Take Me (19 page)

But again her pride wouldn’t let her.

She shook her head.

“It’s me or her, Dom. You’ll hurt me otherwise.”

He froze and Graham’s gaze grew shuttered as he quickly backed away from this conversation, which surely even if he left he’d hear with his vampiric hearing. The front door closed behind him.

“I would never hurt you.”

She cocked a brow. He’d already hurt her in little jabs here and there. “When I’m with someone I’m with them one hundred percent. Only me and him. I don’t casually sleep around. When I want someone I want just them and I want the same in return. I do not want a man who has another woman who’s actually his
bruid!
”

Dom strode forward his hips having an extra kick to them. She clamped her hand on the bedroom door ready to slam it in his face.

“You want me,” he said in a low, slow voice.

Why did she feel like suddenly she was in a trap?

“Yes.”

His eyes stayed locked on hers. “I like the sound of that.” He cupped the back of her head then lifted her up to her toes so his mouth could slide across hers in a barely-there kiss.

“Then don’t go after Julianna. You don’t need her,” Felicity said.

A grim smile crossed his lips. “We both know I have to.”

Felicity found herself blinking fast. Mortification painted her cheeks red. She pushed against him trying to move away but he wrapped his arms around her waist. “What’s wrong, Felicity?”

“Let me go!” she hissed, her eyes blinking too fast as the hot moisture came.

“Sweets, please stop fighting me. What’s wrong?”

She hit him hard across the face.

He dropped her at once.

Dark, angry eyes met hers and she took a step back. He watched her and gave her a disgusted look.

“You need to explain yourself, sweets.”

“I’m sorry.” Tears wobbled in her eyes. She shook her head, unable to find the right words to explain the chaos inside her.

“I don’t know what your problem is, but get over it. I can’t mate with you. I’m mating with Julianna.”

He didn’t slap her in the face, but that was how it felt hearing those words.

He spun around and left her. The front door slammed closed after him. Felicity stared after him for moment, then slammed the bedroom door closed on him.

That’s it. She was done with Dominic Blackmoore.

Chapter 12

Five days later and two weeks closer to the mating ceremony, Felicity sat in the back of an SUV next to Dom. Two guards sat up front. Two SUVs flagged them in front and back filled with more bodyguards assigned by Dom’s brother.

Felicity sat stiffly, staring out her window than at
him.
He’d forced her to come with him like some kind of ape, macho gorilla man. She struggled to recall a time she’d been this angry at someone.

Dom had stormed into her house after she’d refused to see him or answer his calls for days. In fact, she happily went along planning
his
bonding
ceremony
by bouncing ideas off his mother via discrete phone calls. His mother was great, albeit impassionate. Thanks to her Felicity had the location booked, designs chosen, and supplies ordered.

Apparently Dom had gotten sick of her attitude though, because he came to her house that morning, tossed her over his shoulder in a firefighter’s hold, and strolled out of her house like he owned the place. According to him they were headed to his house. Not the Blackmoore estate, but his privately owned home outside of St. Louis. Felicity didn’t know anything about it; nothing had ever been mentioned about a private home in
V-Society
magazine, that’s for sure.

He didn’t try to draw her into conversation and she happily ignored him. Inside she boiled with rage. She wanted to scream, strike out at him, anything. How dare he steal her? What he did was against the law, but what could she do against Dominic Blackmoore? Nothing and he knew it. He had all the power and she had a mean set of design skills. The two didn’t really compare.

He looked tired, weary. Stubble covered his jaw and upper lip as if he hadn’t had a shave in a several days. Lines creased his forehead from strain and even his suit looked frumpy as if he wore the same one from yesterday. For Dom who always looked impeccable this was quite frumpy. She told herself she didn’t care. That he deserved it. And she hoped he looked terrible because he felt bad for being an asshole.

It took a lot for her to keep quiet, but she did it by biting her tongue. She had so many questions she wanted to ask: did they find Julianna? Why did she leave? Had he changed his mind about Felicity’s proposal? Did he forgive her for hitting him? Was he ready to apologize for what he said?

