Dominic collapsed backward as all of the blood that had been gathered down below finally redistributed throughout his body. He grazed his hand lazily up and down Gwen’s spine as she nestled against him. He knew he needed to get up and dispose of the condom, but he figured he could do that when she inevitably freaked out and ran from his apartment. He was braced and waiting for that to happen. Hell, he felt almost like the woman in this scenario, wanting to cuddle and talk about feelings and crap like that.
When Gwen sat up, he dropped his hand, already trying to distance himself. He was floored when she licked her lips and gave him a lopsided smile. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to need to do that again. Can we? Please?”
Well, hell, it was official. He had gone and lost his heart to the girl next door . . . and his best friend’s ex. In true fashion, he never took the easy route.
Chapter Two
Gwen woke up and looked around the darkened room for the glow of her alarm clock. Her head was throbbing and her body was sore—in places it hadn’t been in quite some time. Just about the time that thought hit home, she realized two things. First, there appeared to be an oven at her back and second, there was an unfamiliar weight across her waist.
Holding her breath, she moved her hand along the anchor holding her in place and hissed in shock when a voice suddenly sounded in her ear. “Baby, you’ve pretty much sucked me dry, but if you give me five minutes, I’m sure I’ll have something for you.” It appeared that he wasn’t lying because the “something” was currently digging rather impressively into her backside.
Panicked, she jumped from the bed and promptly crashed into a hard object. “Oww, damn!” she cried as she tried to get her bearings. She was holding her injured hip in one hand and trying to locate a light switch with the other when suddenly the room was bathed in brilliance. The term “bull in a china shop” had new meaning as she flailed around, temporarily blinded.
“Whoa, darling, hold still before you break your neck,” said a husky voice right before a set of strong hands encircled her hips—her naked hips. “You’re going to bruise this beautiful body, and I’ll be forced to lick it better.”
Suddenly, it hit her with the force of a freight train. “Dom-Dominic.” She blinked a few more times before letting her eyes wander down his body. Naked and big—very big. Dominic. “We had sex, like a whole lot of sex, didn’t we?” she blurted out.
“We did.” He grinned wolfishly, then licked his lips. “I must say, Red, you’re a whole helluva bag of surprises that I would have never expected, but I’m damn sure thrilled to discover them.”
Gwen felt herself flushing all the way to her roots. Oh my God, the things she’d done to him . . . the things they’d done together. She might be embarrassed now at how wanton she had been, but the memories were enough to have her squeezing her legs together restlessly. Ouch, she was sore down there in what had been no-man’s-land. But it was a good feeling—no, OMG amazing was more apt.
Now, though, she wasn’t sure what he expected from her. Was she supposed to get dressed, tell him thanks, and leave? She hadn’t really thought this through last night when she’d stumbled to his apartment after drinking a few glasses of wine . . . Okay, maybe more like a bottle with her friends. The only thing that had been on her mind had been reaffirming the fact that someone out there wanted her. She could have hooked up with some faceless stranger at the bar, but she hadn’t been able to get Dominic out of her mind. Her friends had urged her on when she’d declared that she was going to “rock his world all night long.” They had called her a cab and sent her off to battle with a lot of war cries and hoots of encouragement.
And holy mother, it had been worth all of the awkwardness she was feeling now. Thanks to her alcohol consumption, things were fuzzy in a few places, but she remembered enough to know the man was a freaking sex god. He had a huge cock and he needed almost zero recovery between rounds. She was pretty sure that they’d blown through the strip of condoms that Crystal had stuck in her bra as she was getting into the taxi. Apparently, her friend, although claiming to be celibate now, didn’t intend to stay that way for long.
When Dominic’s hands slid soothingly over her ass, she croaked out, “Um . . . so . . . I guess I should go?” She grimaced at how pathetically hopeful she sounded. She had not meant for her statement to come out as more of a question.
When Dominic released his hold on her and turned toward the bed, she fought tears of disappointment. Before she could move though, he extended his hand and grabbed her wrist, tugging her down with him. “It’s still early, babe. Come back to bed.” Without protest and possibly a tad too eagerly, she followed behind him until she was settled with her back to his chest and his arms curved around her waist, anchoring her close to his warmth. “Yeah, that’s better,” he said huskily against her neck. Wait. . . . Did he just smell her? Oh, my . . . that was seriously hot . . . and kind of disturbing since she hadn’t showered recently, but who the hell cared. She finally felt herself beginning to relax against him. Just as she was close to drifting off, he said something that had her jerking around to look at him in shock. “We need to prepare for the possibility that you could be pregnant, babe.”
“What?” She gawked at him, wondering if she’d heard wrong. “I . . . we used condoms, and that’s like ninety-nine-point-something percent effective. I mean, that’s what they do, right?”
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip while nodding. “Of course.” She smiled, thinking he was just overly cautious, when he added, “But we had the . . . mishap on the last round.”
