Unconditional (13 page)

She knew he was angry, but her parents wouldn’t know that, given his apparent reasonable request. Given their censorious looks toward her, Rin knew that they had already sided with her faithless husband. In all the years they’d been together, she’d never seen her parents argue. She was mortified by them witnessing the dysfunction in her marriage. Cursing Dominic’s conceit under her breath, she stood from the table in a mutinous, jerky motion, and angrily stalked from the room. She deliberately strode toward her father’s study. But Dominic would have none of it.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairway. She tried in vain to wrench her hand out of his grasp.

“Do you walk or do I carry you?” he drawled.

“Go to hell!”

“I guess I should have anticipated that you would behave like a spoiled brat,” he muttered, just before lifting her by her waist.

“Put me down, you unfaithful pig!” With all her might, she slapped him across his hard cheek. She gasped in immediate remorse, but Dominic didn’t want to hear any of it. He flipped her over his shoulder and mounted the stairs two at a time. She pounded his back with her fists and yelled at him to put her down. She was beyond caring what her parents thought.

“Wake our children and you will piss me off even further.”

She couldn’t mistake the threatening promise in his voice. It shut her up fast.

He entered her bedroom.

Rinah briefly noted his small luggage in the corner of the room, before gasping in stunned surprise as he threw her none too gently onto the bed.

“Don’t move!” His cold tone made her still in caution. He raked his hands through his hair in agitation.

She had seen him angry before, but not like this. Her stomach twisted in fear, but she refused to be intimidated or heed the warning emanating from the hard glint in his eyes.

“You have some nerve,” she sputtered. “Who the hell do you think you are, to manhandle me?”

“I see your memory is still faulty. We already established who I am two nights ago, or do you need reminding?” His deceptively calm voice did little to conceal his simmering rage. His eyes raked her body slowly, with obvious possessiveness.

“Why did you leave the way that you did?”

She wasn’t the least bit fooled by the softness of his voice. He looked as if he was ready to strike at any moment, so palpable was his anger.

“You know why. Your skank came home early. I guess she didn’t anticipate that I’d still be there.” She rose up onto her elbows and looked at him accusingly.

Dominic, swift as a cobra, dropped down on top of her, his knees on either side of her hips, anchoring his weight with his palms pressed to the bed, caging her in. Not touching her in any other way, he looked intently into her eyes. “Do you really believe that shit? You think I have no honor?”

She cursed her traitorous body as desire clamored throughout her body. His nearness, his scent engulfed her and obliterated all other thought from her mind. The air was thick with their mutual desire. But his simmering anger terrified her, mostly because she’d never seen him this out of control.

Rinah closed her eyes and swallowed audibly. She slowly wet her lips before whispering fiercely, “Get the hell of me, Dominic! You expect me to ignore your
ho
?”

His nostrils flared and eyes narrowed at the provocative pink dart of her tongue. “I don’t give a damn if you find me in bed with a woman. Nothing will excuse you dragging our children onto a fucking commercial airline without adequate security.” He sucked in his breath as if to gain control. “Don’t ever endanger your life and the lives of our children because you’re pissed with me!” He shuddered, perched above her. “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened to you all? I have so many fucking enemies out there who would like nothing better than to bring me down. There’s only one way to do that! Not to mention the other lunatics who could have easily captured and held you ransom because of our wealth.”

He visibly paled. “Do you understand how vulnerable you were to being kidnapped, or worse? We’ve spoken about this repeatedly and I’m sure Neo has briefed you on the danger that you’re constantly in. Your reckless behavior is inexcusable!”

He swore viciously, his steely gaze pinning her in place just as effectively as his weight on top of her. He gripped the sheets with both hands beside her head.

Rinah was remorseful of her actions. The fear of causing harm to her children seared her. Not only had she run away from dealing with an unpleasant situation, she had also undermined Neo’s job by deliberately impairing their security. But that still didn’t excuse Dominic’s behavior now.

“I get that you’re angry. But you have no right to manhandle me.” She glared back at him, knowing she had to stand her ground. “Now get the hell off of me!”

