Chapter 40

"Answer him. Are you crying?" Dominic's gravelly voice vibrated against her bare back.

His lips trailed fiery kisses up her spine, each one more deliberate than the last, until his teeth grazed her earlobe. "Tell me, Evelyn. Are those tears?"

A thunderclap shook the apartment windows, lightning illuminating their tangled silhouettes against the door.

"You're an animal!" Evelyn gasped, arching away from his tormenting mouth.

Dominic chuckled darkly, nipping at her sensitive skin. "In public, I'm every inch the gentleman. But behind closed doors? I'm your personal beast."

His calloused thumb circled her navel with agonizing slowness, the rough pad of his finger sending electric shocks through her nervous system.

Evelyn writhed, her back pressing flush against the door as she tried to escape the sensation. The movement only served to grind her hips against his growing hardness.

Outside, Nathan's pleading voice cut through the storm. "I lost control that night, Evelyn. My mother called me worthless trash for letting you slip away! When Tabitha told us you'd brought a man home..." His voice cracked. "Those imported roses... I could never afford such extravagance."

Dominic's hands tightened possessively around Evelyn's waist as Nathan continued his drunken confession.

"My mother already thought of you as her daughter. What mother wouldn't rage seeing another man sneaking into her future daughter-in-law's apartment?"

The only response was the rhythmic thud of bodies against the door. Nathan misinterpreted the sound as sobs.

"Come out when you're done crying. Just apologize to my mother and we can—"

Evelyn's entire world narrowed to the heat of Dominic's body pinning her against the door, his relentless hands mapping every inch of exposed skin.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Before tonight, she'd never so much as held Dominic Blackwood's hand. That argument in the courtyard had been their only interaction.

Yet here she was, trembling beneath his touch while Nathan poured his heart out through the door.

Dominic's teeth scraped her shoulder as his fingers dipped lower. Evelyn's breath hitched.

"No...oh God..."

Her knees buckled. Dominic caught her effortlessly, turning her to face him in one fluid motion.

Shame burned through her at the hunger in his darkened eyes. Even as Nathan pounded on the door, demanding answers, her traitorous body arched toward Dominic's touch.

"Still shaking your head?" he growled against her swollen lips. "Your body says otherwise."

A particularly violent kick rattled the doorframe. "Who the hell is in there?" Nathan roared. "Open this door!"

Dominic's expression darkened. In one swift movement, he hauled Evelyn toward the bed, her protests dying in her throat as his mouth claimed hers again.

The pristine white sheets contrasted sharply with Evelyn's flushed skin as Dominic pinned her beneath him.

"Get out!" she gasped, pushing weakly at his chest.

Nathan's enraged shouts grew louder. "Adulterous bitch! I'll break this door down!"

Dominic's grip on her ankle tightened as he dragged her toward him. The door shuddered under another brutal kick.

Evelyn's vision blurred as pleasure and panic warred within her. The last coherent thought she had was that the door wouldn't survive another impact.

Neither would she.