“And it hit me that we’d wasted so much time dancing around this thing we have—and we do have something here, Mila—rather than just accepting and exploring it. Life’s too short for that shit. I’m not wasting any more time. I’m too old to bullshit myself about what I feel and want. And I’m done trying to rationalize it.”
Satisfied that this hadn’t been some spur-of-the-moment thing that he was likely to regret later, Mila nodded. She could tease him a little, though, right? Glancing at the wall, she blew out a breath. “I guess I’ll have to tell my uncles to postpone the arranged mating.”
He stiffened. “Postpone?”
“Well, this might not work out. I need to keep my options open and—”
Grabbing her wrists with a growl, he pinned them above her head. “You better be fucking kidding me.” But he was smiling because the little witch was laughing. “You’re gonna pay for that, Mila.”
“What, you gonna spank me, GQ?”
“As a matter of fact . . .” Dominic withdrew his half-hard cock, flipped her over, and brought his hand down hard on her ass. The little witch was still laughing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A god-awful beeping sound woke Dominic. Beside him, Mila reached over to the nightstand and turned off the alarm. He was just about to snuggle up to her when she fluidly slipped out of bed and stood tall, as alert as a fucking marine. He blinked. “Were you already awake?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
Pulling on an old flannel shirt, she said, “Nope. I was having a really strange dream that I was playing poker with Wonder Woman.”
He flicked a quick glance at the digital clock. Only 7:15 a.m. “Come back to bed, baby.”
“Gotta be at work at nine.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t come lie with me for a minute,” he pointed out, but she’d already disappeared into the bathroom. She returned after only a few minutes, looking fresh as a damn daisy. Then . . . it was like she was on fast-forward mode as she moved around the room, brushing her hair, changing into fresh clothes, and dabbing on a minimal amount of makeup without even looking in a mirror—he’d never seen anything like it. Honestly, he was tired just watching her.
Shaking his head, he asked, “How can you go from a deep sleep to wide awake, and then be completely ready in a matter of minutes?”
She shrugged. “Call it a leftover from my childhood. And adolescence.”
“A leftover?”
“I lived with two wolverines, GQ. If you didn’t get to the breakfast table fast, you didn’t get breakfast.”
Huh. He hadn’t thought of that. As she went to walk past him, he snagged her shirt, yanked her close, and then rolled her onto her back beneath him. “Better.” He took her mouth in a long, lazy kiss. “Good morning.”
She combed her fingers through his hair. “Good morning. Bet it feels weird waking up in someone else’s bed when it’s not the middle of the night,” she teased.
“I did wake up, remember?” Spooning her, he’d played with her clit until she was dripping wet and then fucked her right there, like that, before they both fell back asleep. He hadn’t felt even the smallest pull to leave. “In the past, I always went home because I didn’t want to lead anyone on.”
She looked at the ceiling. “You know, I’ve never understood why some guys worry that if they stay the night at a woman’s house, she’ll think it means something. Honestly, if a guy fell asleep in my bed and didn’t leave before morning, I never thought it meant something. I figured he was fucking tired. And since I very much hoped he had worn himself out making sure I had had myself a good time, I didn’t see it as a bad thing.”
Well, Dominic supposed that was indeed one way to look at it. “I don’t know anyone like you.”
She sniffed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Good. It was meant as one.” Nuzzling her, he yawned.
“Go back to sleep if you’re still tired.”
Drawing back, he brushed his nose over hers. “I want another kiss.” She lifted her mouth to his. Smiling, he began to slide down her body. “I didn’t say where I wanted it.”
After making her come with his mouth twice, he fucked her hard into the mattress. Ignoring her bitching about how he should have done it before she’d washed and dressed, he slapped her ass and headed into the bathroom. He