Nerves grow in my stomach as Dominic sets the ice pack in the sink and rests his hands on the edge of the countertop.His shoulders sag and he stays there just like that for a full minute before he turns back to face me.
"Come here, Angel," he says, putting out his hand to me.
"Why?"
"I want to hold you."
Everything inside me stills because I know, I just know if I touch him the same reckless energy that possessed me yesterday when we kissed is going to come back and weaken me.I'm already in this weakened state of conflict.
"Dominic, we shouldn't do this."
"Come here to me." He beckons, and the possessive look in his eyes moves me to him.I stop a few paces away, but he reaches for my waist and pulls me closer so that our faces are just a kiss away.
"Are your brothers okay?" I ask, trying to steady my thoughts against the desire and arousal mingling hot in my mind.
"They went home to keep their women safe, and I came here to mine."
Our gazes lock and I process his words.This is the part where I'm supposed to say I'm not his.I just don't have the heart to and not when this is the first time he's ever referred to me as such.
"Dominic--"
"I want you back," he cuts in, and shock slams through me, refuting everything I thought, past and present."I want you. We never had a chance and I want it." His eyes fill with desire and a compelling magnetism that makes my mouth water.
"I..."
"I want you, Candace Ricci," he rasps and lowers to my cheek, planting a soft kiss along the edge of my jaw.
More kisses follow tracing a line of fire down my neck, and my body tingles as the nerves awaken from his lips caressing my skin.
He slides his hands around my back and traces the contours along my waist, then my hips.When his hands roam down to my ass, then glide up to cup my left breast, a rush of wetness flows from my pussy and I know he has me under his spell.The wicked look in his eyes is a tell he knows it too.
What am I doing?
Again.
He dips his head, returning his lips to my neck, now nibbling at the skin.
"Tell me to stop, Angel," he whispers into my ear, his deep sexy voice thick and husky.
My lips part at the command, but for the second time tonight, the words don't come.
"Say it, Candace. Tell me to stop and I will.Tell me you don't want me back and I'll walk out that door and leave you alone forever."
Forever...
He'll leave me alone forever.Is that what I want? That's how I've been acting.Like I don't want him back.
Is that what I truly want, though?
I turn my face and brush my cheek against his.His eyes bore into me with anticipation, waiting for an answer I'm not sure I can give either way.
"Tell me." His voice takes on a harsher edge willing me to say the words, yet his eyes tell another story.
His eyes remind me of the boy I loved.The boy I still love. The boy I could never say no to.
My breath hitches and my throat closes when he walks me back until I'm pressed against the wall.
He squeezes my breast again and brushes his nose over mine.