“Lena, baby, did you fall asleep?”
“Almost. If I’m too heavy on you, I can move.”
“You’re never too heavy. Stay right here if it helps you feel safe.”
She lets out a quiet, teasing chuckle.
“Are you about to throw one of your classic sarcastic lines at me, Sassy?”
She lifts her head, eyes glowing in the low light. Then, with a mischievous glint, she shifts and props her chin on my chest, palms under her. She grinds against me, slow and purposeful, until I let out a low groan. Yeah. She doesn’t need a single word to be convincing.
“Easy, baby. I’m not exactly the kind of man who’s done after one round, and you’re not in top shape tonight to keep up with me.”
She groans, half-laughing. “Dominic, you really can’t help yourself, huh? That alpha thing… it’s always on. But come on… I’m your wife. I know what’s underneath all that.”
“Well, you should. Fair point, wifey. ”
Her smile fades a little. “Let’s be serious for a minute.”
“I was being serious.”
She frowns.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“It’s something you said tonight. In the shower.” She stops and looks at me, waiting for a sign. “Did you mean it? Were you telling the truth? Or were you just caught up in the moment when we …”
She gestures toward me—toward us—not needing to finish the thought.
“When I said what?” I ask softly. “I said a lot.”
“No, no. That part was serious. You don’t forget something like that. That was a declaration, Dominic.”
“Oh, you’re asking if it was real when I said it was all real? That I didn’t fake a thing since the moment I met you?”
Lena nods. I brush my thumb across her cheek. Her eyes fixate on mine, full of trust, unguarded. They glow in the soft shadows of the room.
My wife. It’s time. Time to lay down the last hidden part of my soul in front of her. To expose everything. At her mercy. And hope I won’t end up broken beyond repair. Hope she’s not going to run from me again and leave me shattered.
“Baby, I did fall for you that night. The very first night we met. I wasn’t looking to change anything in my life.
I wasn’t looking for someone like you. But I couldn’t help it.
You crashed into my life like you didn’t care what was standing in the way.
Rebellious. Sarcastic. Distant. It always felt like you were making an effort to tolerate me.
Out of politeness, or maybe for the sake of our friends. ”
Lena scrunches up her face and covers her eyes, pretending to be embarrassed. “Dominic, I swear I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t think you were serious.”
“You never noticed,” I say, quiet but clear. “But I was. Every second.”
She lowers her hands, eyes searching mine. “You kept showing up. And I kept fighting my own battles, used to standing alone.”
“Well, I didn’t really know you at the beginning,” I say. “But I was drawn to your fire, the way you pushed back every time I tried to help. Stubborn as hell, fearless... and somehow, that only pulled me into danger. I was a helpless victim when it came to you.”
She tilts her head, listening.
“I fought the feeling. For a while. I couldn’t believe it could be real.
Feelings like that didn’t happen to me. Not like that.
But every single time we clashed, even when you shut me out, I was happy.
It meant I was still close. I think part of me loved every damn fight we had.
Guess I was a bit of a masochist… putting up with all your moods, just so I could stay close to you. ”
She smirks.
“You were very much a Sassy,” I add.
She shakes her head, pretending to object.
“My Sassy,” I repeat.
This time she nods, her eyes gleaming as her lips curve into the softest smile. She doesn’t say anything at first, but I see it in the way her fingers tighten slightly on my chest. Like maybe she didn’t expect to hear all that. Like maybe it hit deeper than she planned.
“And I’m still very much in love with you,” I say quietly.
There. I said it. She’s quiet. Too quiet. Overwhelmed or… uncomfortable? The 'I love you, too' doesn’t come. Not right away. Not the way I hoped.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she murmurs.
“I did. In so many ways. I just hoped you’d see it.”
“You should’ve said it seriously, Dominic. I would’ve listened.”
“No,” I say gently. “You would’ve run, Lena. You would’ve put up walls between us. Started talking about how shallow I am, about the other women… It would’ve been the end.”
She looks down. “That’s who you made yourself look like, to everyone, to me. I didn’t start seeing more of you, really seeing you, until I found out about Axel. Until I met your family.”
She pauses, searching for the words. “But it kind of felt like life swallowed us whole and I never got the chance to talk about it with you. I’m sorry.”
I exhale slowly, my gaze dropping to our hands.
My thumb traces hers. “We all play the cards we’re dealt, baby,” I say.
“Those women I brought up when I made you the proposal… that was never the point. You were. I married you because I wanted you. So badly. When I found the right moment to offer you the arrangement, I took it. I didn’t look back. ”
She nods slowly, then leans in and presses a kiss to my shoulder, almost instinctively. A small thank-you without words. “Well, it was a good arrangement… in a way. Your whole family seemed thrilled about the marriage. Your friends, too. Leo, Alice… they welcomed me like I belonged.”
She adds with a dry little smile, “Okay, maybe not your dad. But you expected that, right?”
“Yeah. There was a kind of trend going around me. Like ‘Let’s finally settle Dominic down, before he becomes completely unmanageable.’ ”
My fingers drift to my beard. I smooth down the line of it without thinking. “I promise this is the last secret I’ve kept from you,” I say quietly. “But you deserve to know. There’s more. My mother… she gave me a pretty strong push. She straight up asked me to get married.”
I pause. It’s been eating at me for weeks.
“She was scared,” I say. “Afraid something was starting, that she might be developing the same condition my grandmother had. That one day she’d stop recognizing us.
She asked me to get married while she’s still here, really here.
While she still remembers, she still feels everything.
She wanted to build memories before it slips away. ”
“God, Dominic. That’s something I would’ve understood. I was so caught up in my own story, I didn’t even try to get to know yours. You always came across as this easygoing, detached guy. Almost superficial. And that was the version I chose to see. But you should’ve told me about your mom.”
“It wasn’t easy when I found out. And I didn’t want to admit it, let alone talk about it.
For one, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was real.
But more than that, I didn’t want to shadow something that finally felt like light in my life.
Even if we weren’t calling it real yet. And since you seemed to enjoy calling me out for my lack of morals, well…
I didn’t want to take that away from you. ”
She gives me a look. Half amused, half guilty.
“What about your mom now? What happened at the hospital today?”
“When I left to come find you, she was doing better. They were still running tests. Violetta texted me a little while ago. Everything came back clean. It’s just trauma from losing Axel. She’ll need time, attention, therapy, but she’s going to be okay.”
“Oh, thank God.” She lets out a breath and presses closer. “We’re going to give your mom all the memories she wants. I’ll ask my mom to help with the wedding stuff, and both of them can plan it together. That’ll make her happy.”
She’s still curled against me, her fingers lazily tracing circles on my stomach. The way she says it… light, hopeful… it makes my chest tighten.
I smile to myself, letting the moment stretch a second longer. “And maybe a grandkid too. Who knows? After tonight.”
She lifts her head just enough to raise an eyebrow at me, amused. “Oh wow, here we go again. So arrogant. You think it works like that? This takes effort, you know. Babies don’t happen overnight.”
I grin, dragging the back of my knuckles slowly down her bare spine, feeling her shiver. “I don’t know what books you’ve been reading, but the ones I read made it sound pretty straightforward. And in that department? I’m undefeated.”
She lets out a dramatic sigh and props herself up on one elbow, with a mock-serious look.
“In which department exactly? Fucking, or getting women pregnant?”
“Sassy,” I say, reaching up to cup her jaw, brushing my thumb across her cheekbone, “don’t twist my words. You know what I meant. We’re going to be a real family. And nothing will stop us.”