Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Alexa

D ominic's silhouette was a landscape of shadows and power as he pulled me closer, our bodies melding into each other. His breath, hot against my neck, was a silent whisper of desire that sent shivers cascading down my spine, each one igniting a fire that only his touch could stoke.

His hands, those instruments of both destruction and devotion, roamed over me with a reverence that belied his formidable nature. Fingers traced the arch of my back, pressing into the softness with a hunger that spoke volumes of the need coursing through his veins. The way he explored me—the gentle graze along my side, the firmer press against the curve of my hip—was a wordless testament to the depth of his love.

This darkness of a man loved me. He might not know the words to express it, but the way his eyes darkened for me was proof.

As he found the delicate expanse of my collarbone, his touch lingered, tender yet insistent, a silent promise to protect as much as it possessed. His hand, a contrast against my fair skin, seemed to burn with a dark intensity, every movement resonating with a possessive caress that sought to claim me entirely.

The fierce future leader of a mafia empire and the man who worshipped me with every fiber of his being was next to me. In this room, under the cloak of night, we were the embodiment of dark passion itself, two halves of a whole that thrived in the intoxication of our love. And as his hands continued their exploration, there was no denying the message they conveyed: I belonged to him, heart, body, and soul, just as he belonged irrevocably to me.

My breath hitched, a silent gasp lost amid the symphony of rustling sheets and hushed whispers. Dominic's touch, an alchemy of shadow and desire, wove through my senses like tendrils of smoke, each caress igniting flares within me that I could neither quench nor fully understand. The raw need, etched into the pads of his fingers, left me undone.

His lips found mine again, an anchor in the maelstrom, and I drank from the well of intensity that was Dominic—each kiss a covenant, each sigh a confession. My body responded in kind, arching toward his touch with an urgency that belied the softness. The world beyond the bedroom walls ceased to exist; there was only the two of us, bound by a force fiercer than the binds of mere flesh.

Afterward, I lay nestled against Dominic's side, my head resting upon the solid plane of his chest. In the aftermath, my fingers danced lightly over his skin, tracing the contours of muscle and sinew that spoke of hidden strength and battles fought in silence. Each pattern I drew was a wordless ode to the complexities of the man who held my heart—a man both revered and feared, yet laid bare beneath my touch.

In the muted glow of the bedside lamp, his chest rose and fell with a rhythm that lulled me into a state of contented calm. Here, in the sanctuary we created, our love was a living thing—breathing, pulsating, defying the darkness that sought to claim us. It was in these precious moments that I found solace, the gentle rise and fall of his chest a testament to the life we shared—a life fraught with peril but anchored in the unyielding bond we formed night after night, whisper to whisper, heartbeat to heartbeat.

"What does our future look like? "

My eyes sought him in the dim light, searching for reassurance amid the shadows that played across the room—a visual echo of the uncertainties that clouded our future. The question hung between us, a delicate thread threatening to unravel the tapestry of our shared moments.

Dominic's response was not immediate. His gaze remained fixed above, where the plaster ceiling offered no counsel. The faintest crease formed between his brows, a rift in his otherwise stoic facade. With each passing second, the tension coiled within him, a storm brewing behind the calm surface.

He swallowed hard, and when he spoke, his voice bore the gravelly timbre of a confession. "Alexa, there are things I wish I could promise you—safety, peace… a world untouched by the violence of my heritage." His jaw tightened, the muscles there working silently as if struggling to mold the words he needed to convey the depths of his fears.

"Sometimes, I fear that the life I've been born into is a curse I've inadvertently cast upon you," Dominic continued, his admission punctuated by the raw undercurrent of vulnerability that rarely surfaced.

I reached up, smoothing the line between his brows with the gentlest of touches, my own heart aching at the sight of his internal battle. In his eyes, I saw the reflection of a man torn between the love he cherished and the legacy he couldn't escape—a love darkened by the looming specter of a life dictated by power and danger.

He turned toward me, his body shifting until we were no longer parallel lines but intersecting souls. His eyes—a fusion of midnight and storm—met mine, carrying a tempest of emotions that words could scarcely define. In that gaze, adoration danced with determination, an unspoken vow that eclipsed the need for speech.

"Alexa." Dominic's voice was a low rumble, tethering me to the here and now. "I know this life… our life, it's not what you dreamed of." His hand found mine, fingers lacing with a strength that belied his next words. "But I swear on everything I am, I will shield you from the darkness that claws at our door the best I can."

My breath hitched at the intensity of his promise, so earnest it bordered on sacred. I swallowed the knot of fear that lodged itself in my throat. "And what about us, Dominic? Not just me, but you too. The decisions you make, the risks we take—how do we protect this?" My gesture encompassed the fragile bubble of our love, so potent yet so vulnerable amid the chaos of reality.

Dominic's other hand rose, cupping my cheek with a tenderness that contrasted sharply with the calluses borne from a life of necessity. "We stand together. You're the light in the murk of my world. We guard that light—with blood, with loyalty, with every last breath if we must."

His thumb brushed my skin, tracing the worry lines that marred my face. "You wonder how we'll navigate this treacherous path?" A corner of his mouth lifted, a ghost of a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "The same way we've been doing. Side by side, heart to heart. You are my compass. With you, I can't lose my way."

"Even against your own blood?" My question was whispered, a featherlight probe into the labyrinth of his obligations.

"Even against the world," Dominic affirmed, and there was steel in his words—a blade forged in the fires of his intent. "Nothing comes before you."

Dominic's gaze drifted away from my searching eyes.

"Alexa," he began, his voice vibrated with an unfamiliar tremor. "There are things I've done… decisions I've made for the sake of this family—our future." His hand, which had been firm and reassuring, now felt unsteady as it dropped to the bed between us. "Choices that haunt me."

My heart clenched at the raw edge in Dominic's words, seeing the conflict that waged behind the facade of the indomitable mafia don. I moved closer, my body instinctively seeking to provide comfort.

"I know you carry so much, Dominic," I whispered with empathy. "The weight of your father's legacy, the lives affected by your command, the constant threat looming over us. But you're not alone anymore. You have me."

His jaw tightened, a visible sign of the internal struggle as he grappled with the vulnerability he seldom allowed himself to show. "I fear that my past… present entanglements… they could taint what we have. That one day, it might be too much, and I…" Dominic's voice cracked, betraying the fortress of strength he always presented.

"Hey." I reached out, fingers gently tilting his chin until his dark eyes met mine again. "Whatever darkness you've faced, we'll face what's ahead together."

Dominic's hand enveloped mine, a silent acknowledgment of my words. The intensity returned to his gaze, a flicker of the resolve that had drawn me to him from the start. "Together," he echoed, his lips curving into a smile that didn't quite dispel the shadows in his eyes but promised a shared strength against whatever darkness the future held.