Page 20 of Between Love & Ruin

The first day of the event wrapped after one hour of Dominic’s sudden visit. Throughout the event, my head kept coming up with different theories as to why he may have showed up.

Because business men, especially those like him, who are known for their exclusivity, who value their privacy and do not like to be seen in places they don’t belong in, don’t just randomly show up in a bookstore to get their book signed by a writer. Especially a romance writer.

I have still not come to terms with the fact that he, who is known as the king of media and who has not been seen loitering around, reads romance books. Especially the ones written by me.

I mean, one would expect him to read books that are deemed “intellectual”.

But it turns out Dominic Wolfe isn’t what the people in the news say he is. He is a mystery.

One I would like to stay a hundred miles away from because mysteries aren’t my thing.

And now, as promised, without taking a break, we are seated in the in-house restaurant of our hotel. The woman who has not uttered a word sits with a poker face as Dominic relays our order to the waiter.

“Thanks, Mr. Wolfe,” Aisha says as she sits beside me. “We certainly weren’t expecting to see you this soon. Our teams had decided we would meet this Friday.”

“Yes,” the woman says. “But things changed. We thought we would just drop by.”

Dominic passes a small smile to her, and it sends a squeamish feeling down my spine.

“I wanted to see how the event goes,” he says. “Plus I am a big fan of Ms. Hayes’s work, so I wanted to get a signed copy.”

I try not to smile and let his sugar-coated words stroke my ego.

“This is Myra,” he says, pointing at the one sitting beside her. “My PA. She is the one who was in touch with your team.”

“Nice to meet you both finally,” she says, but her gaze remains stoic.

Weird.

“Well, we have shared the proposal with your team, and while you guys have responded back, we wanted to discuss more with you in person,” Dominic adds.

“Like?” I asked, and their eyes turned to me, and Aisha raised a curious brow in response. She knows that I usually don’t speak out of turn during meetings.

But I am itching to know the purpose of all this. I want to know what’s going inside the big, vicious brain of his.

“Like what I want to do with this project,” he says, his dark eyes trained on me. His gaze is unsettling because the way he looks makes it feel like he can see through you.

Through the ugly and the secrets. And I don’t like that one bit.

I meet his dominant look with my own, not backing down.

While I usually don’t indulge in stuff like this, loving to keep it low-key, a part of me wants to meet his challenging eyes with mine.

“I have personally read your book, and I am impressed not only with your writing style but also with the story. The vulnerability of characters, the highs and lows of human emotions and how well they are portrayed. You don’t see stories like that nowadays, and I personally hate it.”

I tried not to show it, but I was touched by his words. Not many people look at literature like that, and as a writer, someone looking through what I wrote and seeing more than just words on paper is overwhelming.

I try not to show on my face that I am touched by his sugar-coated words.

“This entertainment line that I am starting, on which we are working with your husband, Ms. Kapoor,” he says and Aisha smiles, a rosy tint to her cheeks upon the mere mention of him.

Love like that is so rare to find; it makes me a little jealous.

“Just call me Aisha, Dominic,” she says with a smile, and he nods.

“Well, that is my dream project, and I want that every piece we put out has some intention behind it. I want it to remind people that art is the best thing that could happen to humanity, and if we incorporate a little bit of it into our lives, the world would become a much better place to exist in.”

His eyes land on my face again; there’s a small hope in his eyes and a small tilt to his lips that I find myself restraining to meet.