"Yeah, yeah," I say, shooing her down the hall to the room beside ours.
She waggles a finger at me and Dom. "I don't want to hear you two having sex."
"You won't," I promise. "We can't do that, remember?"
Kerrigan turns her attention to Dom. "I'll tell you what I told her right before your doomed first date.Your mouth can't get pregnant."
Dom coughs out a laugh. "Uh, thanks for the advice."
"You're welcome. Guess what your mouth can get no matter what you use it for? An annulment. Bye." Kerrigan twirls her fingers at us and disappears into her room.
"I apologize for her," I say to Dom, stepping into the room with him.
"She's the quintessential baby of the family," he says, setting his backpack on a chair.
"I suppose we all play our birth order roles. Me, the difficult middle child. Duke, the overachieving first born."
"Hey." Dom snags my wrist. "That's not what I meant."
"It's ok," I say, quickly. "It can be true."
"You're not difficult, Cecily."
"Oh, please." I give him an imploring look. "This morning'sservicemay have blown your mind, but I know it didn't erase your memory. You disliked me at the beginning of this as much as I disliked you."
His fingertip finds the underside of my chin, lifting, forcing my gaze to meet his. "No matter what transpired between us, it would be impossible for me to dislike you."
Salty heat pricks the backs of my eyes. I don't know why. "I really did dislike you."
Laughter tugs at his cheeks. "Fair. You thought I said terrible things about you."
"Technically, you did."
He runs his knuckles over my jawline. "Chestnut, I will wake up every morning, roll over and call that author, and make him tell you over and over what happened on that call."
"If you did that, you'd probably find yourself with one fewer client."
"Then I'll get him to record himself saying it, and send me the audio."
"You're very creative."
"Part of the job."
"Is it wrong that I wish we weren't having girls' night tonight?"
"Don't tell anybody, but I'm not exactly stoked to have dinner with your dad and Duke."
"Might want to brush up on your hotel chain acquisition talking points." I snap my fingers, realizing something. "Duke likes to read."
He winks at me. "I can hold my own. Nestled among the emotional wounds given to me by my father is the ability to find common ground and make conversation with just about anybody."
"A highly sought after trait to have." I don't want to step away from him and start to get ready, but I need to. The hotel car is waiting downstairs to drive us to the bull riding bar I read about on the drive.
Locating my jean skirt, I stand in the middle of the room, and when I'm certain Dom's gaze is on me, I unbutton my shorts. Slide them down my legs. Step out of them, and kick them aside.
Dom takes a step closer to me. My arm shoots out.
"No, no, no," I say playfully. "We need to get ready for dinner."
