Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
I pulled my car up behind Dominic’s Mercedes and sat for a moment. I wasn’t sure whether I should get out of the car or whether I should turn around and get out of here. Despite the wall and the gate, there was a crackle of danger in the air, like the way it smelled before a storm. Dominic had sworn he wouldn’t touch me, but he’d elicited no such promises from me.
Even if I’d made one, I didn’t know if I could keep it.
If I went in, I didn’t know what would happen, but I was sure that it would end in heartbreak. If he kept his word, I might throw myself at him. If he made a move, I would succumb. If he rejected me, I would be both humiliated and unsatisfied. If he didn’t reject me, I would give him everything.
The overhead in the car winked out, convinced I must already be gone one way or another. I chewed on my lower lip. I didn’t have any illusions that having sex with Dominic would lead to happily ever after. He just wasn’t that kind of man. He’d chosen his path, and I would only be an interesting detour. That knowledge should have made my decision for me, but somehow, it didn’t. Somehow, I still wanted him.
I opened my car door and stepped out. The sky was a dark dome around me – darker than it ever was where I lived, somehow. But the wide windows of the house spilled out golden light. Through one, I could see the living room and beyond it, a slice of the kitchen. As I stood, still not entirely sure of my decision, I saw Dominic. It was a quick movement as he crossed from one side of the kitchen to the other and appeared briefly in the slice I could see, but it was enough. My decision was fully made.
I was going in no matter what happened.
I let myself through the unlocked front door, feeling strange even though he’d told me to do just that. It hadn’t been in a particularly friendly, welcoming way. There had been no mi casa es su casa vibe. It had been a gruff, I’ll be busy, so don’t bother knocking. Still, underneath the strangeness was a frisson of excitement.
I walked through the living room that had wide cream couches with deep cushions and a low round table between them that glinted dull, hammered gold. The place was immaculate and beautifully decorated, but it didn’t feel like Dominic. The kitchen was different. There was something indefinably masculine about the space. Maybe it was the slate gray tiles that were the color of his eyes when he was angry, or the solid wood island that he was currently chopping tomatoes on.
He glanced up when I walked in, the slice of the blade never losing its rhythm. “Do you like salad?”
“Not really.”
“Too bad, I’m making one.”
I walked over to the other side of his kitchen to examine his wine collection. I noticed he didn’t have a bottle open and wondered if it was deliberate. Dinner was one thing. Wine with dinner said another.
Mindful of this, I pulled out a bottle of red. I didn’t know much about wine, but it didn’t look like a bottle that might cost as much as I make in a month. Dominic’s back was to me, still chopping, but he looked over his shoulder when he heard me pulling open a drawer.
“What are you doing?”
I held the bottle up so he could see it, continuing onto the next drawer. “Looking for a corkscrew.”
Dominic was silent, probably debating telling me to put it back. Then he said gruffly, “Next drawer over.”
I found it and opened the bottle while he put the salad together in a large bowl. My heart was beating so loudly that a buzzing filled my ears, and I thought he must hear it. That was why neither of us were talking. Just short, almost terse sentences, like, “where are your wine glasses?” And, “Come on, we’re eating outside.”
I followed him out onto the covered patio and gasped at the view. I could see all across the city, from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica. Somewhere in that darkness, I was sure I could have seen the Pacific Ocean in the right light. “It’s beautiful,” I murmured involuntarily, going to the railing rather than to the table Dominic had set.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” he said, not bothering to look.
I couldn’t tear myself away though. I took a sip of my wine while I drank in the beauty until finally, Dominic came over to join me. “Dinner,” he said impatiently. “The view will be here all night, but the steak won’t be the perfect temperature for long.”
I handed him his glass and reluctantly pulled myself away. “You’re so lucky to have it,” I said, waving my arm toward the cityscape as we sat down. “Christi and I have a view of another building. If we look down, though, we can see a dumpster.”