Chapter 21

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

AFTER ARRIVING BACK at the villa later that evening, Dom headed straight for the shower. He’d said too much today, practically cutting himself open and bleeding out in front of Luca, and he needed to scrub off any of the feelings that had caught.

Why had he brought up the past? He’d never actually told anyone that story before, but Luca and all his fucking questions… God, it was infuriating the way he was able to get under Dom’s skin. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Didn’t mean you had to spill your guts,Dom thought as he shut off the water and grabbed a towel.

Then again, maybe Luca had a right to know what his family had done. What had set this whole war into motion. After all, he’d been a pawn in their game, hadn’t he?

Dom quickly dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist, and when he stepped out of the bathroom, he stopped dead at the sight of Luca standing in his bedroom. His back was facing Dom as he picked up a picture frame off the dresser, one of the only ones in the entire house. Dom didn’t like to be reminded of the people he’d lost in his life, but considering he’d barely been back since the tragedy, the photo of the family had stayed, frozen in time.

“They’re beautiful,” Luca said softly.

Dom swallowed, finding the sting of tears behind his eyes an unfamiliar and unwanted feeling. He strolled over to Luca, ripped the framed photo out of his hands, and set it facedown on the dresser.

“Did I say you could come in here?” Dom’s voice came out a little more forceful than he’d intended.

“I didn’t realize I needed permission. I just wanted to make sure you were okay—”

“What the fuck makes you think I wasn’t?”

“Well…you know. You got quiet after everything we talked about, and then you ran in here—”

“I didn’t run.”

Luca sucked in a breath and then let it out slowly, like he was trying not to let Dom get him riled up. Good to see he still had that effect on him.

“Look, I know it was hard for you to do what you did today. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through, and you have every reason to want revenge. I get it, I do. But you’re allowed to feel, too.”

“Oh, I feel—”

“Angry? Yeah, you’ve got that one nailed down.”

“You know, if you came in here wanting to make me feel better or whatever the fuck, then you’re doing a shit job.”

“Wow. That’s how you speak to someone who cares?” Luca shook his head. “Have a good fucking night.”

He moved to leave, but Dom grabbed his arm. Luca didn’t turn, didn’t move a muscle, as Dom closed his eyes and took a deep inhale. He knew he was being a shit. That Luca didn’t deserve his wrath. But he also knew if he let down his guard any further, things between them were going to get way too complicated.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, releasing his hold. “This isn’t a topic I’m good at talking about.”

Luca turned, and the anger from seconds ago had been replaced with that emotion Dom hated more than anything else—sympathy.

“Nor should it be. I just wanted you to know that I’m here if you ever want to talk some more.”

Dom sighed and shook his head, then moved over to an old antique dresser where his comb sat and ran it through his wet hair. “I don’t get you. I kidnapped you, threatened your life, and now here you are offering me a shoulder to cry on?”

Luca shrugged. “Well, that was a long time ago. A lot has happened since.”

“You mean we fucked.”

“No,” Luca said. “I mean, yes, but not only that. We’ve spent a lot of time together over the last however many days, and been through a lot. I don’t know about you, but you start to, I don’t know, feel something when things like we’ve been through happen.”

Dom placed the comb down. “And what exactly are you feeling?”

Luca worried his lower lip and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I don’t really know. But whenever I’m around you, I feel…alive for the first time. Which is kind of ironic, considering you wanted me dead.”

“Wanted being past tense.”

“Right.” He nodded, and when Dom didn’t say anything else, Luca took a sudden interest in the hardwood floor.

Dom knew he should end this conversation right now, but with his defenses shattered and Luca’s words playing on a loop in his head, he found himself walking over to Luca.

“The day I got my first look at you, I knew I was in a world of fucking trouble.”

Luca’s head snapped up at his confession, and when their eyes locked Dom’s chest tightened.

“You were supposed to repulse me. I was supposed to hate you. Instead, all I saw was a man I would do anything to get alone for an hour—or more—and it had nothing to do with torturing you. At least not in a way that would hurt.”

Luca ran his gaze over Dom’s face. “We’re alone now.”

“We are. But we won’t always be, and that’s the problem.”

Luca’s cheeks reddened. “But that’s so fucked up.”

His outburst caught Dom off guard, and Luca began to pace the room.

“So you just have to be miserable for the rest of your life? Because of some bigoted fucking rule some old Italians made up?”

“No.” Dom planned to get his pleasure outside of his marital bed.

“That’s what you said.”

“I also said I couldn’t be with a Fiore, but clearly I’m not good at paying attention to the rules because I’m about to break that one…again.”

Luca stopped, and his defensive posture and frustrated expression made Dom’s lips twitch. He was so wound up, and on Dom’s behalf, and that made him irresistible.

“Are you laughing at me?”

Dom bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep his expression neutral. “No.”

“Good,” Luca said before he turned away and started to look around the room. His attention caught on something hanging on the wall. “What’s that?”

Dom followed his gaze. “A weapon of mass destruction.”

“Be serious.”

“I am. I could cause some serious destruction with that.” Dom reached up for the whip artfully displayed on the wall. It’d been a long time since he’d held it in his hands, and as he ran his fingers along the crimson leather, he wondered why he hadn’t bothered to take it with him when he left.

“Have you?” Luca asked. “Caused destruction with it?”

“What do you think?”

“I think if that were true it wouldn’t be hanging on a wall.”

“That mouth,” Dom said, shaking his head as he let the tail drop to the ground. He tested the weight of it, his hand itching to let it crack. “You want me to prove it, then?”

“Well…not on me.”

“No? On someone else?”

“No. More like a can or something.”

“A can,” Dom said under his breath as his eyes caught on the vase of flowers one of the housekeepers had set by his bed. He plucked one of the stems out and handed it to Luca. “How about you take this and step out onto the balcony.”

He moved past Luca to open the double doors wide, letting in the cool night air.

“You’re not gonna whip me off the balcony, right?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to play, so I can’t promise anything,” Dom said. “But I will promise I won’t intentionally send you flying.”

“You’re seriously disturbed.”

“So you’ve said.” Dom spun the whip in a circle over his head, and a crack echoed off the walls as he got a feel for it again. It was a good thing his room was so big or he’d never attempt what he was about to do inside.

“Um, okay, I believe you. Weapon of mass destruction it is.” Luca fidgeted with the flower in his hand, looking ready to bolt.

“Stay there and hold up the stem. Higher. Good, now don’t move or this will hurt.”

“You’re not gonna hit me with it, are you?”

“Luca. Shut up.” Dom lifted the whip, snapping it by his side with a crack that made Luca jump. Then he circled it over his head, focusing on his target, and snapped the whip forward—slicing the head of the flower clean off.

Luca’s mouth fell open as he looked between the stem in his hand and back at Dom. “Holy shit. That was amazing.”

Dom cracked the whip back to his side. “Still think this won’t do damage?”

“Uh, I’m convinced. No need to do it again.”

“Oh? But that was just the warmup act.”

Luca visibly paled. “If you pull out a match, I’m going to go and jump in the lake.”

“No matches necessary. This time, you’re the prop.”

Before Luca could utter another word, Dom used a side-arm flick and wrapped Luca around the waist with the whip. It wasn’t a move that would hurt him, but the crack made him gasp and drop the stem he held.

Dom’s lip curled as he pulled on the whip, bringing Luca forward into the room, then he grabbed the back of his neck and crushed their mouths together.