She felt terrible for slapping him.

She’d never hit anyone before. Especially not someone she cared about.

And that was the crux of the problem, which was why she trembled with anger right now, because she cared. If she didn’t care she could continue to hate him or be angry. Instead, she wanted to find out his problems and help him to work through it while also staying angry with him. She also wanted him to own up to his asshole remarks he left her with before storming out of her house.

God, she was a sap. A sap for Dominic Blackmoore. Life wasn’t fair.

Sighing, she turned to face him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

His head tipped to the side, probably hadn’t expected her to speak to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She snorted at that. “It’s so obvious. What’s going on with you, really? You look like shit.”

He shook his head and went back to staring out at the night.

Felicity glared at his back. “Fine, don’t talk to me.” Under her breath she started muttering as she yanked her cell phone from her purse. “Bring me all the way out here and then you can’t even freaking talk to me. What’s that about? Trying to kill me via boredom. Well, thanks a lot for that
ass
.”

A low, masculine chuckle brought her head snapping around. She glared at his smile. “Do not laugh at me, Dominic Blackmoore. I am in no mood.”

He sighed; once again looking tired, then he leaned over, curled his arm around her waist, and pulled her into his lap.

 He didn’t kiss her or say any of his sexually laced growls. He just tucked her head under his chin and held her as if it brought him comfort. She let him, because...she was weak for his touch, and because it brought her comfort too.

God, she was so screwed.

A few hours later they arrived at a modern and very masculine looking house. Felicity didn’t know quite how to describe it because she’d never seen a house like this one. It looked custom designed and built just for him.

The house was long like a ranch and had two floors. Long, tall panels of wood more than two feet wide lined the house. The front door looked like a sliding glass door. No fancy heavy doors like at the mansion for Dom. There were many windows in the front. The windows were consecutive, not spaced apart so you could stand inside and look out into the beautiful fields and forest around them.

They hadn’t passed another house or gas station in many miles. Felicity found this curious and at odds with what she’d seen at Blackmoore manor. This house must be what he really preferred. Something unique and modern, but not excessive in the least. Of course she hadn’t seen the inside yet, but this house looked like it maybe had four bedrooms, not a dozen or more.

Dom came around to her side of the SUV and opened the door. He must have caught her impressed expression because he smiled down at her.

“You like it?”

“Yeah.” She wished she could say no just to irritate him but it’d be a lie.

A satisfied look came into his eyes. He led her into the house. “Good. I’ll show you around.”

Inside, her first reaction was warmth. This place had positive, warm energy. It didn’t have the ancient, museum impression that Blackmoore manor did. Felicity didn’t feel like she couldn’t touch anything lest she break it and be sent to debtor’s prison for insufficient funds.

Not that Dom hadn’t spared any expense. The floors were real hard wood, polished, and a beautiful dark color that matched the outside of the house. First thing in the house, she noticed an L-shaped staircase that went to the upper floor. Dom pulled her left and she stepped down into a large living room. At least he used it as a living room. A dining area could easily have been set up in one half to create two separate rooms, but Dom had made it one very large space.

Everything centered around a massive fireplace. Logs of pre-cut wood sat next to the hearth and burnt logs still rested in the chamber. They didn’t use the fireplaces at the mansion, but Dom must like his fires. The furniture wasn’t all leather here either, but large sofas with wooden frames and navy blue cushions. It all looked rustic.

“You like it?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s very you.” Surprisingly.

The strain still pinched around his eyes but it had lessened. It must feel good to be home, Felicity thought.

“Come on, you haven’t seen the best part.”

Little butterflies scurried around in her belly as he led her up the staircase. Bedrooms were always on the second floor, after all.

He tugged her right at the juncture of the hall and panic hit her. She could not be in a bedroom with Dominic. Bad things would happen.

She pulled back on her hand. “Hey, wait.”

He gave her a look that told her to behave, and tugged her into the room at the end of the hall.

