Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (10 page)

“You’re glowing! Did you do
it?”

Molly laughed. “Not
that
,
but we had a pretty intense make-out session.”

“Was it hot?”

“Totally hot.” Molly fanned
herself and they both dissolved in giggles.

“
And?
”

“And what?”

“Are you
gonna
do
it?”

“Probably.”

They burst into laughter
again. “I’m so glad we met,” Suze whispered, giving her a hug. “I haven’t had a
girlfriend in a long time.”

“Me either.” Molly hugged
her back. She turned back to the mirror and reapplied her lipstick, trying not
to think about the evening of hot sex that was inevitable.

Watching her come across the
restaurant, Dom fought the urge to immediately drag her back to their room and
have his way with her. She’d driven him crazy this afternoon, listening to her
moans and sighs. He was dying to make love to her and show her what it was like
to be with a real man. The more he heard about her husband, the more baffled he
became by the crazy people in the world. He didn’t understand how a man could
hurt a woman, over and over, for more than twenty years. He also didn’t
understand how she could stay, but he knew she really had nowhere to go. He was
grateful he’d been able to save her that day that seemed like so much longer
than a month ago.

She dropped into the seat
beside him and he couldn’t resist leaning over to brush his lips across hers.
She smiled into his eyes but turned to find CJ staring at them.

 “Are you going to get
married
?”
the boy asked, and Suze snorted.

“I don’t know yet,” Dom told
CJ calmly, despite the laughter he was holding back. “But I like her a lot. Is
that okay?”

CJ squinted at them. “But will
you still be Aunt Molly and Uncle Dom if you get married?” He seemed worried
and Molly reached over to tousle his hair.

“Of course we will! Nothing
will ever stop us from being Aunt Molly and Uncle Dom!”

“Promise?”

“We promise, buddy,” Dom
gave him a smile.

“Okay.” He still eyed them
suspiciously and Suze fought not to laugh out loud.

“Does he skate yet?” Toli
asked Cody.

“A little,” replied Cody. “I
guess I’m just not sure I want him becoming a hockey player, you know? It’s a
tough life sometimes, and even though I love it, I can’t ever remember having a
choice
. I went to the rink four or five times a week for my whole life.
Even my sister played. I’d like him to decide on his own—because no one ever
asked me what I wanted.”

“I want to be a goalie!” CJ
announced, startling everyone.

“When did you decide that,
honey?” Suze asked him, her eyes wide with unshed tears.

“When I was little,” the
child said. “Being a goalie is cool! Five hole!” He immediately dropped into a
split on the ground with his hand in the air as if catching a puck.

“All right, we can talk
about that when we get home,” Cody said. “But we don’t practice goalie moves in
a restaurant.”

“Okay.” CJ hopped back into
his seat and stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth.

Molly gave Dom a quizzical
look at Suze’s reaction and crinkled her forehead.

Brian,
he
mouthed silently. Molly immediately understood; Brian had been a goalie.

“Hey, would you guys watch
CJ for a few minutes?” Cody rose slowly, pulling Suze up with him. “We’re just
gonna take a quick walk on the beach before dinner, okay? We’ll be right back,
buddy.” He leaned over and kissed the top of CJ’s head.

“No problem,” Molly waved at
them. “We’ll keep him entertained.”

Cody pulled Suze off the
terrace and onto the sand, where she slipped off her shoes before moving
against him. He whispered something in her ear that made her smile and they
strode off and out of sight.

“So, how’s your son doing,
Toli?” Molly asked.

“Anton is very good,” he
grinned, pulling out his phone and showing them a video. “This was high school
championship,” he said proudly. They watched Anton score a goal and put his
hands in the air. He was built just like Toli, with the same grin and blue
eyes, but hair that was longer and a straight nose that more than likely came
from his mother.

“He looks good,” Dom said,
impressed. “Is he looking at the Juniors?”

“One more year,” Toli said.
“Mother wants to wait. This is okay—he will grow more. He is six feet
tall—maybe taller than Toli soon.”

“Are you going to see him?”
Molly asked.

“Next week. Toli was
thinking to bring him here for the rest of summer, but after situation last
week…” His voice trailed off as he glanced in CJ’s direction.

“I’m sorry,” Molly sighed.

“Is not problem,” he said.
“Toli will go to Dallas. Anton’s mother is good, no problems with visits.”

“Is she married?” Molly was
curious.

“Yes, she has another boy
and one girl. Husband is nice, very good to Anton. Nice family. Toli is lucky
that the
situation
—” He refrained from saying one-night-stand— “turned
out so well.”

“It could’ve happened to any
of us,” said Dom. “There were probably a few times I got really lucky in
college, before the word AIDS actually sunk in.”

Toli nodded. “True.”

“I wasn’t doing any of that
until I got married,” said Molly. “So I’ve never even thought about AIDS.” For
the first time, Molly wondered if Tim cheated on her in addition to everything
else he did. Would he have been careful? She couldn’t picture Tim being
conscientious enough to wear a condom—he never would with her, no matter how
many miscarriages she had.

Her thoughts were
interrupted by CJs voice. “Aunt Molly, I have to go potty.”

“Okay, honey, I’ll take
you.” She got up and held out her hand. He put his small one in hers and they
left the table.

“You must not hurt her,”
Toli said to Dom as soon as she was out of earshot.

“What?”

“Is simple request. Please
do not break Molly’s heart. Toli would be unhappy.”

“Why do you think I would do
that? I adore her.”

“Because you are young, but
Molly is special.”

“I know she’s special.” Dom
scowled at him. “Why do you think I’m trying to protect her from Tim?”

Because you are human
being,” Toli grumbled. “He is pig. But loving Molly,
sleeping
with
Molly, will bring her much unhappiness if you are not ready for commitment.”

