By a thread

Lying to myself was my new favorite hobby.

I was drawn to her. Inexplicably. Unfairly. Stupidly.

This week I’d actually looked up the dance studio schedule where she taught and thought about having Nelson cruise by after her class. Then I thought about how stalkers probably felt about their victims, and I had him take me to a bar instead.

I spent a lot of time worrying and wondering about her.What she ate on the weekends.What she did late at night when she couldn’t sleep.If she thought about me half as much as I thought about her.

I felt almost euphoric.And then I wondered where Dominic was.And then I wanted to slap myself for wondering.

I opened the passenger door for him since he seemed incapable. But he didn’t get in. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me.“What are you doing?” My words were muffled against his chest.He stroked a big hand through my hair a little harder than he probably intended. His fingers snagged clumsily on bobby pins. “Hugging you.”“I can see that. Why?”“I’ve always wanted to,” he confessed.

“Can I hug you in the car?” he whispered.“Probably better not. I’ll be driving.”He looked so sad my heart cracked right down the middle.“Oh,” he said. Then he brightened. “Can I have a milkshake?”

“Ally,” Dominic whispered.“Dom, I’m a little busy trying not to kill us.”“You didn’t pinky promise me yet.”“Oh for fuck’s sake.” I hooked my pinky around his and tried not to fall in love with the idiot when he pressed his lips to our joined fingers.

I couldn’t imagine not seeing her five days a week. At this point, five days a week wasn’t enough.

“Who’s the most handsome boy?” Ally crooned, ruffling his ears.“I am,” I insisted. “But Brownie’s okay too.”

I lounged on the couch next to him, reading Pride and Prejudice and identifying with poor, misunderstood Darcy.

Maybe I wasn’t allowed to bring the woman to orgasm, but I sure as hell could bring her food until I was convinced she was out of whatever stupid financial situation she’d gotten herself into.

I was going to do something really stupid… like fall in love with the man.

“I’m not looking for anything,” I insisted, nerves getting the best of me.“I wasn’t looking for you. But I still found you.”“What are you saying?” I squeaked.“I’m saying I found you. And I’m not fighting it anymore. You’re mine.”

“I don’t want anything serious,” I whispered on a shiver when he brushed a kiss to the corner of my mouth. My lips burned with the need to feel his.His laugh was gentle, but I still heard the sound of prison doors slamming shut. “Oh, sweetheart, you no longer have a choice.”

“Why do you wear so many damn layers,” she demanded, her voice shaking as she shoved my vest off my shoulders.“Never again,” I promised, moving my attention to her other breast and suckling hard.“Please don’t stop wearing vests,” she begged.“Anything you want, Ally. All you have to do is ask.”

She was spectacular. Naked in the city lights with snow falling behind her. Ally Morales was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my entire life.

“This isn’t for just one night, Ally. So get used to it. Once I’m inside you, there’s no going back.” Ever.

This is what she did to me. Reduced my body to a series of biological and chemical chain reactions.

I knew it didn’t make sense. I’d spent the past two months telling her, telling myself, that we would never happen. Now I was claiming her. I didn’t know what it meant. Or what it would cost. But I knew I was willing to pay any price.