Chapter 15 TRYING FOR THE UNINTERRUPTIBLE STEAM
Ava's POV
Dominic's hands roamed over my body like he'd been restraining himself all night and finally let go.
He backed me up against the wall and lifted me easily, my legs wrapping around his waist while he ground against me hard enough that I could feel exactly how much he wanted me.
"Bedroom," I gasped when he broke the kiss to trail his mouth down my throat.
"Here first," he said, already pulling my sweater over my head.
"I want you everywhere in this penthouse."
He got my bra off with practiced ease and then his mouth was on my breasts, sucking and biting while I clutched at his shoulders and tried not to make too much noise.
His hand slid between us to unbutton my jeans, his fingers already working their way inside when his phone rang again.
He ignored it the first time, but when it immediately rang again he pulled back with a curse.
"I'm sorry, I have to...fuck, I'm sorry."
He set me down carefully and stalked back to his office while I stood there half-naked and breathing hard, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
Through the glass I could see him pacing, one hand running through his hair in frustration while he talked.
When he came back out ten minutes later, the mood was completely broken.
"I have to go. Emergency meeting in the office that can't wait." He looked genuinely upset about it.
"Adrian will take you home."
"It's fine." I was already pulling my sweater back on, feeling awkward and exposed.
"It's not fine. We have two more nights this week and I swear nothing will interrupt them."
He kissed me hard before I left, and I could feel his frustration in every second of it.
Wednesday night he took me to some exclusive restaurant where we had to wait twenty minutes for our table even though he'd made a reservation because apparently some celebrity had shown up unannounced.
The food was incredible but we barely got through appetizers before his phone started blowing up with messages about some business deal falling apart in real time.
"I'm so sorry," he kept saying, typing responses between bites. "
This never happens."
Except it did happen, and by the time we made it back to his place we were both too frustrated and tired for anything beyond making out on his couch until I fell asleep against his shoulder.
Friday was supposed to be different as he'd planned the whole evening, told me to dress nice, had Adrian pick me up in a different car that was somehow even more expensive than the usual one.
We went to a private club where apparently you needed to know someone who knew someone just to get on the waiting list, and the music was good and the drinks were strong and for the first time all week I felt like maybe this could actually work.
Until I came back from the bathroom and saw a woman sitting in my seat, leaning close to Dominic with her hand on his arm.
She was stunning, the kind of beautiful that made me feel like a child playing dress-up, and the way she was looking at him made something hot and ugly rise in my chest. Something like....jealousy.
I walked over and cleared my throat. The woman looked up at me with barely concealed disdain.
"Oh, you must be the new one," she said and smiled.
"I'm Vanessa. Dominic and I go way back, don't we darling?"
Dominic's expression was unreadable.
"Vanessa was just leaving."
"Was I?" She took her time standing up, making sure to brush against him.
"Call me when you're done playing house with this one."
She walked away and I slid into the seat she'd vacated, my hands clenched into fists under the table.
"Who was that?" I had asked him.
"No one important."
"She didn't seem like no one."
"Ava." His hand covered mine.
"She's no one. She's just anex from years ago who doesn't know when to let go." He replied.
"Have there been a lot of exes?" I asked, wanting as much assurance as I could get.
"Does it matter?" He asked, looking at me with his intense blue eyes, and I swear, I could've drowned in them.
"I guess not, since I'm just another arrangement to you anyway."
The words came out more bitter than I intended and his eyes darkened.
"Is that what you think this is?"
"Isn't it?"
We stared at each other across the table and something shifted in his expression.
"Let's get out of here." He said as we packed our stuffs and made our way out of the club.
The ride back to his place was tense and silent, but the moment we were inside he had me pressed against the door, I could tell he had been keeping it in for a while now.
"You're not just an arrangement," he said against my lips.
"You're mine. Do you understand that?"
"Show me then." I whispered.
The first thing he did was lock the door, turn on dim lights, a slow music, turned off his phone and shoved it out of the room.
He walked towards me slowly, undoing his belt.