No Greater Loyalty (13 page)

Chapter 20

Elena threw her hands up and looked at Keisha as if vindicated after Dominick delivered his last sentence. "See! Did you hear that? Now maybe you can understand what I've been trying to tell you. He's nothing but a control freak."

Ignoring her, Dom pulled a set of papers he'd rolled up and put in his back pocket. He unfolded them and gave them to Keisha.

"What's this?" she asked.

Elena strained to peer closer at them, not even trying to hide her curiosity.

"I had these in my briefcase to give to you night before last, but Angel called, things got crazy...you know."

Keisha frowned, her lips moving as she scanned the documents. Suddenly her eyebrows shot up. She looked up at her husband. "What...Dominick...you did this for me? You found a place for me to open up my studio?"

Dominick caressed Keisha's cheek with the back of his fingers. "I know you sacrificed a lot staying home after you had Christian. Don't think I haven't realized that."

"It's not a sacrifice. I love you and our kids, you know that." Keisha's tone still said she was at a loss.

"I do, but I
’m also aware that you've been ready to resume your career, as well you should. You were good, Keisha. Damned good.”

Keisha ducked her head and blushed, but grinned at the compliment. 

“I never expected you to just give it up. When I brought up the idea of you possibly starting your own business soon, you kept blowing me off. I tried to tell you that I'd help you if that’s what you wanted."

"I thought you were trying to patronize me."

Dom shook his head, his expression telling her the very idea of her even thinking that was crazy.

Keisha went on the defensive.
“Okay, but my hormones had me feeling all kinds of ways months after Christian was born.”

Dom smiled, deciding not to touch that statement. "Well, this way everything will be up to you whenever you
’re ready. You can go at your own pace. And
if
you need my help, all you have to do is let me know. That cool with you?"

Keisha's eyes were bright as she nodded. "More than cool." Blinking rapidly, she looked back down at the papers. "And the location is
…wow."

When she read the address out loud, Elena almost choked. That particular area boasted prime real estate in one of the most desirable business districts in Vegas. Keisha knew Elena herself had looked into trying to rent a floor in a building not far from where Keisha would be, but the prices had been exorbitantly high. Her money was already stretched thin because of the expense of opening up the new office. There was no way she could've afforded to rent the space that had been her first choice, so she'd settled on second best.

Elena’s eyes were thoughtful as they ran over Dominick. She knew he was doing pretty good with his architectural firm, but not
this
good.

Keisha frowned as a clause in the contract caught her eye. "Wait." She slowly raised her head and stared at him with her mouth gaped open. "You...you bought the entire
building
? For me?"

"What?" Elena shrieked. She quickly did the calculations in her head. The cost for a building like that in an area where it was located had to cost at least seven figures.

Dom ignored her and pulled Keisha close. "Yeah. I bought it. For you. It’s in your name, free and clear."

Keisha let out a high pitched, shrill cry and launched herself into Dominick's arms. Dom laughed and lifted her up. Keisha's legs went around his waist and locked at the ankles as she peppered his face with kisses.

"Oh my God! Oh my
God
!" she kept repeating over and over again in between pecks of her lips. "I love you so much! I can't believe you did this!"

"I love you too, babe."

Still holding the papers, Keisha framed his face in her hands and gazed at him with a serious expression. "You know I'm getting ready to fuck your brains out, don't you?"

Dominick grinned. "That
’s what I was hoping for."

Squirming in his arms, impatient to make good on her promise, Keisha nibbled on his neck, straining to get closer.

Dominick turned to look at Elena. The amusement slowly faded from his eyes, leaving them cold and full of warning. "Before you leave, I want to make sure you know something. This right here?" He nodded towards Keisha. "This is me.
Mine
. Anything she even
thinks
about needing or wanting, I make sure she gets it. She never has to ask because it’s always hers." Dom jerked his head towards the door. "Now get the hell out of our house."

