Dom and I hadn’t exchanged another word in the charged atmosphere of the vehicle. We’d engaged in a silent battle, but no matter how our views conflicted, one thing was certain: he was done giving me space. I appreciated his patience. I wasn’t that clueless to think that I’d turned Dom into mypdog. That wasn’t the man I was attracted to.


    I wanted the boss. The confident man who ruled his crime family, but I refused to be relegated to the corner again.


    Dom kept me stered to his side, and it was only when we entered the penthouse that he loosened his arms and let me go.


    The decisive click of the lock turned me wary, but it was the kind of wariness that was abination of excitement and indignation.


    I crossed my arms. “You didn’t want to discuss the situation until you got me into the penthouse. Were you afraid that I was going to bolt?”


    “Drink?” He ignored my question and walked to the minibar.


    “No. Answer the question.”<fndb3f> The rightful source is Find?Novel</fndb3f>


    Infuriating man that Dom was, he went ahead and poured himself a scotch before turning around to face me. The only satisfaction I got was noticing the tremor in his hand as he raised the ss to his lips. He was as tense as I was, and I wasn’t a foregone conclusion.


    “You’re mine. I’m yours. I’m moving back in,” he told me.


    “Are we sharing a bed?”


    “I just came inside you, baby. Damn right you’re sleeping in my bed. You’re not a hypocrite, nor are you obtuse.”


    “I’m not. You figured out I can handle your overbearing ass.”


    He moved closer. “Yes. I believe in you. I’m not hiding you anymore?—”


    “You’ve proven that by taking me to the g?—”


    “And I love you.”


    “I…” What did I say to that? “Are you sure?”


    Irritation shed through his face even when my whole body lit up with tion. I was afraid to believe that this beautiful man chose me. He could have anyone. A beautiful heiress, a virgin bride, someone younger who could give him heirs with impable bloodlines. Who wasn’t stubborn as hell and could be a meek mafia wife. But he wanted me. The messed-up former cleaner for the mob.


    Bianca’s voice echoed in my head.


    You deserve this.


    I deserved this. What happened to flipping the script? Obviously, mentally, I still needed work, but I was more open and trusting. These past few weeks, constant self-reflection had been a morning routine and I no longer woke up deste but hopeful. My scarred heart had healed from all the pain we inflicted on each other. I wasn’t innocent in this. I never had been. But because we set rules in our affair, we never fully trusted each other.


    I erased the distance between us and invaded Dom’s space. His eyes red with heat, making his tux jacket I was still wearing heavy. Shrugging it off, I stepped closer. “I need a little more patience.”


    “I can be as patient as you need. Spin on your thoughts all you want, I’ll be patient,” he said, tone guttural. “I don’t have to fuck you, but please, Firecat, don’t send me away. I can’t bear it. I need to be in your orbit. Sleep beside you. Watch you sleep.”


    My fingers traced the shadows underneath his eyes. “That sounds stalkerish.”


    A corner of his mouth lifted. “I have been your stalker.”


    Then I remembered his evasiveness earlier. “You never fucked without a condom.”


    His arms wrapped around me, locking me in as if he was afraid I would run away. “And there will be nothing between us from now on. Be on birth control if you have to, but know there’s nothing I want more in my life than having children with you.”


    “I have?—”


    “Listen to me,” he persisted. “I understand hopes and dreams more than anyone else. I’m not gonna stand in your way, but also understand that I was heartbroken when we lost our baby. I—” He let me go and walked to the tall windows with a view to the Manhattan skyline. “Grigori is dead.”


    “Wh-what?”


    He turned to face me. His face a nk mask. Inscrutable. Cold. “He died of radiation poisoning. He traded you to Margo for medical care.”


    “Oh my God.” I sped my throat.


    Dom’s eyes narrowed to where my hand was and he clenched his jaw. “I haven’t found Anton yet, but that fucker, Boris, is dead. I tortured him in a basement and killed him after I found out he was responsible for your miscarriage.”


