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“I know.”

The sun shining through her tall windows had Maria’s hands going to her throbbing head. It took her a minute of waking up until she smelled Dominic’s fiery scent, along with the warmth of wool wrapping her up under the covers.

Reaching under, she found Dominic’s jacket that she had slept with, as she began to slowly remember the night before. It was one of the best nights she ever had, and she could only compare it to one ….

Maria picked up her phone. Dialing, she held the phone up to her ear with a shaky hand as she listened to a ghost.

“This is Kayne Evans, leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Beep.

Holding the jacket to her furiously, she tried not to cry. “I trusted you ….”

Hearing the phone ding in his nightstand, Dominic wanted to pretend that he hadn’t heard it. He wished he had thrown the phone out. That way, he would have never known the woman he was in love with was still in love with another man.

Dominic knew what Maria was doing. She had put their relationship strictly on a sexual level and was too afraid to put the little emotions she carried back at stake. Her first love had hurt her, and now Dom was paying the price. All Maria was willing to give was her body in order not to chance feeling that wretched pain again.

When Maria had asked why she wanted him so badly, he didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. The words would have hurt her, just as much as him.

Staring at the nightstand, Dominic felt like a sick bastard for keeping the phone.

And he was an even sicker one now as he listened to the message that he knew would only break his heart.

Dominic would just have to keep praying for the day Maria stopped calling Kayne.

Forty-Three

Dinner From Hell

“Who the hell gets up at this time of day?” Maria muttered, trying not to trigger another round of pain by making her vocal cords work.

“It’s seven p.m.,” Dom informed her as they walked the short distance to Kat and Drago’s place.

“I think I’m getting sick,” she complained, trying to focus, despite the drilling going on under her scalp.

“It’s called a hangover, princess.”

“What I’m experiencing isn’t a hangover; it’s more like a prelude to death.” Mistakes had been made. The first was using alcohol to curtail her fascination with Dom’s male parts, after he refused to budge on his stance of premarital sex. The second mistake she made was opening her door when he had come to get her tonight, and at the moment, the final seemed the worst: never buying a pair of flats.

Not even Dom’s dimples could soothe her pain. “I think it was tequila shot number five that I warned you—”

“Try telling me that before shot number five next time,” Maria said through a fake smile. Grabbing the crook of his arm to help balance herself, they reached Kat and Drago’s apartment.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying to get my balance.”

“As much as I love those heels on you, princess”— Dom steadied her by holding onto her waist—“it might’ve been better to have picked a pair closer to the floor.”

His suggestion was met with a feral glare. “Dom, sweetie, do you want to die tonight?”

Touching her forehead and cheeks, he grew concerned. “You feel that bad?”

“Yes.” Maria felt only the tiniest bit bad about giving him a pain-filled glance. She tried to pull off a helpless look, hoping it would get her in his pants. “I’m only able to stand here with you because you asked me to have dinner with you and your sister.”

“Maria”—Dominic’s eyes sliced her open—“are you trying to use the sympathy card to lure me into bed with you?”

“Would it work?” Cunning eyes stared at him, watching his reaction.

“Nope,” he told her without an ounce of sympathy. “I gave you my ultimatum.”

“Why give in when I’m enjoying negotiating with you?” she cooed.

Dominic knocked on the door to end the inevitable conversation, showing what he thought of her negotiating skills.

Kat must have been waiting for their arrival, since she immediately opened the door. However, Maria couldn’t miss the shock on her face.

Did he not tell her I was coming …?

Kat smiled, keeping her—obviously curious—thoughts to herself. “Come in. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Maria had clearly been wrong. Kat had been told; she just hadn’t believed it.

Trust me, I don’t either.

Coming inside their home, Maria stood to the side as Kat gave Dom a hug before closing the door. Watching the brother and sister together was an eye opener for her. The affection between the two was apparent.

“Where’s your jacket?” Kat asked, finding it strange to see her brother without it.

“I left it at home,” Dom said before changing the subject. “What’s for dinner?”