Chapter 177
My brow furrows. I never expected her to…care if I saw her early. About some superstition.
Or maybe it was just the fact her dress was down. Either way, it mattered.
I step closer.
She immediately steps back until her shoulders meet the wall behind her, breath catching.
I place my hand beside her head, palm flat against the plaster. Not touching her.
Close enough that she can feel the heat of me, my eyes locked on hers.
“You’re right,” I say, voice low and steady. “I am looking. At you.”
Her eyes widen a touch. She pulls her lip between her teeth, her breath puffing against my neck.
“Dominic.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you… defend her?”
My brow knit. “I don’t. I manage situations.”
“Even after I say what really happened. You protect her.”
Her eyes flicker, her hands tightening around the bodice over her chest.
“I wish…” she starts softly. “You would just trust me.”
“I do,” I answer evenly. “I just choose control over chaos. My restraint doesn’t cancel your fire. I am me, Ellie. But I am also the Alpha. I’d go to war for you. I just don’t want you living in one.”
One of her hand hesitantly leave her dress. Her fingers press against my chest. It’s soft, like a bird.
Her gaze drops to my mouth.
This time, she doesn’t look away fast enough. “I just,” she starts. “I hear you. But I feel like you don’t hear me. Trust me. I’m sorry-”
I close the last inch between us. Close enough that she feels my breath.
“You don’t trust me either,” I murmur.
“You’re right.”
Her grip tightens on my pecks, her eyes searching mine. “Dom-”
I kiss her, tipping my chin, forcing her’s up.
She stiffens for half a second, then, steadily, her hands slide into my shirt from my waist, and pull me closer. I bite down lightly on her lip, and a sound leaves her throat.
A fire blooms through me.
I want to take her here. Now.
But with a growl, I instad hold back, my hand moves to her waist, steadying her. The other traces up her bare shoulder before settling at her bare back. She inhales sharply in my ear.
“Dom-”
+30 Bonus
I deepen the kiss.
Her fingers move into my hair. Mine slide down the curve of her waist, feeling silk and heat beneath it.
“Dominic,” she breathes, but it isn’t protest. “My dress, it’s slipping.”
I shift my mouth to her jaw, then to her neck. She arches into it before she can stop herself.
“Tell me to stop,” I murmured against her skin.
I don’t even know if I can.
Her back presses against the wall as I pull her flush against me, my hand firm at her lower back. Her breath turns uneven as I
kiss down her neck.
As soon as I reached her collarbone, it was like a flip switch.
She gasps, pulling her dress back up, twisting away from me. “Dom! Okay! Enough! Seriously, s-stop!”
When I lift my head, her lips are flushed, her eyes unfocused.
“Gods,” I say quietly. “You’re beautiful.”
“You’re-”
A knock stiffens us both.
The seamstress asks timidly from outside.
“Is… everything alright?”
Ellie’s eyes never leave mine.
“No,” she says softly.
I almost smile.
Then I straighten, step back, and restore the distance.
“Finish the fitting,” I say calmly.
She doesn’t argue, but her cheeks and ears are a lake of red. “Fine. Just get out.” She grumbles.
ès
I step out, closing the door behind me. Vivian is there. She searches my face. “Is she-”
I smooth my expression, but the corner of my mouth lifts anyway.
If she thinks she understands what’s happening in there, she doesn’t.
And when that door closes again on our wedding night, it won’t be for lace fittings.
With no interutpions.
日
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