Page 45 of Careless Whisper (Modern Vintage Romances #11)
“Dom and I are co-leading design. We’ve divided responsibilities—he’ll take structure and form, I’ll handle spatial programming and regulatory compliance. Our goal is a fully integrated healing environment: sustainable, tech-forward, and patient-centric.”
I look around the room, lazily running my eyes over Dom.
“Now, let’s talk scope. This project is massive, so we’re going to phase it, obviously. Dom?”
Dom reclines in his chair, and I don’t miss the way Camy’s scarlet-tipped fingers rest lightly on his forearm—the one with those goddamn veins.
When he shifts, her hand slips away.
“We start with site analysis and zoning coordination, while Luna’s team begins compliance audits and community engagement. We work in parallel, Luna and I, fast and tight.”
I raise a brow because he says that last part with just enough suggestion to make my special places tingle.
Dom smirks. The asshole knows exactly what he’s doing.
Nova sees the drama and flips to the next slide, urging me to continue presenting, which I do. “We’ll be using a hybrid delivery model. Design-build for the exterior shell, CM-at-risk for the medical interiors. This allows flexibility for revisions and still keeps us within budget and timeline.”
Jason frowns. “Is that practical for something this complex? I mean, a vertical garden? Solar shading? Don’t you think that’s a little…fluffy?”
I turn to face him. “This is the project that Tommy and the Minton Group signed off on.”
Jason shrugs. “Yeah, but…I mean, we can keep making changes, right? Because there’s?—”
“ No ,” I interrupt him emphatically. “ And it’s not fluffy. It’s biophilic design, which research says reduces patient stress, lowers readmission rates, and increases staff productivity. Fluffy doesn’t drive those numbers.”
Jason opens his mouth again, but Dom cuts in smoothly, “We ran the projections. You’ll see them in the appendix. Luna’s methodology isn’t just sound—it’s smart.”
Jason scoffs, slightly chastened.
What the fuck? Is Dom playing backup?
He smiles at me and hope blooms inside me.
Just then, Camy leans in, her lips grazing his ear like a secret meant to be seen as she whispers something that makes him nod.
My blood roars as a possessiveness I always feel for Dom surges through me.
Hands off my man, bitch .
My reaction tells me what I’ve known since this whole ‘ work together’ nonsense started, that it’s going to be hell . I’ve not been as focused as I usually am. Dom distracts me. Now, with Camy added to the pot, it’s worse. I can’t stand seeing him with another woman.
When he was in New York, it was easier. I didn’t know what he was doing. But now it’s in my face.
It hurts.
God, it hurts!
After the meeting, which seemed interminable, he follows me into my office. He leans against the doorway, his stance lazy as I get settled at my desk.
“What?” he asks when I arch an eyebrow at him.
“You’re the one who’s in my office, Calder. What do you want?”
He grins. His whole face lights up. I know that look.
“I love you, Moonbeam. Tell me you love me?” He’s inside me, moving slowly, making me delirious.
We’ve just started having sex, and it’s taken us to a level of intimacy that doesn’t just feel right, it feels destined. We’ve gotten good at giving and taking pleasure.
There is no shame, no shyness, only want, only love. Only us.
“I love you, Dom. I’ll always love you.”
He grins. His face lights up. “Good girl.”
“I need to come, Dom.”
“I know, baby. But I want to stay inside you longer…let me.”
“Yes, stay. Stay forever.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. Promise.”
He comes into my office. Closes the door behind him. “Camy isn’t my call.”
I shrug. “If Tommy wants an interior designer from the start, that’s fine.”
“Camy is his goddaughter.”
“Okay.”
Don’t let him see how much this bothers you. He doesn’t deserve to know what’s inside you. Not that he gives two shits.
“You looked ready to kill her.”
I lean in, resting my forearms on the desk. “Dom, listen loud and clear, I don’t care who’s on a project…I’ll work with anyone .”
“Even me.”
“ Even you .” I clench my jaw and calm myself.
Can he see inside of me? Like he used to?
“How about dinner tonight?”
“How about not!” I throw back at him. “I don’t go out with men who are otherwise engaged. I believe cheating is more your style.”
His eyes darken, flare with anger. “You wanna talk about the past, baby? Then let’s talk.”
“No,” I whisper.
“Who is she, Dom?” My hands are shaking when I see a woman in his dorm room at Cornell, on his bed. She’s fully clothed but….
I thought we were doing the impossible, surviving a long-distance relationship. I visited him during breaks, and he’s driven through the night to see me on weekends.
I had talked about transferring from Georgia Tech to New York. I’d told him we could get a place together, and he’d told me not to do any such thing. That was the first sign.
Then he stopped calling. Ghosted me on my birthday. That was the last straw.
“What are you doing here, Luna?” he demands. He’s only in underwear. His boxers.
“I…I…it was my birthday and….” I trail off softly.
The girl on his bed looks at Dom and then at me. “Dom?”
“Who are you?” I ask her.
She arches a perfect eyebrow. She’s blonde. Stacked. Gorgeous. “I’m Dom’s girlfriend, and you?”
I close my eyes, and when I open them, the tears are hidden. “His ex.”
I walk away.
He doesn’t follow.
The end!
“How long, Moonbeam, are you going to punish me for a mistake I made when I was a kid?”
He’s frustrated.
Well, bud, I’m heartbroken, so I get the right of way out of difficult conversations.
“You cheated on me.” The words are choked out of me.
“What if I didn’t?” he challenges.
“Get the fuck out of my office.” I’m furious that he’s using our past to corner me into… what ?
I don’t know what Dom wants. He says he won’t give up on us?
But what does he mean? I can’t be friends with someone who’s betrayed my trust. And as for anything beyond that—there’s too much history, too much weight.
Whatever we were, whatever we could’ve been, it’s buried under everything we never said.
He sighs.
“And I can handle Jason,” I add, annoyed.
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t have to rescue me. I don’t need backup vocals while I’m singing lead.”
He shrugs carelessly. “I wasn’t rescuing you, Moonbeam. I was agreeing with you. Loudly . The way men have to, sometimes, when women get talked over.”
I cross my arms because my heart is ready to pop out and land on his hand. “I don’t need a man to do anything for me.”
“Baby, I do this for all women…for anyone, in fact, who’s being treated unfairly.”
God! He has to be a good guy to top it all?
“And who the fuck made you the savior of all womankind?”
His expression softens. “Not saving anyone. Just doing what I know I have to. I work in rooms full of people like Jason all the time. When I see misogyny, I say something.”
I stare at him. It’s harder to hold onto my anger when he says things like this, when I know he means them.
I purse my lips. “Still don’t need saving.”
“I know,” he says with a small smile. “You never did.”
On that note, he leaves my office.
Five minutes later, I can still smell his cologne.
Damn him for getting under my skin.
Damn me for letting him.
Can their foundation for forever be built on a second chance?
I'm Dominic Calder, and I'm fighting to win back the love of my life.
Luna is my best friend's sister, my first and only love, and the one I hurt the most.
Now, years later, I'm back in Savannah, a renowned architect with one purpose: to win my woman back!
I get the chance when I'm contracted to build one of the biggest hospitals in the city. The catch, or is it a perk? Luna and I are partners on this project.
She's brilliant and captivating. Her expertise in hospital regulations is unmatched. As we clash over designs and decisions, the walls between us start to crumble.
But the pain I caused her young heart still lingers in her eyes.
Luna isn't ready to forgive or forget. She’s guarding herself fiercely, and I have my work cut out for me.
I'm not giving up this time. I’m going to prove to her that we’re not just best in class professionally, but also in life and forever.