Make Me Forget

The pounding bass vibrated through the sticky floorboards as Elena shoved her way into the crush of sweaty, swaying bodies. She was going to find a stranger. She was going to grab the very first random man she collided with and dance with him until her legs gave out, and she absolutely did not care in the slightest who it turned out to be.

She almost tripped over her own stilettos, practically colliding with a solid wall of a chest. Dominic was the lucky random stranger. However, he was currently cornered by a disgruntled Barbie-lookalike who was squeezed into the tightest, shortest, blackest latex dress Elena had ever seen. The blonde was aggressively leaning into his personal space, loudly calling dibs on him over the deafening roar of the nightclub music.

Liquid courage surging hotly through her veins, Elena didn't hesitate. She recklessly stepped directly between Dominic and the glaring blonde.

"He's with me," Elena slurred heavily, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

Barbie glared, her glacial stare raking over Elena. Her collagen-pumped lips curled with utter distaste as she sized her up, clearly offended by the interruption.

Dominic's cheeks and ears flushed slightly, matching his striking flame-colored hair, but he chuckled in genuine amusement. "Yeah," he agreed smoothly, throwing a casual arm around Elena's shoulders. "I'm with her."

"Your loss," the annoyed woman sneered. She flicked her long blonde extensions over her shoulder and pranced off in defeat, vanishing into the herd of vacant-eyed zombies swaying to the loud music.

Dominic looked down at Elena, a conspiratorial smile touching his lips. "Thanks. You saved my life."

"I guess we're even now," Elena said softly, returning his grateful smile. "Thanks for getting us in and saving me from the freezing cold earlier."

The lighthearted moment was perfectly fine until a slow jam began to play. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena spotted Sebastian and Tessa suddenly appearing near the edge of the dance floor, slinking their way into the crowd. Blind panic immediately seized her chest. She couldn't let her ex see her standing around looking pathetic and alone.

Desperate to save face, Elena threw her body entirely into Dominic's arms. She looked up at him, her vision slightly blurry from the vodka and the tears she was struggling to contain. "Just pretend you're my boyfriend, okay?" she begged in a frantic whisper. "Pretend you're madly in love with me."

Dominic didn't miss a beat. Unfazed and thoroughly amused, he purred, "Whatever you want, Princess!"

He pulled her body flush against his hard, firm chest. His arms wrapped around her waist with an intense possessiveness that made her breath catch. As they began to move and sway to the heavy rhythm of the music, his overwhelming physical proximity sent intense quivers shooting straight down her spine. Elena was acutely aware of his every movement. She tried to ignore the tingling awareness rushing through her body at his touch, but it was impossible. The heat radiating from his taut, swimmer's physique was intoxicating.

"Am I a good boyfriend?" he murmured, leaning down so his forehead brushed against hers. His five o'clock shadow grazed her cheek, sending a jolt of electricity right through her drunken haze.

"If your day job doesn't work out," Elena breathed out, hanging her arms around his thick neck, "you can always sign up with a Rent-A-Boyfriend service."

With his thick, wavy red hair and ridiculously handsome face, he was entirely too fine for his own good. If she carried on clinging to him like this, she knew she was jumping straight from the frying pan into the fire.

He let out a low laugh, his face lighting up with genuine curiosity. "Is there such a thing?"

"I don't know," she laughed, throwing her head back. "I've never needed their services before."

Until tonight, she thought sadly.

They swayed together in silence for a few minutes. Elena felt safe in his arms. Even when the song ended and another upbeat tune came on, she kept moving, and Dominic didn't seem to be in any hurry to let her go. The realization that she was pressed against someone so gorgeous and clearly wealthy pierced through her alcohol-fogged brain. From his expensive woodsy cologne tinged with the faint whiff of premium bourbon to his dark slim-fit jeans and custom-made sneakers, he oozed immense wealth.

"Other than dancing with random strangers, why is a billionaire like you slumming it at a public club like Velvet?" she asked.

Dominic pulled her a fraction closer, murmuring directly into her ear. "Celebrating my last night of freedom. It's my bachelor party."

Elena blinked, completely surprised. That explained the model-tier entourage hovering nearby earlier. She instantly felt a pang of guilt for snapping at him in the line outside. "Are you happy?" she asked, resting her chin on his chest. "Should I congratulate you on your impending marriage?"

He laughed softly, the sound rumbling deep in his chest. "Not really. But it is what it is." His intense, stormy ocean eyes locked onto hers, searching her face. "How about you?"

Looking up into those captivating, stormy depths, Elena abandoned all her defenses. "I'm here to forget," she openly confessed, her voice breaking softly as tears welled in her eyes. "Make me forget my pain, please."

Dominic didn't hesitate for a single second. He gently lifted her chin and immediately claimed her lips. It was a fiery, breathless, all-consuming kiss that drove her straight to the brink of madness. His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting of expensive bourbon and raw masculine heat. He pressed her close, his firm hands holding her tightly. After twenty-four years of playing it incredibly safe—only to end up with a shattered engagement and a broken heart—Elena aggressively craved recklessness. She fully surrendered, leaning in and craving everything he had to give.

When they finally came up for air, Dominic's voice was hoarse. "Did you forget?"

"Almost," Elena replied breathlessly.

Without another word, Dominic grabbed her hand and led her right out of the suffocating club. While they waited for the valet to bring his car around, she quickly texted her friends. Soon, a sleek Lamborghini pulled up. Dominic held the passenger door open for her and helped her with the seatbelt. As they sped through the dark city streets, Elena's body buzzed with a dangerous mix of fear and exhilarating anticipation for what lay ahead.

