Her breathing accelerated. “I never knew you could play so dirty,” she murmured.

“Yes, you did.” He flicked open two of her blouse buttons and yanked the material aside, licking the swell of her breast, his tongue sneaking under the lace cup of her bra to graze her nipple. Maintaining eye contact, he trailed his tongue across to her other breast and loved it with a growl. “You want a preview? Will that help you decide?”

“I’m afraid to say yes.”

Dominic clamped his teeth around the lace hiding her tits, pulling it away from her body, farther and farther until the material started to tear. Only when it was a limp tatter did he let it go. Rosie made a soft exclamation, her back arching, inviting him to suck her tits—Dominic had already planned on complying. She turned into a shameless little attention seeker, her pussy growing more and more slippery around his cockstand the longer he licked at her nipples, drawing them deep into his mouth and rolling them around on his tongue.

Only when she was sobbing his name did Dominic take her ass in both hands and position her against the fridge. “Time for that preview.” He tucked his hips back, pulling several inches of his cock from her wet, warm body, before ramming himself deep. Again, he caught Rosie’s scream with his mouth. “Keep quiet,” he growled, molding the supple flesh of her butt in his palms. “Don’t say another word, unless you’re telling me you’ll come home.”

“I . . .” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I’m—”

Dominic let loose on her. Maybe he didn’t want to hear a no. Or hell, maybe he simply couldn’t deprive his body of her perfection any longer. Whatever the cause, he fucked her like an animal against the refrigerator, rocking the foundation of the appliance, muffling her cries with his mouth. Her thighs held on as long as they could to his bucking hips, then lost purchase, jostling around him with every savage drive. He could feel blood trickling down his back, thanks to her nails, but the evidence of her pleasure only curved his lips against her mouth.

Rosie’s head tossed left, right, fingernails clawing at his chest. “I’m coming,” she whimpered, the slap of his flesh entering her pussy almost drowning out her voice. “I—I’m coming again. Yes. Oh God. Dominic.”

The refrigerator groaned and rocked with the force of one more thrust before Dominic ceased all motion. Ignoring her frantic protests, he released the right cheek of her backside and cupped the back of her head. He dragged their foreheads together. “Mine. Tell me I’m bringing home what’s mine.” He pushed his cock deep and ground down, making her cry out. “That’s yours. That’s what you get for belonging to me. And my—” He cut himself off to gather his emotions, but it was impossible. “My heart. You get that, too. All of it. I’m begging you to take it back before it stops working. You’re my home. I need you with me, Rosie. Please.”

“I was trying to tell you . . .” she panted, her hands dragging across his shoulders, over the curve of his neck to clasp his face. “I was already planning on coming home.”

Dominic couldn’t breathe. “You were?”

“Yes.” She kissed him so sweetly, with such trust, his head grew light. “What part of ‘you make me feel alive and protected’ didn’t you understand? What part of ‘I love you’ didn’t you understand? I’m coming home.”

“God, I love you, too,” he breathed into her neck. Relief set him free. Driven by a primal need to please now that the weight was off his shoulders, Dominic angled his dick and pumped deep, grinding himself on her clit with every rough, deliberate thrust. They both looked down, watching the sexual friction take place between their bodies, their breath coming in accelerated puffs. Rosie started to tighten up again almost immediately, her snug, wet pussy pulsing, pulsing, constricting. With a guttural groan, he picked up the pace, his satisfaction speeding closer from watching her perky tits bounce in the opening of her blouse, witnessing her beautiful eyes go blind.

“Yes, baby,” she whined, pressing her middle finger to her clit and rubbing in quick circles, the walls of her cunt swelling and leaving him almost no room to thrust. “Yes.”

The second she broke, Dominic lost it, too. He fell on her with a snarl, sandwiching her between himself and the refrigerator, rocking the appliance as he fucked his release into his wife’s body. Into the woman he loved beyond all recognition. Her screams of his name were trapped by his palm, Dominic setting his own growls of pleasure into her neck, wave after wave of bliss pulling him under, deeper, so deeply in love with this woman, he wasn’t sure his head would ever comprehend the magnitude.

