Unlawful Temptations (The Star-Crossed Series Book 1)

Since everything that happened on Friday, I took Charlotte with me to stay at Layla’s for the weekend. Her parents may not like me, but they adored Charlotte, and after Layla told them about the break in, they opened their door right up.

Saturday had been relatively chill. We watched movies all day in our pajamas, and Layla’s parents cooked a huge dinner for us that night. Homemade tacos, empanadas, rice and beans, grilled corn, and tres leches cake for dessert.

Which I’d never had before, and holy fuck, I never thought I’d cream because of cake.

Today, we three decided to get afternoon ice cream by Lakeside park. The ice cream place was this outdoor only space that I went to a ton growing up. I was obsessed with it when I was little. Their roof was painted like an ice cream cone and everything. To this day, they served the best double chocolate ice cream in town and let Charlotte have as many samples as she wanted.

Daren texted on our way there and decided he’d tag along with one of his work buddies. I’d never met this one before—Kyle—but we were only twenty minutes into this strange fivesome, and I already wanted to put my foot in his ass.

“I don’t know. I’m with Daren on that one.” Kyle jabbed a chummy elbow into Daren’s shoulder, a stupid grin on his face. “If I had the chance to run or be caught, you can betch’r sweet ass I’m runnin’.”

I rolled my eyes, licking off a dollop of my chocolate swirl. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

“What’s chivalry?” Charlotte asked, mouth full of strawberry ice cream and sprinkles.

Layla swooped in to answer. “It’s when you’re at a party with your boyfriend and he doesn’t jump out of a window to leave you behind.”

Daren clicked his tongue at her. “Didn’t you leave her too?”

“I was drunk. I can’t be held accountable.”

“Plus, you fell into a bush, and I spent the next morning picking leaves out of your hair,” I quipped.

Kyle sputtered, leaning back against a railing and passing a hand over his backwards baseball cap. “You fell into a bush?”

Layla shrugged him off. “What can I say? It was a great party.”

“Yeah,” Daren scoffed, flicking his wadded up straw wrapper into the grass. “Until Kat’s cop boss had to show up and whip out his badge.”

Kyle’s umber eyes bulged. “Your boss broke up the party?”

“Sure did.” I cocked an indignant look his way as Daren answered for me. “From what I heard, everyone else under twenty-one who got caught were written up, ‘cept my Kitty Kat over here.”

Aggravation rolled my eyes back again, and I tried to ignore him and exactly what he was implying. I only filled him in on the basics of what happened that night after he called a few days later to ‘see how I was.’

Daren wouldn’t care about the specifics of the night or how enjoyable it actually was up ‘till the end. All Daren cared about was that I wasn’t arrested, and that I didn’t care about him enough to be mad at him.

“So, whatcha do to get out of a write up, Kitty Kat?”

Gross.

I didn’t even like it when Daren called me that lazy nickname, but coming from Kyle, it actually sounded like bolts grinding in a garbage disposal.

“Did ya ride his baton real good?” Daren snickered at his friend’s lameass joke and then joined in.

“Oh, I bet you let him give you the full pat down, huh?”

I glared at them both, unamused. “Are you two done?”

Usually, I was a whore for sexual innuendos, but these two pissed me off. It set my stomach on edge them talking about Dominic like that. Especially Daren. Dominic did a hell of a lot more for me that night than he would have. He did a hell of a lot more than most people would on Friday too.

Go figure. A man in this world that wasn’t a complete tool.

Miracles really do exist.

Just then, a force hit me from behind, shocking and scaring the shit out of me.

“What the—”

“Ms. Kat! Hi!”

The curse on my tongue evaporated, and I jerked my head down to see two tiny arms wrapped around my waist. An easy laugh fell from my lips as I made the connection, and I patted my hand that wasn’t holding up my ice cream cone around one of those little arms.

“Kiddo, did you become a linebacker over the weekend? Because jeez.”

Maya’s giggles bubbled through the air, her hold on me squeezing tighter. Somehow, I managed to twist around to face her, passing a hand over her ringlet curls as she beamed up at me.

“Ms. Kat, did you know we were here too?” Maya asked, hanging herself around my waist like I was a jungle gym.

“I didn’t! Who is we?”

Cue one masculine answer.

