Her Dom's Lesson (Dominic Powers Book 2) (21 page)

But she feels me, she knows she’s mine, and I don’t give up what’s mine.

Sophia

“Do you want a boy or a girl?” Kayla asks me in between bites. 

“I would love to have a boy first,” I answer honestly.  “One who looks just like his daddy.  But honestly, either is fine with me.  I really only want a happy, healthy baby to love and spoil.”

Dominic’s hand is resting on my belly and has been for some time now.  Using his thumb, he absently rubs up and down over my protruding stomach.  The rest of his hand stays splayed out across me, like he’s shielding us from something unknown.  His comment about leaving him caught me off guard.  As much as I love being around our friends and family, I can’t wait until we’re alone so I can ask him what’s really going on. 

“I think a little girl, with her mom’s reddish-brown hair and beautiful brown eyes, would be best,” Dominic chimes in. 

“How about one of each?” Shadow asks from the doorway, surprising us all.

“Don’t even joke about that!”  I narrow my eyes at him and try to give him my meanest look.  It only succeeds in making him laugh.   When I move to get up, Dominic’s arm becomes stiff and he holds me in place.  Kayla quickly jumps up and grabs a plate for Shadow. 

“Thank you, ma’am,” Shadow says as he kisses her cheek and takes his plate.  “Whose has been cooking the longest?  I’m calling dibs on that one.” 

“The hell you say!” Tucker retorts, his Southern drawl is more pronounced when he jokes with Shadow. 

He blocks Shadow’s attempts at getting to the fondue pot, wrapping his arms around the fondue cooker and guarding his skewer like it’s Fort Knox.  Grabbing an empty skewer, Shadow jabs the sharp, pointy ends at Tucker’s arms.  Tucker jumps with each stab and Shadow’s determination increases.  When Tucker is least suspecting it, Shadow jerks his arm downward and jabs Tucker in the ribs, making his arms fly away from the fondue cooker and opening it up for fair game.

Shadow grabs Tucker’s skewer and quickly pops the chunk of steak into his mouth.  He can’t hide his satisfied grin as he exaggeratedly chews, moaning in appreciation, and rubbing his stomach.  He is really hamming it up, rubbing it in Tucker’s face, and drawing out his own brand of torture.  For such a big, serious guy, he can be so funny and down to earth when he’s relaxed.

Kayla and Rick are both smiling from ear to ear, waiting to see what these two clowns do next.  I noticed, though, that Rick quickly withdrew two of his skewers from the cooker and put them on his plate.  Probably just in case Shadow gets any more ideas.

“This is the best steak I’ve ever eaten.  Tucker, you must tell me your secret recipe,” Shadow heckles.  “Do you marinate it first?  How do you tenderize it?”

Tucker glares at Shadow and the entire table erupts in uncontrollable laughter.  Shadow leans back in his chair as far away as he can get from Tucker while still sitting beside him.  His shit-eating grin is still fully intact and he’s not even trying to hide it in the least.  My shoulders are shaking, I can’t breathe, and every time I look at Tucker’s sour face, it makes it even worse.  Tears are streaming freely down my face when I grab my napkin to wipe my eyes.  Turning my head toward Dominic, I expect to find him in the same fits of laughter.

But he’s not laughing at all.  He’s just staring at his empty plate, oblivious to the comedic scene around him, and he has the saddest look I’ve ever seen on anyone.  His eyes are downcast as he twirls and empty skewer between his thumb and index finger.  There’s no hint of a smile or any indication that he’s even heard a word that’s been said.  My heart instantly drops to my stomach and I fight back the painful tears that are threatening to fall.  I don’t know what’s suddenly so wrong, what’s on his mind, or how I can help him. 

He looks like he just lost his best friend.

“So, Dominic, I understand you have some reservations about our plan for Monday,” Shadow nonchalantly says as he scoops up another bite.

Dominic’s eyes fly up to meet his, the fire has returned, and his lips are drawn into a tight, straight line.  His pissed off look is much more convincing than mine, but since Shadow isn’t one to back down, either, there’s a silent war of wills happening.  Everyone keeps eating in silence and blatantly avoids looking at either of them.

It appears I’m the only one who’s been left out of this tidbit of information.

“What’s the plan for Monday?” I ask, my eyes darting between Dominic and Shadow to see which one will answer me first.  Shadow smiles at Dominic but their staring contest is still ongoing. 

Abruptly standing up, my chair slides across the floor, causing all eyes to turn to me.  “Someone needs to tell me about
‘the plan’
for Monday, NOW,” I demand, making air quotes with my fingers to show my disgust with being left out.

“Sit down, Sophia,” Dominic replies, trying unsuccessfully to hide the anger in his voice.

“No,” I use my assertive voice.  “Something’s up and you’re intentionally leaving me out of it.  I’m not a child and I’m not going to break.  I deserve to know what’s obviously got you so upset tonight.”

“You haven’t told her?” Shadow asks, but this time there’s no hint of joking.  His face changes to something lethal and scary.  “Why haven’t you told her?”

“Told. Me. What?” I stress each word as I slam my hands down on the table. 