Their last round . . . Oh God, she remembered it now. They had been in a position that she’d never imagined was even possible. It involved him standing and her legs draped on his chest while he held her arms and lifted her up and down. Wow, she felt like a world-class porn star just knowing that she’d done that. Her fond memories took a bit of a dive as she recalled the “mishap” in question. Dominic had cursed when he’d pulled out and found that the condom had ripped at some point. She had been so boneless by that point that she couldn’t have cared less. Until now. “Oh no,” she whispered. “Oh crap, I had forgotten about that.” Studying his calm face, she asked, “Do you think anything leaked out?”
The ass had the audacity to chuckle at her question. “Um, I’d say some probably got away, babe. I mean, I don’t want to brag or anything, but my boys are probably kick-ass swimmers.”
Gwen rolled her eyes and dug her elbow into his stomach. She felt a small glimmer of satisfaction when she heard him groan. “You’re not helping, you know. Can you be serious for just a minute?”
Dominic gave a resigned sigh before saying, “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Red. No need to get all worked up over spilled milk or in this case . . .”
“I get it,” Gwen rushed to cut him off. She quickly did the math in her head and felt a little better. “I think I’m in a good place cycle wise. I mean, I just had my period so I haven’t hit the midway point yet.”
Scratching his head and looking adorably confused, Dominic said, “Babe, I have no clue about women’s cycles. I’ll leave that to you. Just promise me one thing,” he added, suddenly looking serious. “Don’t keep it from me if something should change. I can handle anything but lies.”
Gwen melted back against his chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms holding her close. It had been so long since she’d had a man holding her in the early morning hours. Mac had never stayed the night with her, so she’d never experienced this with him. She had no idea what would happen between them once they left this bed and started their day, but for now she wanted to pretend, if only for a while, that he wanted her—for more than one night.
* * *
Gwen made it to her office at Danvers International with just moments to spare. It wasn’t as if there was a time warden standing at the elevator to punch them in and out, but she always tried to be diligent in arriving before nine each day.
She had just put her purse away and was ch
ecking her e-mail when someone tapped on her door before swinging it open. Crystal walked into her office and leaned against the corner of her desk while Mia followed, closing the door behind her. They both had identical, expectant looks on their faces. Gwen decided to sit quietly and see who broke first. Finally, Crystal blurted out, “Well?”
“Well, what?” Gwen asked as she pretended to study her computer intently.
Mia tried her hand next. “So . . . er . . . did you do it?”
By this point, Gwen was fighting hard not to laugh as she said, “Do what?” in a bored tone.
“Hell’s bells, Gwen!” Crystal snapped. “Did you get laid or not?”
“Way to blurt it right out there, Crys.” Mia rolled her eyes. Pointing to Gwen, she said, “Look at her—of course she did. I’ve never seen her looking this relaxed.”
Crystal had just opened her mouth to make a comment when there was another knock at the door. “Yes,” Gwen called out, wondering who else could possibly be dropping by this early. Most of her coworkers tended to hole up in their offices with cup after cup of coffee until at least noon.
Gwen almost swallowed her tongue when Dominic strolled in looking like sex-on-a-very-big-stick. He gave her an intimate smile that had her panties melting. “Hey babe, I know you were running late this morning so I thought you might not have had time to stop for coffee.” He lifted his hand, holding up a white cup. He walked past her friends as if they weren’t even there and put the cup in front of her. Then, he dropped a kiss on her shocked lips before whispering in her ear, “It’s decaf . . . just in case.” When she continued to sit there, staring at him dumbly, he tapped her chin. “See you tonight? I’ll make dinner.” Without waiting for a reply, which she seemed unable to give, he straightened and nodded to Crystal and Mia as he walked past. “Ladies . . . have a good day.” With that, he was gone and Gwen would have thought that she had imagined the whole thing if not for the cup of coffee sitting in front of her.
“Wait. . . . Did that just happen?” Mia asked looking shell-shocked.
Fanning herself, Crystal said, “Well, if the orgasm I just had is any indication, then hell, yeah, it did. Gwen Day, I hate you!”
Gwen felt the urge to kick herself. It wasn’t as if it were the first time that a man had brought her coffee. Mac had done that in this very office before. But something about Dominic’s visit had felt so personal . . . so intimate. Even with her friends looking on it had been as if they were the only two people in the room. And dammit, he had even bought decaf on the outside chance that she was to get pregnant. That thought alone should have her freaking out, but strangely, it felt too good to have someone watching over her. He had even mentioned cooking dinner for her as if it was a foregone conclusion that they would be together that evening. When Crystal huffed loudly, Gwen focused on her friends and stated the obvious, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“You don’t need to know right now, Gwen,” Mia added softly. “He came for you this morning. You didn’t have to wait around on pins and needles wondering if he’d call. He laid all of his cards on the table for you.”
“He looked at you like he was going to eat you right where you sit for breakfast. It was so hot, I was practically spitting fire watching you two.”
Gwen gave up all pretense of playing it cool and sagged against her chair. “Last night was amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but he was so far beyond even my wildest dreams. We . . . you know . . . for hours. Every time I thought I couldn’t last another moment, he proved me wrong. I—I thought it was just the one night, but now . . . I’m not so sure.”
“Oh, sister.” Crystal winked before walking over to put a hand on her shoulder. “It appears he’s thinking way beyond that. Now, do yourself a favor and lasso that stallion and have the ride of your life.”
