Page 19 of Between Love & Ruin

“Hi, sorry, just a second,” I said, a little embarrassed as the cap of the pen just wouldn’t come off.

“Take your time, Ms. Hayes,” he said, and I could sense a hint of a smile in his voice.

I sighed as it finally uncapped, and I looked up, and my mouth quite literally fell open.

Am I dreaming, or is Dominic Wolfe standing in front of me?

He’s wearing sunglasses in a crowded bookstore, and I would assume he is using them as a way to hide his face from the audience here.

“Mr. Wolfe?” I say, and it comes out like a question in a very high-pitched voice.

“Dominic, if you will,” he says, pushing his copy in front of me, and I quirk an eyebrow.

“You want me to sign it?”

“I suppose that’s what’s happening here.”

I open my mouth to say something and then shut it when I realize I have no words for him.

I need someone to pinch me because this feels weirdly unreal. How come a public figure such as he is here standing in a queue to get my book signed?

There’s definitely something fishy about this.

“Do you want me to write any special message?” I ask the same question I asked other people, though I am not sure he would want one.

“A date, if you will,” he says, and I grow confused.

“What?”

“I meant,” he says, giving a courteous nod to Aisha. “A date for a meeting with your team. Can we do it after this?”

I looked over my shoulder towards Aisha, and she looked as confused as me. Obviously, even she didn’t expect to see him here.

I mean, who would even think that of all people, you would see him here.

It’s like bumping into your favorite celebrity while you are grocery shopping.

“Sure,” Aisha says, jumping in between because I can clearly not form a coherent sentence because I keep staring at his face like a creep. “We can discuss this after this event is over in our hotel’s in-house restaurant.”

“Sure,” he says, his eyes flitting to me for a moment before focusing back on her. “But before that, could we discuss something here?”

Aisha nods, taking him to a secluded corner away from the prying eyes of the crowd.

I just hope his sudden presence here doesn’t spark another media frenzy.

After him follows another woman who gives me a small smile that comes out more forced than natural.

I force a smile on my face as the next reader in line comes up, but all the while I cannot shake the feeling off that I am being watched.

And when I muster some courage to look over to where Aisha took him, I find myself stuck in the trap of his gaze.

Something about the way he is looking makes me feel a little…worried.

Because while I may not know him, or men in general for that matter, I know when someone looks like they’re up to something.

And if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s reading people. So I can say with conviction that whatever he’s after, he’ll make sure he gets it.

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