My shoulders stiffened as I stepped into the living room. Dom was sprawled on the sofa, reading the bookhe’d taken from my place when I was sick. “Made a fire. Figured you might be cold.”
I waited for him to say more. To ask me about why I’d taken off or where I’d been. But Dom just turned another page.
“Thanks,” I said belatedly. “I’m going to go for a shower.”
His eyes stayed fixed on the book. “Is that an invitation?”
“Like you need one,” I muttered before catching myself. “No, it’s not an invitation. We’re not… This is…”
Dom looked up at that, and there was more understanding on his face than I’d been prepared to see. “Stop overthinking, Shadow. Go and shower. I’ll be a good boy.”
I put a hand on my hip. “Since when have you been a good boy?”
“Since I’ve learned I might get rewarded for it.” Dom’s dark eyes were heavy as they rested on me. “I can do all sorts for the right…motivation.”
My tongue flicked over my lip. Yeah, I could imagine just how Dom might be motivated. The things he’d be willing to do to get back in my good graces.
I didn’t need to imagine all of them. He’d already told me a few. I knew all it would take was a few choice words, and Dominic Walker would be at my mercy.
And I’d be forever damned.
Dom stretched and yawned. Thanks to his continued lack of shirt, I had a front-row seat to just how his muscles tightened. My mind drifted to that room as I mapped out the lines in my head.Maybe if I sketch him like this, the image won’t haunt me.
Yeah, that was bullshit.
I pulled at my collar, trying to get some air to myblazing skin. “Maybe we should open some windows. It’s far too hot for a fire.”
Dom’s laugh was like liquid lust. “Or maybe you should try a cold shower, Ry. I think that might help more than you’re prepared to admit.”
“Fuck off,” I snarled, stomping off in the direction of my room. “I don’t need anything like that. I’m fine. This isfine.”
Dom hollered after me, “Is fine a synonym for horny and frustrated? If so, I’m also fine.”
The slam of the door was the only answer I gave him. I didn’t bother to lock it. I knew better than to think it’d stop Dom coming in.
Or is it that you don’t want to stop him?
No. That wasn’t the case. Obviously.
I glared at the shower dial for a moment, setting my jaw stubbornly as I twisted it.
The spray was near scalding when I stepped under it, but I didn’t so much as wince. Fuck Dominic. I didn’t need a cold shower. I wasn’t hornyorfrustrated.
My aching cock twitched incredulously.
The heat didn’t coolas the day went on. It simmered under my skin as we fished together, Dom failing as drastically as he had the day before. It prickled along myhairline as we cooked dinner, silently side by side. It boiled as I followed him through to the living room after we ate, threatening to cascade out of me at any given moment.
Dom had been uncharacteristically docile. He hadn’t pushed, teased, or cajoled. The innuendos had stopped,and the conversation had been…easy. Surface-level chat designed to get me to lower my guard.
But I was wise to him. I kept my walls high, never revealing more than intended.
I’d done enough of that already.
“Music?” Dom asked, his phone in hand.
“Sure.” Anything had to be better than listening to the constant barrage my brain was subjecting me to. Everything from suggestions of what Dom and I could be doing right now, to how my life would implode if I indulged in a single one of them.
The opening notes drifted through the air and I tensed. Oh, I’d been wrong. This was worse. Much worse.