Page 31 of Between Love & Ruin

Me: I’m afraid it’s not. My event is till 2 P.M. tomorrow. We can work after that.

Dominic: Agree to disagree. Works for me. I will pick you up after that, and we can go to a workplace cafe downtown.

Laura has stopped even pretending to be subtle about peeking. She’s perched on my shoulder, openly watching me get rattled by him.

Me: I can come myself. Just send me the location.

Dominic: I wasn’t asking. I will pick you up.

Before I can text him back, he sends me another text completely shutting me off.

Dominic: Goodnight, Sienna.

I drop my phone on my lap, annoyed, and Laura smiles at me.

“Onto bigger and better things, my love.”

Dominic Wolfe

Ithink I would make a great stalker. Exceptional, to be honest. Because the way I have researched Sienna Hayes within the span of an hour is commendable. I think I have done a better job than my team since they clearly forgot to mention that she has a boyfriend.

Yes, I am still salty about that.

I rub my eyes, clearly tired from a whole day of back-to-back meetings. Some days, the exhaustion is worth it, like today. Not only did I have some amazing conversations with my business partners, but I also got to see Sienna’s face first thing in the morning.

Yes, she pissed me off, but wouldn’t she lose some of her charm if she didn’t?

I doubt it. But at least this is what I keep telling myself. The reason why I look forward to talking to her is because she gives back the same energy I give her. And that’s rare to find nowadays.

There’s no other reason for me to be this obsessed with a woman who’s committed to some loser and is younger than me.

After I got done deciding where I want our next meeting to happen, which wasn’t that far from her event tomorrow, I decided to tease her a little bit.

Whenever we talk, there’s this frown on her face that translates to how annoying she finds me. But in the small time span that I have known her, I have realized that I enjoy getting on her nerves.

Because then she loses that calmness in her. And I love the unguarded version of her more than anything else.

“Go to sleep, arsehole,” I tell myself when I keep smiling, staring at the ceiling above.

But even in my dreams, there’s only one face that keeps popping up, which is strange, because I don’t dream.

But if I get to see her face every time I close my eyes, then I don’t mind dreaming

Not for a single moment.

* * *

“Are you sure you won’t need me there?” Myra asks, entering my cabin.

She looks tired, which is strange because even on days where she works herself to death, she never looks as exhausted as she does at the moment. Her eyes are red, and her face is paler than usual.

“No, Myra,” I say. I don’t need anyone from my team to come in between our work session. They will just make it way more professional than I intend it to be. “I don’t need you there. Besides, you look tired. Is everything alright?”

“Yes,” she plasters a smile on her face that is as fake as one can get. Too bad for her that I can see right through her. “Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You don’t really look fine to me at the moment.”

She clamps her lips shut, probably going over how to get out of this. She and I both know I can get her to tell me the truth if I want to, but that isn’t nearly as satisfying as having her tell me the truth herself.