That love only increased when she kissed him with soft, smiling lips and said, “Let’s go home.”

It wasn’t until minutes later, when they walked hand in hand out of Rosie’s future restaurant, did Dominic remember how he’d made it possible . . . and a tiny ribbon of dread slithered into his stomach. Ignoring it, he scooped Rosie up into his arms and carried her all the way to his truck. Nothing but blue skies ahead.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rosie hadn’t stopped smiling in a week.

A whole host of old behaviors had begun making appearances. She started singing in the shower again, for one, which Dominic took great pleasure in teasing her about.

On her way down the supermarket aisle, Rosie fanned herself thinking about Dominic’s brand of teasing. After a particularly loud shower-singing session, he’d caught her on the way into the bedroom in her towel, tossing her into the middle of the bed and tickling the terrycloth right off her. Pinning her to the mattress with his long-lost grin—one she’d missed so much without realizing it—he’d kissed down the middle of her shower-softened belly and back up to her mouth.

And they’d made out. They’d spent the whole morning making out like teenagers, laughing and groaning and petting until Stephen called to find out why Dominic wasn’t at the work site. Rosie couldn’t contain her laughter at the sight of Dominic, flushed and aroused, trying to form coherent sentences on the phone . . . all with his erection standing at a ninety-degree angle.

Best not to think of the frantic quickie against the front door that came after. Or how he’d still been hard enough to spin her around and give her a second orgasm from behind, all while chanting “I love you” in her ear.

Yes, best not to think about that in public.

Rosie blew out a choppy breath and continued down the aisle.

It wasn’t all physical, this shiny new hold her husband had on her. Where before she might get a grunt as a hello, he’d started commenting on everything. His contributions ranged from unnecessary—those tomatoes look ripe . . . thinking I’ll wear my green hoodie today . . . nicked myself shaving—to perfect and sweet. Little gifts of insight to let Rosie know he was always thinking of her and paying attention.

Wear a scarf, honey girl, it’s cold.

It makes me so happy when I hear your car pull up in the driveway.

You’re not going to believe what happened at work today . . .

His voice had been missing for so long and having it back felt like having a major part of herself back. She couldn’t wait to hear it again. Every morning, every night. As if thinking of Dominic had made him appear, something brought her up short while reaching for a can of diced tomatoes. A familiar scent.

Her husband’s scent, to be specific.

Before she could turn around fully to search for the source, two strong arms slipped around her waist, a pair of beloved lips climbing the back of her neck.

“Dominic,” she sighed, turning and wrapping him in her arms. “What are you doing here?”

They swayed for a few beats in the brightly lit aisle. “I decided to take a long lunch. The kind that lasts until Monday morning,” he said gruffly, rubbing circles on her back. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

Their mouths met in a kiss. A quiet one where she could hear their hearts pounding in unison.

“I got to thinking how . . .” He trailed off to rub his lips against her temple. “We never went out on that date. Ditch these groceries and let me take you somewhere.”

If he’d asked her to rappel down Everest, she’d say yes. “Where?”

Was it her imagination or did some redness appear high on his cheekbones?

Tongue tucked into his cheek, he stared just over her shoulder for a moment, before his gaze ticked back to hers. “Was thinking we could go ice-skating. You in?”

Rosie was positive her feet weren’t touching the ground. Dominic had taken her ice-skating on their first official date and the symbolism was far from lost on her. Here they were, essentially learning to be together all over again. And she could see from the sudden gravity in Dominic’s expression as he kissed her brow that he’d thought of the significance, too. God, she loved this man.

“I’m so in.”

Rinx wasn’t usually in service until closer to winter, but the temperatures had been unseasonably cold for the last week, so the small penned-in oval of ice situated on the harbor was open for business. Since it was a weekday, the local kids were in school, and thus, Dominic and Rosie were virtually the only ones there. Cold, crisp wind bit her cheeks and picked up the curls of her hair as she glided out onto the ice. She looked back over to find Dominic pushing out after her, the same way he did everything else. Casually, expertly. Brutally masculine in all endeavors. Given his height and mass, if someone had slapped a hockey stick in his hands, he would have resembled an NHL star.