There’s a pang in my heart as I stack another row of towels and remember his words.

I know myself well enough to know that if I were in this for real, for a real relationship, someone like Dominic would never be good for me. Because of my own issues, I need more than he can offer. I need someone who would be an active participant in my life, someone who would make me feel important, like a priority.

But I’m not in this to get close to him, I remind myself. This isn’t a real relationship. I’m in this because it’s fun. I’m not getting used. I’m just entertaining myself. Soon, he’ll go back to Hollywood and I won’t see him again… unless it’s on the movie screen. But it’ll be fun for now. It’ll be a cool story someday.

I turn back around and meet Dominic’s gaze. He’s got his phone in his hand again and a dark look in his eye. He’s tall, slim, and cool in the middle of all of the surrounding sweat and heat and grime.

My phone buzzes.

Don’t you need to put those extra towels somewhere?

My eyes meet his again. He knows that I do. And he knows where.

Buzz.

Go.

He stands watching me, confident that I’ll run to the supply closet and wait for him. But I don’t. Maintaining eye contact, I slowly and purposefully stack the leftover towels on the floor next to the rack. I look back up at him and his lip twitches.

Buzz.

I glance at my phone.

You get three chances. This is your second. Go.

I square my shoulders and stare at him. Who the hell does he think he is? He thinks he can just tell me to go and I’ll run? Whatever. I’m only controlled when I want to be, like when I let him tie my hands in the bedroom. That was different.

I saunter away, pointedly ignoring him as I wind my way around the gym and into the locker room to toss dirty towels into the washer.

I’m not there for two minutes before my hips are pressed against the cool metal of the machine. There is warm breath against my ear and a warm body pressed against my back.

“You know you want to,” Dominic whispers, his hand gripping my ass. Hard. “Just go. That’s all you have to do.”

I glance to the side, to make sure no one else is here with us before I slip from his grip and flip around, staring into his eyes.

“You know you want me to,” I answer. As I do, I reach out my hand and cup his crotch, the first time I’ve actually done so. I stroke the denim for a second before I grip him through it. He swallows hard. “Don’t you?”

He looks at me dangerously, his eyes darkening as his crotch hardens. He doesn’t say anything, so I grip him harder.

“Yes or no?”

He doesn’t flinch, even though my grip must hurt now. He stays hard, but that shouldn’t be surprising. He did say that a little pain is good.

“Yes,” he finally answers, shocking me. I didn’t think he’d admit it.

I smile, a slow smile that spreads across my face. “So go,” I instruct him.

The dangerous light glints in his eyes and I can see that he likes my commanding tone. He turns on his heel and walks away. I watch his broad shoulders disappear from the room, excitement building in my stomach. I wait just a minute before I follow him, making my way to the supply closet.

I open the door, but am surprised to find it empty. He’s not here.

“What the…”

But then he’s in the doorway, filling up the room, closing the door behind him.

“You thought you’d get to tell me what to do?” he asks softly, walking me backward until my back is pressed to the wall. “That’s not how this works, princess. Although I admire your balls.”

“I thought we already established that I don’t have balls?” I raise an eyebrow. He laughs, a husky, low sound.

“Maybe I should double check.”

I was expecting his hand.

But his hand isn’t what I get.

Dominic drops to his knees, and as he does, he pulls my shorts down. Since they have an elastic band, they’re easy to peel off, and he takes full advantage of that. He slides them down until they drop around my ankles.

Without preamble, he thrusts his tongue into me, wet and hot. The room is immediately filled with his energy, with his dark, dark energy. It’s a primal thing… like Dominic is taking full control of the situation. It’s delicious. My head immediately falls back on its own accord and I grip the shelves behind me.

“Anyone could come in here,” I manage to gasp as I struggle to breathe deeply, trying like hell to catch my breath. Dominic pulls away.

“True,” he acknowledges, pausing. “But they won’t. Only you and I come in here. And you are going to come right now.”

He thrusts his tongue into me again, over and over, until I am panting and clinging limply to his back.

And then I do come.

Just like that.

I come and come, the muscles of my uterus contracting, my thighs trembling.

Dominic immediately stands up, grinning like a Cheshire cat. He bends, pulls my shorts up, and then dips his head to my ear.

“I love the taste of you.”

And then he walks out. Like this never happened. Like he always does.

I grip the wall behind me, catching my breath and waiting until my knees stop shaking. It happened. I was just licked to orgasm in a supply closet… by Dominic Kinkaide. Holy shit.

When I can manage, I slip back out into the gym nonchalantly, as casually as I can. Dominic is holding a bag for a boy I haven’t met yet, and he catches my eye as I walk past.

“Everything okay, Jacey?” he asks innocently, as if he doesn’t know that my legs are jelly. Or why.

“I’m good,” I answer back, every bit as innocently as he does. He winks, then runs his tongue across his lips.

“I know,” he replies.

And just like that, my heart takes off like helicopter blades again. The man can barely look at me and I’m a goner. Like, I seriously just want him to carry me off to bed, where we can hole up for a weekend and not do anything but stare into each other’s eyes.

Fuck. That can’t be good. Because he doesn’t want to stare into my eyes. He wants to render me helpless with his sexcapades. I square my shoulders and turn away.

I try and ignore Dominic for the rest of our shift, and instead of talking to him, I focus on other things. The moistness in my underwear reminds me from time to time, though, as does his mischievous grin whenever I accidentally meet his gaze. But I stubbornly avoid him anyway.

Why?

Because he’s dangerous to me.

Because even though this is supposed to be fun, temporary, and lighthearted, I can feel myself getting pulled in. I feel myself getting attached and I can’t do that. That wasn’t supposed to be part of this.

I don’t remember offering to be with you. That’s what he said. He doesn’t want me like that, not for something real. He runs cold and hot and he’s always, always detached. If I make the mistake of wanting something real from him, then I’m going to be crushed, just like always, because I’m making yet another bad decision.

My heart twinges as I remind myself of that. But it’s the truth. I don’t shirk from the truth.

I do hide from it sometimes, though. Like when Dominic turns to me in the parking lot after work and says, “Hey, I have to go to California on Friday night so I can shoot this weekend. Would you like to come?”

One word instantly comes from my mouth before I can even think about it, before I can remind myself yet again that I’m not going to get sucked in.

“Yes.”

Dominic

I slide my hands up Jacey’s dress, pulling her to me, her hips grinding into mine.

“Fuck me,” she whispers into my ear, her fingernails cutting a trail down my back. The pain of it turns me on, but her scent turns me on even more. I lift her up and bite her lip, thrusting my tongue into her mouth before I unbuckle my belt and pull off my pants.