No, he didn’t believe in love, Dominick acknowledged, and he had no idea what he felt for Kenzie at that moment, only that the thought of her in Jerome Carlton’s arms was once again driving him crazy.
There hadn’t been any other women in his life during the four months of their separation. Having Kenzie walk out on him in that way, leaving him for another man, seemed to have killed all desire for sex in him.
Until the second he had seen Kenzie on Wednesday evening…
Since then he had been filled with nothing but a desire for sex. But only with Kenzie.
But not here. And not now. That would happen on his terms. For his pleasure.
His hands dropped abruptly to his sides as he released her. ‘I don’t believe in love,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’ll go and use the bathroom myself now. And I didn’t make provision for sharing a bedroom for the night with my ex-wife, so, if you don’t want to be shocked out of your romantic little mind, I should turn over and go to sleep before I get back!’ He strode over to the adjoining room and pulled the door shut firmly behind him.
Kenzie stared at the closed door, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. She knew there was no hope for her and Dominick, no common ground of conversation even. There was just anger and misunderstanding on Dominick’s part, and love, still love, on hers…
‘For God’s sake settle down and go to sleep, will you?’ Dominick snapped softly in the darkness of the bedroom.
Kenzie became still in the adjoining bed. ‘Sorry. I didn’t think you were awake,’ she muttered, having had no idea he had been aware of her restless movements for the last hour as sleep had eluded her.
He gave a heavy sigh. ‘You may think I lack a certain—insight where emotions are concerned, Kenzie, but I can assure you there is absolutely nothing wrong with my memory!’
And what was that supposed to mean?
That he was still thinking about her with Jerome Carlton?
Or something else…?
‘I can’t sleep,’ she sighed.
‘I think that’s pretty damned obvious!’ he bit out tersely. ‘Unfortunately, now neither can I!’
‘Sorry,’ she muttered again.
Dominick sat up in the bed, swinging his legs to the floor as he pushed the duvet aside.
He could see very little of Kenzie in the moonlight shining in through the window, only the paleness of her face and the dark cloud of her hair spread out on the pillow beside her.
‘Do you want me to come over there?’ he taunted.
No, of course she didn’t!
Did she…?
There was no denying that she was totally aware of him, and had been so since he’d called at her apartment earlier this afternoon. Sharing this bedroom with him, even in separate beds, was absolute torture to her senses.
She hadn’t thought it would be like this. Yes, she still loved Dominick, and, yes, she was still very aware of his physical attractiveness, but she had thought his total distrust of her, and his lack of love for her, would have killed all the sexual desire she had once felt for him.
In the last hour while she had lain here unable to sleep, she had been all too conscious of Dominick in the adjoining bed: of the even tenor of breathing, the slightly elusive tang of his aftershave, and of the heat of his body. All of which had shown her that she ached for him just as much as she ever had.
‘No, of course I don’t want you to come over here,’ she answered without conviction.
‘Are you sure?’
She bristled at his mocking tone of voice. ‘Of course I’m sure!’
‘You didn’t sound very sure,’ Dominick mused.
‘I’m not going to deny that this situation is—difficult,’ she told him quietly.
‘How difficult?’ he challenged, standing up, his lithe nakedness visible in the soft light.
Kenzie stopped breathing, her eyes wide as she looked at him. This was not a good idea. Not a good idea at all.
‘Look, Dominick,’ she told him quickly. ‘I’m sure we could quite easily make love together, here and now—’
‘We could?’ he derided.
‘Yes,’ she bit out awkwardly. ‘Statistics show that the majority of married couples who have separated have sex together at least once after that separation before they actually divorce. It’s usually a disappointment to both parties, and only serves to reaffirm their decision—’
‘I’m not interested in statistics, Kenzie,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘And you have never disappointed me in bed, any more than I believe I have ever disappointed you, either—’
‘You’re talking about sex again, Dominick,’ she cut in frustratedly.
He gave a shake of his head, moving until he sat on the edge of her bed. ‘And talking has never solved anything between us, has it?’ he acknowledged ruefully, one of his hands moving up to smooth the creamy contour of her cheek. ‘The truth is, I would much rather show you what you threw away four months ago than talk about it!’ His head lowered before his lips captured hers.
Kenzie fought against the desire that quickly rose within her, pushing at the bareness of his chest as she wrenched her mouth from his. ‘No—’
‘Yes, Kenzie!’ he insisted gruffly. ‘Neither of us is going to find a moment’s rest until we get this out of the way!’
‘But it won’t solve anything—’
‘It will prove that you still want me!’ he grated. ‘Because you do still want me, don’t you, Kenzie?’ he encouraged huskily as his fingers trailed down her neck to the hollows of her throat.
Kenzie quivered with an awareness she was unable to hide. ‘You’re just trying to punish me, Dominick. Wreak some sort of revenge because I dared to leave you—’
‘Oh, no, Kenzie, a brief time together at the home of your parents isn’t going to be nearly enough recompense for that,’ he assured her grimly. ‘But a little down payment might not be a bad idea in the circumstances. And you do owe me, remember…?’
Oh, she remembered, all right. She also had a pretty good idea now of exactly what he was going to want in ‘payment’ for being here with her this weekend!
‘Dominick—’
‘Not now, Kenzie,’ he dismissed, his hand moving down to cup her breast, his thumbtip caressing the hardened tip as he bent his head to reclaim her lips.
Kenzie felt the heat in her body, wanting to continue fighting him, but knowing that her body betrayed her. She melted through her enjoyment of the feel of Dominick’s lips on hers as he began to kiss her, and found she was unable to stop herself from reaching up to entangle her fingers in his hair as she tasted him in return.
His hands moved restlessly across her back, moulding her body to his, and crushing her breasts against the hardness of his chest as they continued to kiss hungrily.
Kenzie groaned low in her throat as Dominick sat back slightly to push the gaping neckline of her top to one side, one hand finding her naked breast, while the other moved to unfasten the buttons down the front of the silky garment.
She felt the cool air on her bare flesh as Dominick cleared the material from her body, his lips leaving hers now so that he could feel the thrust of her breast with his mouth. As he drew the aching nipple into the heated moisture between his lips, the pad of his thumb moving across its twin, Kenzie dropped weakly back onto the pillow as she arched in pleasure.
She