Dominic sets me to sit on the edge of the bathroom counter as he cleans up the mess between my legs for me. Taking me back into his arms, Dominic then carries me back out to my bedroom where he lays me down on my bed and rolls me over so he can spoon me. He holds me tight against him.

"Ell?" Dominic whispers to me softly.

"Hmm?" I murmur with my eyes drooping closed.

"I have to go out of town tomorrow." Dominic tells me softly, his lips pressed against my ear.

"Mmm."

Dominic chuckles softly, his chest vibrating against my back. "Are you too incoherent for this conversation?"

"Mmm." I mumble again.

Dominic kisses just below my ear softly. "Rest, we can talk about it later."

I wake to a soft breath fanning against my neck. My body is filled with a familiar heat to which I've grown accustomed to. I roll over in Dominic tight hold and nuzzle my face into his bare chest.

A chuckle escapes his chest. "Ell." Dominic whispers. "Wake up, princess."

I grumble into his chest, earning another throaty chuckle from him. Reluctantly I pull back from him and blink my eyes open to look up at him. "Hmm?"

"We need to talk." He tells me somewhat firmly, his hand comes up to brush a stray tendril off my cheek. Dominic's touch lingers on my cheek, soft and burning.

I nod slowly, unable to stop the sense of dread filling me. "What's up?" I mumble to him, still feeling sleepy from my nap.

"I have to go out of town early tomorrow morning." He tells me, his eyes searching my face and deep into my eyes as he watches for my reaction. "When I came to your room earlier, before all that happened." Dominic smiles softly as he mentions our act of passion after he had confessed his feelings for me and we made our relationship official. 

I blush softly at the memory.

Dominic dips his head down and softly grazes his lips against the flush on my cheek that I wasn't laying on. "Do remember what I told you about what happened to my knuckles?" I nod slowly, not knowing where he was going with this. "I found the right pressure point for them eventually and got them to spill some information." He tells me softly as if hoping his soft tone will lessen the impact of his words. "I'm heading out to Boston tomorrow to follow up on their information. If it turns out they are really hiding out up there, then I want to be there when my men find them."

"So that you can..." I gulp, unable to finish my sentence.

Dominic sighs. "Eventually yes. But I will need to drag them back here and interrogate them myself on why things had gone down the way it did that night." 

I gulp again. "Why are you telling me all of this?" I ask quietly.

"I wanted to be honest with you." He tells me simply. "I didn't come in here expecting to tell you all that. I had only planned on telling you I was going out of town for a day or two." Dominic elaborates slightly.

"What changed your mind into telling me more?"

Dominic sighs and presses his lips to my forehead lightly. "You asked me about my knuckles, you told me you wanted to know about what was going on with the situation involving your brother." He shakes his head. "I didn't want to keep this from you if you really wanted to be kept in the loop on that situation." He tells me honestly.

I nod slowly. "Thank you for being honest with me." I tell Dominic softly. I raised one of my hands to cup his cheek as he was now doing to mine. 

"Does it scare you?" He asks me. "What I'm going to do?" He elaborates when I look at him confused. 

"I..." I trail off. "I don't know." I tell him honestly. "I don't really like violence. I don't like the thought of you hurting people. But I know these are bad people, people who hurt Max and that scares me even more I think." 

Dominic nods slowly. "I understand." He tells me softly, reassuringly. "Do you want me to keep you informed?" He asks me after a minute.

I take a few minutes to think before I sigh. "I want to know what's happening, but not details. I don't want to know things like how you get information or how you kill them." When I said the word 'kill' it came out more like a squawk because I couldn't believe I was really talking about this with Dominic.

"No, princess." Dominic shakes his head firmly at me. "I would never tell you details like that. I never want to put that on you or leave that to sit in your mind." He tells me in a firm voice. "I will tell you the basics of things like this, but I would never delve into any information I didn't think you could handle, or didn't want to be playing on your conscience."

I nod. "Ok then, thank you. Yes I would like to be kept informed then."

Dominic nods his head and his lips press to my forehead again. "While I'm gone, will you do me a favour?" He asks me softly.

"What is it?" I ask him slowly, some what skepetically. 

Dominic chuckles softly, sensing my slight hesitation. He dips his head down and kisses me softly. "Will you just stay here, at the apartment with Max?" He asks me. "I'll be taking my most trusted men, aside from Max, with me to Boston. I don't want to leave you unprotected or with someone who I can't trust with your safety and wellbeing." Dominic explains to me.

I nod. "Sure. It's only a couple of days right?"

"Hopefully just one day, two max." He tells me. I nod again. "Thank you, princess." He whispers to me before kissing me again.

I smile against his lips, kissing him back before pulling away enough to look into his eyes. "Thank you for caring about my safety." I tell him "And for also not forcing this on me."

Dominic shakes his head. "I would never force anything on you. If you didn't agree to it I knew I couldn't make you stay locked up here. I would never do anything to you or for you that you didn't want. I hope you know that."

I nod. "I know. Thank you."

How did I get so lucky in order to have a man such as Dominic taking such good care of me? Despite who he is, what he does, he takes care of me and he looks out for me. That surely must say something about his character, would it not? This beautiful, dangerous man, is taking care of me. That in itself tells me he is a good person. He does things to protect those he cares about. He cares about Max, and he's doing all this because those people hurt him.