11. ReadyNot

Dom

My cock was rock hard the whole drive to my house. I didn’t hide it, I wanted her to see. I needed her to know how desperate I was to let loose on her, to ruin her as I had promised.

But nothing more. I’d meant what I said, as soon as she liked me, as soon as it seemed like anything more could happen, this was over.

Because I would tell her everything.

And it would break her into pieces. I couldn’t do that to her.

For years, I had avoided her at any cost. When I couldn’t resist, I would watch her from afar.

The last year, I had thought there wouldn’t be a chance ever again. She had Jared and seemed happy with him.

But now there was a possibility. Now, nothing could stop me.

I’d known what it was like to think I might never have her.

And I now knew what it was like to feel her on top of me.

In case Mia was in, I pulled up a road away from my house and got out my phone. On the surveillance app, I checked for the last movement on the driveway gate and the front door to see if it was her leaving or arriving. She’d got in an hour ago, her art supplies falling out of her bag, her hair up and a mess, paint in her eyebrow as she looked up at the camera.

I had more cameras inside when we first started dating. She’d made me take them down, claiming they made her ‘uncomfortable’. Now that she would soon be pissing off, I’d reinstall them.

Leonie Lion wouldn’t have an issue with me recording us fucking in every room in my house.

Leonie Lion would probably go wild for it.

She rested her head on my shoulder as I closed the app. “Looks like I’m going in solo,” she grumbled and dropped her hand, palm up, onto my lap. Just on top of my erection. “Keys.”

Damn her. I gripped her chin and pulled her mouth an inch away from mine. “Tell her to fuck off out of my house. Tell her I have someone I really need to do in there.”

“Someone?” she whispered, those sultry blue eyes blinking up at me.

“You. I need her out so I can take you in there and fuck you on every surface. Get her to leave.”

If my calculations were correct, she normally left around about this time anyway, some gym class or other.

Leonie sucked in her bottom lip, making her look goddamn adorable. I wanted to drag that lip into my mouth and bite it.

I wrapped her hand around my house key. “Be quick.”

With a nod, she jumped out of the car and walked away with the most sensual gait. She knew exactly what she was doing, swaying those hips and leaving her jacket behind so I could see her curves under that tight-fitted top.

Maybe I should follow her, chuck Mia out and take her on my bed right there and then.

In fact—

My hand was pulling the car key out of the ignition when my phone rang and I lost sight of Leo.

Without thinking, expecting it to be her, I pulled it to my ear.

“Dominic,” my father said before I could utter a word. His voice was uncharacteristically serious. “You haven’t checked in.”

“All’s fine,” I said, putting him on speaker and watching the live feed from the security camera at the gate, waiting for another look at her. “Same with Is. I’m staying at hers for a bit.”

“Why?” He sounded outraged.

“Mia’s moving out. You don’t need to ask, it’s over and there isn’t much to report.”

“Oh,” he said, slightly flustered and I heard him rummage some papers in the background. “Well, okay.”

“You have ten seconds to say what you want.”

He used eight of them to heave the deepest sigh known to man. He was the epitome of drama. “Thank the lord.”

I laughed, a carefree laugh I often found myself giving around my father. “You always pretended to love her.”

“One of us had to,” he remarked with a chuckle. “She was insufferable. But being the only woman you’ve ever brought home to us… we hoped you would find her flaws yourself.” He paused and I could tell he was hesitating. “If you asked for permission to marry, it would have been a no. She’s not made for a family like ours.”

“No,” I said slowly. “She’s not.”

She had been a tactic. One that went on for far too long.

“Is that why you ended it?”

“I don’t even know why I started it,” I grumbled. Though I did. The reason was walking up to my house to be with her right now. “It was never going to be serious.”

“You’re still young, son,” he said sincerely. “You’ve got time to find the right one. Make sure you do.”

From a young age, it was instilled in Issy and me that marriage was eternal. Our parents argued, laughed, bickered, but above all, loved. It was all I wanted in life. When I was ready. And he was right; at twenty-eight, I was still young.

“So living with the girls, ay? Any secrets to spill?”

“They’re both still lightweights,” I said as I straightened in my seat, watching Leo walk up the steps to my porch. Mia had buzzed her in before I had a chance. She looked up to the camera and gave a big grin and thumbs up like a complete dork before quickly turning to the door that flung open. All I could see from this angle were Mia’s legs wearing gym leggings, her trainers on.

“Dom,” Father said.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

Leo walked into the house, her body escaping behind the door.

“How’s our little lion? She hasn’t come by for a couple of months. The last few times Isabel was here, she was apparently busy.”

