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 turned around to see him leaning against the doorway, looking older than his forty years. His mouth was drawn down and pulled to the side. His eyes were hard, his brows lowered.
I straightened, bracing myself. “Let’s have it,” I said.
His eyebrows quirked up, surprised, and for an instant, his mouth softened. I had a brief flare of hope, but then his face hardened back into its rigid lines. “We both knew this couldn’t last.”
I nodded. “We did. And you think now, five days before Christmas, is the time to end it.”
“I think that the sooner the better. We’re getting in too deep. I–” he broke off, turning his head and staring out the window instead.
Strangely, that lit the hope in my heart again. He couldn’t even look at me while he was saying this. He didn’t want to be saying it. “You what?” I asked softly, crossing the space between us.
Dominic shook his head, his mouth drawn tight. “I’m starting to care about you too much.”
I huffed out a small laugh. “That’s not a reason to end things, Dominic. I’m starting to care about you too much, too, and it’s scary, but–”
“It’s not scary, it’s impossible,” he corrected, his gaze slamming back to mine, so hard and bleak I nearly took a step back. “We knew from the beginning. You want more than I can give.”
“I think you want to give more than you knew you had.” I reached up to touch his face, taking it gently between my hands so that he couldn’t look away again. “And I think that scares you.”
“Selena.” Dominic reached up and bracketed my wrists, pulling them away easily. “I’m doing this for you. I don’t want you to waste your time on me. Not when we both know how it’ll end.” He reached into his pocket and jingled his keys. He took a half step back, creating an opening for me to walk past him and back out the front door.
Hurt shot through me. He was so cold, so distant. I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed to say, “You act like it’s prewritten, but there isn’t. It ends the way we end it.”
“We agreed–”
“Maybe we were wrong.” Frustrated, I reached for him again, but it was like trying to move a statue. I could touch him, but he was hard and cold and something was missing. Tears sprang into my eyes. His mouth tightened further at the sight of them, but they only seemed to strengthen his resolve. They were proof he was doing the right thing, ending things before it was too late.
But it was already too late. I loved him. Desperately, I rose up on my tiptoes and pushed my mouth against his. I might as well have been kissing a statue, too. For the first time, he didn’t respond. I had his face between my hands, his mouth on mine, but I couldn’t reach him. He wasn’t even pushing me away; he was just passively accepting it. Proving with every passing second that he didn’t need me the way I needed him.
Tears were streaming down my face as I sank back onto my heels. Then suddenly, the door opened behind us. Dominic’s chin shot up. He stared at something behind me, and I heard Jake’s voice.
“Hey, Uncle Nic. I thought I’d come along to happy hour tonight, if that’s–”
Then, a stunned silence.
Slowly, I turned around. Jake’s bewildered gaze moved from me to Dominic. He didn’t miss how close I was standing to his uncle, how my hands had been on his face, my body pressed against his. He definitely didn’t miss the tears in my eyes.
“What the fuck?” he asked slowly. “Selena, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I choked out. “I’m just leaving.”
I wanted so desperately to hear Dominic negate my words. To grab my arm and tell me that no, he had been wrong, and I couldn’t leave like this. But his gaze was fixed, horrified, on his nephew. His throat worked, but he didn’t make a sound as I found my purse and made my way shakily past Jake.
It was Jake who reached for me, who said, “Selena, I don’t think you should drive like this. Give me a second, and I’ll drive you home.” I slipped away from him, though. Then, just as I reached the still-open front door, Dominic finally spoke.
But it wasn’t my name he said. Instead, he said in a strange, croaking voice I’d never heard from him before, “Jake, wait.”
And my heart broke.
I don’t know how I went to work the next day. Only the fact that it was the last day before we closed down for the rest of the year made me walk through the front door on trembling legs. I was terrified I’d see Dominic, terrified I wouldn’t. Of course I didn’t. He’d likely gotten in early to ensure we didn’t run into each other in the lobby or end up on another elevator together.