Felicity sat up, pulling a sheet across her to cover her.

“Don’t hurt whoever it is,” she managed to say before he banged open the front door.

His big, naked body filled the doorway, blocking her from seeing whoever stood in it.

His voice turned into a lethal, cold growl. His shoulders stiffened and Felicity’s arousal faded fast. Even as he slowly turned around and closed the door she just knew. Their morning fun was over. Rolling his neck, he stalked back to the bedroom. His eyes caught hers and grew hungry as they roamed over her body.

He groaned in frustration. “I have to go. It’s important, I’m sorry.”

He grabbed his wrinkled pants from the night before and started tugging them on in jerky movements. Much more slowly, Felicity grabbed some fresh clothes and started to dress. It was almost a cozy thing to do with both of them dressing for the day. She couldn’t help but smile.

She pulled a fresh pair of panties on and took her time doing it. She also maybe shook her bottom at him as she did it. The deep-throated groan she heard made her grin up at him over her shoulder. His eyes had turned dark with the look.

Those dark eyes flicked up to hers. “Tonight, you’re mine. No interruptions, no excuses.” He walked towards her, or stalked, more like, with his pants unbuttoned and his shirt on but unbuttoned. He caught her, crushed her against him. “Tonight I’m fucking you and feeling you come around my cock. I don’t care if a war starts outside your front door. We’re finishing this.”

His hand curled around her hair to tilt her head up to his, then he kissed her.

When he let her mouth go she whispered, “I thought maybe we’re just now beginning this.”

His smile was slow but sure. “Yeah, sweets, we’re beginning this tonight and you better be ready because it’s going to be a long night.”

He kissed her again, good and hard and wet. When he stepped away from her, he grabbed his suit jacket and headed for the front door like he owned the place.

“Wait! I almost forgot to ask.”

He turned back to her, patiently waiting as whatever emergency awaited him outside her front door.

She ran up to him in only her undies and couldn’t keep from wrapping her arms around his waist. “Do I still have a job?”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“Well, you said it’s just me now...and so I figured that meant you and Julianna weren’t...you know...” She blushed brightly.

She might not have noticed the tension in his body if she hadn’t been touching him. But she was touching him and so she felt it when his back stiffened. His eyes looked over her living room to see the dozens of packed boxes filled with candles, linens, vases, and all kinds of goodies.

He looked back down at her. “Keep working on it. We’ll throw a party once I win the presidency.”

“Great idea!” Already her mind went to work with the idea. She could add some more masculine colors to the room and could stream drapes across the ceiling. It would bring more of “Dom” to the room.

“Sweets?”

Her eyes flew up to his. “Huh?”

A small smile was on his lisp. “I lost you for a minute there. Keep working and I’ll see you tonight.”

She knew her eyes were bright with excitement and she didn’t even bother to hide it. She let him see it. Then she leapt onto him, wrapped her legs around his waist, and kissed him.

When he finally left, his eyes were dark with the look. Their wonderful scents lingered around her house and especially filled her bedroom. Unless she washed her sheets, which she totally would not do for a while yet, she’d smell Dominic when she went to bed.

Today was going to be a good day.

Or so she thought.

It was roughly five hours later that shit hit the fan. Felicity had to admit she didn’t see it coming.

Felicity was on the internet doing some furious shopping to find the right color drapery for Dom’s presidential party when a car pulled up outside. She didn’t think anything of the car; she did have neighbors after all.

But she distinctly heard Graham’s voice cut through the air like a knife. “What the hell are you doin’ ‘ere?”

Graham was some kind of Irish or Scottish, Felicity didn’t know which but apparently when he got angry the accent grew heavy and he lost H’s in the battle.

“Get ‘er out of ‘ere!”

Silence followed. Silence that had Felicity wishing she had fancy tinted windows so she could see outside. The boarded up window thing she and many others did worked great for the daytime, but not so great at night when she could actually go outside comfortably.

There was a strange sound. Felicity pressed her ear to the front door and listened carefully. Was that...sobbing? Just as she was finally considering opening the door a brisk knock sounded right at her ear.

Wincing as her ear throbbed, Felicity opened the door.

Then her jaw hit the floor.

Helena Blackmoore stood on Felicity’s porch. She wore a form fitting black satin gown that fell all the way to the ground and was held up over one shoulder. The fabric rolled in waves and it looked truly beautiful. Of course, Helena was a beautiful woman with thick dark red hair, piercing blue eyes, and delicate, feminine features.

Felicity straightened and didn’t have to look at herself to know she wore a pair of old jeans, a ratty t-shirt, and couldn’t look anywhere as lovely as Helena did even if she wore a fancy dress.

“May I come in, Ms. Shaw?”

Felicity blinked, too stunned to speak, and then stepped aside to allow her in. Before she closed the door she saw Graham and one of her were guards, Thomas, having some fierce words with each other.

Felicity leaned on the door as she turned back to Helena. Her eye twitched at seeing such a stunning woman inside her rundown apartment. It’s not like she didn’t keep it clean. In fact, since she had such a small space she had to keep everything ultra-organized else she might go nuts. But she had yet to clean up the pile of wood that had once been a kitchen chair in her kitchen/dining room. It’s not that she’d forgotten about it. On the contrary, every time she looked at it she saw the image of Dominic looking stunned sitting on her kitchen floor and she couldn’t help but giggle.

Helena looked like a goddess standing in a garbage heap. What was she on the way to a freaking ball? Felicity’s defenses rose sharply as Helena’s sweeping gaze took in everything while giving nothing away.

Finally, she turned in a soft swish of fabric. “Dominic was here. You’ve fucked him.”

“Excuse me?” Felicity couldn’t have heard what she thought she just heard.

Helena’s eyes were watchful. “I can smell him. Do you forget that I was his bruid for hundreds of years? I know what his scent smells like and he’s all over his place.”

Felicity crossed her arms. “What do you want?”

Helena smiled and it reminded Felicity of a cat that had just pounced on a mouse. “Seeing as you’re fucking my mate I thought it wise to meet the woman face to face.”

A flicker of unease flew through Felicity. “He’s separated from you. It’s final. You are no longer his bruid.”

Helena shrugged, not denying it. Her sharp gaze fell on the large open box on the floor and Felicity stiffened. It was the centerpieces for what would have been Julianna and Dominic’s table.

“You’re planning their mating ceremony?”

“I was.”

A thin eyebrow rose. “Was? You were fired then?”

Felicity frowned. “No, now what do you want? If you wanted to come here and see me then fine, you’ve done that. I’d like you to leave now.” Felicity opened the door and waited.

Helena slowly walked to the door. As she reached it, she paused. “You see, I guess, I’m just a little confused then. I thought you were planning Dominic’s mating ceremony. It’s only, what, less than a week away now? It’s happening the day after his big election, I believe.”