Around the corner of the ice cream shop jogged Dominic, the sun backlighting his entrance as if the Gods who made him had planned it just to steal my breath away. A large silhouette of strong shoulders to a narrowed waist and long legs came near. I was only vaguely aware as I straightened my spine for him and forced a clip of air back in my lungs.

Silver eyes I hadn’t seen since Friday flashed to me, a lopsided grin curving his mouth. A funny feeling somersaulted my stomach, but I smiled through the weird sensation as he stopped in front of me, looking sheepish.

“Sorry. I tried to grab her before she took off.”

I waved him off with my ice cream hand, the other steadying on Maya’s back. “Oh, it’s okay. She’s fine.”

“I told you she would want to see me,” Maya’s little voice bragged, her head hanging backwards.

“I didn’t think she wouldn’t want to see you. I just also think it’s her day off, and you’ll see her tomorrow.” Dominic was trying to be gentle with Maya, but the gentle approach bit him in the ass as she suctioned herself to me harder, squeezing wisps of laughter out of my stomach.

“It’s really okay. We’re just getting some ice cream.”

“That’s why we came too!” Maya exclaimed. “I got bubble gum flavor.”

I hummed, head bobbing as I peered up at Dominic. “Make up ice cream?” For Friday.

He nodded, chest puffing wide as he breathed deep. “Yeah. You?”

I confirmed. “Make up ice cream.” For Friday.

Fucking Friday.

Next to me, Charlotte popped up, shoulders back and pink ice cream smeared on her chin. Maya was solely focused on her father and I when Charlotte appeared and she flinched when she noticed my sister.

Charlotte tilted her head at Maya like she was something to inspect, and then abruptly stuck her hand out to her.

“I’m Charlotte, but Katty calls me Bugs.”

A little bit of pride and a lot of bit of amusement pulled at my lips as I stared at her. Maya, however, shrunk back into her father, reaching her arms back in search for his hands to hold onto. Dominic wrapped her tiny hands in his with a soft chuckle.

“Can you tell her your name is Maya and that Ms. Kat hangs out with you during the week?”

“Yeah.” I bumped my hip against Bug’s shoulder. “I think you two could be friends.”

Maya remained tight-lipped and skeptical of Charlotte, keeping her back glued to Dominic’s legs and hands roped around his. The difference in the two girls was glaring, but Charlotte didn’t let Maya’s shyness deter her. Not one bit.

She took her bold attention to Dominic, staring up at him like he wasn’t a tower compared to her.

“You were at my house,” she said matter-of-factly.

His browline inched up, a peculiar something streaking across his eyes. “I was. You’re right.”

Behind me, Layla broke back into the conversation. “Wait, wait. Are you her cop boss?”

Dominic arched a quizzical brow at me.

I nodded a shrug. “That’s what they call you.”

“Ah.”

And I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a ghost of a smile riding his full mouth.

Suddenly, pain spiked in my shin, a sharp cry choking in my throat as I shot a glare to Layla on my left. Her eyes were bugging the fuck out, silently screaming the obvious at me about Dominic.

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered, brushing her off. Jeez. Spinning back to Dominic, he was gifting me another questioning look, mouth pursed and brow cocked.

“Oh, you’re hot, and she’s just—ow!”

This time, she went for the toes, and she went for them hard. I hopped on one foot, holding my throbbing toes and gritting my teeth at Layla.

“God, you’re lucky I can’t curse right now.”

In return, she fucking winked at me. A scoff tried to rise in my throat but got strangled by laughter. Dammit.

Testing my foot back on solid ground, I hobbled my focus back to Dominic. “This is Layla. Best friend.”

Connections formed in his eyes, and I knew he was placing her at the party in his mind. He tilted her a stiff nod.

“Good to meet you.”

Someone else cleared their throat and made me wanna punch him right in it. Swiveling to an expectant Daren with annoyance sitting heavy on my chest, I flicked a finger in his direction.

“And uh, this is Daren and…” My finger aimed at Kyle. “I barely know this dude.”

Kyle blew a sharp exhale up through his shaggy bangs, slouching back against the railing. Next to him, Daren visibly puffed his chest out, jutting his chin up at Dominic.

“So, you’re the one who busted her at the party, eh?”

Shock blew my eyes wide.

Instant fury coiled around my muscles, stringing them tight. I dared him, fucking dared him like I had telepathic powers to look at me. Look at me and let me boil him alive with my hellfire glare.

