Chapter 55 Fifty Five
Izzy lay there for a long moment, trying to catch her breath. Her body still trembled from what had just happened, every nerve humming, every thought tangled up in Dominic.
The room felt warm and quiet now, the air thick with that charged calm that always came right after him.
Dominic didn’t move at first. He simply looked at her… really looked… his chest still rising and falling, his expression softer than she had ever seen it.
There was something in his eyes… something unguarded, raw, and almost dangerous in a different way.
He reached out slowly, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.
“You good?” he murmured, his voice deep and tired in a way that felt intimate.
Izzy nodded, though her body still felt weak. “Yeah… just.. ”
“Worn out?” he asked with a small smirk.
She rolled her eyes weakly. “Something like that.”
Dominic leaned closer, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead… nothing like the hunger of before. It was warm. Quiet. Almost careful.
He sat back a little, tracing her jaw with his thumb. “You pushed yourself for me tonight,” he said softly. “You always do.”
Izzy swallowed, her voice caught somewhere between pride and fear. “You said you wanted to mark what’s yours.”
His jaw tightened slightly, as if the words hit him deeper than he expected. “I did,” he murmured. “And I did.”
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
Dominic pulled the blanket over her body, covering her gently… another thing she wasn’t expecting. He always had this switch in him; rough one moment, impossibly soft the next, like only she was allowed to see it.
He stood up and walked to the bathroom to clean up, leaving the door slightly open. Izzy lay there staring at the ceiling, her heart still racing. The collar rested lightly against her skin, the cool ring right over her chest. She touched it with trembling fingers.
When Dominic returned, he had a damp towel in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
He placed the water on the nightstand. Then he sat beside her, expression unreadable, and gently wiped her skin. His movements were slow, almost tender, not saying anything as he worked.
Izzy didn’t know what surprised her more
…. how careful he was… or how her chest tightened at the sight of it.
When he finished, he tossed the towel aside and lay down next to her. He didn’t pull her in at first, just stared at the ceiling like he was thinking a thousand things at once.
Then, after a long moment, he turned on his side and drew her against him, fitting her into his chest with one arm around her waist.
She relaxed instantly, her cheek against his warm skin.
Dominic spoke quietly, almost as if he wasn’t used to saying things like this.
“You did good tonight,” he murmured into her hair. “Better than good.”
Izzy breathed deeply, letting the comfort settle. “You… you were different with me.”
He exhaled, a low sound against her temple.
“I told you,” he whispered, “when you’re with me… you’re mine. I want you in every way I can take you.”
She felt her stomach flip.
His fingers traced lazy lines up her back, slow enough to make her shiver again… but not from heat this time. From closeness. From something deeper she wasn’t sure she was ready to name.
After a while, he kissed her shoulder lightly. “Sleep, pumpkin.”
She felt her eyes grow heavy. “Are you going to sleep too?”
“Yes,” he murmured. His chin rested gently on her head. “Right now.”
Izzy lay in Dominic’s arms long after his breathing settled into a slow rhythm. The room was dark except for the dim bedside lamp, and she could hear the faint hum of the AC, the steady rise and fall of his chest under her cheek.
She should have felt only tired, but her mind wouldn’t stay still.
He had just used her… completely. And she had let him. Wanted him. Craved every second of it.
But now, lying against him like this, everything inside her felt confusing.
It wasn’t supposed to feel this close.
She stared at the wall, her fingers lightly touching the collar around her neck. It wasn’t tight, but it felt heavy. Heavy with meaning she wasn’t sure she understood. Or was ready for.
He said she belonged to him.
And the scary thing was… part of her liked hearing it.
She wasn’t supposed to. This was just sex. Just an arrangement. She reminded herself of that over and over, but her heart… her heart didn’t listen.
He held her differently tonight. He touched her after. Cleaned her up. Kissed her forehead. Pulled her close like she mattered.
And that was the part that terrified her.
Because if he didn’t mean any of that…
And she did…
She would be the one getting hurt.
She closed her eyes, trying to push the thoughts away. Dominic wasn’t promising love. He made that clear. So why was her chest hurting a little?
Why did she feel something warm when he said she was his?
She felt his arm tighten around her slightly in his sleep, pulling her even closer. She could feel the warmth of his body, the steady heartbeat somewhere under her ear.
Her own heartbeat sped up.
Maybe Maya was right.
Maybe she wasn’t built for casual.
Maybe she was already falling deeper than she should.
Izzy took a slow breath. “Don’t be stupid,” she whispered in her mind.
But the truth was, she wanted him.
Not just the sex. Not just the heat.
She wanted him.
And that was the most dangerous thought of all.
Her eyes grew heavy, her thoughts slowly fading as exhaustion pulled her in. The last thing she felt was Dominic’s fingers brushing her waist gently, even in his sleep.. like he knew she was there and didn’t want her anywhere else.
Izzy let out a small breath and finally drifted off, her heart still racing with feelings she didn’t want to admit.