“She’s…” God, what was she? A she-demon, a witch, a cruel manipulator that had my cock weeping? “Frustrating, as usual.”

“Well,” Father said thickly, with an odd twinge of humour. “Remember, you are in her house, so play nice.”

I would play very nice.

“Roc said she hasn’t visited her mum at the home for a while, either,” he continued. “Which isn’t unlike her, but… ask her if she’s okay. She’s clearly avoiding us. So check in with her. I worry.”

“I worry about her, too.” It wasn’t a lie. “She has seven bottles of wine under her bed that she tried to hide from me.”

“Seven?”

“Counted them. They’re all cheap, nasty brands, too.”

My dad was silent for a second. “She’s never… alcohol hasn’t been a problem for her before. At least it’s not spirits, that’s when I’d interfere. I’ll talk to Isabel and see if this is an issue.”

She had at least started a second bottle last night, but she seemed… sorry for herself. Not depressed or reliant. But what did I know?

I’d been avoiding her for months and months.

“Dad, has Leonie spent any of her inheritance?” I asked. Jared had wanted her to spend it on a house with him and the idea repulsed me, but at the same time… with how in love with him she kept on saying she was… why hadn’t she? She might have said it was all a ruse, but I’d seen the way she looked at him. I’d loathed the way she looked at him.

A long pause this time, more shuffling of paper. “She hasn’t spent any of it.” There was an awkward silence, then his words were quick, “Now, the other reason I called—”

But my phone screen changed as the door opened and Mia slipped through, closing it behind her. The second it was closed, my phone rang.

“Sorry, Dad, I’ve got to go.”

And I hung up to take Leonie’s call.

“Speak to me.”

“Speak to me?” she shrieked. “Tell me that’s not how you answer every number you don’t have saved.”

“That’s how I answer every call, full stop.”

Of course I had her number, though I wasn’t surprised she didn’t have mine. Our online connections were Facebook and Instagram and only because we had never unfollowed each other from when we were teenagers.

“Right,” she said with a hint of disbelief. I pressed the button for video call, eager to see her face. “Oh, one second.”

The phone crackled as she moved before a beep and then her tanned face filled my screen. Ghost’s pressed up to hers, his blue eyes twinkling.

“Here he is!”

Normally, he would run a mile. He just looked at her as if she was mad.

She was.

“So what am I grabbing?” she asked. “Mia’s left for yoga. She was asking after you.”

I quietly closed the car door and walked briskly down the short path to my house. “Go to the back of my wardrobe,” I ordered. “Pull out a box at the back and get out the new one.”

“The new one?” she asked absently as she put Ghost down and placed her phone on the side so I could see her rummage, her ass bent over as she searched.

Then, she withdrew, pulling out a small box, her mouth open. “Dom—”

“Open it. Batteries are in the drawer of my bedside table. Get ready for me.”

“Get ready? Dom, not here, not when Mia—”

“Don’t care,” I said, using my phone to get through the gate to my drive.

But by the way she bit her lip and her brows furrowed, she did. It would only be a minute before I would make her change her mind.

“I’m not using a sex toy intended for your girlfriend.”

“How do you know it was intended for her?”

She went to speak and stopped, started and stopped again. I liked her flustered.

As I jogged up the steps to the porch, she looked to her left, hearing me coming. And a wicked idea formed in my head. “Let’s play a game, Leonie Lion.”

“What kind of game?” she asked hesitantly, raising her brows at me and picking up her phone again.

“Hide and seek.” Like when we were kids.

She closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. “And I’m what you want to seek? What do you get if you find me?”

“Whatever I want. If that includes the toy or not. Ten seconds head start, little lion.”

“No.”

“No?” I asked with a laugh. “Tell me your heart isn’t racing at the concept. Tell me your pussy isn’t clenching at the thought of me chasing you.” As she swallowed, I grinned. “Tell me you don’t want to be my prey.”

Then there was a split second of her scrambling and the phone went dead, showing Ghost as my background. I’d been right; I knew I would have fun with her.

I leaned forward to open the letterbox as I began to count. “Ten…nine…”

Her footsteps raced along the landing and I unlocked the door as I carried on counting. I mentioned her heart sprinting, but mine — mine was thudding at a steady rhythm, ready to become the predator. I’d felt like this many times, back on tour, when torturing the cretin that took Leo, but the reward… the reward was never going to be as sweet as this.

Ghost purred, rubbing against my legs as I continued my countdown. To keep myself calm, I rounded up his food bowl and a couple of his favourite toys in the mess of a living room before I reached the end.

“One. Ready or not, little lion, here I come.”