“Are you okay?” Val pushes up onto her elbows to look at me.
I know she’s asking about more than my pounding heart.
“Yeah, Angel.” I reach out and drag her up and over me, her bare-naked body against mine.
“Dom!”
She tries to roll off, but I hold her in place.
Her struggle is short lived before she relaxes against me, letting her legs part, dropping her knees on either side of my thighs.
“I’m a mess,” she mumbles against my neck.
I pat her on the ass, knowing she’s talking about the stickiness between her thighs. “Yeah, but you’re my mess.”
She shakes her head, and I imagine her rolling her eyes at me.
“Thank you,” I tell her, patting her ass once more.
“You’re welcome.” Her fingertip traces over the letters of her name across my neck. “For what?”
I wrap my arms around her, not wanting her to get cold as the air settles around us.
I close my eyes as I answer her. “For just being you.”
Her fingers still against my skin.
I stroke a palm up her spine. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Haven’t forgotten what?” she asks me.
“That I don’t deserve your affection.” I flatten my hands against her back, wanting to touch as much of her as possible. “But I appreciate you giving it to me all the same.”
Her back expands with a big breath, and I expect her to push away, but she doesn’t. “What you did was shitty. But it’s hardly the worst thing that’s happened to me.”
I clench my jaw and hold her a little tighter.
I don’t like being compared to all the horrible things from her past, even if I deserve it. And I hate that me drugging her and tricking her into marriage isn’t the worst thing she’s been through.
Val surprises me when she continues. “Doing something shitty doesn’t mean you don’t deserve affection, Dominic.”
Too stunned to say anything, I lie still while her finger starts to trace the V of Valentine again.
“I’ve always wanted a tattoo,” Valentine admits quietly.
I open my eyes and look down at the top of her head. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She traces the next letter. “I told myself a hundred times that I’d do it. But I always backed out before I could even make the appointment.”
“Why’s that?”
Her fingertip goes back to the V. “I was afraid of the pain.”
Can you teach me to like it?
I’ll never teach her to like pain because I’ll never allow her to feel enough of it to become used to it.
“What did you want to get?” I ask, assuming it wasn’t a man’s name four times around her finger.
She sighs. “I could never decide. I’d go back and forth between something pretty or something tough.”
“Tough?”
She shifts so she can tap her finger to the center of my chest. “Like a skull.”
I grin at the ceiling, picturing my sweet Valentine with a skull tattoo.
“Well, if you want another one, just let me know. I’ll knock you out again so you don’t have to feel it, then do whatever design you want.”
Her head pops up, and she looks at me with wide eyes. “Wait. Did you do it? Like the actual tattooing part?”
I lift a brow. “You really think I was gonna let someone else touch you?”
She huffs out a laugh, dropping her head back down. “You really are a man of many talents.”
“Well, I’d love to demonstrate my talents again, but you need to sleep and we both need to shower.” I pat her ass again, soaking up the lightness of hearing her laugh, as small as it was.
Val groans as she sits up, showing me all her glorious nakedness. “I won’t argue about being tired. But I have a feeling most people won’t be working too hard tomorrow, seeing as it’s the Friday right after the party. Not to mention the no boss thing.”
I grip her soft sides. “If you hear from him, you tell me.”
“I will.”
I feel myself smile. “I kinda like compliant Valentine.”
She darts her hand down to flick my nipple.
“Hey!” My hands slap up to cover them from further assault, and Val takes advantage of my occupied hands by jumping up and hurrying away.
I should chase her. Or do something.
But I just lie naked, lifting my head so I can watch every glorious inch of her as she disappears from the room with a laugh.
CHAPTER 60
Val