Mia gave a thumbs up. “Yep, exactly what she said. You deserve someone who actually focuses all of his attention on your needs, and I think he’s just the man for the job. It didn’t bother him at all that we were standing here. He homed in on you immediately and didn’t let anything distract him from his goal. Tonight, march right over to his place and take him up on his dinner offer.”
“And dessert.” Crystal grinned. “It’s always good to take a gift, so stop and pick up a can of Cool Whip on the way home.”
Gwen laughed with her friends and felt as giddy as a teenager before her first date. Somehow Dominic made her want to be that carefree again. She longed to go back to the days when she hadn’t been disappointed and let down by every man she dated. Why did she always have to be the one in the relationship willing to give everything to make it work while the other person just treaded water until something or someone better came along? For once, she wanted to be number one. It wasn’t as if she needed to be worshipped twenty-four/seven, but dammit, was it too much to ask for a man to just want to make her happy? She wanted to come home at the end of the day and feel like she’d actually been missed while she was away. In the past, she mostly came home to an empty apartment and a lot of excuses.
Mac had been one of her better dating experiences until the last few weeks of their time together. After that, the pattern had become all too familiar—knowing there was something going on, but wanting to believe that it was just her imagination. God, she had grown to hate those alarm bells that inevitably went off in all of her relationships. The warning bells that told her she was hanging on to a sinking ship and no amount of paddling would ever make it right again.
Crystal might be disillusioned with men after divorcing her controlling husband who always wanted her to be perfect, but Gwen had never had that problem. The men she’d dated didn’t seem to care enough to try to control her. That would have involved more time than they were willing to give her. The sad part of it all was that after the experience with Mac, she had concluded that it had to be her. Men fell in love and got married every day; heck, most of her exes married soon after they dumped her. Maybe she was some type of marriage training course. They dated her and got their selfish, jerk days out of their systems, and then went on to settle down and be perfect husbands. Stranger things had happened.
Mia and Crystal left her with her thoughts. She promised that they’d try to have lunch together tomorrow so she could fill them in on her dinner with Dominic. Gwen only hoped that she wasn’t a complete fool for even considering spending more time with him after breaking up so recently with his friend. She winced at the thought because it sounded so cliché. When had her life turned into something from a romance novel?
* * *
“Dude, you got laid, didn’t you?” Dominic blinked in surprise at Gage’s accurate assessment. Shit, was it that obvious? He hadn’t said anything even alluding to his night with Gwen so he had no idea how Gage had zeroed in on it within fifteen minutes.
Dominic kept his head down and his eyes fixed on the security feed from the previous evening. Their first task each day was to read reports from their various clients and glance through the footage to ensure nothing was missed. This was something that they could assign to one of their other employees, but when time permitted, he, Gage, and Mac still preferred to keep their hands on the pulse of their business. “Don’t you have something else to do?” he asked Gage when the other man continued to sit and study him.
“Well, of course,” Gage scoffed, “but this is so much better. I mean, I’m pretty damned impressed that you had the energy to go out and hunt a woman after traveling all weekend. I’m just gonna admit that I went home and crashed till this morning. If I’d found a naked woman on my doorstep, I’d have probably sent her on her merry way.”
When his hand slipped on the mouse and it clattered to the floor with what sounded like the force of an atomic bomb, he knew he was screwed. Gage was now in his favorite position of interrogation. His feet were propped on the desk in front of him, and he was leaning back in his chair. “No fucking way. Who did you get a door prize from last night? Crap, was it Kandi?”
Domi
nic had briefly dated a woman named Kandi a few months ago. When they’d met, she told him that she was a dancer but had been evasive as to where she did that dancing. He’d been surprised that wherever they went, half the men in the place seemed to know her. One night, she had finally confessed that her real name was Mona and her stage name at the strip club where she worked was Kandi. He was far from a prude, but when she wanted to share him with her friends, Bambi and Trixie, he’d called it a day. Yeah, he’d had a threesome back in his wilder, boot camp days, but it wasn’t something he was interested in now. Of course, her strange need to speak in baby talk to his crotch didn’t exactly make her a keeper, either. Gage had never gotten over his rejection of Kandi and her crew. He was sure there had actually been tears in the other man’s eyes when he’d told him. “No, it wasn’t her,” he answered flatly, trying to discourage further questions.
“So, that actually happened? Shit, I was just harassing you, but some chick did show up naked last night? If it wasn’t Kandi, then it must be someone new. A neighbor? I can’t believe you let go of your Gwen crush long enough to sleep with someone else.”
Why, oh why couldn’t he keep his cool around Gage? For the love of God, he served two tours in the Marines and most of them in Afghanistan, where having a poker face kept you alive, and he couldn’t bluff the man sitting next to him. Instead, he was fumbling around with his keyboard and mouse like a virginal schoolgirl being hit on for the first time. He might as well be holding up a sign saying: I HAD SEX WITH GWEN LAST NIGHT, because there was no way Gage was missing his complete loss of cool. “Can we not talk about this,” he said weakly, hoping for mercy, which wasn’t going to happen.