“And you’d be the one who abandoned her at the same party,” Dominic countered with ease.

My eyebrows hit my hairline, and my jaw hit the fucking floor. I snapped back to him, flushing hot at his casual confidence and lasered focus that cut straight through Daren.

Free-falling laughter spilled from my lips, rolling through Layla as she joined me in laughing at Daren’s expense. Charlotte tagged in too, even though she had no idea what she was giggling at, and she was by far the loudest.

Hand on my chest, I said, “Oh, now that was fun.”

Daren rolled his eyes and sulked like a child, whipping out his phone as a distraction from the massive burn Dominic just scorched him with. Dominic appeared a little smug about it too, and I immediately hated how good a shade of arrogance looked on him.

“Ms. Kat?” All laughter faded as Maya commanded the group’s attention. “Can you play with us? Just for a little?”

Dominic lowered to his knees, his big hands around her shoulders. “Baby, Ms. Kat is busy today.”

“We can go on the swings!” Charlotte hollered out of nowhere, jumping in front of Maya. Her cup of ice cream was still clutched in her hands, but mostly empty.

Surprisingly, Maya began to nod. Slow at first, but got faster and her stare cranking brighter. “Okay!”

And there you have it. Instant friends.

“Can we, Ms. Kat? Five minutes!”

“Or ten!” Charlotte negotiated.

The two of them were so giddy and wide-eyed and a million times better company than Daren or Kyle. It was an easy yes, and the girls cheered and bolted for the swings not too far away.

Dominic had an eye on them as I spun back to Layla, whose stare was firmly on Dominic’s ass. He was wearing jeans today. I’d never seen him in jeans before, and it had taken an exorbitant amount of strength to not find a reason for him to bend over in the last couple minutes.

“Hey.” She jumped as I snapped in front of her face. “You’re okay if I go for a bit?”

She blinked a few times, and then nodded sharply. “Uh, yeah. Because if you don’t, I will.”

I knocked my shoulder into hers, a wily smirk stretching my lips. “Keep it in your pants.”

Just as I turned to go, Daren stopped me.

“Uh, Kat?”

“What?”

His hazel gaze trained on me, he lifted his eyebrows like I was supposed to know what the fuck that meant. I did the same back to him to show him how annoying it was, and he scoffed.

“Can you come here?”

“Why?”

He did that entitled eyebrow raise again. “So I can kiss my girlfriend.”

My mouth formed an ‘O’ and with Dominic still a staggering presence next to me, I realized exactly what Daren was doing.

“Are you sure it’s not because you wanna put a chastity belt on me before I go? Maybe tattoo your name inside my vagina?”

Daren was actually dumb enough to act surprised that I called him on his territorial bullshit. Upset seeped in through the corners of his eyes, his top lip snagging on a sneer.

I cocked my head at him with a bright smile. “No? Okay then.”

I spun on my heel to Dominic who was freely giving away how amused he was, and even a touch impressed if the sun wasn’t playing tricks on me. His fucking dimples were even winking at me.

Jeans and dimples today.

He was killer looking, and even though I hated Daren’s little display in front of him, I could at least understand where it was coming from.

Just before Dominic and I left, I tipped my head back to him. “You did bring the condoms, right?”

Those attractive dimples deepened as he shut his eyes. Layla was cackling and even Kyle too. My own laughter bubbled up as Dominic tipped his stare to the sky and shook his head, probably cursing whoever was up there that put me in his path.

“Not funny, Kat!” Daren called behind me as I walked away.

I shouted back, “Then why is everyone except you laughing?”

The high I got from telling him off rode me over to the playground on light feet. Charlotte and Maya were on the swings, trying to see who could make it higher. There wasn’t too much to this park and never had been. A set of swings, a monkey bar jungle gym with swirly and straight slides attached—the metal kind that burned your skin at the hottest time of day—and a few animal teeter-totters. I’d put in some miles on the cheetah one growing up.

There was a sizable lake though, and a lot of times when I brought Charlotte here, we’d lay in the grass and pluck the blades, watching the sun dip behind the waterline. She usually fell asleep or made dirt pies, but I always watched until the sun was completely gone.

People who watched the sunrise did it because they loved the idea of starting fresh. A new day.

People like me who watched the sunset did it because they loved endings. A chance to rest.

