If I Let You Go

“How can you not see that I’m doing this for her?” he snapped. “So I can spend more time with her, so I can afford to give her everything she wants!”

“Everything she wants is here!” I said, throwing my arms wide and spinning in a circle to mark my point. “It’s right here in this flat, right now!”

“I can’t be here all the time.”

“You could if you stopped thinking about your enormous wage packet! You earn more than enough to live comfortably now. You earned more than enough for t

hat before your last promotion, but instead, you took it and you’re missing out on everything. Every little achievement Tilly has made has passed you by. You even missed her parents’ evening! You should have seen her work for yourself, and heard the teacher praising how far she’s come in the last year! Are you even going to be here for her birthday in a few weeks, or is that another milestone you’re going to sacrifice?”

“I’ll be here,” he said, through gritted teeth. “But don’t push it. If you want to be angry with me, that’s fine, but don’t ever question how much I love my daughter.”

“I don’t question that for a second, Dom. I don’t. But you have to see how much damage this move could do to her. You’re taking her from everything she knows. And I still don’t see a good reason for it.”

“This isn’t up for debate, Madison, it’s happening! She’s my daughter, not yours!”

“Duly noted,” I said, trying to keep a firm grip on my temper. “I’ll get out of your way in the morning so you can talk to her about the move. You need to do that without the help getting in the way.”

“Jesus, Madison!” Dominic snapped, practically flying across the kitchen to stand in front of me. “I need your support! I need to know you’re going to back me up, and that you’re not going to be filling her head with poison while I’m not here!”

A blinding, burning anger surged through my veins. Tilly might not have been my own flesh and blood, but I’d have done anything, anything, for her, which was a lot more than could be said for her mother. Maybe my words had crossed the employer/employee boundaries, but I’d never have even dreamt of trying to turn Tilly against her father.

“Do you really know that little about me?” I spat. “If you think I would be capable of that, if you think for a second that I’d do anything to hurt either of you, I may as well leave right now!”

He didn’t answer, and I shook my head, knowing that all we were going to do if I stayed right there was go round in circles. I’d had enough.

I tried to push him aside so I could get to the door, but he refused to budge. I pushed harder, trying to use my anger to shove him out of the way. His response was to grip the tops of my arms until I stopped fighting, glaring into his eyes.

His lips crushed down against mine. No warning. No gentle lean-in. One minute we were apart, the next, I was locked into a kiss I hadn’t expected. I froze only for a second before giving in, my body shifting from shaking with rage, to shaking with something completely different. One of his hands slid from the top of my arm to the back of my neck, the other slipped around my waist, his fingers burning me through the thin material of my dress. Unsteady, I clutched at his t-shirt, hoping it would hold me up enough until I was ready to touch him.

Well this is completely unethical.

I didn’t care. It was better than shouting.

I’d never hated and wanted someone so much in my life.

My fingers twisted the fabric of his shirt, bunching it up in my hands as his tongue found its way into my mouth. He reached behind him, his nails scratching against the wooden door until he found the handle. Swinging it open, we stumbled through and shuffled along the hall to his bedroom, entwined in a desperation-fuelled kiss.

In the privacy of Dominic’s room, I lifted his t-shirt to run my hands down his back, and he broke away from me for just a second to pull his shirt over his head. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him shirtless, but it felt like the first time. I didn’t have time to stop and admire the view, I needed to touch him, to taste him. My mouth danced along his broad shoulders, nibbling, biting. A refreshing coolness hit me, the sound of my dress zip echoing in my ears, and he tugged it down, letting it drop to the floor.

The rest of our clothes quickly followed, and we fell back onto the bed, breathing heavily, hearts pounding. We were ready, more than ready, but Dominic made me wait, trailing kisses down my neck to my breasts, where he repaid me in kind for using my teeth. My breaths became shallow, and I closed my eyes, concentrating hard on holding in the feral moan that threatened to burst out of me. The mix of small, sharp bites and soft kisses drove me crazy, and I raked my fingers through his already tousled hair, pulling him up to me so I could feel his lips on mine again.

For the second time, he let go of me with one hand, while holding me with the other, and reached out for the drawer in his bedside cabinet. Knowing it was going to happen soon made me kiss him harder, raising my hips towards his. When he found what he was looking for, he rolled away from me, just long enough to tear into the foil packet and slip its contents into position.

When Dominic rolled back on top of me again, his breathing as ragged as mine, he paused for a second, the first sign of uncertainty in his eyes. Are you sure about this?

My own eyes widened. It’s a bit late to ask now!

A small grin of understanding crossed his lips, but I hooked my leg around his hip, forcing him back into the moment. Neither of us could wait, and as he moved inside me, fast, animalistic, the world around me started to disappear. All of my senses became alert, heightened, building. Building, until fire ripped through me, shooting out ripples of pleasure that rolled and crashed across every part of my body. I couldn’t stop myself calling out his name. It sounded distant, like the words weren’t really coming from my own mouth, and shortly after, he let out a loud groan before collapsing on top of me, both of us drenched in sweat.

Chapter 3

I stared up at the ceiling, unable to move, waiting for the post-angry-sex high to kick in. My body was still tingling, and beside me, I could hear Dominic still hadn’t quite caught his breath.

The high didn’t come.

Instead, I felt panic. If I couldn’t still feel his weight on top of me, and the tiny bite marks on my skin, I could have convinced myself I’d just had a particularly filthy dream.

Naked, sprawled out on Dominic’s bed, I felt exposed, but I didn’t want to move yet. I tried to con myself into thinking that if I didn’t move, he’d forget I was there. Maybe he’d fall asleep and I could creep out, pretend nothing happened.