“Why is Nic’s car in your driveway?” Mal is asking now.
“Uh…” Sloane hesitates, leaving an awkward and suspicious gap in the already stilted conversation.
“Because,” I say, making a show of closing the kitchen cabinets and standing. Sloane looks even more panicked than her voice suggested. “Someone thinks us being friends makes me her on-call plumber. She called me at the crack of dawn complaining about a leak in her kitchen sink, and I came over.”
Mal scrunches up her nose at me. “In the clothes you were wearing last night? Please, don’t tell me you spent the night at Kristen’s again, Nic. I thought y’all were done.”
Shit.I forgot about my clothes.
“Yeah,” I say, rubbing my neck. “We were. I mean, we still are. Last night was just a one-time thing.”
Sloane’s eyes flash, a furious and brilliant spark of anger and jealousy that I feel in my groin. I meant what I said last night: jealousy looks good on her. She sits back down at the counter and sips her coffee to hide it, but I still see it. And it makes me hard.
Mal rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You say that now, but that woman doesn’t want to let you go. Every time you give her the D, you encourage her. Tell him, Sloane.”
“Right.” Sloane’s shoulders go back, and her eyes land everywhere but on mine. “You shouldn’t encourage her, Dominic.”
There it is again. Possession coating the delicate lilt of her voice, curling into the air and wrapping right around my balls. They tighten fiercely in response, and I’m glad I’m standing behind the island where neither of the women in the room can see what’s happening in my pants.I have to get out of here.
“Well, I think I’ve got the leak taken care of, so I’m going to head out.”
“Thanks for the help, Dominic,” Sloane says, finally looking at me.
Mal smiles, her eyes bouncing between the two of us with fascination. “Wow. I can’t believe you two are friends. Eric would be so happy to see you getting along.”
Yep, it’s definitely time to get out of here. The mere mention of Eric’s name has Sloane’s hands shaking. I want to go to her, to rub her back and kiss the crown of her head until she steadies, but I can’t do any of those things right now.
Instead, I send up a silent prayer that the progress we made last night isn’t about to be undone by Eric’s twin sister standing here talking about how her brother would feel about us no longer wanting to rip each other’s heads off.
Not heads. Just clothes.Mal has no idea how well I’m getting along with her sister-in-law, and judging by the look on Sloane’s face, she won’t ever find out, but that’s a problem for another day.
“Don’t mention it.”
I flash them both a smile and fish my keys out of my pocket as I head toward the door.
“Okay, I need all the details. How was your date?” Mal says just as my hand touches the doorknob. I resist the urge to linger, knowing that talking about her date with me around will only make Sloane more nervous.
“There’s not much to tell,” Sloane starts.
But I don’t hear the rest as I step out into the crisp morning air. It’s almost September, and eventually, there will be a slight chill in the air. The leaves will go from green to hues of orange and yellow. Subtle shifts in the world around us that will pale in comparison to the life-altering changes happening in my life.
I allow myself a moment to let the events of last night and this morning sink into my skin, happy that for once acting on instinct and selfish needworked out in my favor. When I came here last night, I had no idea things would turn out like this. I was just driven by the need to see Sloane, to get her to accept my offer so I could have a plausible reason to be near her, a real chance to claim her in all the ways I promised myself I wouldn’t.
And she gave it to me.
I can’t do anything to stop the shit-eating grin stretching across my face as I climb into my car and pull out of her driveway. There’s a dangerous bubble of happiness swelling in my chest, giving me just enough hope to make it until tonight, when I get to take Sloane out to dinner.
Chapter 18
Dominic
Then
Eric’s fingers shake as he goes from fiddling with his bow tie to the lapels of his tuxedo, and I nudge him with my elbow to make him stop. We’ve been standing at the altar for almost fifteen minutes, and the waves of nervous energy floating off of him into the air around us are wreaking havoc on the ball of dread in the pit of my stomach.
I should be used to it now, after carrying it around for so fucking long, but today it feels extra heavy. Today the jealous, covetous poison sloshing around inside of me feels like enough to break open the floor and drag me down to the depths of hell where I deserve to be.
Because what kind of man stands beside his lifelong best friend, his brother, knowing just twelve hours ago he was standing outside his future wife’s hotel suite with a truth that would destroy everything gathered on his tongue?