Dominic came up next to me in a few long strides, still wearing that easy smile that was devastating on him. “You know you could have told him I’m married, right?”

“Eh. That’s not as much fun for me. Plus, he could have just looked at your ring finger instead of being a possessive twat.”

His gaze cut to me as I licked off another scoop of my ice cream. “You really don’t seem to like him very much.”

“Neither do you.” Which I found very entertaining.

“Do you want me to like him?” Dominic asked, eyeing me down the bridge of his nose.

“No.” I shook my head, curving my hand so my melting dessert didn’t run all over it. “If you could hate him actually, it’ll make me like him even more. Tell me you forbid me to see him ever again!”

We came to a stop in front of one of the blue benches lined up in front of the lake. I leaned the small of my waist against the back of it, Dominic planting himself in front of me with crossed arms.

“Do you want me to ground you if you see him?” he tried, playing along.

“Could ya?” I batted my eyelashes at him, an innocent twist to my lips. “I’ll even call you Daddy, if you want.”

Any playfulness I’d encouraged in him died immediately beneath the heavy frown that collapsed his mouth. I barked a stiff laugh; his mood change was like whiplash.

“Oh, Daddy’s mad,” I hummed, watching his veins flex in his forearms. One I’d never noticed before pulsed in his thick neck, and I chewed on my bottom lip to keep my stupid grin from breaking my face.

The gray of his eyes had turned punishing, as had the sharp tick of his jawline. Under thickly shaped eyebrows, he rolled those eyes away from me. “Shut up and eat your ice cream.”

I did as he said, stuffing my mouth full of the dessert to push down more laughter. I passed a glance over to the girls who were still exactly where we left them. It was actually a really nice day out. The kind where the breeze was constantly rolling, the sun was on full blast, and the mixture of the two created the perfect weather for jean shorts and sun tops like I was wearing.

Dominic was dressed for the nice weather too, more casual than I’d ever seen him. A plain t-shirt, so light gray it was almost white, clung to his chest and around his sculpted arms, hanging a bit looser around his torso.

And then those jeans. Those fucking jeans that were going to make me come in my own.

His hair was the same as he wore it to work. Mostly in place but too thick to completely cooperate. God, I wanted to run my fingers through it and mess it all up. See what he looked like totally unkempt and undone.

Maybe I would if there wasn’t that pesky little reminder that was noticeably absent.

Even though I didn’t want to sour the mood, I still had to ask.

“So where’s Heather?”

“Out of town for work.”

“Again?”

He hummed and nodded. “She’ll be back tomorrow.”

I didn’t know anything about being a realtor, so I had no idea it required so much work in other places. I guess it made sense since apparently Heather sold to a large market across several cities. Still, it seemed like a lot of time away from her husband and kid that, last I heard, were all on rocky ground with each other.

Chucking the last of my cone in a trash can next to us, I said, “You two ever kiss and make up?”

Dominic lowered his head to stare at his—holy shit, were those sneakers? And here I thought he only wore fancy-ass wingtips.

“We don’t really make up. Just move onto the next fight.”

The misery in his tone picked up my chin and turned it up to him.

Words. I didn’t have them. Not the ones necessary to smooth over the harsh lines etched into his handsome face. Those kinds of lines were permanent. Heartbreak couldn’t be erased.

There was no remedy I could sew with words that would cinch the cracks in his heart together. Pep talks were for cheerleading, not broken marriages. We all knew I was shit at them anyhow. What I could do was distract him from his unwanted emotions.

I was a pro at that.

“Have you ever had tres leches cake before?” I asked.

He slid a side glance over to me, perplexed but curious. “No?”

“Oh my God, you have to try it. We’re staying with Layla for the weekend until I can fix our lock tonight, and her mom made it last night, and—” I blew a chef’s kiss. “Better than an orgasm.”

One of his dark brows curled up, a roguish curve to his pink mouth. He peered away from me as the wind flirted with his nearly perfect hair.

“Sounds like y—”

Then he stopped himself.

I waited, and nothing. Confusion cinched my eyebrows together. “What?”

Still, he didn’t say a word. Just shook his head and kept his stare straight forward. Weird. Even the backs of his jaw were tight like whenever I said something to piss him off or—

I exploded with a high-pitched gasp. “Were you about to say something dirty?”

