Chapter 60
Aurora POV
I’m asleep when the sound of my bedroom door creaking open pulls me halfway to consciousness.
At first, I think I’ve imagined it. My room is dimly lit by the faint spill of moonlight sneaking in through the gap in the curtains. I can still feel the heaviness of sleep pulling at my limbs as I try to roll over onto my back and lift my head up from the pillow.
Groggy, I blink against the darkness surrounding me.
“Gianna?” I whisper, unsure.
Or maybe one of the twins? They’ve come into my room before, usually uninvited to beckon me to breakfast or with snacks and a dumb joke in tow. I can’t imagine why they’d be bothering me so early in the damn morning but stranger things have happened.
When I sit up a little more, my pulse stutters. There’s someone standing at the edge of my bed.
Tall. Silent. Looming.
I freeze.
Panic climbs up my spine in icy, unrelenting waves as my mind flashes violently to the past. To the time Theo came into my room like this when I was drugged, quiet, and full of intent to hurt me when I was at my most vulnerable.
My skin prickles at the memory as my throat closes with fear.
No. No, not again.
This time Dominic isn’t here to save me.
I open my mouth to scream but the figure moves before I can, climbing onto the bed with slow, deliberate grace in a way that wasn’t like Theo at all. The mattress dips under his weight. I gasp, scrambling back against the headboard.
That’s when a familiar scent hits me: leather, warm spice and something uniquely him.
Dominic.
The recognition settles over me like a tidal wave, every part of me loosens instantly in relief. I collapse forward into his chest as soon as he draws closer before I can stop myself, wrapping my arms around him tight.
He chuckles softly into my hair, low and warm, his lips brushing against my temple. “I see you’ve missed me.”
I could cry. In fact, I almost do. I grip him tighter, burying my face in the crook of his neck. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Oh,” he says, not sounding very sorry at all. “I thought you were still asleep.”
He kisses my cheek, then my jaw, then down the side of my neck. Soft and slow, the kind of kisses that drive me instantly wild with need. His hand slides along my back, pulling me flush against him as he lays us down together.
“When did you arrive?” I breathe.
“Just now.”
“But I thought—” I trail off. You were supposed to be gone longer…
His lips find mine before I can say more.
It starts with a kiss. Deep, sensual, possessive in a way that makes my entire body weak even though I’m lying down. My fingers knot into the back of his shirt, clinging to him like I’m scared he’ll vanish. He tastes like mint and some kind of dark liquor, familiar and grounding. Like coming home.
Clothes melt away in pieces, his shirt, my tank top, the sleep shorts I barely remember putting on. Everything is touched by his warm hands and his mouth mapping my skin like it’s the first time all over again.
Dominic moves slow tonight when he slides into me.
Not careful like I’m some fragile thing, just more intentional than he usually is. Every roll of his hips, every drag of his mouth across my skin is deliberate. As if he wants me to memorize him like he’s being imprinted permanently into my skin.
I gasp, more from the emotion than the sensation, when his cock hits me deep. He presses his forehead to mine as we move together, our bodies in perfect rhythm. I can’t help but whisper his name like a prayer.
“Dominic…”
He kisses me in response. Then again. And again.
No harsh grabbing. No rough snapping of hips like usual whenever he’s trying to claim me. Just the kind of slow, aching intimacy I never thought I’d get to experience with him. His breath grows ragged when we fall over the edge together.
My legs wrap around him, clinging because I never want to let him go again.
Afterwards, he pulls me into his arms without a word, tucking me against his chest as his breathing slows. One arm curls around my waist, his palm resting on my lower back, anchoring me to him.
For the first time in a long time I feel safe.
I fall asleep like that, wrapped up in him with his scent in my lungs and the sound of his heartbeat against my ear.
This is better than any dream I could’ve conjured up.
I shift under the covers, rolling onto my back, already reaching for the warmth I know should be there laying next to me. The last thing I expect to touch is cool sheets and not the impression of a body having just laid there
I sit up slowly, squinting against the faint light. Dominic’s side of the bed is empty.
He’s gone.
For a brief moment, I wonder if I did dream it all up last night. If my mind had somehow created the perfect hallucination of him finally coming home to me because I needed something to soothe me through the night.
But then I feel it. Something cool and oddly weighty around my finger. Glancing down, I freeze at what I see resting there on my ring finger.
A ring.
Not just any ring.
An engagement ring.
Delicate, vintage. White gold braided around a center stone that catches the morning light like fire trapped in crystal. Small diamonds arch around the main sapphire like a crown.
I stare at it, completely speechless. God, it’s gorgeous.
I scramble out of bed, barely bothering to throw on the sleep shirt from last night as I slip out into the hall, heart pounding. Gianna is already awake, sitting at the small kitchen table with a half-eaten piece of toast in her hand and a mug of coffee cradled in the other.
She looks up when I enter. “Hey, good morning.”
I hold up my hand at her, still in shock. “Look.”
Gianna’s jaw drops. “Holy shit, Aurora.”
“I know.”
“That’s not just a ring,” she breathes, getting up and rushing over. “That’s like… a statement. That’s something a king would give to his future queen. Where the hell did you get that?”
I laugh, still slightly dazed. “Dominic. He must’ve slipped it on my finger after I fell asleep last night.”
“They’re back?” she shakes her head, tugging me closer so she can examine it more. “Damn… wonder where he got it from. It’s definitely real. Look how much those gemstones sparkle.”
I smile. “I know.”
God, I can’t believe it. None of this feels real. Giving me an engagement ring—a real one and not something from a jewelry picked up the same day at the shop had to mean something. This was Dominic’s declaration to me. The sign I’ve been waiting for that he isn’t just a ruthless mafia heir.
He genuinely cares about me.
“So… does this mean you’re not leaving then?”
The question catches me off guard completely.
I’m still searching for what to say when I catch movement in the corner of my eye. I turn just in time to see Dominic standing in the bathroom doorway.
He’s freshly showered, a towel slung low on his hips, water still dripping from the ends of his dark hair. He leans casually against the doorframe, arms crossed, a brow raised at me while he regards the both of us with slightly narrowed eyes.
“Leaving for where?” he asks.
