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Dominick holds his flute of champagne in front of him. “Today is also a day to remember a man who had a huge impact on my best friend. Hell, he had an impact on me, too. Today would have been his sixty-seventh birthday, so I want to commemorate that with a toast to him. Here’s to Marlin Lawton. A good man, a great friend, and an incredible father.”
Daniel raises his glass in the air as his gaze wanders to my face. “To my dad. I’ve done my best to make him proud. One day, I hope I can make his every wish a reality.”
“To your dad,” I whisper, suddenly feeling something I never expected to feel tonight.
Gratitude.
As much as Daniel annoys me, I know how important he is to Dominick. They’ve always been like brothers. The smile on Dominick’s face tells me that having Daniel here means the world to him.
I’ll survive spending a weekend in the same city as Daniel. This is Las Vegas. He’ll go his way after dinner, and I’ll go mine.
I doubt I’ll see him again before I head home to Manhattan.
CHAPTERTHREE
Daniel
I leanmy back against the door to my hotel suite and draw in a deep breath, but it doesn’t fill my lungs.
I feel like I’ve been punched in the middle of my chest.
That sensation happened when I caught sight of Gina Calvetti across the casino floor earlier.
Jesus.She’s more beautiful than she was the last time I saw her.
That’s not entirely true.
I see Gina on a daily basis in image and video form.
I follow all of her social media accounts under a fake name.
She’s the only person I follow.
A loud knock at the door sends me a step forward.
Shit.
I scrub a hand over my face in an effort to regain some of the composure I held onto through dinner.
Sitting across from the most striking woman on the planet while eating a perfectly prepared meal should have been a dream come true, but it was a goddamn nightmare.
I was hard as stone through every course, and when she finally caught my gaze mid-way through dessert, I almost choked on the rum syrup-covered brownie I was eating.
I don’t like chocolate, but Gina ordered it for the table, so I indulged.
Another knock sounds at the door, and since I haven’t ordered anything from room service, I know it has to be a Calvetti or one of their partners behind that door.
Thank Christ it appears that Gina is single because I’m pretty sure my head would have exploded if I had seen her holding hands or kissing a man.
Even though Gina and I have had our fair share of arguments over the years, not a day passes when I don’t think about her.
I’ve been in this like-hate limbo with her for years.
I spin around and swing open the door, relieved to find Dominick on the other side.
He’s grinning from ear to ear. I admit this is going to take some getting used to.
Dominick had the angry bastard look down to a science before he fell in love with his executive assistant.
