Page 72 of Cruel Promise
His jaw flexes and his eyes flash with anger. “Bullshit,” he snarls.
“We’re not together, Dom. We never have been.”
“We could be,” he says, but it’s not a question. He isn’t asking me to be his girlfriend. He’s not asking me to be anything, yet he expects me to drop my life and chase after him so I can, what, continue being his fuck buddy? No. I won’t do that to myself.
“I deserve better,” I tell him, pulling away.
Sitting back on his heels, he regards me. “I want a chance.”
I almost laugh. “A chance at what, exactly?”
“The real deal,” he says. “You and me.”
“You’re leaving,” I remind him.
“So?”
“I won’t go with you.”
His eyes shutter.
“Even if I wanted to,” I say, trying to soften the blow, “I can’t. I have to graduate. That has to come first.” I don’t have the option of transferring schools. Not until I have my diploma.
“And then?” He’s being serious. This is insane.
“I don’t know,” I whisper honestly. I didn’t expect him to show up like this and say he wanted to be with me. I thought he wanted to clear the air to keep access to my pussy, not jump into a relationship.
This is getting complicated. Heavy.
“Will you give things between us a try?” he asks, his expression pensive.
“It won’t work.”
“It could.” He sounds so sure but I’m not.
“You’re going to be in a new town. You’ll meet other people. Other women—“
“Don’t delude yourself, Kasey. There won’t be any other women.” His thumb traces my bottom lip before he leans forward to kiss me. “It was always going to be the two of us in the end, baby girl. This—“ He threads his fingers through my hair and kisses deeper, stealing the breath from my lungs.
“Us.” Another kiss. His tongue traces the seam of my lips. “It was inevitable”
Sucking in a breath at his declaration, I confess the one thing I’m terrified of most. He’s putting his cards out there. This is my way of showing mine.
“You could hurt me.” It pains me to admit this. To show him my vulnerable parts and confess he has this much power over me.
Dominique leans back to look at me, thumbs stroking across my cheeks. “Trust me, Kasey. I won’t.”
I want to trust him. I really do. But there’s a battle going on inside of me and I have no idea how this will play out. The odds are already stacked against us. And after everything we’ve been through, can long distance even work?
“Promise me.” They’re only words, but if I’m going to consider this, I need to hear them.
His eyes are reverent as he holds my gaze. “I won’t hurt you, baby girl. I swear.”
Dom and Kasey aren’t finished yet.
Keep an eye out for the third and final book in the Dom & Kasey trilogy. No pre-order yet but make sure you’re in my reader group since I’ll be sharing details soon.
If you haven’t guessed it already, A LOT of things are going to happen in Richland. To make sure you’re up to date, check out The Savage. This is Gabriel & Cecilia’s Story—you met Gabe at the end of Wicked Devil—and pre-order Vicious Little Liar where you’ll see Andres DeAnde brought to his knees by a rivals daughter in this Romeo & Juliette retelling without the tragic ending.