Her breath left her on a whoosh. It was not a bedroom.

Thank god.

The room was a sun porch type thing. She didn’t know what you called it. Windows surrounded all three sides of the walls, and the room faced a spacious valley with rolling hills and trees. A little lake sat out in the distance with a small dock on it. Plants and flowers sat in pretty vases around the room and some hung from the wall.

Felicity frowned at him. “Is this a sun room?”

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. “You don’t have to look so confused, sweets.”

“But—”

“You want to know why a vampire has a sun room?”

She nodded slowly. “That pretty much sums it up.”

He put his arm around her shoulder, tucking her into the heat of his body. God it felt good...almost like they were a couple.

You’re just the decorator, Felicity. Don’t forget yourself.

“You ever heard of Philips Clarkson?”

Felicity struggled to put a face to the name. “It sounds familiar.”

“He’s a vampire
on the council. He invents things. The man’s a crafting genius. He created a special kind of tinting that lets us see out into the daylight, but protects us from the UV rays.”

“I wondered why you had so many windows. You have the same windows at the mansion. That explains how you’re still living.”

His arm moved, curling her body front to front into his. Her breath caught as her face tilted up to look at his. “Felicity...”

He looked like he was drowning, like he was about to dip down and kiss her, and make her forget all the reasons she was angry at him. She couldn’t have that.

“I can’t do this. Not after how things ended last time.” With a quick duck, she spun out of his arms and hastily escaped down the hallway. His silence followed her.

* * * * *

Dom hated his phone. Every time it rang he wanted nothing more than to crush the puny metal beneath his perfectly shined shoe. It beeped as Felicity reached the top of the staircase. He’d been enjoying himself and the view of her incredible ass swaying as she walked. Just watching her made his cock harden. Damn, he craved her. He had been making plans on how to wear her down.

He knew what she wanted—him not to bond with Julianna. That couldn’t happen so he’d have to find a way around that. His only other choice, he decided, was to keep seducing her. The moment he touched her logic faded and only pleasure consumed her. She’d succumb to him soon enough, he’d make sure of it. If she didn’t he might go mad from lust.

Dom pressed the phone to his ear and barked, “What?”

“I got her.” Vas’s raspy voice came at him. The news did not bring Dom an ounce of the happiness it should.

Felicity peered over at him with curious, gorgeous eyes. God he wanted those eyes on him when he fell asleep wrapped around her, and when he woke up each day.

“Good.”

Vas let out a low, frustrated growl. “Where do you want me to bring her? You know this is more Grayson’s thing than mine, Dom.”

Yes, Vas didn’t much care to get out much. He much preferred his wallowing solitude. The vamp had a thing against crowds, or people in general. “Gray’s having troubles with Anita.”

“Gray’s always having trouble with Anita. He needs to cut her loose.”

“He loves her.”

“And she’s destroying him.” Vas’s voice turned low as he said something very threatening to someone else, then his voice came back on the line. “What am I supposed to do with Prim and Proper over here? Babysitting is not my fucking thing, Dom.”

“Bring her to the estate. Where did you find her?”

“Fucking Illinois, she jumped states on the run. It’ll be at least a day before we get there.” He sounded like meeting an impending death would be better than delivering Julianna Greenwich back to Dom.

“Just get her here safely. If you need extra men, call Grayson. He’ll set you up.”

“Right,” Vas said. With a click, he hung up.

Felicity’s eyes had lost their excited glow. “So you found Julianna?”

“Yes,” Dom said carefully. He did not want to talk about his soon-to-be
bruid
to the woman he wanted in his bed.

Felicity faced him with those sad eyes. Eyes that pulled at him, wringing his heart as if she grasped it with her little hands. “What will it take for you to cut me loose and let me go? I don’t want this job anymore. It’s become too hard.”

Dom flinched inside. Sadness laced her words like it hurt to say them. She wanted away from him. That knowledge created a ball of burning agony right at his heart like she’d just shoved a hot poker inside him. She might as well have. He’d much prefer that to her cutting words.