“Sophia,” Dominic says, all traces of anger in his face and voice have been carefully hidden, “let’s go upstairs and talk.”

As I straighten to stand upright, I see a slight shake of Shadow’s head as he continues to show his disapproval.  Dominic stands and extends his hand to me.  The lost, sad look has returned to his eyes and I know this is what he was thinking about before Shadow said anything.  “Come with me,” he urges.

Taking his hand, he firmly grips mine and wordlessly leads me up to the bedroom.  After closing and locking the door, he leads me to the bed and has me sit on the edge of the mattress.  Then he completely stuns me when he drops to his knees on the floor in front of me and lays his head in my lap.  His arms wrap around my hips and he just holds me for several, quiet minutes.

Lovingly stroking his head, running my fingers through it, and rubbing his shoulders, I wait for him to collect his thoughts.  “I wasn’t keeping it from you, Sophia.  I just wanted to talk to you about it alone,” he finally speaks but keeps his head in my lap.

“About what?” I ask quietly, still running my fingers through his hair.

“I’m meeting with Ramon Cortez late Monday afternoon.  The FBI will be there, watching from another room.  They have information that he is after you–to kidnap you or…” his voice drops off and I can’t seem to find mine.

“They say you have to be there, Sophia.  He’s had someone watching you come and go from the office.  So, if you don’t show up for work like you normally do, he will know something is up.  They want me to willingly put your life in danger so they can get information on him, maybe make an arrest. 

“How can I do that?  My job is to love you, protect you, and earn your trust.  If I knowingly put you in a dangerous situation that I can’t control, I’m not holding up my end of the relationship.  But more than that,” he sighs heavily, not wanting to say the next part.

Pulling up from my embrace, his eyes find mine and that sad, haunted look breaks my heart.  His big hand wraps around the back of my neck and he pulls my face close to his.  “More than that, I have a
really
bad feeling, Sophia.  I can’t lose you.”

Now his comments from just after his meeting with Tucker make sense.  He doesn’t think I’d leave him for another man.  He thinks I’m going to be taken or maybe even killed.  My Dom doesn’t worry without a reason and he isn’t scared of any man.

“Why do you think you’ll lose me, Dominic?”

Leaning his forehead against mine, he tells me.  “They were after me at first, with the car wreck and the house fire.  But, now it seems that
you
are their primary target.”

“Is this because of Harrison?”

Dominic springs to his feet and paces the floor.  His hands are in his hair, running through it over and over, until it’s standing on end in wild, sexy spikes.  I remain still, watching his agitation grow. 

“That’s what I’ve been going over and over in my mind.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  Why would Cortez go to such great lengths to get to you as a favor to Harrison?  He can’t do anything to help Cortez in return.  A man like Cortez doesn’t do something for nothing.

“I think there’s something we’ve missed and it’s the unknown factor that I’m having a hard time dealing with.  I don’t even know where to begin to look for answers.  I don’t know how to keep you safe when I can’t see which direction the threat is coming from.”

He stops pacing, his back is to me, and his hands are drawn into tight fists.  I expect him to punch the door and run his hand through it at any moment now.  He feels out of control and the old doubts about his worthiness to be a Dom are trying to resurface.  He is my Dom, though.  He commands my body with just a glance.  His voice thrills me beyond measure.  He owns my body, my mind, and my heart with a single touch.

There’s no man who could ever compare to Dominic Powers.

I quietly remove my clothes and slide up the bed.  The soft clicking of the buckles on the wrist restraints draws his attention to me.  When he sees me lying on the bed completely naked, partially restrained, and totally his, the Dom I know and love comes out to play.

With a slightly amused quirk of his mouth, he stalks toward me.  “It appears that my sub has started without me.  Since when has this become acceptable?”

“My apologies, Dom.  I deserve to be punished for that,” I reply submissively.

“You do realize that it isn’t
actually
punishment when you ask for it like that,” he deadpans, but still sheds his clothes in the process.

“How should I ask for it then, Dom?”

“You just did, little girl.” 

He finishes latching the buckles on the wrist restraints before moving to my ankles.   “One more month and we’ll be in our new house, with our new playroom.  So many different possibilities and combinations I can employ in there.  For now, you’ll have to take the punishment I have handy.”

I bite my bottom lip, pulling it between my teeth.  The expectant tone of his voice tells me it isn’t quite as mundane as he wants me to think it is.  He opens the second drawer of the nightstand and removes a small, stainless steel U-shaped device.  On the open end, the two sides touch and curl up on the sides.  Small, clear jewels hang off of the curled ends. 

After coating it with a dab of flavored lubricant, his smile is completely devious as he crawls up on the bed.  “Clit clip,” he says by way of explanation and I gasp.  This brings an even bigger smile to his face.  “You’ve heard of them, then.”

Oh, yes, I’ve heard of them!

His fingers find my already wet pussy and he takes his time as he runs his fingers all around and in me.  Using his thumb and index finger to completely spread me open, he slides the closed end of the clip over and just behind my clit.  The open end pushes my inner labia together and the closed end pushes away from me, resulting in a fully exposed clit.  The added weight of the jewels adds to the stimulation.

