Chapter Five
Keeland frowned as he watched the blood drain out of Dom’s face. That wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting. He sat forward, worried about the ashen man. “Dom?”
“I need to go.”
Keland sat there and watched as Dom stood and quickly started putting everything back into the picnic basket. There was something going on here, but damned if he could figure out what it was. Dom was acting very peculiar, but he didn’t know the man well enough to say if he was acting out of character or not.
He had hoped, when Dom showed up with lunch, that he would be given the chance to learn more about the man, but now he wasn’t sure he really wanted to. He didn’t need crazy in his life. It was complicated enough.
“Dom, what’s going on?”
Keeland reared back from the hard look Dom shot him. The pure panic on his face was infused with a healthy dose of anger. It was a look he never expected to see on someone interested in getting to know him better.
It wasn’t one he wanted to see again.
Keeland stood and started grabbing stuff off his desk to hold out for Dom. If the man wanted to leave so bad, Keeland wasn’t about to stop him. He wasn’t sure what happened, but if this was how Dom reacted to a situation—whatever that situation might be—Keeland didn’t really want anything to do with him.
It was really too bad. Dom was hot, like really hot. Keeland’s heart was heavy with the knowledge that his fantasies about the handsome man would never be realized. They would forever stay fantasies.
“I’ll call you,” Dom said as he gathered Henrietta up and reached for the picnic basket.
“Yeah, don’t do that.”
Dom’s eyes were hard as steel when he glanced up.
“I don’t know what this is”—Keeland waved toward Dom—“but I don’t do crazy.”
Being snarly was probably not his best bet considering Dom could easily fold him in half, but he refused to let the man know just how intimidated he was by his massive size. He was betting on the fact that Dom wouldn’t hurt him.
He was hoping Dom wouldn’t hurt him.
“Look.” Dom pushed a hand through his hair. “I can’t explain this to you right now, but I promise I will just as soon as I can.”
Keeland still didn’t know whatthiswas. He crossed his arms. “Fine.”
“Baby, don’t—”
“Baby?” Keeland snapped, the sudden infusion of anger making his head spin. “You don’t get to call me baby or darling or anything else.”
“Keeland—”
“I think it’s best if you left now.” Keeland was seconds away from begging Dom not to go. He needed the man to leave before that happened. He wanted to walk away from this was some of his pride intact.
Dom’s nostrils flared as he stared at Keeland with a stony glint in his eyes. The muscles in his jaw started to tick. He moved so quickly, setting the picnic basket down and dropping Henrietta into it, that when he came at him, Keeland didn’t have time to do anything but step back.
He didn’t step back far enough.
