“Yeah,” I said, pulling myself back together. “Italian is great.”
Dominick rubbed his thumb over his knuckle, cracking it. I forced myself to keep his eyes, instead of drooling over his hands.
They were so beautifully strong but somehow elegant, too. Sophisticated.
Powerful.
“How was your day at the shop?” he asked.
“Busy. We hosted a new candy tasting club tonight, which is always a production, as you can probably imagine.”
He laughed, and the deep rumble of his chest made me feel warm. “There are new candy tasting clubs?”
“Three,” I explained. “They each meet once a month. Some of those people have practically done a world tour through candy.”
He shook his head, still chuckling to himself. “Your shop seems like it’s a pretty special place.”
“It is,” I agreed, proud for the opportunity to talk about its successes. “Mainly because of all the love and labor my father put into it. He wanted to build something that was a reflection of him and that would provide for his family. He was actually a pretty serious guy in person, but I think the shop was the way he showed his happiness.” I blushed and felt like I had gotten a little sappy for the car ride. “Anyway, I’m happy to be taking care of the shop now. Even if there is a hunk of metal in the middle of it.”
Dominick reached out and patted my knee. It was a comforting gesture, but it still sent a shudder of kinky pleasure through my body.
I sucked in a soft breath, then swallowed. “How was your day?”
“The usual,” he answered. “But I put most of the problems from last week to bed, and we actually got a few of the anchor development zones off the ground, including the new library branch.” He paused, glancing out the window. “It’s no wonder the last person to hold this position disappeared so quickly. The project is looking like more of a mess than I initially thought. But I’ve been able to make some progress. This week I arranged an upgrade for the entire Denver bus fleet. I struck a deal with a local company to get them better heating and cooling through rechargeable batteries and shaved some fat off the expenses, too.”
“That’s great. Except for the part where you’re working and stressed all the time.”
“It’s all right,” he replied, rubbing his hand across his beard. “It’s what I’m here for.”
The driver pulled the car to the side of the road, and Dominick leaned across me, pushing my door open. When I stepped out, I saw that we were at a nondescript corner. On one side of the street was a pharmacy, and on the other was a place that advertised pizza and karaoke.
I stared at the sign for a minute. “Italian?”
“You said not too fancy,” he answered, taking my elbow and guiding me inside.
I laughed. “Where in that did you hear karaoke? Is this what trillions of dollars in New York City has done to you? Are you confused about what normal people do now?”
He turned, throwing me a wink as he held the door open. “You might be imagining a lot more dollar signs than are actually there. But trust me, I picked this place for a good reason.”
We stepped inside, and Dominick walked up to the counter. “We have a reservation? Under Russo?”
I tried not to giggle, feeling fairly confident that pizza and karaoke joints didn’t require reservations.
“I see you right here,” the hostess said, tapping a notepad. “This way.”
I stand corrected.
The woman led us to a dimly lit hallway filled with doors. We passed a couple of rooms, and in one of them, I saw lights flashing and people jumping around, but I couldn’t hear anything. The hostess stopped and pulled a door open for us. “Your waiter will be here soon,” she said. “Instructions are on the laminated card, but just ring the buzzer if you’re having any problems with the machine or need to order more drinks.” She paused, then looked us up and down. “Enjoy your pizza and karaoke.”
“Now I’m doubly confused,” I said to Dominick, entering the room and plopping down on the red couch. A few of them faced each other around a wide table, and the wall was covered with a few large screens, each one switched off.
Dominick sat down beside me. He spread his legs, and when he leaned toward me, he rested his hands on his knees. “I thought you would be more comfortable talking here.”
I blinked and shook my head. “I’m still not sure I follow.”
Dominick lifted his arm and tapped his knuckles against the wall. “Soundproof box. So you don’t have to feel shy about anyone overhearing if we want to talk about our kinks over dinner. I thought about just renting out an entire restaurant, but you said nothing fancy, so…”
I giggled, then grabbed one of the microphones that was waiting on the table. “Looks like you aren’t so clever after all, mister,” I said, holding it to my mouth. “Because don’t think for a second you’re going to make it out of here without singing a duet.”
“And don’t you think that I’m going to go light on the pizza. I’ve been eating salads all week at the office—I plan to treat myself.”
I laughed and relaxed back against the couch. Of course he had managed to still do something impressive, even without getting fancy. That probably shouldn’t have surprised me. But I wasn’t minding at all feeling like he was looking out for me and caring about me. It was like every gesture made me feel safer in his company. And the safer I felt, the more I felt like myself.
And like I was his.
I knew that the night might go a lot of different places. My stomach flipped over backward every time I thought about talking about my kink with Dominick and actually saying the words out loud. But I was determined not to let my nervousness ruin the date.
I was determined to just keep feeling good and to keep making Dominick smile like he did every time I laughed or batted my eyelashes his way.
We were at pizza karaoke, after all. What could be more perfect than that?