“Why? Are you thinking about
going out with her?” Dom was getting irritated.

“Toli already thought about
it, and did it.” He gave him a look when Dom’s eyes narrowed. “Not sex—she was
not ready. But now she is, and Toli sees the way she looks at you. You must
know what you want, Dom.”

“Toli, no offense, man, but
I got this. Molly and I are good.”

Toli saw the younger man’s
scowl and decided to let it go. He really had no right to be so protective of
Molly, but he couldn’t help but worry about her. Dom was a good guy, but he was
on his own journey trying to get back into the NHL’s good graces and bring back
his top game. His intentions were good, but he might not be thinking beyond
having this amazing woman in his bed. Toli himself had almost fallen into that
trap, and if she hadn’t called him out when he’d tried to kiss her, he might
have continued deluding himself about his conflicted feelings for Tatiana. Dom,
however, didn’t have another woman distracting him—which could be good or bad.

Molly and CJ came back from
the restroom around the same time Cody and Suze came back from their walk. Suze
had composed herself in that time, and now she sat at the table sipping wine as
though nothing had happened. Whatever they’d discussed in private had obviously
calmed her down, but Molly noticed a slight tremor in her hand when she picked
up her wineglass. Maybe tomorrow she would try to talk to Suze.

Two hours later, she and Dom
were headed up to their room, arms around each other as they walked.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to
dance,” he said softly.

“There will be other times,”
she said, looking up at him.

“You bet there will.” He
opened the door and let her walk in before him. The room was dark, with just
some lights from outside illuminating them, and Dom kept her from turning on
the lamp. “Leave it dark,” he said softly. “Come here.”

She moved into his arms
easily. “Except for CJ’s announcement about becoming a goalie and freaking out
his mother, tonight was perfect.”

Dom chuckled. “Yeah, he managed
to send his mom into a tailspin. I’m glad Cody’s got her back because she sure
is carrying a heavy load by keeping Brad and Andra in the dark.”

 “I think she’s getting
tired of hiding CJ’s secret.”

“I’m sure.” Dom looked down
at her before he bent and kissed her, taking her breath away. “You taste like
red wine,” he mused, running his tongue along her lips.

“So do you.” She reached for
his hand. “Come here.”

“Where are we going?”

“Balcony.” She opened the
doors and stepped outside. “I want you to kiss me here in the moonlight, with
the ocean in the background.”

“I can do that.” He kissed
her thoroughly, his fingers finding the smooth skin on her back and arms as she
clung to him. When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he backed her into the
bedroom, kissing her all the way. “Don’t move,” he said, going over to his bag
and pulling out a handful of condoms.

“That many?” she laughed.

“You never know, and I don’t
want to have to stop and go looking for them.” He put them aside, lay back on
the bed and held out his arms.

Slipping off her shoes she
crawled over to lie on his chest. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it
free of his slacks. She ran her hands over the hair that curled on his chest.
“You are so… perfect.” She placed a soft kiss on his navel and heard him groan
with desire as she kissed her way back up to his lips. “I have no idea how I
got lucky enough to find you.”

“Baby, I’m the one that’s
lucky.” He curled a lock of her hair around his finger. “You make me want to do
better, be better… knowing you has made me realize just how much I’ve missed
while I’ve been wallowing in grief. I don’t know that I ever would have seen
past all that if you hadn’t come into my life.”

“I’m really glad I did
then.” She lowered her face to his, wanting to feel him touch her. She’d never
yearned for sex before, but when Dom touched her, she could barely remember her
name.

Dom tried to pace himself.
It had been months since he’d had sex, and Molly had been driving him crazy
since the first time he laid eyes on her, but he knew she needed him to slow
down. Though he didn’t consider himself jaded by the number of women he’d had
sex with, he wasn’t used to romance either. This was fairly new to him, and he
wanted to please her like he’d never pleased anyone before.

Molly hesitated when he
reached out to pull her dress over her head.

“What’s wrong?” he murmured
against her ear.

“I’m self-conscious,” she
admitted. “I don’t know what kinds of women you’ve dated before, but they
probably don’t look like me.”

“You look great,” he said,
rubbing his fingers across her cheek.

“With clothes on, I look
okay, but underneath…” She swallowed. “My boobs aren’t perky anymore, and my
stomach is kind of jiggly.” She looked down, biting her lip.

“Honey, I don’t care about
that. A woman’s body is a beautiful thing.” He slowly tugged at the dress until
she finally lifted her arms. Lying there in the strapless bra and matching
panties Suze had insisted she buy, she’d never felt so exposed in her life. His
sigh of pleasure surprised her and before she could say anything he kissed her
again as she took his shirt off for him.

His bare-chested torso was
simply breathtaking, she thought, forgetting about her own insecurities as she
ran her hands over his broad shoulders and bulging biceps. His pecs and abs
were any woman’s fantasy, causing her to pause and inspect his entire body with
appreciation. Moving to his slacks, she undid the button at the top and
unzipped them. They slid down and he kicked them off, sending them flying off
the bed. Feeling bolder, she made short work of his boxers, and then sat there
taking in how glorious he was naked. She’d never seen anything like this, not
even during the ridiculous porn videos Tim made her watch. Dom was far better
than any porn star she’d ever seen.

“Seen enough?” he teased,
licking her neck and softly blowing into her ear. “Is it my turn to see you
naked yet?

“Maybe.” She smiled before
reaching back with trembling fingers to unsnap her bra. She’d never undressed
herself—Tim usually just ripped off whatever she was wearing or simply pulled
her pants down.

“Don’t be nervous,” he
caught her trembling fingers in his as she tossed the bra to the side. He
brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them one at a time. “You’re
beautiful, and there’s no one else I want to be with.”