Authors: Serenity King
went outside for some air—”
Dominique stopped at the site of her
mother’s waving hands. Olivia was in a tizzy, all
right. Nothing to do but keep her mouth shut
and weather it.
“No time for explanations now, darling,
let’s get your sister ready for her retreat,” Olivia
said reaching for Diamond and pulling her
along the corridor, leaving Dominique to
follow. “You young people do things so
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differently. In my day, the bride and groom
would have been gone already.”
They helped Diamond out of her wedding
dress but not before their mom had begun to
cry. In fact, it took them longer then they’d
planned because they all were crying so much.
Dominique was so proud of her little
sister. She’d married a wonderful man and
appeared happier then she’d ever seen her.
Dominique had known Rafe before her sister
and knew that he was perfect for Diamond.
Diamond could be very headstrong and Rafe
would make sure that Diamond didn’t put
herself in harm’s way.
Before they left the bridal chamber
Diamond discreetly whispered to her that she
wanted to know why her lips were swollen.
“Not now,” she added, “when I get back from
my honeymoon.”
“Mind
your
own
business,”
said
Dominique good-naturedly. Diamond snorted,
and Olivia gave both her daughters a puzzled
look.
Now, Dominique stood outside next to a
slew of family and friends to see the happy
couple off.
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29
She felt Brandon’s eyes on her before she
glanced around for validation. Their gazes met
and held for a few moments before she quickly
turned her head away. Damn his sexy hide. He
knew exactly what he was doing. Just like she
knew his patience was running out. She prayed
he didn’t do anything stupid.
Like he’d been about to do when Chad
saved her from that ass Felton Hobbs, who’d
turned into an octopus on the dance floor.
Felton had two serious problems. The first was
thinking that every woman he encountered had
a thing for him. The second was a complete
inability to understand the word no.
“You okay, sis?”
Startled, Dominique turned to look into
the concerned face of Xavier. She gave him a
reassuring smile. “I’m okay, X. Just a little
tired. It’s been a long day.” That much was true.
She’d been going non-stop all week making
sure everything was in place. In the end she’d
been worn out. Being a maid of honor was
almost worse than being the bride. There was a
lot of responsibility. She was glad she only had
one sister, because she didn’t think she could
go through all this hoopla again.
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“You sure that’s all it is?” her brother was
asking. She and Xavier were close. He could
always tell when she was lying or when
something was wrong.
“That’s all it is, X, what else could it be?”
she asked.
“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said.
“There’s nothing to tell, Xavier Marcus
Shaw,” she replied.
He smiled down at her. “It’s like that,
huh? That’s just wrong, Dominique, calling out
my government like that. I’ll leave it for now,
sis.”
“Thank you, brother dear. You’ve been
hanging out with our cousins, Darion, Trevon,
and
Darius
too
long.
Seriously,
X,
‘government’?” she smiled and shook her head.
“Hahaha. You might as well tell me
what’s going on with you. I’ll find out
eventually,” he smirked.
That smirk immediately turned into a
frown when she calmly replied, “You get in my
business, brother dear, and I’ll get in yours.”
“Brat,” he said and walked away.
“Oh, you were wrong for that, sis,” she
turned to see her other brother Chad standing
next to her.
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31
“He was trying to get into my business,
Chaddy,” Dominique replied using her
nickname for him. “How am I wrong?” She
gave him a mischievous smile.
“After all these years, you still scare him.
You were definitely a pain in the ass little sister.
You made X’s life miserable when we were
younger. Especially that stunt you pulled with
Cindy. Telling that girl that X already had a
baby momma,” Chad chuckled. “That was just
wrong.”
“No it wasn’t…you didn’t like Cindy
Whatshername either. She just wanted him for
his money. I heard she’d been married a couple
of times already. In the end, I did him a favor.”
“You might’ve thought you saved him. I
think it’s safe to say that marriage was not what
X wanted from Cindy. Mom still thinks she has
a grandchild out there somewhere.” He
chuckled again.
Dominique winced but recovered quickly.
“Well, he should’ve just minded his own
business. I never had a date in high school
because y’all would scare them all away. When
my date for the prom backed out at the last
minute, I knew that X had said something to
him, though I never did find out what.
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Whenever I tried to approach Rodney, he’d run
in the opposite direction. Literally,” she said
with a shake of her head.
Chad laughed so hard people started
looking in their direction. “I know what he told
him. He told him if he even thought about
taking you to the prom he’d bust a cap in his
ass. That dude had a bad reputation with girls,
sis. Word got back to X on what he’d planned
on trying to do to you after the prom, and he
took care of it. That’s what big brothers do.”
Chad bent down to place a kiss on her cheek.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, sis. I have a date.”
Shaking her head, Dominique watched
her brother’s retreating back. She didn’t have to
ask what kind of date her brother had at 11 p.m.
Though apparently, she had a date as well she
remembered as her cell phone buzzed.
