Page 74 of Hate Me Like You Mean It

“My dad owns the firm,” Tristan managed. “It’s a family business. How did you get into… finance?”

“Necessity,” Dom bit out. “Relationship status?”

He’d lost his mind.

This was as clear to me as the throbbing crimson creeping up Tristan’s neck, yet no one else seemed to notice. Darius’s jaw was clamped tight as he ripped a freshly printed order out of the small black machine in front of him, and Tristan kept looking between the two men like he was closing in on a heart attack.

“S-single.” This was admitted with a glance toward Darius, who was too preoccupied with trying to summon a swarm of hornets around Dominic’s face to notice.

Dom’s eye had started to twitch. “Thoughts on marriage? How many kids?—”

“Okay, that’s enough.” I wedged myself closer, my voice shaking with anger. “I’m so sorry about him. He’s on a plethora of medications he clearly forgot to take this morning.”

Dominic took the warning hand I placed on his bicep as permission to slip an arm around my waist and pin me to his side. Darius paused mid-pour, puzzled by the brutish possessiveness displayed by the man who’d spent the last few minutes aggressively hitting onhisman.

Tristan’s expression lightened with a hint of relief. “Oh, are you two…?”

“Not even a little,” I ground out. He didn’t look convinced. Likely because more than half my torso was now fully pressed to Dominic’s chest.

It was hell.

He burned like fire and smelled like every sin I’d ever been tempted to commit. Fitting, since they all involved him.

Forcing my mouth into a wooden smile, I grabbed Dom’s hand. “Excuse us for a minute.”

He didn’t put up any resistance as I towed him into the nearest hallway and through the first set of doors that weren’t locked—a small, private dining room and soon-to-be crime scene.

I whipped around to face him, claws protruding. “What, in the ever-lovingfuck,is wrong with you?!”

He made an exasperated gesture toward the closed door with his hand. “That’swho you’re considering as the father of your future children?Thatguy?”

“Have you lost your fucking mind? How are you here right now?”

“The glue stick you dared me to eat when we were in kindergarten had more flavor than that guy.”

“Dominic, you weren’t supposed to come inside.Why did you come inside!”

“He’s an accountant, Alice. Can you imagine having to sit through dinner every night, listening to him vent about QuickBooks or whatever the fuck?”

“You were supposed to drop me off, go home, andnot come back. I told you I didn’t need a ride!”

“He looks like he collects used toothpicks and organizes them based on their flavor profile. I’ve never seen two people more ill-suited in my life. What was Rachel thinking?”

“You talked to him for thirty fucking seconds, Dom, shut up. She was thinking I’d like him, and she was right. I do like him. Because he’s calm, and considerate, andnice.”

“He’d bore you to death.”

“So what!” I threw my hands up in utter exasperation, my vision blurring. “Maybe Ilikeboring. Maybe Iwantsomething easy, and cozy, and… and safe. You had no right to barge in here and interrogate him the way you did. Can you imagine if the tables were turned? If I aggressively marched up to someone you were romantically interested in and embarrassed you like that in front of them?”

The tightness in his expression flickered. “So you are interested in him?”

“That’s not the point!”

His cheeks were as flushed as mine felt, the tension rolling between us potent enough to zap at my skin. For a long minute, we stared, our breathing heavy as a muffled mixture of chatter and music drifted around us.

“Boring. Cozy. Easy. Is that seriously what you’re trying to convince yourself you want?”

The fucking nerve. “And what is it you think I actually want, Dominic?You?”