Through the Fire (3 page)

went outside for some air—”

Dominique stopped at the site of her

mother’s waving hands. Olivia was in a tizzy, all

right. Nothing to do but keep her mouth shut

and weather it.

“No time for explanations now, darling,

let’s get your sister ready for her retreat,” Olivia

said reaching for Diamond and pulling her

along the corridor, leaving Dominique to

follow. “You young people do things so

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SERENITY KING

differently. In my day, the bride and groom

would have been gone already.”

They helped Diamond out of her wedding

dress but not before their mom had begun to

cry. In fact, it took them longer then they’d

planned because they all were crying so much.

Dominique was so proud of her little

sister. She’d married a wonderful man and

appeared happier then she’d ever seen her.

Dominique had known Rafe before her sister

and knew that he was perfect for Diamond.

Diamond could be very headstrong and Rafe

would make sure that Diamond didn’t put

herself in harm’s way.

Before they left the bridal chamber

Diamond discreetly whispered to her that she

wanted to know why her lips were swollen.

“Not now,” she added, “when I get back from

my honeymoon.”

“Mind

your

own

business,”

said

Dominique good-naturedly. Diamond snorted,

and Olivia gave both her daughters a puzzled

look.

Now, Dominique stood outside next to a

slew of family and friends to see the happy

couple off.

Through the Fire

29

She felt Brandon’s eyes on her before she

glanced around for validation. Their gazes met

and held for a few moments before she quickly

turned her head away. Damn his sexy hide. He

knew exactly what he was doing. Just like she

knew his patience was running out. She prayed

he didn’t do anything stupid.

Like he’d been about to do when Chad

saved her from that ass Felton Hobbs, who’d

turned into an octopus on the dance floor.

Felton had two serious problems. The first was

thinking that every woman he encountered had

a thing for him. The second was a complete

inability to understand the word no.

“You okay, sis?”

Startled, Dominique turned to look into

the concerned face of Xavier. She gave him a

reassuring smile. “I’m okay, X. Just a little

tired. It’s been a long day.” That much was true.

She’d been going non-stop all week making

sure everything was in place. In the end she’d

been worn out. Being a maid of honor was

almost worse than being the bride. There was a

lot of responsibility. She was glad she only had

one sister, because she didn’t think she could

go through all this hoopla again.

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SERENITY KING

“You sure that’s all it is?” her brother was

asking. She and Xavier were close. He could

always tell when she was lying or when

something was wrong.

“That’s all it is, X, what else could it be?”

she asked.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said.

“There’s nothing to tell, Xavier Marcus

Shaw,” she replied.

He smiled down at her. “It’s like that,

huh? That’s just wrong, Dominique, calling out

my government like that. I’ll leave it for now,

sis.”

“Thank you, brother dear. You’ve been

hanging out with our cousins, Darion, Trevon,

and

Darius

too

long.

Seriously,

X,

‘government’?” she smiled and shook her head.

“Hahaha. You might as well tell me

what’s going on with you. I’ll find out

eventually,” he smirked.

That smirk immediately turned into a

frown when she calmly replied, “You get in my

business, brother dear, and I’ll get in yours.”

“Brat,” he said and walked away.

“Oh, you were wrong for that, sis,” she

turned to see her other brother Chad standing

next to her.

Through the Fire

31

“He was trying to get into my business,

Chaddy,” Dominique replied using her

nickname for him. “How am I wrong?” She

gave him a mischievous smile.

“After all these years, you still scare him.

You were definitely a pain in the ass little sister.

You made X’s life miserable when we were

younger. Especially that stunt you pulled with

Cindy. Telling that girl that X already had a

baby momma,” Chad chuckled. “That was just

wrong.”

“No it wasn’t…you didn’t like Cindy

Whatshername either. She just wanted him for

his money. I heard she’d been married a couple

of times already. In the end, I did him a favor.”

“You might’ve thought you saved him. I

think it’s safe to say that marriage was not what

X wanted from Cindy. Mom still thinks she has

a grandchild out there somewhere.” He

chuckled again.

Dominique winced but recovered quickly.

“Well, he should’ve just minded his own

business. I never had a date in high school

because y’all would scare them all away. When

my date for the prom backed out at the last

minute, I knew that X had said something to

him, though I never did find out what.

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SERENITY KING

Whenever I tried to approach Rodney, he’d run

in the opposite direction. Literally,” she said

with a shake of her head.

Chad laughed so hard people started

looking in their direction. “I know what he told

him. He told him if he even thought about

taking you to the prom he’d bust a cap in his

ass. That dude had a bad reputation with girls,

sis. Word got back to X on what he’d planned

on trying to do to you after the prom, and he

took care of it. That’s what big brothers do.”

Chad bent down to place a kiss on her cheek.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, sis. I have a date.”

Shaking her head, Dominique watched

her brother’s retreating back. She didn’t have to

ask what kind of date her brother had at 11 p.m.

Though apparently, she had a date as well she

remembered as her cell phone buzzed.