“Not until you acknowledge how irresponsible you were, and promise you’ll never jeopardize your safety in that manner again!” he snarled.

“Yes, I accept it, okay?” She pushed at his chest, but he didn’t budge an inch. “Now move!”

“When I think of the danger you were in…” He shook his head as if trying to find the right words. “I had Rico tail you from your flight in Miami. Thank God he was already there on another assignment. Don’t ever do that again, baby.” He softened his voice. “Matt and Nikki need you to keep a cool head. You can’t afford to behave in this manner with them.”

“I know.” She knew he was right. When Matt had been caught in a crossfire of bullets and angry men some months ago, she’d been insane with worry.

Muttering under his breath, he placed his forehead against hers, as if struggling with himself.

“Dom?”

“What?”

“Please move.” While his nearness was playing havoc with her libido, she had no intention of giving in to it.

“I can’t,” he whispered. The sadness in his eyes was something she’d never seen before. Dominic angry, aroused, amused, and detached, yes, but never despondent. She reached up, putting gentle fingers to his face, helplessly affected by the unfamiliar emotion reflected in those cloudy orbs.

But touching him was a mistake, because as soon as she did, her fingers, of their own accord continued to softly caress his eyebrows, strong jaw, and finally, his lips. She ran the pad of her thumb slowly ran along his soft skin.

A wet, pink tongue wickedly licked her thumb, and then again, until he gently drew the digit into his mouth.

Rinah shivered in ecstasy. Her nipples throbbed in quivering anticipation of his mouth on their hardened peaks.

“No! We’re not doing this. We have to talk.” She whimpered in a moment of sanity. Determinedly, she pulled her thumb from his mouth, and quickly wriggled from beneath him. She sprang up from the bed, resolved to move away from his tempting, familiar heat. Wrapping her arms around herself to stem her body’s involuntary reaction to being so close to him, she stood beside the bed on unsteady limbs.

He collapsed on the bed, groaning in obvious disappointment. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Flavia,” she answered without preamble. This was foremost on her mind and the only thing, as far as she was concerned, that was keeping them apart.

“Not a concern and never was. Next?” he drawled, viewing her progress across the room with obvious impatience.

“Dominic, I can’t accept that. If you refuse to talk about her, then there is nothing left to talk about, except our divorce.” Rinah answered back just as coldly.

“Look, don’t throw that word around as if it’s an option. Listen to me carefully, Rinah, because this topic of conversation is becoming tedious. Your concerns about Flavia are unfounded and I’m tired of addressing them. She’s not of issue here. The issue is your lack of trust in my word as a man!” He gazed at her from his lazy perch on the bed. His eyes were now hard as granite.

“You can’t keep running every time some woman challenges our marriage. We live in Nassau! You know how many predators there are. I don’t have to spell it out for you. Make up your damn mind whether you’re going to trust me or not.” His manner left little doubt that his patience with her had run out. “You will either trust me or you won’t. It’s as simple as that. What happens when the next woman feeds you the same crap? There are plenty of them out there who will to do anything to ensnare a rich man. You have to trust me to do the right thing.”

“Your conceit has no bounds,” she whispered without heat. She was hurting too much. His cold and dismissive attitude drained all of the fight out of her. “She was in our apartment! Am I supposed to ignore that? I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your terms. I will not and can’t ignore Flavia’s presence in our lives. You’re tired? I’m tired, too! Tired of dealing with Flavia’s taunts and innuendos! Tired of finding that bitch in my house, on your phone when I call, and now in our apartment! No! Not fucking happening!” Inexplicable pain chilled her bones. She loved him so much, but his insistence on not discussing his relationship with Flavia continued to create a barrier between them. How could she get through to him?

“Dominic, while you may have rationalized that my insecurities, as you like to call them, was due to hormones or the state of an emotional mind, I never made that mistake. I know what I am capable of and it’s not this. I can’t accept the status quo. You may insist there’s nothing between you and Flavia, but she certainly doesn’t.” As she spoke, her voice became softer and more withdrawn, as if reliving the unpleasant experience.