Brandon, was texting her with the room
number. She didn’t know whether to be
apprehensive, or just plain horny.
She bid her parents goodnight and
exchanged conversation with a few of her other
relatives before she had no further excuses to
delay. She slipped out of the ballroom to meet
Brandon in the room he had reserved for them.
CHAPTER TWO
Dominique took the elevator up to
Brandon’s room and used the keycard he had
left at the front desk for her to let herself into
his room.
Dominique glanced around the hotel
room wondering where Brandon was. She was
about to go in search of him when he came
walking out of the bathroom. He had one towel
barely clinging to his waist, and he was drying
his hair with another. He stopped mid-stride
when he noticed that she was there.
Oh my
damn.
He looked good enough to eat, all six-
feet, two-hundred plus pounds of him.
Dominique quickly ran an assessing eye
over him. What was it about this man that
caused her body to sing with just a look from
his blue-gray eyes? Despite the four-inch heels
she had on, she still had to look up to meet his
eyes. What she saw there caused her nostrils to
flare. Her breasts rose and fell as she tried to
pull air into her lungs.
Her eyes traveled downward and rested
on the bulge under his towel. She noticed his
cock twitch, no doubt from her bold appraisal.
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The movement of his cock caused her to cream
her panties. Man, was she in trouble.
“Are you enjoying yourself, sweetheart? I
can ditch the towel if you’d like a better look. As
you can see, I’m more than ready to…ah…show
you what’s underneath. But if I show you mine,
I damn well want to see yours,” he said giving
her his signature cocky grin.
She shook her head as if to erase the
memory of him standing naked before her from
her mind. Lord, the man knew how to wear a
towel. She collected herself before answering
him. “You’re an ass, Brandon. You wanted to
talk. Let’s talk.”
The scowl on his face was priceless. “You
want to talk? Now?”
“Well that is why I’m here, isn’t it?”
Dominique held her breath as he stalked
towards her, circling her, then finally stopping
in back of her. She gasped at the touch of his
finger tracing the outline of the little vein that
pulsed at the side of her neck. The soft caress of
his breath against her collar sent shivers down
her spine.
“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,
maybe you’ll start to believe it. You want me
just as much as I want you,” he whispered
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35
against her skin. “Well maybe not as much as I
want you. How long has it been,
wife
?”
“Brandon—”
“NO! Not this time, Dominique,” he
shouted stepping away from her.
Dominique jumped. She’d never seen
Brandon so angry before. Well, not at her,
anyway. “Lower your voice,” she said, trying to
sound reasonable. “We agreed—”
“I am aware of our agreement,
sweetheart,” he barked. “I agreed to give you
time to come to terms with what happened.
Trust and our agreement are the only things
that have kept me from coming for you. One
whole fucking year, Dominique!”
“It hasn’t technically been a year. We saw
each other at Tristan and Alisha’s wedding six
months ago. Before that we saw each other
every weekend.”
Uh oh!
From the way his blue-gray eyes
flashed fire and his lips tightened, that wasn’t
what he’d wanted to hear. She watched as he
inhaled and exhaled in an attempt to calm
himself down.
The worst part of it all was that he was
right to be angry. There really wasn’t an excuse
anymore as to why she’d stayed away so long,
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other than the fact that she’d been scared. She
started at the sound of Brandon speaking.
“Six months ago at Alisha and Tristan’s
wedding, you say. So what you’re saying
wife
, is
that every six months or so I should expect a
booty call?” He sneered and stepped in front of
her.
Any passing sympathy she had felt for
him was dispelled by those tacky words. “Don’t
be stupid, Brandon. You know good and well
that’s not what I meant.”
“No, Dominique, I’m afraid I don’t.
Maybe you should explain to me how out of the
two years that we’ve been married, I’ve seen my
wife about half a dozen times in a year and only
twice in the past six months? Or how, before
that, I found myself sneaking off to be with you,
like some teenager. Explain,” Brandon said,
folding his arms across his chest as he scowled
down at her.
“I…I”, she stuttered.
“Exactly!
There’s
no
reasonable
explanation for it,” he said. “I blame myself
mostly for letting this shit go on for so long. No
more. I want my wife back. No let me rephrase
that. I want a wife that I can take out in public
and not sneak around with.”
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37
Dominique’s heart began to race. She was
not quite sure what Brandon was getting at.
Did
he want a divorce?
Anxiety gripped her at the
mere thought of that possibility.
Still, she had to know. “So…so you want a
divorce?” she stammered.
“Hell no, I don’t want a divorce. I told you
when we got married that it was for life. I loved
you then and I love you now.” he said, pulling
her into his embrace and looking down into her
hazel eyes. “What happened with us
Dominique? One minute we were in love and
on top of the world. Now that world has come
crashing down around us. I miss you so much,
sweetheart, that it’s unbearable. We are going
to be together, Dominique. Right now, I just
need to feel you,” he whispered as he released