His Adam’s apple curved up and down his throat, his strong chin tilting downward. For a man as impassive as him, he wasn’t hiding his guilt well. He was visibly tense, practically having to unlock his jaw to talk.

“It was thoughtless and inappropriate.”

“What was it?”

“I’m not going to say it.”

“Can I guess?”

“No.”

“Was it…” I tapped my pointer finger to my bottom lip, filtering his words through the gutter of my brain. Sounds like, sounds like, sounds like… “I said it was better than an orgasm so…” Holy shit. “Were you about to say it sounds like I need better orgasms?” I finished, astonished and aroused in one.

A victorious grin splashed across my cheeks as Dominic let out a forceful exhale through his nose. I was right, and he was a dirty, dirty cop boss. Fuck, I loved it. Knowing that somewhere in that austere, straight-laced, law-abiding mind of his was something just a little filthy.

Just a little wrong in the right kinda way.

Dominic eased his loaded stare back to me, peering down at me with an intimate awareness about him. As if I was a know-nothing little girl and he was an expert in the things I didn’t know.

“No cake should be better than an orgasm, Ms. Sanders,” he murmured deeply.

Holy fuck, could I get a recording of him saying the word ‘orgasm’ to take home, please? I’d listen to it on repeat and come undone in my bed for him each time he said it—like it was an order straight from him to me. The word was sin embodied on his tongue, rolling around and promising he could show me heaven and hell in one sitting if only it was allowed.

I breathed back a breath, trying to cool myself down from the inside out. “Well, this cake was. Better than any I’ve had anyway.”

With unimpressed leisure, Dominic carried his acute focus to where Daren and the others were. “I’m not surprised with who you’re dating.”

My lips popped open, surprise holding them there. Someone forgot to turn on their filter this morning. Talking about my orgasms and throwing shade? Weekend Reed fucking ruled.

“Mr. Reed, are you telling me I need to date more experienced men?”

A pause lingered between us. Dominic still wasn’t looking at me, but I was locked on him, trying to catch any small token of a reaction he forgot to hide. I watched and waited until it happened, until he gave me that slight shift in his expression followed by a shift in his stance.

For just a nanosecond, Dominic Reed was in distinct strain.

And then it was gone, and he was steering his steely gaze over to me with a strong arch in his brow. “I’m telling you that you could have any man you want, and that shouldn’t be it.”

Those words hit my stomach in a funny way. I took my stare from him, lending it back out to the girls now on the slides.

After a moment, Dominic spoke. “Did I say something wrong?”

I sucked back a breath, shaking my head quickly. “No, no.”

“Then why did you get quiet?”

My ice cream suddenly wasn’t sitting so well. It cramped up as the familiar flutter of anxiety tortured my chest. I pulled a squeezing breath through my lungs, forcing words out. “Most men who say something like that have a reason for saying it, so—” I shrugged, feeling suddenly defensive. “I’m just wondering what yours would be.”

I ducked my stare down to my fingers, pinching the skin on the softest part of my wrist for a distraction. At least it wasn’t my lips. I was making a conscious effort to not pick at my lips like my mother did. The less things we had in common, the better.

Beside me, Dominic angled himself to me, and I could feel him staring down at me. Probably calculating my fidgeting against what I’d just said.

A hand, big and warm, closed around mine and stopped my anxious fingers. The shock of his touch brought my gaze up.

Gray silk eyes waited for mine. “There’s no reason. It’s just true.”

What a gorgeous liar.

“Yeah? You think any man would want me and all my fucked upness? You saw it firsthand. I’m kind of crazy.”

“You’re not crazy.”

“I’m a little crazy.”

His perfect mouth flattened some. “You love your sister a lot.”

He had me there. I dreaded bringing her back to our house tonight. Even after I fixed the lock, I’d never feel safe with her there again. Not while the thing that used to be our mom was living there.

“I need to get her out of that house,” I said, watching Charlotte as she played. “I just can’t afford it yet.”

Dominic turned his head but not his body. He watched the girls playing the same as I was, and the moment was quiet and still.

I didn’t totally hate it.

“She’s a lot like you,” he spoke, voice deep and even. “Bold and confident.”

I smiled at his words, despite the fact that I hoped she turned out nothing like me.

“Thanks. Maya’s a lot like you, too.” I nodded, bringing my gaze back to him. “Strapping muscles and perfect five o-lock shadow.”

