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My stomach turned, and before I knew it, I found myself smiling, too. No bruises. His hair was still wet but pushed back, his sweatpants and shirt clean. The smell of his shampoo—something citrusy that suited him even better than coconut reached me in waves, making it really hard for me to breathe. I couldn’t tear my eyes off them as he held Emilie in his arms and asked her how she’d been, how much trouble she’d caused, and if she would like to go get ice cream later today.
I was so warm from the tips of my toes up to my head that it felt like heat was coming out my ears.
Who is this man?Because that was not Dominic. He never smiledlike that,and it was shocking in itself that he even knew whatice creamwas. He didn’t hug little girls and hold them to him like he was afraid they might fall if he so much as loosened his grip around them a little bit. And little girls didn’t smilelike thatat Dominic, either. No, sir. He made all the senior agents—even Chief Randall himself—blush and stutter on their best day. Nobody smiled like that at Dominic—unless they were women hoping to end up in his bed.
Which was…me.
Ugh.
No—had been.Had beenme. Not anymore. I was not that woman anymore, damn it. I was over it.
And if I wasn’t, I’d fake it until I really was.
Straightening in my chair, I kept my eyes on the back of the buildings around us and gave myself a much needed pep talk in my head. It would have worked better if I could have said the words out loud, but I had to work with what I had. The privacy of my mind was the best I could do right now, so that’s what I did.
When Dominic put Emilie down again, I was somewhat more in control of myself.
“Why don’t you go inside with Derek, okay? I’ll be right there,” Dominic said, and his voice was completely different, too. It wassoft. It was caring. It was almost a fatherly voice.
Twist, twist, twist,went my stomach.
“Yeah, little monster. C’mon, let’s go back inside,” Derek said, taking Emilie’s hand.
“You’re not going anywhere, right?” the girl said, blinking her wide eyes innocently at Dominic.
“Nope. I’m staying right here.”
“Good,” she said, perfectly pleased, and went inside the house with Derek, closing the door behind them.
Dominic tried hard to stifle a smile but failed. And I was smiling again, too.What an idiot.I needed to get myself together.
But as soon as I realized we were all alone in that backyard, there was not enough air to breathe again. I hated how he affected me, but I still could do nothing about it but try.
Dominic came around me and sat on the other side of the table, as far away from me as he could get. Which was a good thing, but alsoouch.
I met his eyes, determined to hold my breath until I either passed out, or I stopped feeling like a helpless bird locked in a cage in his presence.
He leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, his swollen eyes never blinking as he looked at me—a mix of curiosity and confusion—still on his beautiful face.
“I’m all ears,” I said, determined to get this over with as fast as possible, so I could get away from him just like he wanted to get away from me.
“How have you been, Teddy?”
I blinked, sure that I hadn’t heard him right. “What?” Because he didn’t just ask me how I’d been, right?
“I said, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
He leaned forward on the table, resting his elbows on the light wooden surface. My mouth opened and closed a few times before my brain was able to keep up.
“Great, actually,” I forced myself to say, while anger rushed up to my head, probably turning my cheeks pink. He was asking me how I’d beennow? “I’ve been great. What were you doing last night at Dave’s Grill?”
He tried to hide his flinch, but I caught it before he lowered his head. I leaned closer on the table, too. I wasnothere to make a fool of myself all over again. All I wanted was answers.
“Just tell me why I’m lying to my employer for you so I can get out of here, Dominic.”
He raised his head again, and I could have sworn he was in pain. Just the way the green of his eyes darkened suddenly—but he recovered quickly.
“You’re more than welcome to leave right now,” he said through gritted teeth.
