The Dominant's Obsession

Chapter 19

A L L I E

Allie groaned as she silenced her alarm. She sat up slowly and rolled her head around to stretch her neck.

Then she froze. Ohmygod. She'd kissed Dacian yesterday. And he...

She buried her head in her hands. So much for avoiding him...

She'd let him kiss her. Pleasure her. She'd said she'd let him fuck her. She'd begged to suck his cock.

God, what the hell had come over her?

She puzzled it over as she got ready for work. She must be ovulating. He took advantage of a hormonal fluctuation that made her predisposed to want to jump his bones.

Otherwise there was no way that she would do or say those things...

By the time she'd gotten into the office, she'd almost convinced herself that it was purely a one-off anomaly, a moment of temporary insanity. A product of hormones, misplaced lust and – okay – a really devastating body.

Certainly nothing to lose her shit over.

Definitely not something to be repeated.

When she met his gaze at lunchtime in the cafeteria, a fiery blush crept over her face. As she averted her gaze and he did the same, looking vaguely troubled, she thought,

It is never going to happen again.

* * *

Dacian froze in the gym doorway. "Oh. I didn't know you were in here. I can..." His gaze brought heat to her skin as he raked it over her. "I can come back later."

"Wait!" Allie called out, pausing the treadmill. "You don't have to leave."

He shook his head. "This will be easier if we avoid each other."

"What will be easier?"

He looked at her. "Allie... What happened the other day... It can't happen again."

Her stomach was a rock, but she simply nodded. "I know. You said as much. That it would only be the one time."

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tried for indifferent. "It's for the best, anyway. I mean, I'm hardly looking to get into anything right now. Certainly not with someone like you."

His eyes widened. "Someone like me? What do you mean?"

"You know... a bad boy. A player. Damaged goods."

"Damaged goods?" He huffed. "As if I would ever be with someone like you! A sanctimonious, insufferable little bookworm!"

Ouch. "Right, so, like I said." She nodded. "Mutual agreement."

"Mutual avoidance," Dacian asserted.

"Right. And I was just leaving." She hopped off the treadmill. "So you can have the gym." As she passed him, she said, "See? I can cede territory. It's a place of personal growth for me."

"How wonderful for you," he grumbled, but she disappeared out the gym door as though she hadn't a care in the world.

When the elevator doors had closed her in alone, she took several deep breaths.

She'd handled that flawlessly. Now came the easy part.

Staying the hell away from him.

* * *

For the most part, things went back to the way they'd been before. Allie tried to avoid so much as glancing in Dacian's direction at lunchtime, and largely failed. She changed the subject whenever Lauren brought him up.

She told herself it was for the better that he was out of her life again. But she knew, deep down, that she was lying to herself. She tried to convince herself that she could go back to Life Before Dacian as though he'd never existed.

But the trouble was, he had.

Though she could distract herself with work during the day – and tell herself that it was working – at night her thoughts were consumed by Dacian. She relived his warmth against her, the heady and intoxicating sensation of being so physically close to another person again.

She missed the feeling of his arms around her when he picked her up. She missed the luxurious richness of his deep voice and the soft brush of his lips against hers. She missed his fingers playing against her skin, bringing her an ecstasy she'd never before tasted and hadn't stopped craving since. She missed the fiery glint in his eyes and his wicked smile. She even missed the butterflies that he stirred up inside her.

The more the details started to fade, the harder she grasped at them.

When she touched herself, she thought of his fingers, his mouth, his scent. Though it helped to take the edge off, she found masturbation just wasn't satisfying the ache anymore. A deep-seated hunger was growing inside her, one she feared could only be slaked by someone else. A specific someone else.

Now that her eyes had been opened to what else was on offer, she found she couldn't easily forget it and return to her solitary, self-sufficient life. Dacian had scalded her with arousal and pleasure unlike any she'd ever known and she hated him for it.

Colin had never pinned her against a wall. Colin had never issued her commands. Colin had never had such complete, dominating control over her.

Nor would she ever have wanted him to.

She hated herself for it, but her every sexual fantasy had been completely taken over by Dacian. His brand of seduction. His domination.

His face haunted her dreams. His melodic voice. His tantalizing kisses. His talented fingers.

On several occasions she woke up in the middle of the night, bathed in sweat and wanting. As she lay there unable to fall back asleep, she wondered if she wasn't overreacting by avoiding him.

If she let him continue, would his seduction live up to her expectations, her imagination?

Wouldn't it be worth risking a little more heartbreak to find out?