They drove out of the city and into a sprawling, architectural marvel of a private estate tucked away behind heavy boom gates and security guards. The minimalist, all-white mansion was perched on a hill, illuminated by ground lights that made it look like a billionaire's modern fortress.

As soon as Dominic killed the engine, a line of uniformed servants appeared, led by a polished butler.

"Mr. Sterling, should we prepare dinner, sir?" the butler asked.

Dominic waved them off dismissively. "You can take the rest of the night off, Davis. Thank you."

The heavy front door had barely clicked shut behind them before Dominic swept her right up into his strong arms. Elena gasped, instinctively wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. His mouth crashed down on hers again, his kisses growing increasingly urgent and completely unreserved. He physically carried her up a grand, sweeping glass staircase, down a long hallway, and finally pushed open the doors to a gigantic master bedroom.

He walked straight to the massive platform bed and gently laid her down onto the luxurious, snow-white silk sheets.

Dominic leaned over her, bracing his weight on his hands. He dropped light, teasing kisses along the sensitive skin of her neck, moving down to her collarbone. His hands were slow and methodical as he began to strip away her clothing, peeling the fabric away to expose her trembling skin.

"Do you still want to forget?" he asked, his voice a dark, gravelly whisper against her ear.

Feverish and burning with an agonizing desire, Elena arched up into his touch. "Yes," she whimpered desperately, her fingers clumsy as she tugged his denim shirt off his broad shoulders.

Dominic stripped her completely bare, explicitly undressing her before quickly shedding his own clothes. He was magnificent naked, his heavily muscled body looming over hers, his thick, heavy penis fully erect and jutting eagerly against his stomach. For hours, he completely dismantled the heartbreak that had suffocated her for the last six weeks. He touched her intimately, his skilled fingers sliding over her wet clitoris, parting her slick labia to stroke exactly where she needed it most. Elena writhed on the silk sheets, her breath catching in ragged gasps as his tongue replaced his fingers, eating her out until she was sobbing his name.

When she was dripping wet and begging for him, Dominic positioned himself between her legs. He gripped her hips, his thumbs pressing into her hipbones, and pushed forward. His hard, thick penis penetrated her vagina deeply in one smooth, powerful stroke. Elena cried out, her nails digging into his broad back as she stretched to accommodate his impressive girth and length. Every single hard thrust and slick friction of their bodies meeting thawed the ice packed tightly around her soul. He pounded into her relentlessly, withdrawing almost completely before driving his stiff cock deep into her tight, wet sheath again and again. She moaned shamelessly, taking every inch of him, reveling in the raw, primal sound of their sweaty skin slapping together. He fucked her with an intense, possessive rhythm that completely short-circuited her brain.

If he wasn't a stranger she met at a club, if he wasn't her drunken rebound, and she wasn't his final taste of freedom before his impending wedding, their fiery, intensely graphic sexual encounter would have been an absolutely perfect first time for her.

Much later, the massive bedroom was quiet except for the sound of their heavy, ragged breathing. Their naked bodies were completely sleek with sweat. Dominic pulled her close against his chest, wrapping his strong arms securely around her.

"Did you forget?" he asked softly, his chest rising and falling against hers.

"Yes," Elena murmured. Stray tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, falling hotly onto his bare skin. The reality of what she had just done, and who she had done it with, was slowly creeping in, mixing with the exhaustion in her bones.

Sensing her lingering emotional fragility, Dominic shifted his weight. He leaned over her and explicitly took her body again. This time, his movements were much more languid and excruciatingly slow. He guided his hard erection back inside her soaking wet vagina, pushing deep inside her with a torturously slow glide that made her whimper. He shattered her world with searing, deliberate caresses, sliding his thick cock in and out of her tightly gripping hole while his thumb found her swollen clitoris, rubbing it rhythmically. Elena physically clung to his broad shoulders, weeping as the overwhelming sensation built up. He thrust deeply, hitting her deepest sensitive spot over and over, until she threw her head back, riding out a devastating, full-body wave of sexual pleasure that left her violently trembling beneath him. Dominic growled, "God, you are beautiful, Princess," as he drove his penis into her to the hilt, shuddering and climaxing deep inside her.

He collapsed beside her, pulling her flush against his side. Tucking her securely into his arms, Dominic allowed her to cry softly against his chest. Her tears soaked into his skin as her body continued to twitch with the aftershocks of her massive orgasm. He just held her, stroking her bare back with a comforting, steady hand until her sobs finally subsided into quiet sniffles. It took her a long while to stop shaking entirely.

When she had finally cried out every last tear she had in her, he gently kissed her forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently, his deep voice rumbling against her ear.

Elena tilted her head up, looking straight into his striking ocean eyes. She forced a small, fragile smile to her lips.

"I am now," she lied straight to his face.

She pressed her cheek back against his warm chest, closing her eyes as a devastating truth washed over her internal monologue. She knew with absolute, terrifying certainty that she would never be okay after this night. Not when Dominic was getting married to someone else so incredibly soon. Not when he had just wielded such absolute, overwhelming power over her naked body.

And now, terrifyingly, he held that same absolute power over her incredibly fragile heart. She had come here to obliterate the memory of a man who had shattered her trust, only to realize she was profoundly, hopelessly emotionally compromised by a man she could never truly have.