booths completely shadowed. In a few minutes, servers would make the rounds, dropping off water and anything the table had ordered for aftercare and taking orders for those who hadn’t done so beforehand. Knowing Domi’s love for lemon, Mitch had taken the liberty of ordering her a slice of lemon meringue pie.
Sitting down, Mitch pulled Domi toward him, turning her around to face him. She had a similar expression to Ellie’s, and he allowed himself a few moments of smug satisfaction over making her look like that. He got another bolt of enjoyment when he removed the clamp from her right nipple, and she wailed, back arching, hands automatically coming up to fend him off as the blood rushed back into the crushed nubbin. If she hadn’t been totally undone by the scene, she never would have reacted that way.
Easily grasping her wrists in his hand, he leaned forward and took her nipple in his mouth, suckling her through the pain. Little sobs of breath heaved her chest, and she shuddered, slowly coming down from the high. When he removed the one on the left, she was clear-eyed enough not to fight him and moaning in enjoyment as he soothed the sting with his lips and tongue. Mitch’s cock twitched again at the sultry sound, but he knew it wasn’t actually going anywhere.
One slice of pie and two glasses of water later, Domi was completely recovered and happy to agree to schedule future visits to Marquis—no ‘dibs’ needed. Which was good since Marquis required a reservation. Mitch walked her to her car, gave her a hard kiss, and said he hoped to see her soon. With a wink, of course.
Strolling back to his own car, he whistled a merry tune.
Chapter One
Six months later
Domi
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Uh-uh, I love you more.”
“Uh-uh, I love you most!” Ana giggled, the way only a five-year-old who had just bested her mother could. Ever since she’d learned that “most” was, well, the most, she’d been thrilled to use it, and Domi was happy to let her. Especially in little contests like this.
Seeing Marcus’ car coming up the driveway of the house she and Rae rented together, and where Ana lived with them half the time, Domi hugged her daughter tightly. She and Ana had been watching for him from the couch, which was tucked under the big bay window next to the front door. She could see Julia, Marcus’ wife, in the passenger seat, and Domi sighed inwardly even as she waved.
“Daddy! Daddy! And Ju-ju!” Ana bounced on the couch in excitement, waving her hand at her dad and stepmom.
It wasn’t that Domi didn’t like Julia. The woman was almost everything she could ask for in a stepmother for Ana. She loved Ana, treated her like she was her own, and was good at knowing when to indulge her and when to be firm. Unfortunately, Julia didn’t like Domi… at all.
Domi couldn’t really blame her.
To say Ana had been unplanned was a vast understatement. Domi had been rebounding hard from a college relationship that hadn’t worked out, thanks to her ex’s super bigoted parents, and Marcus had been having a good time while he and Julia were on a break. No, no, a real break, not a Ross and Rachel from Friends kind of break.
Julia had gone to Europe for a year for work. She and Marcus had been together since high school and decided to take that year to ‘discover themselves.’ They’d planned to reconnect when she got back and see how they both felt, but they didn’t have any contact and considered themselves single.
A few weeks before Julia was scheduled to return home, Domi and Marcus had been at the same party. She’d been angry and heartbroken after being dumped. He’d been missing Julia while simultaneously terrified everything between them would have changed, and Domi had been a good distraction. Both of them had been a little drunk, but they’d been what each other needed that night.
They hadn’t even exchanged phone numbers. Still, ironically, while Marcus had been worried everything between him and Julia would be different after a year apart, it hadn’t been. Not right away.
Julia came home, had her planned meetup with Marcus, and the two of them had been headed straight for happily-ever-after. Then Domi had to hunt him down three months later to let him know she was pregnant, and it was his. Poor Marcus had been torn between the love of his life