Page 63 of Between Love and Loathing

He smiled at me and leaned in. “Guess it helps with how I design a plate.”

“That would have probably helped me with Rita.” I sighed. “She’s very good at keeping her vision but…”

“But she won’t bend at all to yours?” He chuckled and then winked. “Let me know if you’d like me to look anything over. She’s got a bit of a soft spot for me.”

Dominic didn’t add any commentary, but he studied us both. When I turned to him, he lifted a brow and shrugged as if to say, “If that’s what you’re into.” I rolled my eyes and gave Valentino a hug.

It dawned on me right then and there. My heart didn’t flutter, and my stomach didn’t react to Valentino’s touch the way it did Dominic’s.

Ignoring the blatant feelings that grew in me for the man I couldn’t have, I continued to let Dominic skip around the market with me well after Valentino left. He wanted to check every stand, to confirm we’d gotten the produce right, to make sure it was the best.

At one point, a vendor asked for the name of the bakery, and Dominic turned to me. “What’s the name you’re going with, babe?”

I sighed. It’d been a freaking point of contention since I’d gotten there. Rita had asked once or twice and when I’d mentioned a name, she shot it down immediately. “Unknown,” I said loudly with a smile to the vendor before we bought the food.

Dominic frowned. “Name’s got to come faster than where we’re at, Clara.”

“I’m aware, Dominic.” I singsonged. “You and your interior designer have to agree to something first. I’ve considered a few. All of which Rita hated.”

He hummed and smiled. “Rita’s picky. But you’ll get changes. So, let’s hear them.”

I smirked and rattled off different names. All of which he would shake his head to. “No. No. No.”

More and more, I felt the heat boiling in my veins. “You’re kidding right?”

“They don’t work with the resort.”

“If I hear that one more time, I’ll scream.”

“But I like when you scream.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced at the last vendor down the alley of tents as I said, “They’remychanges, Dominic. I’m not giving you a damn say when I choose the name at the end.”

When he didn’t respond, I glanced back at him and saw he was smiling big. At me. At my fighting him.

Before I could point it out, he glanced at his phone and the smile dropped off. Dominic didn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, but right then and there I saw a pain that was almost tangible. When I whispered his name, his green eyes glanced up at me with a castle full of torture in them before he closed the gates, lifted the bridge, and built up walls around his fortress. “Well, news travels fast.”

I narrowed my eyes before sliding my own phone out and reading the headline. “Is She the New Natya?”

What I hated was that I was being compared to her, being thrown into a sort of feeding frenzy the gossip magazines loved. Before the fight at the club, Dominic and I had been a rumor. Now, it was fact, and they wanted blood. I’d been pitted against my own sister before. Who was the prettier sister, who should have been the Milton heiress? They didn’t know that neither of us really won from that.

I wouldn’t win this either. There was no winning in a competition like that. Only pain. “Well, Natya will believe it now, right?” I whispered.

He nodded. “She’s already texted me about it.”

I closed my eyes to hide the knife to my gut at his confession, but I think he caught it.

He must have as he growled, “I’m getting rid of the fucking article.” He started tapping into his phone. I grabbed it from him and held it back.

“It’s for the good of the resort, right?” I lifted a brow. “That was the goal. Your ex will be taken care of, and the resort will prosper. Dex gets his casino deal, huh?”

“Dex told you about his fucking casino deal?”

“Yes, at the club. He’s very excited, Dominic.”

I saw him glance away, probably to hide the softening he felt when we talked about his siblings. That was his weakness as their older brother, I think. He’d do anything for them. “If they start writing bullshit, we’re pulling the articles.”

“Fine. But it’s not bullshit that she was with you before and I’m with you now.” I sighed. “You loved her once. So, it’s good they’re comparing me to her, right?”