His Touch

Chapter 8

I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to the film playing before us. I took a large greedy sip of hot chocolate, this really is the best hot chocolate I'd ever had. I've never had it like this, prepared with solid chocolate the way Dominic had made it for us.

"Ell." Dominic's voice was quiet.

My head whipped up to him to see him looking at me with a confused expression. "Hmm?"

"Do you feel that..." He trails off and shakes his head. "Never mind." He clears his throat and turns his attention back to the TV.

I sigh. He feels it too, that static electricity between us whenever we're alone or close to each other. "I do." I whisper before I take a sip of my hot chocolate.

The rest of the film was watched in silence, though I couldn't follow along with the film as my mind was racing with thoughts of this beautiful dangerous looking man who only sat a short distance from me. As the end credits began to roll I stood up and turned to Dominic, reaching out for his mug. "Are you done?" I ask him politely.

He nods once before handing me the mug.

I can't bring myself to meet his gaze again so I turn on my heel and walk to the kitchen. I cleaned our mugs along with the saucepan and spoon Dominic had used to make our drinks. I wipe down the benches where I see Dominic had been using before I turn around with the intention of going up to bed. 

A gasp falls from my lips as Dominic stands a foot away from me. "You didn't need to do that, princess." He tells me.

"What is your problem?" I say before I can stop myself. "Why are you calling me that, why call me something so sweet but say it as if it's the most disgusting thing you've come across?"

Dominic seems stunned, slightly taken back by my sudden outburst of confidence to confront him. "Because you're spoiled, you get everything you want without even having to try."

"Spoiled?" I laugh. "I have spent my life working my ass off, working towards something better. Max spoils me because he feels guilty for leaving me behind, but I sure as hell am not spoiled. You know nothing about me!"

Dominic's eyes narrow on me. "I know you well enough..."

"No, you know nothing about me! You know nothing of what I've had to endure in order to get here. You know nothing!" My voice is raised as I feel my blood boiling at his accusations.

His green eyes darken. His eyes rake over my body before he takes a step forward and grabs my face roughly in his large hands. His lips are on mine, devouring me feverishly. I gasp into his kiss, Dominic takes advantage of this to deepen the kiss as his tongue protrudes my mouth, dancing with mine. One of his hands leave my face as it trails down my arm and wraps around to the small of my back to hold me against him.

I'm the first to pull out of the kiss, needing to catch my breath. I look up at him with confusion. "What..." I can't finish my sentence, all my thoughts go out the door with the look on his face as he watches me very closely. 

He's quiet a minute before his face returns to its usual cold shut off look. "Night." He grumbles slightly before leaving the room.

What the hell was that about?

My anger is no longer there, but I'm left feeling confused. Why does he believe I am some spoiled brat? Why did he kiss me like that and then just leave? My hand raises to my mouth, my finger tips trailing over my lips where he'd kissed me. I had wondered what it would feel like to kiss him, and now I know, it burned me as much as holding his hand had. His kiss was rough and rushed but I found myself liking it. I even found myself wanting more, to kiss him again. It was clear Dominic did not feel the same way, he had practically run out of here after kissing me so one can only assume that he regrets it. 

As I step out of the kitchen the elevator dings open and Max steps into the foyer. "Ellie, you're still up?" He is stunned.

"I was just on my way up to bed now." I tell him. "Did you have fun?"

Max nods his head. "Plenty." The way he says it implies the type of fun he had and even that was too much information for me.

"Goodnight." I tell him as I head for the stairs.

"Ellie, wait up just a second." Max calls after me. I turn back to him to allow him to continue. "I could have taken you home tonight, I know that place isn't exactly your type of thing. You should have told me you wanted to leave."

I nod. "I know, I was going to. I didn't want to disturb your fun, and then Dominic offered to bring me back since he said he was coming back anyways."

Max looks at me confused. "Dom said he was done for the night?"

I nod. "Can I go to bed now?"

Max laughs. "Of course. Goodnight."

I take the stairs and head into my room. Dominic is standing by the window wall like he was earlier this evening while he was waiting for me to get ready. "Dominic?" I ask confused, especially after the way he'd left me in the kitchen.

"I shouldn't have walked out the way I did." He tells me, his back still to me.

"Why are you here Dominic?"

He turns his whole body to face me. "This is my apartment remember?" He teases lightly. "I wanted to apologise."

"Ok." Now I'm even more confused. Dominic does not seem like the type of person who would ever apologise to anyone for anything.

"I wanted to apologise for going off at you, for accusing you of being someone you say you're not." He tells me. He stalks slowly over to me. "And I wanted to apologise for kissing you, like that." His voice is quiet as he now stands directly in front of me. He regrets kissing me?

I nod slowly. "It's fine."

Dominic's hand raises to tip my chin up so I'm forced to meet his eyes. "No, it's not." He tells me softly. "You shouldn't ever be treated like that. And I shouldn't have done that and then just walked out."

"You regret it. It's fine. No harm no foul." I tell him.

His green eyes search mine for a few seconds. "You think I regret kissing you?" I nod. "All I regret is walking out on you afterwards." His voice is barely above a whisper.

So he doesn't regret kissing me? "Oh." I breathe out.

"I'd like to do it again." He tells me. Walk out on me? "Kiss you." He explains.

"Why?" I am stunned. Dominic is this gorgeous man who could have any woman, he did have another woman sitting on his lap earlier tonight, so why would he want to kiss me of all people?

He chuckles. "Is that a no?"

"No. I mean, no it's not a no. I'm just very confused." I tell him truthfully.

He nods his head in understanding. "So am I, Ell." He whispers his truth. His head dips down and his lips meet mine, softer this time as he seems to wait for me to pull away from him. When I don't pull away from the kiss, Dominic deepens the kiss into a more feverish one matching our first one.