Elena was a beautiful woman, but at that particular moment her beauty was marred by jealousy, making her ugly, unattractive. Trying to maintain some sense of dignity, she flipped her hair back and left without a word to either of them.

Keisha muttered to herself and rolled her eyes. "I'm slipping.”

Dom raised an eyebrow.

"I can’t believe it took me so long to see the type of person she is."

"She
’s been your friend for a long time, so it was hard to see that side of her. People like that love to make their lives more appealing than it actually is, especially when they see you're genuinely happy."

Keisha nodded in agreement, thinking about how restless she
’d been feeling lately. She had to admit to briefly being a little envious of El's life, or rather the career she had. It was crazy now that she thought about it.

"We keep our circle tight for a reason, Keish. You can fuck with people, but you don't have to fuck with 'em like
that
, know what I mean? Not everyone will want the best for you."

"You
’re right, baby."

Dom's eyes crinkled in amusement. "Besides, she's lucky I came in when I did. I saw those little fists of yours balled up and ready to clock her one. Or two." 

"You know I was. Bitch don't know how close she came to gettin' knocked the fuck out!"

Softly biting her ear, Dom's shoulders shook as he laughed.

"I'm serious, Dominick!"

"Oh, I know, baby. Anyway..." His voice deepened and his eyes lowered to her mouth. "Elena is the last person I want to talk about right now.
“

Holding Keisha's backside firmly in one hand, Dominick used the other hand to untie the belt of Keisha's robe.

"Oh?" Keisha assisted him by pulling her arms out and dropping the robe on the floor. She lowered her head and caught his bottom lips between hers and sucked it into her mouth. "What do you want to talk about then? "

Dominick squeezed her ass. Shit, he held paradise in his hands right now. "Well, let's see. You said something about fucking my brains out? I vote for that."

Starting up the stairs, he looked down at the enticing picture she made with her legs gaped open and her center flattened against his stomach.

Moaning, Keisha's hips humped forward and circled so that her wet pussy pushed against his abs.

Dom cursed under his breath. "Keep doing that," he whispered.

Slipping two fingers inside her from below, Dom gave her a slow finger fuck as they continued up the stairs. By the time they got outside their bedroom door, Keisha had exploded and was raining honeyed sweetness over his fingers and stomach.

As Dominick carried her to the bed, she said between gasping breaths, "You are in so much trouble."

"Oh yeah?" Dom laughed softly and gently threw her on the bed.

Keisha nodded. “Uh-huh.”

He carefully dragged his zipper over his erection then peeled his jeans off. Grinning, Dom stalked towards her with predatory intent, his eyes hot as they roamed over her body.

"Good. I was counting on that."

CHAPTER 21

"So with everything going on have you decided what you're going to do about Dominick's birthday next weekend, Keisha?" Aleesha asked.

Everyone, including Dillon and Olivia, was at Marcus and Aleesha’s house the next day to check on them and welcome Addison Joy home. Alexis, Marcus’s sister, along with her husband, Amir, and their two sons would be arriving next week.

Originally Dillon and Olivia were supposed to rotate between Keisha and Dom's and Jerra and Darrell's house for a little while longer until Marcus and Aleesha got settled in with Addy, but it was obvious how much they'd missed being with the Bennetts. Marcus and Aleesha missed them as well. They
’d already discussed it and decided they wanted the children to stay home with them.

"We think it's time they got a sense of normalcy and security after losing their mother," Marcus told them.

Their friends had readily stepped up to be there for Liv and Dillon, and Marcus and Aleesha had tried to spend as much time with them as they could, but with both Addison Joy and Marcus Stephen being in the neonatal intensive care unit, it had been extremely hard. However, with their son steadily improving, he should be home soon. Marcus and Aleesha were dedicated to putting all of the children’s needs first and making it work.

As was always the case when they all got together, the intended short visit inevitably stretched into several hours. After everyone finished fussing over the baby and holding her, Aleesha put her down for a nap. Christian had fallen asleep as well and the older kids were off playing. Once the adults were alone, Dom and Keisha decided to bring Marcus and Aleesha up to speed about Dominick
’s situation. 

