The Sacrificial Lamb (31 page)

A
LEX
T
OOK
D
OMENIC’S
H
AND
and followed him out of the bedroom reluctantly. She would have preferred a repeat performance, but Domenic had different plans. A shooting lesson, of all things. Like she could be trusted with a gun. They’d be lucky if she left here with all her toes.

As they walked, she went over what had just happened. Alex still had a hard time believing she’d attacked Domenic and then had the best sex of her life. Her unbridled reaction to him had been shocking. Sex with Shane was nice. They had learned about each other’s bodies over the course of a few years, so he knew what made her tick, but Domenic hadn’t needed any instructions. He had instinctively known what to do and how to please her. Alex felt a slight pang of guilt at the thought of Shane and made a promise that she would end things with him right away if she ever got the chance.

She walked behind Domenic, watching how he moved, and she shuddered with delight. Her thoughts clouded for a moment as she wondered how many women he’d practiced on before her. He was obviously very experienced. Yet there were a few moments where he had seemed vulnerable as well. A few moments where something flickered in his eyes, something important.

Alex didn’t have much time to mull it over before Domenic slowed and drew her up alongside him. He had the thirty-eight tucked in the waistband of his shorts—she could see it poking out over the shirt he’d thrown on. She eyed the weapon, not liking where it was pointed. Hopefully it didn’t fire easily. They walked into an open area in the forest, and Domenic gestured that she should go in front of him.

“You know, I find it hard to believe that the daughter of a cop is scared of guns. Didn’t your dad teach you about gun safety?”

“Not really, no,” she said. “He just told me not to touch his weapons.”

“You never wanted to learn?”

“Nope.” Alex gazed around them, shaking her head. “I’ve never been interested enough.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a pacifist,” she remarked lightly.

Alex turned to find Domenic standing there, staring at her, mouth hanging open. “You’re a…pacifist.”

“Mmhmm.”

After a moment, Domenic threw back his head and started to laugh. He leaned up against a tree, clutching at his stomach as he howled.

“What?” she asked.

Domenic subsided into small jerking motions and hiccups, still leaning against the tree to keep from falling over. Alex placed her hands on her hips and stuck her chin out, frowning at him.

“A
pacifist
,” he said again, “with a cop for a father, and now you’re involved with a renowned criminal!” Domenic started laughing again, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

“I’m glad you find this all
so
amusing,” she snapped.

“Come on, Alex. You have to admit that’s pretty fucking funny.” Domenic came toward her, his eyes dancing with laughter. He put his hands around her waist and pulled her toward him. She turned her face away, still piqued. That didn’t deter Domenic. He leaned down and kissed the part of her neck exposed to him. “You don’t find that funny?” he asked in a low, seductive voice, running his lips along the sensitive flesh under her ear.

“No,” she said in a high querulous voice. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but Domenic didn’t seem to mind. His lips moved lower to the juncture of her shoulder.

“I would watch where you’re pointing that thing, Mr. D’Angelo,” she said, trying to keep her last vestige of restraint.

“You didn’t seem to mind where I pointed it before,” he whispered, and her knees buckled.

“The
gun
, Domenic. You know, the one threatening to blow your balls off right now?”

Domenic chuckled, but he straightened up. Taking a step back, he had a mischievous grin. Alex eyed him narrowly, and he pulled the small pistol out. He held it in his hand, pointed at the forest floor, then crooked his finger at her. After holding out another few seconds, she moved closer to where he was.

“Okay, this is the hammer,” he said, cocking it back. “When it’s in this position, you can fire the gun.”

“I know that much,” she said, rolling her eyes. Domenic scowled, put the hammer back in place, and handed her the gun, butt first.

“Fine, since you think you know so much, go ahead and show me what to do.” His eyebrow was raised, and she could have gladly smacked the smug look off his face. “That’s what I thought,” he continued, when she made no move to take the gun from him. “So like I was saying,
this
is the hammer.”

Alex sighed and paid attention to what he was doing. He showed her how to depress the metal lever and then went to hand her the gun again. She kept her arms crossed, hands under her armpits.

“Alex,” Domenic coaxed. “Come on, just take the gun.”

“What if it goes off?”

“Don’t pull the trigger and it won’t.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.” She reached out and gingerly took the gun. For such a small weapon, it was heavier than she expected.

“It doesn’t have a hair trigger, Alex,” Domenic said as he stepped behind her. “Now, I want you to hold the gun properly. Two hands.” He gripped her hands and adjusted her fingers. “Okay, depress the hammer.”

Alex thumbed down the metal tab, and the gun made a menacing snick as the chamber turned.

“Good. How does that feel?”

“Weird.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered. Alex was holding the gun straight out, and it looked strange in her hands. She would never in a million years have thought that she’d be learning how to shoot a gun.

“Now, I want you to put your finger on the trigger,” Domenic said from behind her. He had his hand on her arm, bracing one wrist.

Alex put her finger on the trigger and held her breath, expecting it to go off at any moment. When the gun didn’t go off, she expelled the breath she was holding.

“Are you ready?”

Alex nodded her head and tightened her grip. She thought that shooting a gun would be easy and the trigger would just depress automatically, but it took quite a bit of pressure for it to actually fire. Just when she was about to complain it wasn’t working, the gun went off in her hand. A shock ran up her arms—the noise was deafening. She screamed and dropped the pistol in reflex.