A breathtaking grin broke across his cheeks instantly, a sharp breath of laughter pushing through his nose. It was one of those smiles that made him look younger than he was, his eyes bright and shining for a change. I enjoyed making him look like this.

I probably enjoyed it too much.

So, I spun away from the man with the devastating lopsided grin and climbed up on the seat of the bench we’d been leaning on. I took a second to be with the lake, to feel the sun bouncing off of the water and heating my skin. Tingles sprinkled all over my body, and an easiness tugged at my lips with the feeling.

Then I turned my back to the sun and propped one foot up on the backrest of the bench. Arms out, I steadied my balance.

“Ms. Sanders, what are you doing?”

I pushed my other foot off the seat of the bench, standing tall and narrow on the backrest of it. “Pretending I’m on a tightrope.”

“And what if you fall?”

“Then that’ll be really embarrassing for me.”

One foot in front of the other, I wobbled only slightly, tensing the arches in my feet to keep my balance. My heart thudded for only a second. Dominic walked alongside me as I righted myself and kept going.

His eyebrows were knotted, his thoughtful focus on the ground. “Why didn’t you say that I’d catch you if you fell?”

“Why would I say that?”

“I think most people would. Most people would trust that whoever they were with would catch them.”

“I’d probably say that if Layla was with me.”

“What about Daren?”

“Hell no.”

Dominic stopped as I stopped at the end of the backrest, carefully positioning my feet to turn back around and go the other way. “So, you hold me and your idiot boyfriend to the same standard?”

I chuckled, teetering a bit as I twisted my feet to face him. “I hold all men to the same standards.”

Dominic laid his hand to his chest. “On behalf of all men, ouch.”

“Oh, did I wound the impervious Detective Reed?” I taunted, hands on hips.

“Impervious?”

“Yeah, are you shocked I know a big SAT word?”

“No.” He tilted a steamed look up at me. It was bizarre seeing him from this angle. “I’m shocked that’s the one word you’d use to describe me.”

A wicked chuckle got stuck in my throat. “Well, the word I’m actually thinking would probably get me in trouble.”

The gray of his eyes smoked, and a satisfied smirk turned up my lips. Messing with him was way too much fun. He didn’t need to know that I was serious, and that the word flashing through my mind right now was completely and thoroughly fuckable.

Dominic upbraided me with a slow shake of his head. “Trouble. That’s a very good word to describe you.”

“Aw, I’m flattered.”

This time, it was my turn to place my hand over my heart in a dramatic display. Except, when I did, I flexed my foot out without thinking, and the inevitable happened. Well, inevitable according to Dominic.

A gasp punctured my lungs and my heart jumped. Knees wobbled, arms flailed, and forward I fell.

It was almost stupid how fast Dominic’s reflexes were. I was falling for less than two seconds before firm hands clamped around my waist, steadying my fall. My hands gripped onto his shoulders for support in quick instinct, fingers biting into the thick muscle beneath his shirt.

Feet still on the backrest of the bench, I was stuck at like a 70 degree angle, panic rounding my eyes. Dominic was right below me, smug as ever as he held me up.

“Lucky catch,” I breathed.

His face drew with confidence that intensified his sex appeal immediately.

“Luck had nothing to do with it, Ms. Sanders.”

My eyes were everywhere over his face, searching for signs of what he meant by that.

Was he trying to say that he was different from other men or that he was reliable or some shit? It was one catch. One catch didn’t mean anything when life was full of constant stumbles.

Plus, it wasn’t his job to catch me.

I was trapped between figuring out how I felt about his words and how the sun dazzled his eyes to make them look like actual silver. Almost like diamonds.

“I’m gonna jump,” I said, staring him dead in his diamond eyes, seeing as they curved in confusion.

“What?”

I didn’t give him time to realize I was serious.

“One. Two!” Muscles in my legs stretched as I jumped off of the bench, heart soaring and readying to obliterate into the ground in familiar disappointment. The let down was welcomed, because if anything in my life was reliable, it was that.

I was ready for the pain and to be proven right.

When I took off, his hands were still around my waist. In mid air, I waited to feel the fumble of fingers and then the disappearance of them all together.

Instead…

They squeezed tighter.

A gasp cut through my throat as my body stopped moving mid air and didn’t come back down. Not thanks to the sturdy hands locked around my waist and the man holding me up, arms stretched above his head. My eyes fluttered about a million times staring down at him, heaving breaths working my chest for no other reason than shock.

