“Hey . . .” Her voice is hesitant.
“Hey, you, mami.”
“How far away are you? Maybe we should postpone dinner.”
“Where are you?” My mouth curls up, and I shake my head, watching Aria park her car two spots ahead. Her space is almost double the size of mine, but her maneuvering is worse.
“Had a busy day. I’m tired.”
“You promised me a good meal.” I silently close my door and walk over.
“Good meal? Who said I could cook? You’re assuming like I did earlier.”
She’s climbing onto her knees, grabbing something on the front passenger floor. I’m mesmerized by her ass. I respond. “Okay, I’ll cook.”
“Not an option, Dominic. I’m from Texas. That’s bad hospitality.” Aria continues to reach, oblivious to her surroundings. “You’d have your choice of lasagna, meatloaf, fried chicken. All frozen. I can’t do that to you. Let’s reschedule.”
“Turn around.”
“What the—” Aria places a hand on her chest, then climbs out of the car. She pushes at me as I stand my ground, right in her space. “You must be stalking me now.”
“I’m not. There was no parking any closer.”
“Humph, I didn’t even consider trying my luck.” Through thick lashes, she looks up at me. “But still, my gram taught me hospitality. I was sidetracked today. So, postponing would be nice.”
“Aye, no. I promised to cook.” I cock my head to my ride. “I have groceries.”
Shock shines across Aria’s face as she removes a duffle bag.
“Let me.” I start for it.
“I’m good. Don’t be so chivalrous. You’re bringing food to my house. That’s, ahem, very kind of you.”
Ten minutes later, we're standing in the middle of a slate gray kitchen. Aria’s shoulders are heavy, disappointment evident in her eyes. Something happened after we parted ways earlier.
“Do you mind if I take a quick shower?” Aria glances down at her tight pants and blouse while uncorking a glass of wine.
“Should I join you?”
“You never miss an opportunity. Hard no. Now, listen up, Dominic.” The spirited woman who crossed me rises. She starts pointing toward the cabinets. “These are mine. Don’t touch anything, I mean anything, from there to there. I mean, even if you need a pinch of salt. Don’t do it.”
“No salt. Got it.”
Aria stops sauntering to the door to glare back at me. “Your smooth talk won’t save you from my wrath if you do. Also, I’ll need your services, pro bono, of course, after my assault charges.”
“I wouldn’t press charges, Aria.”
She winks. “No, not you, Dom. Messy Mir—ahem, my roommate.”
The smile on her face falls the second she turns around. I hold my wine in my hand, contemplating the woman I only know on paper. She has secrets. I want to see the world through her eyes.
Deliberation consumes her. I catch up to Aria as she pulls her shirt over her head while entering her room. She’s muttering about a mistake when turning around to grab the double doors.
Her eyes land on mine. As if I won’t fuck her to an audience, Aria leaves the doors open. “You’re supposed to be cooking. Dom, I’m sorry about—”
I lean against the wall, leg locked about the ankle. “Damn, you apologized, chula.”
“Yeah, now I regret it.” At her own attempted joke, her mouth lifts at the edges. Moments later, it crumples. “I- let’s do this another day, okay? I’m not feeling—anything.”
“Live life, mami, fuck regrets. Here, I’ll give you a quick lesson.” I clasp her cheeks.
Her lips quiver in suspense. “Dom—”
Welded against Aria, I frame her face and take a satisfying nibble of her bottom lip. Revenge for my sexual frustrations.
With her breath teasing across my skin, her expression melts. I grasp her close, skimming my knuckles along the thin material covering her breast. The space between us no longer exists. By my calculations, I could fuck any orifice of Aria’s body at this precise moment. I can. I will. Not yet.
I press a kiss to her lips. It’s soft at first, building along with the adrenaline running through me. Drinking in every detail of her features, I drop my mouth along her two chocolatey mounds. Using my hands as fists, I hoist her breasts together.
A low groan builds in my throat as I pull one breast out and lick across her nipple. Aria’s hands slam back against the wall as if she’s catching herself from falling. Leaving my face between her breasts, I groan. Not yet, idiota, I warn myself.
Though my hands won’t cease roaming across her curves, I growl, “I shouldn’t care about you, Aria. I’ve only ever had one motive when it came to a woman. But you are all in my fucking head.”
She’s a soft, trembling mess beneath my fingertips. Satiation is around the corner. Yet a foreign need to give a damn, forces me to ask, “Where were you earlier?”
“Nowhere.”
My knuckles drag back up her see-through bra. They slide up her collarbone until my palms control her neck; my thumb strokes her throat.
“Don’t lie to me, chula. When I arrived, you had no sense of your surroundings. Sexy ass advertised for any man to see while looking around your car. I don’t refer to you as chula just because, which implies you are trouble. I have no desire to give a damn, yet your actions push me to it. So, where were you?”
Aria’s pretty brown gaze lowers. Her breath tickles at my chest. “You’re not my boss, Dominic.”
“Okay, then. Tell me you were just out, mami. Nothing dangerous.”
“Nothing dan—”
My thumb slides around until I’m tenderly squeezing her neck. I press kisses along her collarbone, and then my teeth sink gently into her pulse. “I said, be honest, chula. Unless you have a new muse?” Jealousy rips through me as I repeat myself, “Do you have a new muse?”
Chapter Twenty
Aria
“El Santo,” I murmur, intoxicated by the intense concern behind Dominic’s velvet green gaze. He declared how caring about a female was uncharted territory for him.
Why give a fuck about me? I didn’t save ReAnna. Didn’t stop her. My psyche evolved around the concept of this very sentiment. I grew up clothed in guilt; it’s the way my brain is set up now.
Dominic’s forehead kisses mine. “You are so motherfucking loca, mami. Stop getting into my head. Making me want to lock you up, throw away the key.”
He kicks the doors closed behind him. His hand is still at my throat, not constricting my breathing but holding me steady. He moves me against the limestone walls of my bedroom.
“Didn’t I tell you, the next time I have you at a wall, you’d climb up it. Did I mention you’d be screaming?”
A yip lurches in my throat as Dominic turns me around. His fingers knot into my hair and pull, baring the pulse in my neck to his lips. His other hand weighs on the top of my round ass.
“You must love to be afraid.”
He nips my earlobe. The bite sends a shuttered gasp through me. “Dominic,” I screech. Ask me a day ago if I’d ever consent to being bit, the answer would be hell no. Nevertheless, the first few bites were scintillating, sending tiny jolts along my pussy. Not this jealous vamp clamp he just issued.