“Don’t you get that you’re taking that bitch’s word over mine? That’s the part that really pisses me off!”

Ignoring his angry words, she walked toward the door, her shoulders lowered in despondency.

Rinah had gazed at him with such desolation, it was all Dominic could do not to take her in his arms right then and confess all. That he loved only her. Yes, he finally admitted it to himself. He loved his wife. She was his life. How could she possibly think that he would want another woman when he had her? All he wanted was her unconditional love and trust, and he wasn’t getting that now.

“You weren’t even there for our daughter’s birth,” she suddenly accused him, angrily. “What hold does this woman have on you that you could miss Nikki’s birth?”

“Stop twisting this and making this shit bigger than it is! Nothing I do has anything to do with Flavia! I was out of the country and was scheduled back in good time for our daughter. There was no way I could’ve known you would give birth two months early. But you weren’t two months early, were you? You deliberately lied to me about the due date of our baby.” The remembered anger about her deception returned with a vengeance. He had yet to forgive her for denying him the experience of witnessing the birth of their daughter. He had planned the operation in Columbia down to the last minute. He had been determined to get back home for his daughter’s birth.

“That is not true. Before you left, I told you the date that the doctor had estimated based on her initial examination. However, after the first scan she was proven wrong. By that time, you were long gone!” She fumed. “I don’t care why you missed it. I will never forgive you for that or for your affair with Flavia.” She glared at him.

“I don’t need your forgiveness, but you may need mine,” he advised darkly.

“I won’t listen to any more of this nonsense.” She crossed swiftly to the door, grabbing the handle to exit the room.

He rose from the bed to intercept her progress. “Running again, Rin?” He was incredulous at her response. Reaching for her and pulling her back against him with a hand on her stomach, he held her in a strong grip. She struggled, to no avail. Losing patience with her stubbornness, he clutched her tighter against him.

“You’re right. This
is
nonsense. The only way I seem to get through to you is when I’m deep inside of you!” he muttered.

“Let go of me, Dominic!”

He ignored her fiercely whispered demand. “Why don’t you let that be your guide? If you can’t trust me, trust what is between us.” He spoke directly in her ear. He lowered his palm to cover her mound, while grounding his hard length against her ass.

“Dominic!”

She trembled beneath him, incapable of controlling the tremors of her sexually charged body. She reached her hand out to the door to steady herself, but he followed her contours to the hard surface. Aligning his aroused body to her curves, he didn’t allow an inch of space to be gained between them. He buried his lips in her hair and breathed in the tropical coconut scent. Trailing his lips along the fragrant skin of her neck, he nibbled and gently nicked her, deliberately marking her.

“Dominic, please!” She sobbed.

“Let me show you, sweetheart. Believe in this. Believe in us.”

Groaning in distressed hunger and lust, he reached into her top from the hem, wormed his hand beneath her lacy bra, and triumphantly claimed the naked, generous roundness of one breast. His other hand found the open split of her long skirt and dove in between her quivering thighs.

The heat and wetness he encountered when he pushed her tiny panty aside forced a lusty growl from deep within his throat. Her breathing was harsh and labored as she writhed wildly against his hard, unyielding length.

He shook visibly as he continued his sensual exploration of her, his fingers busy plucking at the pebbled, aroused tips of her breasts and stroking the taut, sensitive flesh of her clit. She keened under each stroke, each erotic glide of his fingers, again and again. She tilted her neck to give him better access to its fragrant, sensual planes.

“Christ, you’re so sweet!” Dominic groaned as he kissed and nibbled her creamy skin. Pulling her head back, he captured her lips and fused their mouths in a long, drugging kiss.

She whimpered as if in great pain. That sound, and the taste of her tears, alerted him to her distress. She went rigid in his arms.

He released her lips to look down into her murky, troubled eyes. Water leaked down her cheeks as she forlornly stared at him. The anguish in the depths of her eyes almost made him relent and confess what he’d done about Flavia. But he was adamant that she trust him without reservation. Otherwise, he couldn’t see their relationship lasting through her next suspicion.