Page 68 of Between Love & Ruin

“Don’t worry about my age, baby,” he whispers, leaning down to my ear. “I can still make you scream my name loud enough for everyone to hear.”

Dominic Wolfe

Her breath hitches, and I can feel her skin growing warm at my words. I smirk, eager to rile her up even more. Her attempts at teasing me are cute, but what’s even more adorable is the way she reacts to everything I say and do

“I can still make you blush better than the men you write,” I continue, relishing in the way her eyes flutter close.

I pull back, and her eyes widen as she stares up at me. I chuckle at her reaction. She can try all she wants to stay away from me, to pretend she can resist this push and pull between us, but at the end of the day, she still comes back to me. No matter what lie she tells herself, she finds her home in me.

I’m just waiting for the day she finally admits it to my face.

“I have to go to work early today,” I tell her, and she finally sobers up. “You can stay home and work today if you want, or if you wish to come to the office, you can do that too—it’s all yours anyway.”

“Why do you have to leave so early?” she asks, a small pout on her face.

“Why, are you going to miss me?” I ask, carefully teasing her.

“If I say yes, will you stay?”

“I might.”

To be fair, I would never leave her side if I had a choice. But ever since I found out what her ex said to her, I’ve had this itch to go fix this mess for her. So even if she asks me to stay, I know I won’t be able to. But I want to hear what she says. I want to hear her admit that she wants me near her just as badly as I want to be near her.

“Then yes. I will miss you.”

You know that thing that beats in your chest? Yeah, it plummets the moment I hear her words. Four simple words, and somehow, they have this much power over me.

God, I am ruined.

Ruined because of her.

“You have no idea how badly I want to stay back with you, especially after hearing your words,” I say, and her smile drops instantly. “But I have to deal with something really important today.”

“All men do is lie and give you false hopes.” She shakes her head, and by now I am so attuned to her that I know she is teasing.

“Not your man, baby,” I answer back. I lean down to press a kiss on her forehead, and she melts in my arms. “I will come back soon, I promise.”

She looks at me as I gather my belongings and walk to the door.

I give her one last glance before closing the door behind me.

And for the first time in thirty years of my life, I look forward to coming back home because there is someone I’m leaving behind.

Her.

* * *

“You are incredibly happy today,” Roy says first thing to me the moment we reach the office.

Sure, I have a smile on my face, but that doesn’t mean I frown usually that he needed to point this out.

“I am always happy,” I say. “You just never notice me.”

He rolls his eyes, and I really think I need to fire him just once to set him straight. The only problem is he will most likely enjoy it.

He knows I don’t trust anyone as much as I do him.

“Stop acting like my girlfriend,” he says.