Page 48 of Between Love and Loathing

“Your girl and her bakery?” Dominic questioned and must have squeezed Noah’s hand hard because Noah visibly frowned as he glanced down and then smiled.

“Yeah. Clara here has been working hard.” He squinted at Dominic, catching the tension but continuing forward. He threw his arm around my shoulder casually.

I wide-eyed Dominic and shook my head just a tad. The man lifted an eyebrow at me, and I swore now they were both smiling.

Dominic wouldn’t, I thought at first. He didn’t care one way or the other about my friend with benefits. “Dominic, want to show Noah around?” The resort was the thing he cared most about anyway.

His eyes didn’t break from Noah’s arm around mine. “You likeyourgirl’s ideas for the future design here too?”

“I intend to find out.” Noah’s eyes narrowed.

“So I assumed.” Dominic’s green eyes held fire. They licked between us before he said softly but loud enough for both of us to hear, “Your girl tell you she’smygirl now?”

My jaw dropped while Noah tilted his head in confusion. I felt his body tense as he looked at me and then back to Dominic. “That shit in the tabloids true then?”

I cleared my throat to start explaining, but Dominic beat me to it. “She’s my girl. So remove your fucking arm from her shoulder.”

“Dominic,” I chastised immediately and rushed to correct him “we’re friends and he was just—”

Noah cut me off with a smile and then squeezed my shoulder before he dropped his arm. Then his blue gaze hardened. “I came here to support a friend, but you can bet I was looking to support her in all different types of ways.”

There was the Noah the NHL knew and loved, searching for a freaking fight. I saw how he cracked his knuckles and tilted his jaw one way and then the other.

“He wasnotgoing to be supporting me in that way, Dominic.” I stepped between them, glaring up at Noah, who just winked down at me.

“Fine, little dancer. I’ll play nice.”

“No need to play nice for me. You touch my girlfriend, I’ll break every bone in your body, on the ice or not,” Dominic threw back.

I spun and snapped at him, “Are you joking?”

“Noah knows who’d win in a dogfight, baby. I’m just reiterating it for him, right, Noah?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you and I both know the last time I was in Florida sparring with people at the gym, your ass wouldn’t even step inside the ring.”

“It was the beginning of hockey season and—”

“Care to go down to the ring now?”

“Guys!” I threw my hands up between them. “For what? Are we measuring something here? Dominic, you know I’m with you. Noah, we’ve had our fun.”

“Still here to have fun when you want,” he threw out, which just made Dominic growl like a caveman.

“Stop. Right now.” I flicked Noah in the shoulder. “You don’t care about who I date, and you know it. You’ve got puck bunnies in literally every state.”

“Yeah”—he combed a hand through his hair—“came to talk to you about a specific one, actually.”

I saw how his gaze drifted away for a second, and I rolled my eyes. “See. Stop glowering at each other for no damn reason.”

“Fine,” he grumbled and plopped down on a barstool, ready to submit like the good friend he was. “You’ll come out tonight with me?”

Paloma had been sitting there silently the whole time with wide eyes, but she chimed in right then. “Yes! Let’s all go out and have a good time dancing. I’m Paloma by the way.”

Dominic didn’t give in so easily. When I glanced at him and whispered “You good?” he pulled me close and held my gaze.

“I’m not sharing you, cupcake. I’ve told you that before.” Then he proceeded to kiss me like he was laying claim every which way. I couldn’t stop him either. I didn’t even want to try.