Page 141 of Scorned Beauty

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.”

“Ibelieve 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 elation 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 had come 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 black 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, flashed 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 display in a custom-made shoe rack across one wall.

“I don’t have many clothes.”

“Buy more.”

“Careful. I might get used to this lavish 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.”

I laughed 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,” I lamented.

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