Later on, Marcus, Dominick, and Darrell stepped outside, giving the women a chance to discuss Dominick's upcoming birthday. Aleesha glanced at Jerra, who was standing by Addy
’s bassinet and doing her best to wake the sleeping baby up. Aleesha and Keisha exchanged looks of amusement.

"Wake her if you want to, but don't think you're leaving until you put her back to sleep." Aleesha and Keisha laughed when Jerra's eyes lit up at the prospect.

"You and Darrell need to just go on and have another one," Keisha told her. "I don't know what you're waiting on. You need a little girl."

Jerra shrugged as she curled up on the love seat. "We're talking about it. I
’m not getting any younger, that’s for sure. Gisselle is throwing out all kinds of hints that she wouldn’t mind having another baby brother or sister," Jerra laughed, mentioning her oldest child.

"Awww. How is she?"

"She's doing wonderful. Starting her first semester at Columbia University this fall." It was clearly spelled out on Jerra’s face how proud she was of her daughter. "She's coming to stay the summer with us in a couple of weeks. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it."

"That's great, Jerra," Aleesha said. "I can
’t wait to spend some time with her."

Jerra grinned and nodded in agreement before looking at Keisha. "Back to Aleesha's question, we know you'd planned to go away with Dominick next weekend, but now what?"

For the last two years, Keisha had gone all out for Dominick’s birthday. It was almost tradition now, but with everything going on, of course there would have to be a change of plans.

Keisha shrugged. "I don
’t even know if Dominick would be up for doing anything, so..."

"Why don't you just plan something here in Vegas," Aleesha suggested. "Maybe rent a room at a nice hotel for the weekend, pamper yourselves, maybe catch a couple of shows. Just relax."

"That's a great idea," Jerra joined in.

Keisha smiled and sat up warming to the idea. She'd already cancelled their flight and hotel reservations in the Bahamas, which was a trip she'd planned six months in advance, but this sounded doable.

Keisha nibble on her lips. "Do you think Dominick would agree?"

"Why not? Of course, it won
’t be a surprise because you’ll have to tell him, but it’s only going to be for a couple of days," Aleesha said.

"Besides, you guys could use a little private time," Jerra added.

Keisha’s nod of agreement came quick. "Yes, we could. I'd been looking forward to having some alone time with Dominick to just reconnect...although we've been 'reconnecting' pretty good since last night." A dreamy expression crossed her face as she thought about how much they'd made up for the dry spell that had taken over in their sex life lately.

"Oh please, don't even go there. I go for my six week checkup Wednesday, and once I get the green light I plan on putting a serious hurting on my husband, believe that!" Aleesha's body tingled just thinking about it.

"Girl, please, you'll be lucky if you're able to walk straight by the time Marcus finishes with you," Keisha snickered.

They went back and forth with lascivious jokes before eventually returning to the subject of Keisha and Dom's upcoming getaway. Soon after, they heard the men coming back inside and smoothly changed the subject. About a half an hour later, the two couples collected their kids and told Marcus and Aleesha goodnight.

Outside, Dom buckled Christian into his car seat and made sure Samantha had her seat belt on before climbing behind the wheel of their car. After backing out, he glanced at Keisha. Russ had stayed and kept guard over the house while Benny followed them to Marcus's house. Dominick could tell that Keisha seemed to be a little bit more relaxed with the set up.

He held his hand out, smiling when she curled her fingers around his with no hesitation. "You okay?"

With her head leaning back on the headrest, Keisha nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I really think everything is going to work out, Dominick."

"It will, baby. I promise you that."

Keisha returned his smile then turned her head to look out of the window. A comfortable silence fell between them the rest of the way home. What she told Dominick was true, she
did
believe that everything would be okay; to get through this, she had to. Keisha was determined to do her part to reassure Dom and make sure he didn't worry about his family. She would take care of home. The only thing she needed him to do in Mexico was take care of himself and come back safely.