Dominic’s face tilted back to me, a peculiar light riding around his irises.

“You jumped on two.”

Still reeling, I mumbled, “It was a test.”

That I thought he would fail.

His expression was so relaxed and even pleased. “Did I pass?”

Dazed and staring all around at the sidewalk I should have been laying on right now, I nodded. “Seeing as I don’t have a mouth full of cement right now, I’d say yes.”

Slowly, he lowered me down like I weighed no more than a sack of feathers. I held my breath tight as our bodies brushed, the shirt I was wearing riding up my front as I slid down his. Hard muscles and warmth were all I knew until my toes met the ground with ease.

Then gray took over.

Sweet winter gray that numbed my mind blank. Actually, all of me had gone numb to the look Dominic was giving me from only inches away. He was close, like very close, and I still felt his hands heating the dips of my waist.

And my hands, they were… touching something soft. No, fisting something soft. His shirt. I was holding onto him just like he was holding onto me, and I wondered if he could feel how fast my heart was beating.

“See?” His pillowy lips moved, and my eyes followed their slow dance. “Some men will catch you.”

“Yeah…” Slowly, I twined my fingers in his shirt, feeling his hard chest with a careless graze of my knuckles. That somersaulting sensation went off in my gut as Dominic’s chest rose beneath my grip, but he didn’t stop me.

Flicking my eyes up to his, I spoke like it was supposed to be a joke.

“Only the taken ones.”

But it didn’t feel like a joke. The breathy register I’d dropped to didn’t sound like a joke. How Dominic was staring down at me didn’t feel very joking either. We’d toyed this fine line of chemistry between us well enough so far because, of all the inappropriate things I’d said, none of it had been serious. We got away with it because I was teasing and flirting, but never serious.

Except this felt serious.

This felt like I seriously wanted to yank him down and kiss the ever-living fuck out of him. Turn his pink lips red and his gray eyes black. I wanted to tangle myself in him, limbs and tongues intertwined until neither of us knew where the other started or stopped.

Whether he was aware of it or not, Dominic’s stare was turning that burning degree of ice. My neck was hurting with how far I craned it back to hold his stare, but I couldn’t stop. He had that look about him that made me feel like he hated me, wanted to push me up against one of the trees around us and show me just how much he hated me.

My thighs quivered with the thought. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, or that I was breathing too much while Dominic’s chest was a steady rise of up and down against me. Neither of us were moving or speaking, and I wasn’t sure I could even do either.

Having both functions inoperable was probably for the best considering how badly I wanted to kiss him or tell him to kiss me. I shouldn’t want to feel his lips with mine, but I did. I wanted it so badly, the chemistry created by us that lived inside my blood ached with need.

My entire body literally ached to know what it felt like when lightning met thunder.

“Kat! Let’s go!”

A shout from Daren shattered the moment, and I dropped my hands from Dominic’s shirt. A quick-acting embarrassment squeezed around my throat as I shot a glance over to Daren to see him waving me over and looking pissed doing it.

He clearly saw what happened, which meant that there was something to see to begin with between Dominic and I. My boss and I. My married boss.

Oh, holy fuck.

“Sounds like you’re wanted,” Dominic said, chest rumbling. He took his hands from my waist, and I backed away with a forced laugh pushing through my body.

“Yeah, ugh.” Another fake chortle. “Save me, please.”

I passed a hand through my hair, ruffling it back as a distraction. A quick look at Dominic said he recognized my behavior, and that was about it. His expression said absolutely nothing else and was as stiff as I’d ever seen it.

It was with that stiff mouth that he said, “Just stop dating him.” Like it was the obvious solution, and I should listen to him or else.

Make a joke. Make a typical me joke.

“Now call me ‘young lady’ and send me to my room,” I quipped, giving him fleeting eye contact. He wasn’t paying attention to me though. Rather the ground where it looked like he was trying to make his own cracks in the sidewalk using just his eyes.

Spinning on my heel, I began walking back to everyone with my heart thudding in each step. A second later, Dominic caught up to match my stride, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Whatever you do, don’t ask me to spank you.”

Face pinching together, I shot him a glance. “Why not?”

Dominic shook his head, brows heavy and eyes hardened to charcoal.

“Because I just might do it.”