    He ryed the news in a t voice devoid of emotion, far from the man who dered that he loved me.


    Blood drained from my head and pooled somewhere in the vicinity of my toes, causing me to sway. Dom stalked toward me, guided me to a chair, and dropped to his knees in front of me. The pain of losing the baby had slowly faded. Maybe because I’d never confirmed the pregnancy until I lost it. I’d never angsted over it. Never hoped. The loss hit me all over again, but the feeling was muted. I was conflictingly horrified that I relished the death of the men who hurt me. With a palm over my lower belly, I whispered, “Would it make me a terrible person to be relieved that they’re dead?”


    “No. Then that would mean I’m evil. Do you believe I’m evil?”


    I smiled faintly. “You’re not the one who’s going to be a nurse to save lives and not celebrate the ending of them.”


    “If you believed in the greater good, then it’s a blessing to be rid of Grigori and Boris.”


    “Greater good hits differently when dealing with the mafia. It’s more like the lesser evil.”


    Domughed briefly at this. “True.” He sped my hands to get my full attention, giving them an extra squeeze. “Then you’ll understand why I need you to let me do what’s best for your safety. You would not be in a rtionship with a nine-to-five husband working in a corporation.”


    A burst ofughter passed my lips. “Husband?”


    “Why mince words? That’s where we’re heading.” His mouth settled into a wry smile. “As much as I hated how Margo manipted the events leading up to the g, I couldn’t fault her clever machinations that led to this point.”


    The matchmaker had been in the back of my mind, especially after how everything went down this evening. “Margo said she believed in me. I’m not denying that added to my self-confidence.”


    “I believe in you. Trust that…please. Because I’ll never let you leave me. If I fuck up, I’ll grovel all over again until you forgive me. But we’re deviating, and I need to get this off my chest. You have to allow me to protect you. I will always have enemies. They will know what you mean to me and will attempt to use you against me?—”


    “I promise not to call 911 on the security you have on me,” I said simply. I understood that much and what it meant when I let Dom back into my life. There were more adjustments to be made and I had no doubt living with constraints would chafe at my independence, but the pros outweighed the cons and I was a practical gal. Dom more than proved he wasn’t putting me in a corner any longer. This gorgeous man who set me on fire had shown me he would put me first. He wanted me, loved me. Dom loved me! It finally sunk in and the earlier tion washed over me again.


    He chuckled. “Thank you.”


    He rose to his feet, pulling me up with him. “Now, can I show you to our room?”


    I barely said yes when he swept me off my feet. “Dom! I’m heavy. The gown must weigh…”


    His grunt held a hint of indignation. “Firecat, you could wear armor that weighs a ton, and I’d still carry you up the stairs when the situation calls for it.”


    I hooked my arms around his neck and rested my head on the warmth of his chest. “And the situation calls for it?”


    “I finally fucked my woman. She’ll finally be sleeping in my bed…”


    He let it hang. Dom’s room was the first room in the same wing as Lucy’s.


    I’d never entered Dom’s bedroom. Not even to snoop. But I could always tell someone hade in to clean the penthouse when I wasn’t here. They never bothered my room or Lucy’s. I figured it was the same people who stocked up the fridge whenever Lucy and I were hanging at Jabbin’ Java to escape cabin fever.


    When he lowered me over the threshold, the dim lights behind the bed came on. An extremely masculine bedroom of ck and dark wood. It was…cold. It was a cleaner’s dream or nightmare. Dream because it was a simple job, nightmare because if all my clients were this way, I couldn’t charge exorbitant fees.


    “Wow.” It was the anti-Lucy room, but I held my tongue.


    “Is that wow approval or disgust?” Dom asked.


    “You’re very OCD.”


    “The Moretti side, I guess.” He walked to the bathroom. Bathroom was an understatement. It was connected to a closet that in itself was a room. Dom wasn’t busy showing off the vastness of the area, he was showing me a space in his closet for me.