His tongue flicks across my sex, warm and wet, and with my bundle of pleasure nerves completely exposed, streaks of electricity shoot through my entire body.  “Umm, my cupcake,” he says in jest before his mouth devours me and his tongue licks around the outside, then the inside, before finding my nub again.  When he sucks on it and then pulls it through his teeth, I feel like I’m about to break the restraints and come up off the bed.

“You’re squirming, Sophia,” he chastises me.  “You know how I feel about squirming while you’re restrained.”  Leaning over, he picks another device from the second drawer.  When he holds it up, my eyes open wide and my jaw drops open.

“You wouldn’t,” I whisper in disbelief.

“Oh, but I would.  And I will,” he says with a wicked grin as he attaches the two nipple clamps before he picks up the third clamp, meant to clamp my clit in a different way. 

The mixture of the two types of clamps is the best painful pleasure I’ve ever experienced.  Until I feel his cock poised at my entrance, the tip just barely moving against me.  Opening my eyes, I find Dominic watching me with intense eyes.  He’s waiting for me to look at him so he can see what I’m thinking and feeling.  “That’s my girl,” he says a split second before he plunges as far into me as he can.

The sudden invasion fills me, stretches me, and I instantly come.  Without permission.  He notices but he keeps going, because part of my punishment is his constant rubbing against my fully exposed clit.  The intense build up of pressure low in my pelvis begins quickly and escalates just as fast.  There’s no way I can stop the flood of my climax with all the stimulation he has provided.

When he unexpectedly removes the second clit clamp, allowing the blood flow to rush back into the fully exposed area, my arms and legs involuntarily jerk, pulling violently on the restraints.  They don’t give, though, and I’m helpless to fight against the barrage of ecstasy he’s giving me. 

“Fuck, baby, you’re so wet.  I feel your come running out of you,” he growls at me.  His voice does things to me that are just unbelievable and I feel the release of the glorious pressure again as I scream his name.

“Ahhh,” he groans as he pumps into me a final time before he joins me in our post-coital bliss.  He removes the nipple clamps and the initial clit clamp, sending a whole new sensation flowing through me.  His body covers mine, but he’s careful to not put pressure on my pregnant belly. 

Pulling his knees up between my legs, he leans over and lays his head against my baby bump.  He kisses my stomach where the baby is protected, and whispers, “I love your mommy so much, little one.  Just wait until you meet her.  You’ll fall in love with her, too.”

Dominic quickly unbuckles the restraints and massages both of my wrists and ankles.  As always, he leans against the headboard and pulls me into his lap.  With loving kisses and soft strokes against my hair, he tells me over and over how much he loves me, how proud he is of me, and how beautiful I am.  The contact of skin on skin, without making love, but being this intimate, is my favorite part.  It’s so much more than sex and it’s so much more than the words.  It’s the real feelings behind everything we do with no barriers, nowhere to hide, and nothing else in the world exists.

“Are you okay?” he murmurs against my skin.

“I’m perfect, Dominic.  Are you pleased?” I ask, genuinely interested.

“You always please me, Sophia.  You were made for me and only me.”

That’s the last thing I remember before sleep takes me.  Wrapped in my love’s arms, sheltered by his protectiveness, and warmed in his embrace, I fall into a deep sleep and don’t wake until the next morning.  When I open my eyes, Dominic has placed me on my side of the bed and he is spooning me from behind.  His arms are wrapped possessively around me and his leg is in between mine.

I love waking up this way.

“Thank you for last night,
My Angel
,” he says in his sleepy voice.

“For what?”

“For your way of reminding me that I’m still your Dom,” he clarifies.  “You knew exactly what I needed.”  He pauses for a few seconds, but I can feel he has more to say, so I stay silent until he’s ready. 

“You need to go into the office Monday, love.  This is the only way I can think of to draw out the truth.  I won’t let him hurt you.  He will not take you from me.   I’m putting an end to him once and for all, Sophia, no matter what it takes.  By threatening what’s mine, he has invoked my fury…and maybe a little madness. 

“I will protect you with my life, baby, but it’ll be
his
life first.”

Chills cover my body, but this time they’re not the good ones that emanate from the sexy timbre of his voice.  The hard, iciness of his voice says he’s made up his mind, he has a plan in place, and he won’t be deterred no matter what the outcome may hold.  Dread fills me, knowing the outcome is inevitable–someone will have to die.

Dear God, please protect Dominic.  I can’t do this without him
.

With the turmoil in Dominic’s mind settled, we’re now able to enjoy the rest of the weekend with his parents.  As we’re dressing Saturday morning, we’re talking about everything and nothing when I feel a sudden fluttering in my lower abdomen.  I stop talking in the middle of a sentence and my hand flies to my belly.  Dominic is instantaneously at my side.

“What’s wrong?  Did I hurt you last night?”

I smile brightly at him, “No, Dom, you didn’t hurt me at all.  I just felt the baby move for the first time!”

“What?  Really?” he asks excitedly as he places his hands on my stomach.  “Make her move again.”

“I can’t make him move.  He just did it on his own,” I laugh.  “There!  Did you feel that?”