Page 60 of Dual

NINETEEN

ANNA

My pulse throbsin my ears as I stare at Domhnall's sleeping form, the moonlight casting silver shadows across his bare chest. He's beautiful when he sleeps—all the hard angles of his face softened, his dark lashes fanned against his cheeks, his breathing deep and steady.

I've been awake for hours, rehearsing this in my head.

I wanted himsobad earlier. All throughout the entire movie, I wanted to grab his head and shove it between my legs.

But I froze.

Because after all I've done to get rid of Mads, what if it suddenly brought her back?

I'm exhausted, but the throbbing between my legs won't let me sleep. And it's almost been a week now with no sight of Mads.

You can do this, Anna.

Dr. Ezra's voice echoes in my mind from our last session. "The more you avoid intimacy because you're afraid of switching, the more power you give to that fear. The mind is powerful—if you believe you'll switch during sexual intimacy, you might be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy."

I twist the edge of my nightgown between my fingers, my heart racing. I've been avoiding this for so long, letting Mads have this part of him because I was too afraid.

But I'm tired of being afraid.

I'm tired of being a bystander in my own life, my own body.

Tonight was perfect, and I'm taking back what's mine. After all, this is the final test of whether I've truly evicted her from my body, isn't it?

I take a deep breath.

I've seen Mads in action enough times to know how to mimic her. The way she talks. The way she moves. The confident swagger that I never quite mastered.

"Hey, handsome," I whisper, lowering my voice to match her husky tone as I trail my fingers across Domhnall's bare shoulder. "Wake up."

He stirs, his body tensing slightly before he relaxes, recognizing my touch even in sleep. His eyes flutter open, dark and disoriented.

"Anna?" hemurmurs, voice thick with sleep.

I smile, letting it curl slow and wicked the way Mads would. "Try again," I purr, straddling him in one fluid motion.

His eyes sharpen instantly, taking in my posture, my expression, and the way I'm looking at him. I can pinpoint the exact moment he decides I'm Mads—the subtle shift in his gaze, the almost imperceptible tensing of his muscles.

"Mads," he says, no question in his tone. His hands come to rest on my thighs, fingers digging into the flesh there with a possessiveness he never shows Anna.

My breath catches. This is already different than any other time he's touched me. There's none of the careful gentleness he usually handles me with.

This is raw. Hungry.

“Miss me?” I ask, rolling my hips against him, feeling him harden beneath me.

His mouth curves into a smirk I rarely see. “Always,” he growls, and in one swift motion, he flips us over, pinning me beneath him.

The move is so unexpected, so unlike his usual careful approach with me, that I gasp. He misinterprets my surprise as pleasure, and his smirk deepens as he lowers his mouth to my neck, biting at the sensitive skin there.

“Oh!” The sound escapes me before I can stop it, and then I arch my body into his.

This is... not what I expected. I knew Domhnall was different with Mads—more dominant, more aggressive—but I hadn’t anticipated the complete transformation. The manabove me right now isn’t the gentle, careful lover I’m used to. This is the Domhn I’ve only heard about, the one who makes Mads scream and beg.

And God help me, I want him.