“I totally saw myself getting married in that dress. It was the fairy tale every little girl wants coming true. But when I pictured walking down the aisle, Adam wasn’t who I saw waiting for me at the altar.”
His eyes widened a moment as he sat stoic. A silent Dominic was rare enough to be unnerving.
“That’s when I realized what I was doing. I needed to move on from you, but I didn’t know how. Adam was safe. Although I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction of being right, I knew how he’d always felt about me, and I thought if I went through the motions…” I cringed before I trailed off, the shame still jabbing me right in the chest at what I’d done, even if I hadn’t intended to do it.
“I thought that if I went through the motions, maybe I’d feel something. But that’s not how it works. You can’t train yourself to fall in love, and you can’t learn how to feel something. You just do, whether you want to or not.”
I squinted at Dominic and spotted a sad smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“We broke up that night, because I was so disgusted with myself. I couldn’t lead him on another minute longer.” I reared back in my chair, the memory and confession draining a little air from my lungs. “If you’re thinking there’s still some imaginary competition, or that you have to impress me somehow to prove something, you don’t. You never did.”
He reached across the table to grab my hand, lacing his fingers in between mine before he raised our joined hands to his mouth. His warm lips lingered on my skin as he shut his eyes. Now, I slumped in my chair for a different reason.
“So, stop being ridiculous,” I whispered as he kept hold of my hand.
“Stop trying to seduce me.”
I glared at his quirked brow.
“Seduce you?”
He cocked his head to the side. “The nice words, the dress—”
“You asked me to wear this dress,” I said, sighing in exasperation but fighting my smile. “Told me, actually.”
“And you complied.” He dipped his finger into the collar of his shirt and smoothed it back and forth. “I see you staring at this, too. Temptress.”
I burst out laughing and dropped my head into my hands.
In my periphery, Dominic rose from his seat then crouched in front of me, peeling my fingers away from my face.
“I promise, that’s the last time I’ll act like a jealous asshole. Well, at least, about him.”
I chuckled at his pursed lips. “Good.” My hand drifted down his shirt, my fingertips tracing his collar before I could help myself.
“Touch it, you know you want to,” he teased, his voice low and husky.
I leaned forward, giving his collar a little pull to reveal my favorite spot. I inhaled the familiar scent of his spicy cologne before I peppered kisses across his skin, smiling when his chest fell with an audible, deep sigh.
He cupped the back of my neck and shook his head.
“Any minute now, my alarm is going to wake me up, and this is going to be another damn dream.” His grip tightened as he searched my gaze.
“You dream about me?”
“All thefuckingtime. Even before you came out here. I may have left, but,” he leaned his forehead against mine, “I never let you go.”
I roped my arms around his neck and shut my eyes. I’d never let him go, either.
He kissed the corner of my mouth and backed away with a tiny shake of his head when I leaned in for more.
“Once I start kissing you tonight, I won’t be able to stop.” His thumb drifted across my bottom lip. “Then we won’t be able to come back here ever again.”
“Now, who’s a tease?”
He laughed, beaming as he rose from the floor and sat back down. My cheeks already ached from the huge smile stretching across my lips.
Dominic had always been the one. It was a fact I hated at times but could never deny. No matter what happened tonight or after, I couldn’t run from it anymore.