    “I made room for your stuff.” For the first time this evening, an uncertainty, almost boyishness, shed through his face. I inspected his closet and could see why he was the dapper gentleman of the mob. Expensive suits lined his closet. Handcrafted shoes were on disy in a custom-made shoe rack across one wall.


    “I don’t have many clothes.”


    “Buy more.”


    “Careful. I might get used to thisvish lifestyle.”


    The gleam in his eyes liquefied my bones, and I was helpless like a rag doll when he dragged me against him. “Get used to it. I can’t wait to pamper you. Part of my frustration was your rule that forbade giving gifts. In a way that frustration became resentment until, ultimately, it became pride when you broke off our affair.”


    “Is that why you readily believed that I betrayed you?”


    “Yes.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “Forgive me, baby.”


    “You’ve apologized countless times.”


    “And I’ll repeat it until that scene is a distant memory.” He exhaled a ragged breath full of regret. “You may have forgiven me, but I don’t think I can ever forgive myself.”


    I cupped his scruff-bristled cheek. The stubbles hid his tense jawline, but I could feel the anguish still eating him alive. “That won’t do if we’re going to have a future. Mistakes were made because of my stubbornness and your pride. We can only move forward.”


    He nodded briefly and kissed the tender flesh of my palm with reverence. “Let me get this gown off you.”


    Iughed briefly. It was being held up by a few buttons in the back. The gown pooled at my feet. Dom’s cum had dried along the inside of my thighs.


    “I’m a mess,” Imented.


    He crouched in front of me. “I like my mess on you.”


    The gratification in his tone made me roll my eyes. He rose to his feet with a cocky nt to his mouth. “Let’s take care of the hair.”


    Unlike his impatience with the buttons of my gown, Dom was careful as he searched for the pins in my updo, carefully extracting them so they wouldn’t yank at my scalp. We were in front of the mirror, and I watched his brows furrow in concentration at something as menial as freeing me from a hairstyle. After a few minutes, he massaged my scalp, his fingers searching for any stragglers, but I moaned at the pleasure it was giving me.


    “You like that, hmm?” he murmured against my ear.


    “Oh, yes.”


    “Then you’re in for a treat.”


    Dom and I had shared showers countless of times, but there was something different with this one. Besides the fancy showerhead and gallons of water jetting all over us, we were more open, more affectionate. He’d shampooed my hair before, but this time his touch was possessive, more proprietary, like he’d staked a im. Patience with leashed passion. A gentleness shaped by the love he dered earlier.


    My needs before his.


    He shampooed my hair twice, washing away the gumminess left by hair products. When he was satisfied, he worked in the conditioner and let my hair soak it up while he grabbed the soap, and, like the meticulous way he took out the pins, hethered my skin. After thoroughly washing all traces of the night, only then did he back me into the corner, the wordless intent on his face clear.


    He sank to his knees, draped my right leg over his shoulder, and reverently nted kisses all the way up to the juncture of my thighs.


    My body shuddered.


    “Cold?” He nced up at me.


    I wasn’t. My back was against the tiles, but we’d worked up enough steam, figuratively and literally, to keep the enclosure warm, or maybe the tiles were specially designed to absorb heat.


    I shook my head.


    He grinned up at me devilishly before he attacked my pussy. He was gentle, then rough. I came instantly.


    Dom rose to his feet and slid inside me. With our eyes locked and in slow, grinding drives, he brought me to the pinnacle once more. I screwed my lids shut and stars exploded behind them. The familiar toe-curling sensation reduced my limbs to mush. Dom held me up as he sped up his thrusts, pumping erratically until he gave a grunt and released inside me.


    Later, he washed me again between my legs, toweled me dry, and dried my hair with a blow-dryer.


    I’d never been more rxed.


    He carried me to the bed and set me on top of it. It was unfamiliar, but I was too sated to care.


    Dom’s body wrapped around me, and I sunk into slumber.