Brandon, was texting her with the room

number. She didn’t know whether to be

apprehensive, or just plain horny.

She bid her parents goodnight and

exchanged conversation with a few of her other

relatives before she had no further excuses to

delay. She slipped out of the ballroom to meet

Brandon in the room he had reserved for them.

CHAPTER TWO

Dominique took the elevator up to

Brandon’s room and used the keycard he had

left at the front desk for her to let herself into

his room.

Dominique glanced around the hotel

room wondering where Brandon was. She was

about to go in search of him when he came

walking out of the bathroom. He had one towel

barely clinging to his waist, and he was drying

his hair with another. He stopped mid-stride

when he noticed that she was there.
Oh my

damn.
He looked good enough to eat, all six-

feet, two-hundred plus pounds of him.

Dominique quickly ran an assessing eye

over him. What was it about this man that

caused her body to sing with just a look from

his blue-gray eyes? Despite the four-inch heels

she had on, she still had to look up to meet his

eyes. What she saw there caused her nostrils to

flare. Her breasts rose and fell as she tried to

pull air into her lungs.

Her eyes traveled downward and rested

on the bulge under his towel. She noticed his

cock twitch, no doubt from her bold appraisal.

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SERENITY KING

The movement of his cock caused her to cream

her panties. Man, was she in trouble.

“Are you enjoying yourself, sweetheart? I

can ditch the towel if you’d like a better look. As

you can see, I’m more than ready to…ah…show

you what’s underneath. But if I show you mine,

I damn well want to see yours,” he said giving

her his signature cocky grin.

She shook her head as if to erase the

memory of him standing naked before her from

her mind. Lord, the man knew how to wear a

towel. She collected herself before answering

him. “You’re an ass, Brandon. You wanted to

talk. Let’s talk.”

The scowl on his face was priceless. “You

want to talk? Now?”

“Well that is why I’m here, isn’t it?”

Dominique held her breath as he stalked

towards her, circling her, then finally stopping

in back of her. She gasped at the touch of his

finger tracing the outline of the little vein that

pulsed at the side of her neck. The soft caress of

his breath against her collar sent shivers down

her spine.

“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,

maybe you’ll start to believe it. You want me

just as much as I want you,” he whispered

Through the Fire

35

against her skin. “Well maybe not as much as I

want you. How long has it been,
wife
?”

“Brandon—”

“NO! Not this time, Dominique,” he

shouted stepping away from her.

Dominique jumped. She’d never seen

Brandon so angry before. Well, not at her,

anyway. “Lower your voice,” she said, trying to

sound reasonable. “We agreed—”

“I am aware of our agreement,

sweetheart,” he barked. “I agreed to give you

time to come to terms with what happened.

Trust and our agreement are the only things

that have kept me from coming for you. One

whole fucking year, Dominique!”

“It hasn’t technically been a year. We saw

each other at Tristan and Alisha’s wedding six

months ago. Before that we saw each other

every weekend.”

Uh oh!
From the way his blue-gray eyes

flashed fire and his lips tightened, that wasn’t

what he’d wanted to hear. She watched as he

inhaled and exhaled in an attempt to calm

himself down.

The worst part of it all was that he was

right to be angry. There really wasn’t an excuse

anymore as to why she’d stayed away so long,

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SERENITY KING

other than the fact that she’d been scared. She

started at the sound of Brandon speaking.

“Six months ago at Alisha and Tristan’s

wedding, you say. So what you’re saying
wife
, is

that every six months or so I should expect a

booty call?” He sneered and stepped in front of

her.

Any passing sympathy she had felt for

him was dispelled by those tacky words. “Don’t

be stupid, Brandon. You know good and well

that’s not what I meant.”

“No, Dominique, I’m afraid I don’t.

Maybe you should explain to me how out of the

two years that we’ve been married, I’ve seen my

wife about half a dozen times in a year and only

twice in the past six months? Or how, before

that, I found myself sneaking off to be with you,

like some teenager. Explain,” Brandon said,

folding his arms across his chest as he scowled

down at her.

“I…I”, she stuttered.

“Exactly!

There’s

no

reasonable

explanation for it,” he said. “I blame myself

mostly for letting this shit go on for so long. No

more. I want my wife back. No let me rephrase

that. I want a wife that I can take out in public

and not sneak around with.”

Through the Fire

37

Dominique’s heart began to race. She was

not quite sure what Brandon was getting at.
Did

he want a divorce?
Anxiety gripped her at the

mere thought of that possibility.

Still, she had to know. “So…so you want a

divorce?” she stammered.

“Hell no, I don’t want a divorce. I told you

when we got married that it was for life. I loved

you then and I love you now.” he said, pulling

her into his embrace and looking down into her

hazel eyes. “What happened with us

Dominique? One minute we were in love and

on top of the world. Now that world has come

crashing down around us. I miss you so much,

sweetheart, that it’s unbearable. We are going

to be together, Dominique. Right now, I just

need to feel you,” he whispered as he released