“No!” Domenic yelled before grabbing her and tossing her to the ground behind him. The gun hit the ground and fired another round. Alex lay on the ground, heart pounding, mouth dry, with Domenic lying on top of her.
Sure,
now
it goes off easy
, she thought incoherently. She stayed perfectly still, crushed under Domenic’s body, as he let loose with a string of expletives. Finally he rolled off of her and glared, all the while checking to make sure she was uninjured.

“Why the fuck did you drop the gun?” he roared out.

“It scared me!” she yelled back. “I
told
you this was a stupid idea!”

Alex got up on shaky legs and stormed off into the trees. Domenic cursed behind her again, and in a couple of seconds, she heard him crashing through the trees in pursuit. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. By this point, her fear had given way to fury, and she twisted her wrist out of his grasp, pulled back her hand, and slapped him. Domenic’s head rocked back, and Alex gave a satisfied grunt before her hand began to sting as if she’d burned it.

Domenic touched the red mark that was rising on his cheek. The expression on his face was at first almost comically surprised. Then his brows drew down, and he looked absolutely furious. His hand shot out, and he grasped her wrist, yanking her toward him. Unfortunately he hadn’t gotten around to showing her how to escape this type of hold. Pulling against his grip was an exercise in futility.

“Let me go!”

“Don’t you get it, yet?” he seethed. “You’re
mine
until I decide to let you go.”

“I’m not your possession!” Alex, now furious, tried to bring her other hand up to slap him again. This time he was ready for her and grabbed it before she could complete the swing.

“Possession or not, you belong to me.” Domenic pulled her wrists up above her head and clasped them in one iron fist. He backed her up against a tree, grabbed her face with his free hand, and kissed her. Hard. Alex jerked her head to the side, but Domenic turned it back to face him. She thought he would try kissing her again, but he looked at her with that penetrating emerald gaze. The hold on her face turned into a gentle caress.

Both of them were breathing hard from the exertion. Domenic was turned on—she could feel the evidence pushed up against her. And traitor that it was, her body responded to his. Alex felt the telltale tingle begin low in her stomach and spread down rapidly. It didn’t matter that she was still angry. That didn’t stop her arousal from increasing.

Domenic brought his mouth down on hers again, and this time the brush of his lips was feather-soft. When she didn’t pull away, he increased the pressure, and she parted her lips to deepen the kiss. Domenic let go of her wrists, and she grabbed two fistfuls of his hair, tugging at him without mercy. One of his hands knotted in her hair at the base of her skull as he held her head in place. His mouth bore down on hers.

Grabbing one of her legs, he hitched it over his hip and pushed into her. Her head was spinning from the tumult of emotions. She had transitioned from furious to excited in barely a second. It was scary that a man had that kind of power over her, but so help her, he did. Alex was about to start pulling up his shirt so she could get to the skin underneath when Domenic pulled away from her.

“You’re a terrible distraction, Alexis,” he said in a strained voice.

“I distract you?”

“Yes.”

Domenic started kissing her again, nipping at her lips and driving his tongue against hers. His hands grasped her hips hard as he pushed his body closer. The tree bark was digging into her back, but she didn’t care in the least. Her anger was all but forgotten.

And then he was gone. Alex stumbled forward, and Domenic caught her elbow. He wagged his finger at her once she steadied herself.

“You’re a bad girl,” he scolded.

Letting go of her arm, he walked back through the trees to the open area they had just left. Incredibly frustrated, Alex went after him. He went to where she’d dropped the gun and checked to make sure it was still working properly. She wasn’t sure what kind of restraint the man had—she was throbbing horribly, so she imagined Domenic had to be feeling it too. But he was acting as if nothing had happened. Then she noticed him tug at the front of his shorts.

“You know, I can take care of that little problem for you,” she said, grinning.

“Not right now. But you can bet you’ll take care of it later,” he growled at her. Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “This isn’t funny, Alex. I can’t believe you dropped the gun!”

“I know! It was loud! I just…it freaked me out,” she finished lamely.

“Alex, one or both of us could have been shot! It’s not like I can take you to a hospital.”

“I know!”

“Do you? A gun is a dangerous weapon.”

“Ugh! Why do you think I didn’t want to do this?” She threw her hands up in the air.

“Okay, I get it. Neither of us got hurt, so we’ll just start again.”

“You want to try again?” she asked incredulously. She looked at Domenic like he was crazy.

“Yes. Come on.”

“No!”

“Alex! God damn it! Why do you insist on fighting me?” he asked, ire distorting his voice. “Tomorrow I have to leave for a couple hours. I want to make sure you know what you’re doing!”

“Just leave me the knife,” she begged. Domenic looked at her and exhaled sharply.

“No. The knife won’t help you at all this time. It
has
to be the gun.” Seeing that anger wasn’t working, he decided to change his tactic. “Please? Do this for me? I promise you won’t get hurt.” His voice was soft and almost tender, eyes pleading. Alex found herself relenting.

“Fine!” She stomped over to Domenic and held out her hand. Domenic gave her a smirk and handed her the gun. She grumbled about people who didn’t play fair as he came to stand behind her.

Domenic took the hand holding the gun and raised it. He clamped his hands over hers to avoid a repeat from before. “Okay, pull back the hammer.”

Alex did as she was told.

“It was my fault,” he said softly from behind her. “I should have fired it first so you knew what to expect.”

“That might have helped,” she said grudgingly. She shot him a disgruntled look over her shoulder.

“Too late now. But now you know what to expect, right?”

“I’ll say.”

“All right. Now pull the trigger. And for God’s sake,
don’t
drop the gun again!”