Page 32 of A Taste For Trouble

“It went downhill as soon as he opened his mouth. The halitosis almost took me out,” he cried. “That’s it! I’m deleting my Tinder account. It’s the old-fashioned way for me from now on. Say, would the town mafia find me a husband?”

“You’ll have to check with Grammy Cora, although knowing her, she probably already knows the perfect man for you,” I replied with a laugh. “Just don’t be too surprised if it is someone you never dreamed of marrying.”

“Sometimes I think they just pull random names out of a box,” said Dominic, licking the last bit of rum and raisin off his spoon.

“Maybe we should both ask them to find us husbands, babe,” suggested Trevor, with a quick glance at Dom to see his reaction. “After you end your fake relationship with the boss, that is.”

I could sense the air in the room change as Dominic set his bowl down on the kitchen island and rose from his stool.

“See you guys tomorrow,” he said coldly, and I gave him a questioning glance.

“It’s only eight pm,” I said hesitantly.

“I like to read in bed before I fall asleep,” he insisted and walked away without a backward glance at me.

I turned and shot an exasperated glance at Trevor.

“You’re such a little shit-starter,” I accused, and he shrugged in acknowledgement of that fact.

“Testify,” he said, raising his hand. “But…if your relationship is as fake as he claims, why did it bother him to hear about you looking for a husband after all this ends?”

“I don’t think it bothered him. You just made it awkward for both of us.”

“Sure! I believe you when you say this relationship is really fake. That’s why I found him practically licking ice cream off your hand when I walked into the room,” he scoffed.

“Dom didn’t do anything of the sort,” I protested. “He merely scooped it off my hand with his finger and licked his finger.”

Which was true. It was also true that by that point in the evening, I would have let him lick anything he liked.

I went to bed feeling very disgruntled and frustrated, and woke up feeling even worse. Dominic had started to take over my dreams completely, leaving me feeling unfulfilled and miserable when I woke up. I didn’t know how long I could go on like this. Joe’s phone was still switched off.

“Do you think he’s hidden the stash in my house?” I asked Trevor. “Is that why he was trying to break in the other day?”

“Already thought of that,” he replied gloomily, as he stirred four sugars into his cup of coffee. “Logan’s team searched your cottage from top to bottom, but they couldn’t find anything. If only we had access to a drug-sniffing dog, we’d find the damn thing by now.”

“Well, I know where you can find one,” I exclaimed. “The Maplewood PD has two K9 officers. I’m sure they will lend us one if we ask nicely.”

“Sure! Involve the cops and make our problem with the cartel even worse,” said Trevor snidely.

“What’s your problem?” I snapped. “You’re being so moody today.”

“Blame your boyfriend,” groaned Trevor. “He’s been riding me hard since morning. Stop! I heard it. Gosh, I’m too tired to even make a thing out of it.”

“Fake boyfriend,” I corrected primly. “And what’s wrong withhim?”

“Probably needs to get laid,” said Trevor, and I threw a grape at his head.

Dominic came out of his study and made straight for the cupboard over my head. He held my gaze as he stretched an arm over my head and pulled out his coffee mug. I tried not to shiver at his nearness, but the scent of his cologne mixed with something that was uniquely him made me almost melt into a puddle at his feet.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and walked back into his study without a word to either of us.

“Definitely needs to get laid,” said Trevor with a smirk, and I beaned him with another grape. “And since when does he pour his own coffee when he has me to do it for him?”

“He knows you might spit in it today,” I retorted.

“Yeah, and it has nothing to do with the fact that you seem to have grabbed sole custody of the coffee pot. You’ve reduced the ruthless billionaire to running his own errands just for a sight of you, you minx,” he teased, and I wondered if I could just chuck the whole charcuterie board at him.

Over the next couple of days, it felt as if the precious and fragile truce Dom and I had negotiated over lasagna and ice cream had vanished into thin air. We were at each other’s throats constantly. Like when I asked him if Logan’s men had found any sign of Joe.