Chapter 8 - The King’s Surrender
“Dominic...” I gasped, stepping back in shock. “What are you doing? Get up!”
“No,” Dominic said softly. He didn't look at me yet; he looked directly into Noah’s brown eyes. “Noah, can I ask you a question?”
Noah blinked, nodding slowly. “Okay.”
“If I asked your mom to stay here with me forever,” Dominic asked the little boy, his voice thick with raw emotion, “would you be okay with that? Would you let me be the guy who buys your dinosaur shoes and makes sure nobody ever scares you again?”
Noah’s face lit up with a brilliant, gap-toothed smile. “Can I have dinosaur nuggets for dinner every day?”
“Every Tuesday,” Dominic bargained gravely. “With extra ketchup.”
“Okay!” Noah cheered, wrapping his arms around Dominic’s neck.
Dominic held the little boy tightly for a moment, pressing a kiss into Noah’s soft hair, before setting him gently down on the rug.
Then, Dominic stood up. He stepped toward me until there was no space left between us, his large, warm hands coming up to cup both sides of my face. His thumbs gently wiped away my tears.
“Look at me, Abigail,” Dominic commanded softly.
I looked up into his slate-grey eyes. They weren't cold anymore. They were burning with an fierce, unyielding devotion that made my knees go weak.
“I spent thirty-seven years building an empire so no one could touch me,” Dominic whispered, his voice trembling with a vulnerability he had never shown another living soul. “I thought power was money. I thought strength was fear. And then six days ago, a soaked, exhausted woman walked into the Hudson Room carrying a sleeping child, sat down in my chair, and asked me for coffee.”
He leaned down, pressing his forehead against mine.
“You think you don't fit in my world?” Dominic breathed. “Abigail, you are my world. In six days, you turned a cold stone fortress into a home. You saved my life with your brilliant mind, and you stole my heart with your courage. I don't care about your past, I don't care about your size, and I sure as hell don't care about what Midtown society thinks.”
“Dominic...” I sobbed, my hands coming up to rest against his muscular chest, feeling his heart hammering wildly beneath my palms.
“I love you, Abigail Mercer,” Dominic said, stating it not as a question, but as an absolute, unbreakable law of nature. “I love your sharp mouth, I love your beautiful body, I love your fiercely protective mother’s heart, and I love your son like he was my own flesh and blood. Don't leave me. Stay here. Rule this company with me. Be my wife.”
I stared at him through my tears. The fear, the self-doubt, the six years of loneliness and struggle vanished like smoke in a hurricane.
“You’re crazy,” I laughed through my tears. “You’re completely crazy.”
“Probably,” Dominic smiled—that breathtaking, dangerous smile that made my soul melt. “Is that a yes?”
I pulled his head down to mine and kissed him.
It wasn't a tentative kiss. It was deep, fierce, and filled with six days of unspoken passion. Dominic groaned, his powerful arms wrapping around my waist, lifting me completely off my feet and pulling me flush against his hard body.
Below us, Noah stomped his light-up shoes on the rug.
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“Eww!” Noah giggled. “Giant man is kissing Mommy!”
Dominic broke the kiss, laughing warmly against my lips—a sound so full of pure, unadulterated joy that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, we were finally home.
